Evening briefing Tuesday 4th November

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0:36This is the Times evening briefing for Tuesday the 4th of November. The pound has fallen to its lowest level in months and government borrowing costs have dropped after the Chancellor used a speech at Downing Street to pave the way for tax rises. Rachel Reeves told voters each of us must do our bit, promising to stick to fiscal rules. Conservative leader Kemi Baden-Ock called her words a masterclass in managed decline. David Smith is the Sunday Times' economics editor. If I was a betting person, I would think that income tax is going to go up. Income tax rates are going to go up probably across the board.

1:09And I think the pill will be sweetened by getting rid of the 5 % VAT on domestic energy bills. The brother of Southport attacker Axel Rudakubana has told a public inquiry he feared a family member would be killed as violent outbursts in their home escalated. Dion Rudokabana, who's in his mid-twenties, said the parents sought help from social workers. Earlier, a senior executive from the social media firm X said it would be tyrannical overreach to remove a stabbing video watched by the killer on the morning of the attack. Jurors have been asked to acquit the woman accused of stalking the parents of Madeleine McCann.

1:45The barrister says the Polish national Julia Wandel is a rather sad and pathetic young woman who gained nothing from approaching the family. Sir Alan Bates has agreed a compensation deal over his treatment in the post office IT scandal. The former sub-postmaster is understood to have received a seven-figure sum. The journalist Nick Wallace, author of The Great Post Office Scandal, told Times Radio the payout may be much higher than for other victims, including some who went to prison. No one would begrudge Sir Alan as leader of the Justice for Sub-Postmasters Alliance and being the one man who really pushed all this through from the start, from getting his just desserts.

2:19but it does suggest there might be some imbalances in the amount of compensation that is going to equally deserving people in this campaign. The BBC has been accused of doctoring Donald Trump's speech on the day of the Capitol riots in 2021. Claims in elite documents say footage was spiced together to make it look like the US president was calling for his followers to fight like hell when he in fact said they should demonstrate peacefully and patriotically. Michael Prescott, a former external advisor to the BBC, compiled a dossier. Danny Cohen is a former director of BBC television. He says the corporation has a structural liberal bias.

2:55I think what's happened with Mr Prescott is that he's witnessed over a number of years, he's been increasingly dismayed, not just by the failures, but by the reluctance and unwillingness of executives to address these failures and make change happen. The head of Britain's richest family, Gopachand Hindooja, has died at the age of 85. Heading the Sunday Times Rich List, the family owner Mumbai-based conglomerate that employs around 200 ,000 people. A spokesperson said he died after a long illness. You can follow The Times News Briefing on Spotify and listen live to Times Radio Online.

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