Afternoon briefing Tuesday 17th February

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 Radio afternoon briefing on Tuesday 17th February. The American civil rights leader Jesse Jackson has died at the age of 84.

0:43He was a protégé of Martin Luther King and was the last person to speak to him after he was shot, cradling him as he lay dying. He was ordained as a Baptist minister and went on to have a career in politics, twice running to be the Democratic candidate for president. Here he is launching his first run in 1983 as captured by CNN. Blacks, women, Hispanics, workers, Indians, Chinese, Filipinas, we must come together and form the Rainbow Coalition. We need each other. His career was not without controversy. In 2001, he admitted he'd fathered a love child in an affair. He also took it upon himself to go on unauthorised diplomatic missions, negotiating prisoner releases with Saddam Hussein, Fidel Castro and Slobodan Milosevic.

1:30Jesse Jackson's family say he left an indelible mark on history. Unemployment hit its highest level in nearly five years in the three months to December. It was at 5.2%, up from 4.2 % when Labour took power. Dominic O 'Connell is Times Radio's business correspondent. The big picture is that the labour market was already pretty flat and now it's starting to contract, probably at a faster rate than was expected. So the unemployment rate is getting worse. It came in at 5.2%. So that 5.2 % is the highest unemployment rate we've had in five years. Wage growth is still running slightly ahead of inflation.

2:07The government says there is more to do, but the Conservatives say it shows Labour to be a zombie government. Geneva is playing host to two sets of negotiations today. US officials are having indirect talks with Iran, while Donald Trump's negotiators are also mediating talks between Ukraine and Russia. Nigel Farage has revealed the first four people he says would be in his cabinet if he were elected Prime Minister. The criticism over the last 20 months has been that we're a one-man band, to which I generally respond by saying, well, it's better than being a no-man band. But the time has come to broaden the party, to put in place people in shadow positions, and that process begins today.

2:50The Reform UK leader has made Robert Jenrick his Chancellor-in-waiting, while he says Richard Tice would lead a large new department encompassing business, trade, energy and housing. Zia Yousaf has been made the party's Home Affairs spokesman, with Suella Braverman running education policy. Meanwhile, Nigel Farage says a group of British Chagossians have landed back on the islands by boat 50 years after residents were evicted. He says they will not leave as part of a Reform UK-sponsored protest against the government's deal to hand sovereignty of the islands to Mauritius. The owner of Vauxhall is bringing diesel cars back to the UK.

3:25Stellantis, which also owns Jeep and Fiat, is transitioning away from electric vehicles, saying sales have lagged behind expectations. And the YouTuber and electronic artist Look Mum No Computer has been named as the UK's entry to this year's Eurovision Song Contest. Don't forget to subscribe to the Times Radio News Briefing on Spotify or listen live to Times Radio Online.

3:52This 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. PwC turns innovation into implementation so you can accelerate from experiment to scale. Discover more at pwc.co.uk.

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