Evening briefing Friday 1st May

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0:36This is the Times Radio evening briefing for Friday the 1st of May. Green Party leader Zach Polanski has apologised to the Metropolitan Police over a social media post criticising the arrest of the suspect in the Golders Green stabbing. He says he shared the post in haste and hopes to meet Sir Mark Rowley. The Met Commissioner earlier told Times Radio he's fighting a pandemic of anti-Semitism and said his officers were dealing with a horrific situation. I need officers to feel they've got public confidence when they're doing things like that. Of course there's always going to be inaccuracies and sort of nonsense on social media, but I think when somebody influential puts something out there which is incorrect and can undermine the confidence of my officers to protect Londoners, they need to see that I'm supporting them to give them that confidence to carry on and do their job.

1:2045-year-old Esther Suleiman has been remanded in custody, accused of attempting to murder two Jewish men and another man on Wednesday. Meanwhile, convictions for race and religious hate crimes reached an eight-year high last year. The Ministry of Justice figures show they rose by 13 % to more than 6 ,000. More than two-thirds were public order offences, while 15 % involved violence against the person. Donald Trump has told reporters he's not sure a deal with Iran will be reached, as a new proposal to end the war is received by Pakistan. The US president again hit out at the leaders of Italy and Spain over their stance on the conflict and announced increased tariffs of 25 % on cars and trucks from Europe, claiming the EU has failed to stick to a trade deal.

2:00Here, the comedy writer Graeme Linehan has heard his conviction for damaging the mobile phone of a transgender activist overturned. After a two-day appeal hearing, a judge and two magistrates found they couldn't be sure the father Ted co-creator had caused the damage to the teenager's phone. Linehan spoke after the verdict. The decision of the court to throw out this case is very welcome, but it should never have got to court in the first place. There's been a troubling pattern of police forces around the country to believe trans rights activists time and time again, even when there's been overwhelming evidence that complaints have been made against gender critical campaigners in bad faith.

2:39Private landlords have expressed concerns as new protections for renters come in. Reforms in the Renters' Rights Act aim to give tenants in England more protection, including a ban on bidding wars for properties and fines for unjustified evictions. The Times senior property writer Martina Lees says it's the biggest change in 40 years. Back in the 1980s, the government created a system that basically pulled the state out of social housing to a large degree, subcontracted that to private landlords, and then over time made that business model less and less viable. And this is another layer of that.

3:13And there are some landlords saying, I've had enough, I'm leaving now. And the headmaster of Eton College has announced he'll step down in September. Simon Henderson has written to parents saying that after 12 years in the role it's the right time to hand over to someone else. The school's provost says the search for Eton's 72nd headmaster is now underway. You can follow the Times Radio News Briefing on Spotify and listen live to Times Radio online.

3:43This 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. Discover more at pwc.co.uk

4:48or just stop by. Grainger, for the ones who get it done.