Evening briefing on Tuesday 12th August

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 This is your Times Evening Briefing on Tuesday 12th August. Conservative peer and former Immigration Minister Lord Kirkhope has told Times Radio the use of rhetoric such as smash the gangs is a very, very dangerous thing to deploy.

0:48Figures published by the Home Office today show 474 people crossed the channel yesterday in eight small boats, meaning a total of 50 ,000 migrants have crossed since Sir Keir Starmer became Prime Minister. The Conservatives say Labour's plan is nothing more than a slogan. Lord Kirkhopes says the choice of words is very important. I have criticised my own party in the past when in government. I believe actually that usually if you show that you're doing something and you're effective in that and you do it calmly but with determination, then people tend to come round and we avoid what we have seen, which is not only rhetoric from my own party, but I'm sad to say now a growing level of rhetoric from the government and, needless to say, from all the more extreme parties in this country.

1:36Official figures show the UK labour market is cooling down following pressure from the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves ,'s higher payroll taxes. Data from the Office for National Statistics show average weekly earnings, including bonuses, rose by just 4.6 % in the second quarter of the year, which is down from 5 % in the previous three-month period. Fellow associate at the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, Fergus Jimenez England, explains what the figures mean. I think it is true that the high-kin employer NICs earlier this year has had a dampening effect on hiring activity. We're seeing vacancies fall and the unemployment rate rise over time.

2:12But I think a separate question is whether it's an outright deterioration we should be worried about. I would rather interpret today's data and indeed the data preceding it as consistent with a gradual calling. The Unite Union has announced baggage screeners at Gatwick are to strike over the late August bank holiday weekend. Workers will walk out from the 22nd to the 26th of August and again from the 29th to the 2nd of September. It's in a row over pay. Thousands of people will be getting free weight loss jabs as part of a new£85 million government deal with the manufacture of Manjaro. Ministers have announced a partnership with the American drugs giant Lilly.

2:49As part of this, pilot schemes will be launched to increase access to weight lost drugs, including allowing high street pharmacies to prescribe them on the NHS. Wildfires are burning across southern Europe. Around 1 ,000 troops are helping emergency crews battle flames in Spain, with thousands of residents and tourists evacuated from their homes. There have been fires too in Portugal and Greece, while planes are dropping water onto the slopes of Italy's Mount Vesuvius. Team GB have triumphed as they dragged Switzerland into the dirt to take the gold medal in tug-of-war. Victory for the men's team came at the World Games held in China.

3:23The team itself is flying home and Alan Knott from the Tug of War Association says the mood is jubilant. It's the biggest thing they can win in Tug of War. The World Games is sort of the pinnacle for us. It's the one step below the Olympic Games. It's sort of the stepping stone for a lot of sports to go up to that in the future. So, you know, in the past you've had rugby sevens and they sort of speed climb and have been in the World Games in the past. So, you know, we're hoping that one day we'll be back up there again with them. And you can Follow the Times News Briefing on Spotify and listen live to Times Radio online.

3:56That's your Times Evening Briefing on Tuesday the 12th of August.

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