Afternoon briefing Thursday 11th December

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 Afternoon Briefing on Thursday 11th December. The number of people in hospital in England with flu has risen by 55 % in a week according to new NHS figures.

0:43Last week, an average of 2 ,660 flu patients were on wards every day. In 2023, it was just 402. The health secretary, West Streeting, says there's a tidal wave of flu tearing through our hospitals. The Times' health editor, Eleanor Hayward, says vaccines are available. A lot of people are eligible on the NHS, but you can also just walk into any pharmacy and book an appointment. I think there's quite high demand, but pharmacies are saying they've got enough stock, so you should be able to get an appointment. The BMA's Resident Doctors' Committee has accused the government of incompetence. Asked on Times Radio while they haven't called off a planned strike, especially when hospitals are being inundated with flu infections, Deputy Chair Dr Shivam Sharma gave this response.

1:24The government's kind of drove us to the decision by, honestly, their incompetence. Since the last strike ended, we wrote to the government and they didn't bother writing back for a couple of weeks. and instead you were seeing the health secretary out there on the radio calling doctors, juvenile delinquents, moaning meanies. It would have been really helpful if he was in the negotiating room doing a deal. It's claimed a new offer was made on Sunday morning with medics given only 24 hours to make a decision. Donald Trump has made a dramatic announcement about US action off the coast of Venezuela.

1:58We've just seized a tanker on the coast of Venezuela, a large tanker, very large. largest one ever seized, actually. And other things are happening, so you'll be seeing that later and you'll be talking about that later with some other people. According to Pam Bondi, the U.S. Attorney General, the tanker was being used in the illicit shipment of oil. In a video, at least six troops thought to be members of a U.S. helicopter squadron could be seen rapidly descending on ropes. Venezuela's accused the United States of piracy. And Labour MPs are being banned from pubs and restaurants across the country.

2:37It follows tax rises, particularly an increase in business rates. About 50 pubs have put up signs warning Labour MPs not to enter. The idea comes from James Fowler, who owns the Larder House restaurant in Bournemouth. He was asked on Times Radio if he voted Labour at the election. I did, yeah. They said they weren't going to touch our taxes or they weren't going to increase them and they've kind of completely done the reverse on it. And if you're not going to let them in the pub, I take it, you're not going to vote for them again? I'm not going to say that. They could always fix things and make things better.

3:04This is It's kind of, you know, how I feel where we are right now with the government that's running this country. And you can follow The Times News Briefing on Spotify and listen live to Times Radio online.

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