Afternoon briefing Monday 9th March

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 Monday 9th March. such. Oil prices have risen sharply as the conflict in the Middle East continues.

0:41Earlier, a barrel of Brent crude rose from yesterday's price of$93 to$115. It's since dropped back. An energy company boss is warning that prices for domestic consumers will be going up because of the conflict against Iran. The Prime Minister, Secur Starmer, has admitted the British economy will be affected. People will sense, you will sense, I think, that the longer this goes on, to more likely the potential for an impact on our economy, an impact into the lives and households of everybody and every business. And our job is to get ahead of that, to look around the corner, assess the risk, monitor the risks and work with others in relation to that.

1:17The Economist and Times columnist Paul Johnson was asked how this compares to when the Ukraine war began in 2022. Well, so far it's not as bad. Prices haven't spiked anything like as much. Gas prices haven't gone up anywhere near as much. and that was very painful. Of course, the prices remained high for a while. We found other ways of, the world found other ways of getting hold of gas. But those ways included, of course, extending the amount that we get from the Middle East. Mojtaba Khamenei has been announced as Iran's new supreme leader, the son of former leader Ali Khamenei. He's been described by Donald Trump as unacceptable and a lightweight.

1:55The 56-year-old mid-level cleric is said to be as hardline as his father. The Speaker of Iran's Parliament has welcomed the new leader and says it's the religious and national duty of Iranians to follow him. Samar Al-Atrashti, Times' Middle East correspondent, says Mostaba Hamanayi is not an ayatollah, though. He doesn't quite have the credentials, some would argue, to hold this post, the religious credentials, but neither did his father when he was first elected as Supreme Leader in 1989. He doesn't really have much of the political experience. He hasn't really held very public, forward-leaning offices in the government and so also lacks that sort of political savvy and experience that you'd expect for someone in that role.

2:36His father Khamenei was president before he was supreme leader. And the government says it's seeking a patriotic renewal of England's communities under its social cohesion plan. It includes measures to promote integration, tackle religious hatred and clamp down on extremist influences in places such as charities and universities. The community's Secretary Steve Reid has told Times Radio that language is key. It's very important where you've got people coming into the country. They should be supported to learn English, first of all, because that's in their own interests. It helps people get a job.

3:08It helps people integrate with society. If you're a woman and you're being subject to domestic abuse, for instance, and you can't speak English, you're isolated and you can't find support. And 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.

3:53PwC turns innovation into implementation so you can accelerate from experiment to scale. Discover more at pwc.co.uk.

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