Evening briefing Wednesday 18th 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. Welcome to the Times Radio evening briefing on Wednesday the 18th of February. At least seven UK police forces are now examining information contained within the Epstein files.

0:45Surrey Police says it's aware of a redacted report alleging human trafficking and sexual assaults on a minor in Virginia Water between 1994 and 1996. Police in Bedfordshire and in Essex are looking at flights into Luton and Stansted airports. And West Midlands Police are looking into flights in and out of Birmingham Airport. One woman is said to have links to Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor. Royal biographer Andrew Lowney has told Times Radio this is getting very serious for the royals and Andrew has no good option. Whatever he does, it doesn't look good, but that's a position he's been in for a long time.

1:16I think the royal family are in exactly the same position because they've talked about cooperating with authorities. I do hope they will. I'm not sure they have so far. I mean, I hope they will provide, for example, and insist that all the former protection officers give evidence. I mean, they haven't done so so far. We have the Hillsborough Law. There are all the equities, the valets, private secretaries who were involved in all these trips and would have seen things. Andrew has always denied any wrongdoing. Reform UK says it would restore the two-child benefit cap. The Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, said in her budget the cap would be scrapped from April.

1:50But Robert Jenrick, Reform's economic spokesperson, says if his party was in power, he would reverse that decision. The policy was well-meaning. We want to help British working families to have more children. But right now, we just can't afford to do so with welfare. So it has to go. As reformed shadow chancellor, I'm ending it. A reformed government will restore the cap in full. The Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, has described reform's stance as shameful. Ukraine's sports minister says Ukrainian officials will not attend the Winter Paralympics because organisers are allowing Russian athletes to compete.

2:31The International Paralympic Committee announced yesterday that Russia and its close ally Belarus will have athletes competing under their own flags at the upcoming Games in Milan-Kortina. Kirstie Kaujelaid was the president of Estonia between 2016 and 2021 and now heads up its Olympic Committee. She's told Times Radio she will protest this decision. We will not be participating in the opening ceremonies, etc. And I am myself not going to Paralympics neither now. So competing, but staying within the legal framework, not breaking the rules, indicating that we are not happy with this situation, be it with Ukrainian callers or otherwise, is possible and I think is better.

3:11So no boycotting, you could call it trolling. And you can follow the Times Radio News Briefing on Spotify and listen live to Times Radio online.

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