Afternoon briefing Wednesday 31st 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

0:36This is the Times afternoon briefing for Wednesday the 31st of December. Most Eurostar trains are running today following a day of chaos caused by a power failure in the Channel Tunnel. Operators warn of potential cancellations though as they try to clear a backlog of thousands of passengers. Hundreds spent the night on a powered down train just outside the tunnel in Kent. One of them was the journalist Francis Collings who told Times Radio it could have been much worse. It was rather too cold to sleep. And I've got to say, it was all very peaceful. There was no angst from anyone, but there were a lot of snorers in my carriage.

1:08So that kept most of us awake. I mean, I was expecting some of my, you know, French passengers to be slightly more demonstrative. But no, it was very even tempered. The Justice Minister has told Times Radio it's indefensible to have a member of Kemi Betoncq's shadow cabinet acting for Roman Abramovich. Lord Wolfson, the shadow attorney general, has been part of a legal team in a battle with Jersey's government over the former Chelsea owner's frozen assets. Abramovich was sanctioned over links to Vladimir Putin after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Jake Richards is the justice minister. It shows Kemi Baden-Ock's opinion and leadership is really weak.

1:46He just has to choose one or the other. He can perfectly, it's perfectly reasonable for him to represent Roman Abramovich. Or he can act as shadow attorney general, but he cannot do both. Kemi Bainock should take action. The fact that she's not is actually quite remarkable. There could not be a clearer conflict of interest. New figures show UK spending on investment is the lowest in the G7 at about 18.6 % of GDP. Our public spending is to rise by billions next year. The data for the three months to September shows private investment hasn't been boosted. Business groups are warning that investor confidence could weaken further from April.

2:21Consumers with gas boilers face an extra£30 charge on bills as part of plans to encourage the installation of heat pumps. It's part of a new warm homes plan expected to be announced by ministers in the coming weeks. The Times science writer Tom Whipple says adapting the grid for renewables will add further to costs. Ed Miliband is in a real bind. At the moment, we have almost the most expensive electricity prices in the world. What we really need is cheap electricity in order to make our roads to net zero cheap. And he's looking at all sorts of ways of doing that, but it's really hard. Police in Germany are searching for thieves who drilled into a bank vault over Christmas, taking around£26 million worth of cash and valuables from safe deposit boxes.

3:07Detectives say the heist in Gelsenkirchen was very professionally executed, likening it to the Hollywood film Ocean's Eleven. And New Zealand has become the first major country to enter 2026. I-O-E-U-I

3:27The fireworks display in Auckland came an hour after the remote Pacific nation of Kiribati welcomed in the new year. You can follow the Times News Briefing on Spotify and listen live to Times Radio Online.

3:41This episode of the Times Radio News Briefing is sponsored by PwC. 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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