Evening briefing Tuesday 25th 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 Evening Briefing on Tuesday 25th November. The Justice Secretary David Lammy is proposing that trials by jury should be scrapped except for the most serious cases including rape, murder and manslaughter.

0:47The Times has seen a memo in which the Deputy Prime Minister wrote to officials in all government departments this month to say there was no right to jury trials in the UK. He says the change is necessary to clear a backlog of cases. Former barrister Catherine Baxey is now a legal affairs journalist. She's told Times Radio this is an astonishing move from Lammy. In 2017, he did a report looking at the outcomes for black and minority ethnic defendants in the criminal justice system. In that, he found that jury trials were the only part of the criminal justice system which didn't exhibit racial bias.

1:24It was a success story. It really worked. Donald Trump's press secretary says there's been tremendous progress towards peace between Russia and Ukraine. Caroline Levitt says more talks are needed on a few delicate but not insurmountable details in the US president's plan. A Ukrainian official has told Reuters that Kiev agrees with the essence of the deal. French President Emmanuel Macron has welcomed what he calls a new impetus in negotiations. We should size this momentum, not because there is reason for alarm. Ukraine is solid, Russia is slow and Europe is steadfast. But because there is finally a chance to make real progress toward a good peace.

2:02The health secretary has announced the sugar tax will be extended to include pre-packaged milkshakes and lattes. The Treasury says sugar consumption by British children is more than double the recommended maximum. West Reasonings told MPs that obesity cost the NHS billions of pounds. We're expanding the soft drinks industry levy to include bottles and cartons of milkshakes, flavoured milk and milk substitute drinks. We're also reducing the threshold to 4.5 grams of sugar per 100 millilitres. Drinks made in cafes will not be affected. And the widow of England's legend, Graham Thorpe, is frustrated with the ECB's response after he took his own life last year.

2:44Amanda Thorpe believes Graham would still be here if he'd had residential care for his mental health sooner. Amanda says she met ECB leaders after Graham's death, but left in tears. I'm disappointed that they're not prepared to have any scrutiny or look back on or discuss even what they did, because they were just keen to ensure, to say, well, we didn't know, we haven't done anything wrong. In a statement, the ECB said it met Amanda to discuss her concerns, and Graham's death was examined by an inquest with full ECB support. That inquest did not criticise the way he was sacked. And you can follow The Times News Briefing on Spotify and listen live to Times Radio online.

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