Afternoon Briefing Monday 28th July

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 News Briefing on Monday 28th July. The Lionesses are off to Downing Street today after winning Euro 2025.

0:41Then tomorrow there's a victory parade through central London. The King has sent his congratulations saying the team had shown there are no setbacks so tough that defeat cannot be transformed into victory even as the final whistle looms. There are calls for a celebratory bank holiday but the Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds has told Times Radio that won't be happening. It's not going to be a bank holiday. Don't make me the fun police but they do cost a few billion pounds for the economy to have a bank holiday so I can't promise that. And also, by the way, there's the achievements of these lionesses already in terms of what that's meant for public policy.

1:14So equal access to sport in PE, the money going into grassroots football, that's£900 million. We're bidding for the Women's World Cup on a UK basis for 2035. So they've already achieved so much. The Prime Minister will try to use a meeting with President Trump today to increase diplomatic pressure on Israel over aid for Gaza. Sir Keir Starmer will also hold an emergency cabinet meeting on Gaza this week. Israel has begun 10-hour military pauses each day in three areas of the territory to allow supplies to get in. Middle East correspondent Jotam Konfino says it's a complex situation. Distribution of aid still remains probably the biggest challenge.

1:51Not for Israel, because Israel is not in charge of distributing aid, but it remains the biggest challenge for all of the NGOs. Mainly because they don't have any security to escort their trucks, because they refuse to take Israeli soldiers with them. They refuse to have security from GHF, the American-backed NGO. And many of those trucks are being looted by gangs, by civilians, sometimes by Hamas. The US and the EU have agreed a trade deal after Ursula von der Leyen met Donald Trump at his Turnberry golf course in Scotland. Washington will impose 15 % tariffs on most EU goods entering America.

2:27Times Radio's business correspondent Dominic O 'Connell says stock markets haven't shown much reaction and an important sector has reacted badly. All the big German car makers, their shares are down. Mercedes, Volkswagen and the worst, BMW, is off about a bit over 1 % this morning. They are thinking, I think, or investors are thinking, that that 15 % tariff on exports of German cars to the US now is still quite hefty. It's only 10 % in the UK. Pharmacies are warning that demand for weight loss medication could far outstrip supply. A poll for the National Pharmacy Association suggests a fifth of us and a third of 16 to 34-year-olds have tried to get such treatments in the last year.

3:07Chair of the National Pharmacy Association, Olivier Picard, has given Times Radio more details. The manufacturer says that the medication, the license for people who have a BMI of over 30 or maybe 27 with comorbidities, it is clear that the demand on weight and loss programme from people, especially in the younger age group, is enormous. And, you know, in fact, the survey also showed that 64 % of people would consider using weight loss injection if offered on the NHS. And you can follow The Times News Briefing on Spotify and listen live to Times Radio online.

3:43This 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.

4:27This week on The Business Podcast, we're hearing from Tom Behon, the co-founder of British sportswear brand Castor. It didn't make sense to us why there wasn't a British competitor to Nike Adidas Puma. If not us, then who? Join me, Hannah Previtt. And me, Dominic O 'Connell, for weekly conversations from the world of business and entrepreneurship. Follow us wherever you get your podcasts or find our channel on YouTube by searching Times Business. Thank you.