Afternoon Briefing Friday 12th June

0:00This episode of the Times Radio News Briefing is sponsored by PwCWC. Staying competitive means getting ahead, not just keeping up. So how do business leaders cut through the noise and focus on what really matters? PwC takes you further with tech, from optimising the systems that put your data to work, to scaling AI from proof of concept to competitive edge. PwC helps you meet tomorrow's tech demands so you can compete at a speed that rewrites the rules. Discover more at pwc.co.uk. Welcome to the Times Radio Afternoon Briefing on Friday the 12th of June. The celebrated British artist David Hockney has died at the age of 88.

0:42He was well known for his beautiful pictures of swimming pools painted in vibrant colours. Born in Bradford in 1937, just before the start of World War II, he'd lived on and off in California since the mid-1960s. One of his paintings sold at auction for£70 million. He said he wasn't interested in prizes and simply wanted his work to bring joy. It's joie de vivre that keeps you going, and it's lack of joie de vivre will kill you. They should put it on notices everywhere, even tell it to children. Art historian Ben Street says Hockney never stopped working. One of his great heroes was Picasso. And what Hockney always loved about Picasso was that Picasso basically never took a break.

1:25And the same thing could be said for Hockney himself. Not only is he incredibly productive, he also was a constantly restless experimenter with media. So he would work with photography in the 80s. He would bring that into his work. He even made work using a fax machine. And of course, he's very famous for his work he did using iPad drawings. The business secretary, Peter Kyle, has told Times Radio the government is taking defence seriously. That's despite the resignations from the MOD of John Healy and Al Karnes yesterday. The Prime Minister is under intense pressure. Patrick Maguire, the Times' chief political commentator, says Sir Keir Starmer says one thing and then does something else.

2:05You can't say defence is my priority, we're going to do X, Y, Z and then offer the MOD 0.08 % extra and then speak as if that is a historic uplift in funding. I mean, as ever with Keir Starmer, it is a government that speaks in one direction, acts in another and then the Prime Minister acts bewildered that he's not being congratulated by the people he's disappointed. The now former Defence Secretary John Healy accused the Prime Minister of being unwilling to commit the necessary resources to defend the country. Richard Tice, the deputy leader of Reform UK, has told Times Radio ministers could find more money for defence if they wanted to.

2:44You can scrap net zero, that'll save you£20 to£30 billion a year. You don't have to pay welfare to many people, for example overseas nationals. The Bank of England is voluntarily paying some£20 billion a year on voluntary interest to investors in the city. I've said for two years that's a waste of money. If you look carefully, there is plenty of money around to invest in keeping us safe. Dan Jarvis, a former major in the Parachute Regiment, is the new Defence Secretary. And the Office for National Statistics says the economy grew by 0.7 % in the three months to April. but in April alone there was a decline of 0.1%.

3:22In February and March there was growth of 0.4 % and 0.3%. You can follow the Times Radio News Briefing on Spotify and listen live to Times Radio online. This episode of the Times Radio News Briefing is sponsored by PwC. AI is everywhere. In the news, in our hands, but return on investment, not so much. So how do you get beyond the hype and deliver AI that powers reinvention and growth across your business. Strong foundations unlock AI's potential. That's why PwC takes you further with tech, strengthening the data quality, processes and workflows that shape how well AI performs. PwC turns innovation into implementation so you can accelerate from experiment to scale.

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