Daily briefing Sunday 23rd November

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 Daily Briefing on Sunday, the 23rd of November. Rachel Reeves is preparing to axe the two-child benefit cap in her budget on Wednesday.

0:43The Sunday Times says she'll allocate£3 billion to the policy. The Chancellor's also expected to freeze income tax thresholds for an extra two years to 2030. A poll by More & Common suggests two-thirds of Britain's would rather she cut spending. The Sunday Times' economics editor David Smith says lots of speculation in the lead-up to the budget has damaged the economy. It is frozen activity in the housing markets. People have been unwilling to trade up because they fear that there's going to be a hit in terms of new council tax bans at the top of the range. So many different measures appear to have been considered.

1:19It may be that they were never really seriously considered, but I think the idea that anything is possible has really undermined confidence and has contributed to the slowing of the economy over the past few months. National security advisors from Britain, France and Germany are meeting US and Ukrainian officials in Geneva to discuss a 28-point peace plan for Ukraine. It involves Ukraine losing its eastern Donbass region and cutting the size of its military. Donald Trump has said it's not the final offer. There are suggestions that this is a Russian plan that's been lifted by the US. Alexander Kara, a former Ukrainian diplomat, has told Times Radio he thinks that idea is credible.

1:56It clearly was written in Russian and badly translated into English. I haven't seen any input from the American side. This plan goes against the long-standing policies of the United States, not just of the Trump administration himself. And I'm talking about the Pompeo declarations that didn't recognise the illegal annexation of Crimea. Dutch police say that officers in the West Midlands used false intelligence to stop Israeli football fans from attending a match against Aston Villa in Birmingham earlier this month. In a confidential report, West Midlands police detailed violence when Maccabi Tel Aviv played Ajax in Amsterdam last year.

2:32But Dutch officers say the claims were incorrect. Elliot Ludwig is a professor of psychology and a Jewish Aston Villa fan who attended a meeting with police about the game against Maccabi. He's told Times Radio he has serious concerns. There's a Justice Ministry report from Holland which lays out a chronology hour by hour of what happened in Amsterdam that week. and it bears almost no resemblance to what was either in the West Midlands report, the West Midlands police report, or what they told us at that meeting on October 20th. West Midlands police says it conducted a thorough assessment. And consumption of fresh veg has dropped to the lowest level in 50 years.

3:09The Environment Department tracks the consumption of 5 ,000 households. It's discovered we're eating about 80 % less cabbage than we did in the mid-1970s. Dietitian Nicola Ludlam-Rain has given Times Radio some useful advice. Frozen vegetables and fruit actually contain more nutrients than the fresh equivalent. So that's a top tip. You know, is it smoothies? Is it serving just some peas alongside? Is it adding some spinach to an egg dish? And you can follow The Times News Briefing on Spotify and listen live to Times Radio online. This episode of The Times Radio News Briefing is sponsored by PwC.

3:46AI 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. Every morning throughout the World Cup, the game football podcast from The Times and Sunday Times will bring you your essential daily briefing.

4:30We'll hear from our reporters inside the England and Scotland camps bringing you the big news first. We've got reporters covering the best of the rest and following all the biggest stories. From FIFA banning water to Donald Trump coming on as a sub against Paraguay. OK, maybe not the last bit, but who knows? So join the game for the biggest show on earth. Find the game wherever you get your podcasts.