Evening briefing Tuesday 17th February

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 The Times Evening Briefing for Tuesday, the 17th of February. Reform UK pledged to repeal the Equality Act on day one of their government as Suella Bravman and Robert Jenrick were unveiled in what Nigel Farage has called his shadow cabinet.

0:49They'll be covering the economy and education respectively, with Bravman announcing a target of 50 % of young people going into trades rather than university. Labour says they failed Britain before, they'll do the same again. Reform UK board member Gawain Towler was asked on Times Radio whether appointing a whole host of ex-conservative cabinet ministers is a problem for an election. I think they're attracted to a party that seems to know what it's doing and has an idea and wishes to go forward. One of the great problems with reform has been personnel and policy. Those are the two main things.

1:19Well, on personnel, there's always been this feeling, and I think Nigel picked it up in the press conference, if he was hit by a bus, that'd be it, game over. That's no longer the case. Donald Trump has described Jesse Jackson, the civil rights leader, Baptist minister and Martin Luther King Jr. protégé, as a force of nature who truly loved people following his death aged 84. Trump also claimed that Jackson could not stand Barack Obama, whose election in 2008, says Trump, owed much to Jackson without acknowledgement or credit from Obama. Times radio Sir Trevor Phillips, who made a film about Jackson, was asked his thoughts.

1:53It's unnecessary. It is probably not untrue. America's had two kinds of black leaders. One is what they call the challengers. Agree to my demand or I'm going to make your life hell. And the other type are the bargainers. Jackson is one, Obama is the latter. Obama said to young black men, pull up your trousers, sort yourself out. I think that would have rankled with Jackson. It would have been kind of the bigger problems, whether the guys dress properly or not. Jackson ran twice as the Democrat presidential candidate. His family says he was a servant to the oppressed, the voiceless and the overlooked around the world.

2:30Iran's foreign minister claims the path to deal has started following nuclear talks with the US in Geneva. However, for progress to be made, Tehran insists America must drop the threat of using military force. The US has sent a battle force to the Middle East to press Iran to make concessions in the decades-long nuclear dispute. A high court judge has thrown out a legal challenge to the Metropolitan Police over its rule, making officers say if they're Freemasons. The judge said the policy is fair and meant to protect public trust by dealing with real or suspected bias. About 400 staff have already declared their membership.

3:04Goldman Sachs is understood to be planning to remove diversity criteria when hiring board members. The American Investment Bank is set to disregard factors including race, gender identity and sexual orientation when considering candidates to join its board of directors. And in cricket, Australia have been eliminated from the T20 World Cup after Zimbabwe's match against Ireland was washed out. It's the first time since 2009 they've been knocked out in the group stage. The amount of the match meant both Ireland and Zimbabwe took a point each. Prior to it, Australia needed Ireland to beat Zimbabwe for them to have any chance of reaching the Super 8.

3:38And you can hear more of these stories throughout the evening on Times Radio.

3:48This 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.

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