Afternoon Briefing Tues 7th April

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 Tuesday, the 7th of April. The health secretary has strongly condemned the decision by the wireless festival to have Kanye West as a headliner this summer, despite his past anti-Semitic remarks.

0:48West Streetings told Times Radio that giving the rapper a platform is a very bad error of judgment and West cannot use mental health as an excuse. I would ask people to consider, does using bipolar disorder as an excuse to write and release a song called Heil Hitler and plaster it across T-shirts, Does bipolar disorder really justify that? Or is that an excuse to justify rotten behaviour? West has released a statement saying he would be grateful for the opportunity to meet members of the Jewish community in the UK in person to listen. The festival's promoters say his music is played on UK radio stations, but the Board of Deputies of British Jews says they should rescind an invitation they should never have offered in the first place.

1:30Tens of thousands of resident doctors in England have begun another series of strikes lasting six days. The NHS says the stoppages have cost hospitals more than£3 billion in three years. The medics are demanding pay restoration to 2008 levels. The health secretary West Streetcinct says they're being unrealistic, but Dr Jack Fletcher, who chairs the BMA's resident doctors committee, has told Times Radio that's not true. Nobody is asking for anything in one go with regards to pay. Nobody is asking for anything in one go with regards to training places. All we're asking for is a credible resolution to fix this jobs crisis that we have, where we're turning away tens of thousands of resident doctors, and we're also continuing to, basically now the health secretary is asking us to bake in more real-terms pay cuts, which we don't think is acceptable.

2:16Donald Trump's latest deadline for Iran to agree a peace deal runs out at 1am UK time tomorrow morning. He's threatening to bomb bridges and power plants. Iran has rejected a proposed ceasefire, saying there needs to be a permanent end to the war rather than a temporary one. Nicholas Hopton is a former UK ambassador to Iran. I think at the moment we're facing a potential lose-lose situation where if the US carries out the president's threat and escalates the war and the bombing and possibly even makes a ground invasion of some sort, the Iranians will retaliate and all of that will not lead to the Strait of Hormuz opening.

2:52And Reform UK has pledged to cancel foreign aid and block visas for countries which demand slavery reparations. The party's Home Affairs spokesperson Zia Youssef says it's not legitimate. It is a racket and we will not allow ethnic grievances to continue to be laundered inside this country. So what we have said is no more. Gone are the days when Tory and Labour governments have granted 3.8 million visas to nationals of the countries who are making these demands over the last 20 years. 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.

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