Morning briefing Thursday 20th 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

0:36This is the Times Morning Briefing for Thursday 20th November The presence of a Russian spy ship off the Scottish coast, which used military-grade lasers to try and blind RAF pilots tasked with surveilling it, ushers in a new era of hard power. That's according to Defence Secretary John Healy. The Yantar, which is a vessel previously suspected of mapping and sabotaging undersea cables, is being tracked after spending more than a week in UK waters. Russian embassy officials claim the country isn't interested in British underwater communications but John Luff who is a former NATO representative to Russia says the purpose of the ship's positioning is clear.

1:16Its role is pretty well understood it's also been in the Baltic Sea quite recently and for some reason it's chosen now to alight on the UK so the the fact that lasers have been used on this occasion. This is unprecedented, we understand. It does signal that the Russians in some ways are trying to, I think, increase the temperature. Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper has called the Russian action deeply dangerous. US President Donald Trump has announced he's signed a bill ordering the release of all files related to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Trump previously opposed releasing the files, but changed course last week after facing pushback from Epstein's victims and members of his own party.

1:59The bill requires the Justice Department to release all the information from its Epstein investigation in a searchable format within 30 days. The Times can reveal transgender people could be banned from single-sex spaces based on what they look like according to new Equality's guidance. Written by the Equality and Human Rights Commission, the guidance was handed to ministers almost three months ago but has so far not been published. The Times has been passed a copy by Whitehall figures who are concerned that Labour is delaying publication to avoid a potential political backlash. Fiona McEnany works for Sex Matters, an organisation which campaigns on what it calls sex-based rights.

2:38When we see this guidance, I hope it will be clear that all that the EHRC are doing is saying, let's follow the law as the Supreme Court clarified it, and let's have a return to common sense and let's respect one another's boundaries. The Trump administration has proposed that Ukraine halves the size of its army, surrenders the Donbass and gives up its most powerful weapons after secret talks in Miami between US and Russian negotiators. Steve Witkoff, the president's special envoy, hosted his counterpart for three days in Florida at the end of October to discuss a 28-point peace plan. David Lawler broke the story for US political website Axios.

3:17If this is a serious plan, if this moves forward, I have a very hard time seeing the Ukrainians or in fact their European backers agreeing to that piece of the deal, that it would be a smaller and weaker Ukrainian military after the war. In the latest turbulence surrounding Starmer's leadership, one Labour MP has suggested he would be prepared to give up his seat to let Andy Burnham challenge for position of Prime Minister. Clive Lewis said he was willing to put country before party, party before personal ambition, as discussions about a change of leadership have intensified. Burnham, who is the mayor of Greater Manchester, made pointed criticisms of Number 10 and the Treasury before the Labour conference in September in what were seen as overtures for the top job.

3:59However, he's prevented from standing for the leadership because he's not an MP. Clive Lewis's thought was dismissed by former Labour advisor Matthew Lazzar. The idea that Andy Burnham is going to go 250 miles from Manchester to Norwich, be parachuted in, presumably if he's ever been there, been there on a day trip once and suddenly become an MP in Norwich, it's just dark. And about half of published novelists in the UK fear that artificial intelligence will replace their work entirely. That's according to a report by Cambridge University researchers who surveyed more than 250 published novelists on condition of anonymity.

4:3759 % of them said that they know their work has been used to train AI large language models without permission or payment.

4:49This 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 Frustrated with spending hours on AI outputs that don't feel like your brand?

5:34Active Intelligence 2.8 from Active Campaign keeps you from sounding like everyone else. Describe your tone, your rules, and your brand once. And Active Intelligence builds every email and campaign for you with on-brand images and content that sounds like you wrote it. Marketers are saving 10 hours every week and getting campaigns they're proud to put their name on. Import your brand in seconds at activecampaign.com slash AI.