Evening Briefing Friday 3rd April

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 Radio evening briefing for Friday the 3rd of April with me, James Kitchen. U.S. forces have reportedly rescued one crew member of a fighter jet that was shot down over Iran.

0:45The incident is the first known loss of a plane inside the country since the war began. It's understood the downjet is a two-seater F-15. The regime is offering a special prize for the capture of the other American pilot. Former U.S. Ambassador to NATO Ivo Dalda told Times Radio the incident cast out on American air superiority. The President and the Secretary of Defense and everybody else says that we, quote, own disguise. Apparently we don't own disguise enough to prevent a very advanced aircraft, an F-15, from flying over Iran without being shot down. Donald Trump has named his Vice President J.D.

1:22Vance as America's new fraud czar. Mr. Trump said his focus will be everywhere, but especially on what he called crooked blue states. White House correspondent at The Hill Julia Manchester told Times Radio the appointment gives Mr Vance a boost ahead of 2028. We do know that President Trump really likes Secretary of State Marco Rubio. And even though Rubio and Vance dismiss any idea or rumblings about there being a rivalry between the two of them, we do know that they are both arguably the two most popular rising stars within the Republican Party. So for J.D. Vance, this is something he can point to when making his case to voters.

2:02The former ASDA chairman has told Times Radio that universal financial support, including the pension triple lock, is unaffordable for Britain. Lord Rose said the government should support businesses grappling with surging energy bills by ditching the triple lock, a decision he described as a no-brainer. Everybody knows it's unaffordable. Everybody knows. And the only reason nobody wants to bite the bullet is because they know that he's not a vote winner. But I'm sorry that we've got to tell the public that some things we are going to do may not be vote winners, but we are doing this for the national good.

2:36We have forgotten what the importance of national good is in this country. Everybody is selfish, everybody only thinks of themselves, and everybody says as soon as any problem comes, government, you've got to help me. Police forces will be offered specialist support to deal with the rising level of threats against MPs. The National Police Chiefs Council says crimes against politicians have increased by 87 % since 2023. The Labour MP for Bishop Auckland, Sam Rushworth, received death threats. He told Times Radio Society needs to address the root causes of hate. I think there is a sort of dehumanisation of anybody who puts themselves forward to try to represent their community in Parliament.

3:17And I think across all parties, people will experience this, that the public have kind of wildly exaggerated views of what we earn. There's this sort of perception that we're all in it for selfish motives. The four astronauts heading to the moon have described their mission as a Herculean effort. They're now officially on their way after leaving Earth's gravitational pull. Former astronaut Colonel Chris Hadfield told Times Radio the main challenges are psychological. The decades of training so that you can understand everything about everything that could go wrong and then know what to do because often if there's any sort of failure the first thing you'll lose is communications with earth like they did for a while on the first day and so that's the huge task is the mental task it's it's physical it's just an extremely complex ride at the fair remember you can follow the times radio news briefing on spotify and you can listen live to times radio online This episode of the Times Radio News Briefing is sponsored by PwC.

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