Morning briefing Thursday 28th May

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 Radio Morning Briefing on Thursday 28th May. The US military says it shot down several drones and struck a control site in southern Iran.

0:45It was after identifying what it calls a direct threat to its forces and commercial shipping. An American official says the defensive and limited attacks happened near Bandar Abbas, close to the Strait of Hormuz. They insist the aircraft did not hit any military or civilian targets. It comes after the US dismissed reports from Iranian state media of a draft deal with Tehran as a complete fabrication. Fa 'az Gergez is Professor of International Relations at the LSE. Iran is proceeding very cautiously because they don't trust President Trump. And also Iran, it has all the time in the world where President Trump really wants a settlement as soon as possible.

1:31So the Iranians are prolonging the pain while President Trump really is pushing very hard. The UK faces a lost generation unless urgent action is taken on youth unemployment. A government review warns the number of young people not in work, education or training could hit 1.25 million within five years. It's currently just under a million. The report says entry-level jobs are disappearing and claims anxiety linked to social media is also keeping more under-24s out of work. Potential Labour leadership candidates Andy Burnham and Wes Streeting have responded to Sir Tony Blair's criticism of the party.

2:14Andy Burnham accused the former PM of failing to understand modern politics, while Wes Streeting said he had failed to recognise the role inequality played in driving political instability. Many Labour members have welcomed Blair's intervention, saying it has stirred much-needed debate, among them Ed Owens, CEO of ThinkLabour. Debate, I think, is important. I think it's important that these things are aired. I don't disagree. I think Andy and Wes make good points that fundamentally the issues that Tony's article didn't deal with around tackling equality is really important. Ahead of a four-day strike next month, the BMA has said such action is effective at bringing the government to the negotiating table.

2:59Dr Jack Fletcher is chairman of the BMA's Resident Doctors' Committee and said doctors were being lost to other countries because they're not valued. The new health secretary has said another pay increase at the moment is unrealistic. Former Health Trust chairman Roy Lilly says the NHS is getting better at dealing with strike action. Now, James Murray, the new secular state, is former Treasury. Now, does that mean that he will stick to the Treasury line? Or does it mean he knows the Treasury well enough to find maybe some money somewhere or other to bring this to an end? And as far as the waiting lists are concerned, well, I never thought I'd hear myself say this on the air, but the NHS is getting very good at managing strikes.

3:45Thousands of people in Kent are being told to only use water for essential purposes because of supply problems in the hot weather. Southeast Water says around 18 ,000 customers are still facing interruptions and low pressure because demand has surged. The company says it's pumped more than 660 million litres across the region and has set up bottled stations for affected residents.

4:18This 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.

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