Afternoon Briefing Thursday 31st 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 Afternoon Briefing on Thursday the 31st of July. Forty members of the House of Lords have written to the Attorney General saying that British recognition of a Palestinian state could breach international law.

0:46Among them are seven King's Councils, including Lord Panic, one of the UK's most respected lawyers. They say a state must have certain things, including a permanent population, a defined territory and a government. But Minister Gareth Thomas has told Times Radio it's more about politics than law. In the end, a recognition of another state is a political judgment. And over 140 countries have already recognized Palestine. And we're determined to do so in September if Israel does not end the violence in Gaza, agree to a ceasefire and agree to a lasting route towards a two-state solution and to no annexation in the West Bank.

1:27Ryanair wants the boss of the air traffic control provider Nats to resign after a technical fault grounded planes. While the issue did not last long, it did cause disruption into the evening with diversions and delays. Former pilot Emma Henderson has told Times Radio the airlines bear the brunt of glitches like this. Passengers don't look at the problem and say, oh, well, it's obviously air traffic control. It's not, you know, it's out of our control. They blame the airline and they say, you know, well, it's EasyJet's fault or it's BA's fault that they ruined my holiday. And that's damaging to brands.

2:01so airlines will not be happy about that and obviously will be wanting answers. Kamala Harris, the former US Vice President, has left the door open for a possible presidential bid in 2028. She says that after deep reflection she won't be running for Governor of California. David Charter is the Times' Assistant US Editor. It was thought that having been Vice President that really there were only two jobs that were possible for her left in politics. Remember she's been a Senator for California, she's been Attorney General of California And so the only two jobs left were a governor of the biggest state in America or another girl president.

2:37And sports cars may not be the route to a woman's heart. Research published in the journal Evolution and Human Behaviour suggests a man spotted next to a small hatchback, such as a Fiat Uno, might be more likely to get a date. Former Top Gear presenter Quentin Wilson has told Times Radio he agrees that driving a Ferrari or a Lambo is not necessarily cool. There's a group of men who are usually bald and fat and short who like to drive cars like this, but the rest of us, without those inferiority complexes, begin to look at them and see them as a little bit de classe, a little bit too Love Island.

3:12There's this hierarchy on the roads of what looks cool and what doesn't, and it's constantly shifting. You know, Range Rovers, once the vehicle of the country set, are now kind of, yeah, gangsters' cars. And you can follow the Times News Briefing on Spotify and listen live to Times Radio online.

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