Morning briefing Friday 14th 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 This is the Times Morning Briefing for Friday the 14th of November. The Chancellor has abandoned plans to break Labour's manifesto pledge and increase income tax rates in this month's budget.

0:46Rachel Reeves had been expected to raise both the basic and higher rates of income tax, and as recently as Monday she hinted that the only alternative would be deep cuts to public investment. But the Financial Times has since learned that she's now abandoned those plans, amid fears they could anger both voters and backbench Labour MPs. The Financial Times political editor George Parker says the question now is how the Chancellor will fill her fiscal black hole, which is an estimated£30 billion. One simple answer is that you go for lots of smaller tax increases, including possibly on people's expensive homes, having additional council tax bans, for example, a gambling tax.

1:29You can go through a shopping list of things that raise bits and pieces of money along the way. And the Times is reporting she's also abandoned plans to impose a new charge on professionals, including lawyers and private doctors who use limited liability partnerships. Most resident doctors do not support the strike action that begins today, while the health secretary, West Streeting, says their union, the British Medical Association, is going against the wishes of its members. In a poll of BMA resident doctors by Cervantes, only 33 % said they agreed the five-day strike should go ahead, while 48 % said it should have been called off.

2:07Streeting wrote to union leaders last week offering a deal that would cover their members' exam fees and give them priority for jobs over foreign medical staff. The BBC has apologised to President Trump over the editing of a speech that appeared on Panorama last year, adding it was an error of judgement. But in a personal letter to the White House, the corporation's chairman, Samir Shah, said the BBC strongly disagrees that there's a basis for a defamation claim. US reporter Anita Powell says the BBC is, for the time being, ignoring Trump's demand for compensation. The UK and the US have very different standards for libel, different damages.

2:46And because this panorama show did not actually air in the United States on the commercial networks that we have available, there's a jurisdictional issue about whether this case could even be heard in the US. And of course the BBC's lawyers are aware of that. Mr Shah said the programme will not be broadcast again on any BBC platform. And a former lawyer from Ukraine has been named creator of the year at the UK and Ireland's TikTok Awards. I will guess your job in two minutes if I fail. You walk away and you never tell me what you do. Perfect, I'll be walking away. Welcome to the career ladder, Jordan.

3:17Thank you. Max Klimenko is the man behind the career ladder series in which passers-by stand on a ladder whilst he attempts to guess their profession. It's not a pretty job. No. Is it legal? Oh, yeah. Hearts? Yes, they're beating when they start and then I make them not beat and then they beat again later. You can either stay mysterious or tell the camera. I'm a cardiovascular profusionist. Look it up. Klimenko claims it's the most popular non-animated show in the world. You can follow the Times News Briefing on Spotify and listen live to Times Radio online.

3:54This 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 you've got social dialed in search is doing its thing so why do your marketing results look the same as six months ago that's because you're fishing in the same pond as everyone else.

4:45Podcast listeners are a different audience entirely, more engaged, harder to reach through traditional channels, and ready to act when someone they trust makes a recommendation. We're Acast, and we put them right in front of you. Browse thousands of the world's leading podcasts, book host reads or run your own ads, and track every conversion in real time. Same skills you already have, brand new results. Acast. Acast.com slash advertise.