Afternoon briefing Thursday 8th January

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 Thursday the 8th of January. The Mayor of London's Asadiq Khan says he's never endorsed lower vetting at the Metropolitan Police after it was revealed a diversity panel let in more than 100 people who'd been originally rejected on safety grounds.

0:48The force started the panel after noticing applicants who were turned down were disproportionately from ethnic minority backgrounds. Times Radio's Nick Ellaby explains how some of those applicants then went on to be convicted of serious crimes including rape. The damning review has exposed vetting chaos at London's Met Police. Rejections were overruled 114 times. 25 of those recruits later committed crimes or misconduct. The decade-long review found drug use, violent attacks, skipped terror and reference checks and transfers barely scrutinised. The Home Secretary has ordered an inspection, branding it a dereliction of duty.

1:23Democrats have rejected the US government's version of events after a woman was shot dead in her car by immigration officers. Just to warn you, you may find this upsetting.

1:42That's from a video showing officers surrounding a car in the middle of a road. The car then reverses slightly and shunts forward before officers open fire. Donald Trump has argued the woman was viciously trying to ram the agent and says the woman you hear in that video is a professional agitator. But Minnesota's Democratic Governor Tim Walls says the president is intentionally in flaming tensions. What we're seeing is the consequences of governance designed to generate fear, headlines and conflict. It's governing by reality TV. And today that recklessness costs someone their life. The number of people in hospital in England with flu has risen slightly after falling for two weeks in a row.

2:19An average of 2 ,924 patients were in hospital each day last week, up 9%. NHS England also says there's been a sharp increase in the number of people waiting a long time in ambulances outside hospital. A man who threw a six-year-old boy off the tenth-storey balcony of the Tate Modern in London has been jailed for a further 16 weeks after attacking two nurses. Jhonti Bravery was found guilty of kicking and clawing at the faces of the nurses at Broadmoor Hospital. He's serving a life sentence at the high-security facility in Berkshire. The former Wales footballer and manager Terry Yorath has died at the age of 75 after a short illness.

2:56He won the first division with Leeds under Don Revy as well as playing for Coventry, Tottenham Hotspur and Bradford. His daughter Gabby Logan had to leave match of the day halfway through presenting last night's programme. And Ben Stokes wants to stay on as England's Test cricket captain despite disappointment at the Ashes. This morning Australia beat England by five wickets in the fifth Test so finished the series 4-1 winners. Stokes has insisted he completely backs the head coach, Brendan McCollum, who's the architect of England's risk-taking style of play, Baz Ball. I absolutely love working with Baz.

3:26He's a great man and he's a very, very, very good coach. There's more that goes on behind the scenes than he'll ever give away and than he'll ever let out. He's got my full support. Don't forget you can subscribe to The Times News Briefing on Spotify or listen live to Times Radio online.

3:46This 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.

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