Afternoon Briefing Wednesday 8th July

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 Wednesday 8th July. Donald Trump says he thinks the ceasefire with Iran is over.

0:43The U.S. attacked Iran overnight following strikes on ships in the Strait of Hormuz. Speaking at the NATO summit in Ankara, the U.S. president said it's a waste of time dealing with Tehran. We attacked very powerfully last night. We said, go and do your funeral stuff. And instead of that, they started shooting rockets at ships yesterday. And so we hit them very hard last night. Very hard. I would say 20 to 1, 20 times tougher. And I told them, every time you hit, we hit. And of course, they're dirty players, so they go after everyone, probably including me. I've been number one on their list for years.

1:23And they're a bunch of scum. You want to know the truth? They're scum. A senior member of Reform UK has told Times Radio the party is being attacked by the deep state. None of the other major parties say they will contest a by-election calls by leader Nigel Farage in Clacton in Essex. He's facing two investigations over gifts from wealthy benefactors and says he's done nothing wrong. The former Conservative Chancellor Nadeem Sahabi, now with reform, has been speaking to Times Radio. You know that actually what is happening is a deep state conspiracy to take Nigel down. What does that mean? And the way you stop that, at least it means illegal hacking.

2:01It means leaks of his personal information. It means part of the state actually deliberately behaving illegally and actually releasing information about Nigel, about Richard Tyson and others in our party to take them down because they feel so threatened by what is about to come, which is a reform government. Ofcom has fined Virgin Media£28 million for preventing or delaying customers from switching to another provider. The regulator says there were widespread practices at the company which caused undue difficulty for consumers. Times Radio's business correspondent, Dominic O 'Connell, explains the decision.

2:39Nearly 2 ,000 Virgin Media customers complained to Ofcom about problems cancelling contracts or changing their deal. An investigation found this was because of a deliberate policy. Virgin split its call centre staff into two groups, only one of which had the authority to make changes. On top of that, Ofcom found deliberate call dropping, excessive and unnecessary call transfers and putting customers repeatedly on hold. It's the second big financial penalty for Virgin in a year. Ofcom find it nearly£24 million in December for failing vulnerable customers in the switch from analogue to digital landlines.

3:17Temperatures in parts of the UK could be well over 30 degrees today as we go through the third heatwave of the summer. Forecaster John Hammond has been telling Times Radio what to expect. I think what we are going to see towards the end of the week is that the heat will be shunted further westwards. So for the likes of Wales and the south-west of England, this is where the peak of the heat could be come the weekend. Whereas for the London area, we'll get a refreshing breeze coming in from the north-east. So yeah, subtle changes in what's a general picture, as you say, of 30 degrees becoming the north.

3:46You 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. 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.

4:27Discover more at pwc.co.uk