Afternoon briefing Monday 17th November

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. This is the Times afternoon briefing on Monday the 17th of November. A Labour MP has told Times Radio the government is abandoning the party's values with proposed changes to the asylum system.

0:44Speaking with other Labour MPs, I know that there's a real degree of disgust at some of these proposals and I'm looking forward to today to go in and see exactly what the Home Secretary is planning on laying out as our proposals and then we'll take a careful period of analysis and then we'll try and possibly even try and move the Home Secretary and the government into a better, more compassionate position. Brian Leishman was previously suspended for rebelling and only got the whip back this month. The Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, is laying out plans to restrict how the European Convention on Human Rights is applied and to make refugee status temporary.

1:19The Times' political editor Stephen Swinford thinks it'll become a significant row within Labour. There are concerns that this goes too far. Shabana Mahmood's answer to that is, well, look, if you don't like this, something, in her words, quote, unquote, much darker is going to be coming next, i.e. a reform government led by Nigel Farage, which is a much more draconian migration policies. But there will be deep unease on the backbenches, and whether that turns into a full-blooded rebellion is something we'll get a sense of today. A landmark new survey suggests more than three-quarters of top-rate taxpayers, so people who earn more than£125 ,000 a year, do not feel rich.

1:55The first ever Times Wealth survey also suggests 83 % of those who have a million pounds in cash savings do not consider themselves wealthy either. Helena Kelly is the Times' Money News and Investigations editor. I spoke to one wealth manager who sort of said you could have a million pounds in cash savings but you could also have an elderly parent who you worry might be taken into care and if you're the one footing that bill those million pound savings could quite easily just disappear. And yeah what we definitely found was that people thought wealth was something that was inherited and it's like a generational thing and that's what being rich is more than income or what you've earned.

2:30Hertfordshire Police has paid out£20 ,000 to a couple after admitting they were wrongfully arrested for complaining about their child's school on WhatsApp. Times radio producer Maxi Allen and his partner Rosalind Levine were arrested at their home in January. He says they didn't expect the police to say sorry. I don't think that is a word in the vocabulary. But the thing that we really sought to achieve was the admission of liability. And obviously the damages underlines, I think, that they realised their position wasn't sustainable. What we wanted to achieve was the admission of liability, because that is the recognition that this should not have happened.

3:08Hertfordshire Police still insists it was right to investigate the case because of the number of messages the couple sent to the school. Donald Trump's called for Republicans in the lower chamber of Congress to vote to release legal documents relating to Jeffrey Epstein. His U-turn comes after a small number of right-wing Republicans joined with Democrats to force the House of Representatives into a vote on the files. And a court in Bangladesh has sentenced the country's former Prime Minister to death after convicting her of ordering a deadly crackdown on student protests. Shea Kasina, who is the aunt of the Labour MP Tulip Sadiq, is in exile in India after being forced from power last August.

3:45Don't forget to subscribe to The Times News Briefing on Spotify or listen live to Times Radio online.

3:55This 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. Discover more at pwc.co.uk Is your kid's birthday coming up? Don't stress the prep.

4:40The Party Shop at Michael's is your one-stop shop for everything from bluey to rodeo. Transform your space into a birthday wonderland with dream-worthy tablescapes and decor starting at 99 cents. Plus, get free helium inflation on select balloon styles. Whether you're crafting a one-of-a-kind bash or grabbing the essentials, Michaels has everything to make their big day legendary. Shop now and order ahead for delivery or in-store pickup. Michaels, everything to celebrate anything.