Daily Briefing Sunday 19th October

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. Hello, this is your Times Daily Briefing for Sunday 19th October with me, James Kitchen. The former Conservative leader, Cian Duncan Smith, has accused the government of being obsessed with China in its pursuit of growth.

0:45It comes as the Sunday Times has revealed one of the suspects in the Chinese spy case was carrying a suitcase full of cash when he was intercepted at Heathrow. Christopher Berry was discovered with£4 ,000 when he was stopped by police under terrorism laws at the airport in 2023. The evidence was due to be presented by the prosecution in the trial that collapsed last month, triggering a political scandal. Speaking to Times Radio Breakfast, Sir Ian, who's co-chair of the Interparliamentary Alliance on China, branded the government's approach dangerous. It's becoming a kind of farce, really, when you get down to it.

1:17It's a dangerous farce. And the problem is China poses the most significant threat of any other country in the world, and that's been borne up by MI5. Yet this government seems intent on dismissing all of that and simply saying we have to, have to, have to have an arrangement with China. Meanwhile, cyber security experts are warning Beijing has harvested personal data belonging to every British citizen. The Sunday Times' Dominic Hauschild says quantum computing could decode encrypted information instantly. What they can do is try every single possible password at the same time. It renders all modern encryption, the entire fabric of our online safety, entirely useless.

1:57Everything that is currently kept secret will be wide open to read. Now, a quantum computer, that advance hasn't been created yet, but scientists are working hard at it. So what China has done with this recent hack is gather up all our data with the hopes that one day soon their quantum computers will be able to crack that encryption. The Prince of Wales is to ban Prince Andrew from all aspects of royal life in the future, including barring him from the next coronation. The Sunday Times reveals William considers Andrew a reputational risk to the monarchy and will take a more ruthless approach when he's king, marking the end of any royal presence for his disgraced uncle.

2:35It follows Andrew's decision to renounce his titles after his links to the convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein threatened to overshadow his brother Charles' reign. The royal historian Dr Ed Owens told Times Radio Prince William is more in tune with public opinion. I think he's recognised since 2019 in that disastrous Newsnight interview that the reputational damage to the monarchy is significant and Prince William is very attuned to how younger people feel about the institution, how younger people feel about the monarchy and he will recognise that there has been a subtle but nevertheless significant shift downwards in terms of public support for the monarchy and part of that story is the story of Prince Andrew.

3:13The bodies of two more hostages who had been held in Gaza have been returned to Israel. The Israeli military says one of the bodies has been identified as Ronan Tommy Engel who was killed during the October 7th attacks. The handover means the remains of 12 out of 28 hostages who died in Hamas captivity have been transferred out of the Strip. Israel is warning the Rafa crossing will not reopen until all are returned. And millions of people have taken part in huge rallies across the United States in protest at Donald Trump's policies on immigration, security and education. The Republican Party dismissed the No Kings demonstrations as Hate America rallies.

3:52Neil Stanich is the White House columnist at The Hill. The idea that this is some militant hard left fringe, I don't think passes muster at all. The sheer number of people makes it hard to dismiss. And it is a sign of mass resistance to the Trump agenda. And for a president whose political persona is so much built on the ideas of strength and dominance, having millions of people in the street protesting against you is a political problem. And remember, you can follow The Times News Briefing on Spotify and you can listen live to Times Radio Online.

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