Afternoon briefing Tuesday 9th 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. This is the Times afternoon briefing on Tuesday 9th December. A report has found British intelligence flew an undercover agent in the IRA on holiday using taxpayer money while ignoring his links to dozens of murders and abductions.

0:48Steakknife is widely believed to be Freddy Scappaticci, the head of an IRA unit which executed suspected informants. He died last year. Sir Ian Livingstone, who's led the investigation into Scappaticci, Operation Canova, says MI5 delayed his report. We may have completed this report far earlier had MI5 not discovered fresh material relating to steak knife in the spring of 2024. This morning, I would reiterate how shocked we were within Canova and how desperately disappointed we were to then explain to victims and families that we had not in fact received all relevant material despite past assurances.

1:29MI5 Director General Ken McCallum has offered his sympathies for those tortured and the families of those murdered. Women in maternity units are being ignored, feel blamed for failures in their care and are treated without empathy, according to the chair of a major review. Baroness Amos, who's investigating NHS services in England, says the situation is even worse than she expected. Donna Ockenden previously chaired a review into maternity services and she told Times Radio we wouldn't be here if her recommendations were listened to. We had a blueprint for maternity safety in March 2022, fully endorsed by government and actually by the Labour Party.

2:05Thousands of families and all of the professional associations and here we are three and a half years down the line and really we're not that much further forward. The Health Secretary, Wes Streeting, says it's deeply distressing. An Afghan national has been charged with raping two 14-year-old girls in Bolton. Sultani Bakatash, who's 28, is accused of contacting them online first. The head of NHS Providers, which represents hospitals in England, has told Times Radio people should wear a mask if they have a cold to stop flu spreading. Daniel Elkhaliz's warning comes as hospitals estimate 5 ,000 to 8 ,000 beds could be taken up with flu every day next week.

2:45Dr Rosemary Leonard is a GP in London. There is a problem on NHS services and it does mean if we have people being admitted for flu, other people, possibly those waiting for urgent operations for cancer, may get postponed. I mean, certainly the NHS is under huge pressure. We, as a GP surgery, I know I'm in for one hell of a day. Ukraine's planning to present its revised peace proposals to the White House. Volodymyr Zelensky has met the Pope in Rome this morning and is meeting Italy's Prime Minister. It's after talks with Sir Keir Starmer and the French and German leaders in London yesterday. And NVIDIA's shares have risen after Donald Trump says he will allow it to export its second-best AI chips to China.

3:25The US government will collect 25 % of the fee from every sale. Officials say it'll limit the advantage of Chinese chipmaker Huawei. Don't forget you can subscribe to The Times News Briefing on Spotify or listen live to Times Radio online.

3:55but 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