Morning Briefing Wednesday 10th December

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 on Wednesday 10th December. I'm Daryl Jackson. It's understood the number of police forces in England and Wales could be reduced to as few as 12 under reforms being considered by the Home Secretary.

0:47The Times has been told that Shabana Mahmood has delayed the publication of a long-awaited plan for police reform because she wants to make bolder changes than previously planned. The merging of forces is designed to make the police more efficient and cost-effective. Victor Alissa, former commander in the Metropolitan Police, told Times Radio this would have far more benefits than disadvantages. You can really make a significant amalgamation and all the benefits that would bring in terms of removing false boundaries. You know, when we talk about operational activities like county lines, it will remove difficulties like vetting when officers move from one force to the other and some of them fall through the crack and the vetting is not done properly.

1:29You can increase facilities, you can increase fleet. There are lots and lots of advantages. Donald Trump's claimed that Russia is winning the war in Ukraine and says Kyiv should be prepared to play ball in peace talks. Bob Seeley, former Conservative MP who served on the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, told Times Radio that Russia is playing this very skilfully too. They know that they're demoralising the Ukrainians with these peace talks. They're trying to divide opinion here. They're dividing opinion within the United States. They're dividing opinion between the Trump administration and the European Union.

2:02and they're playing a very, very clever, very cynical game. It's about how you integrate military and non-military tools of conflict to drive your aims forward. A murder investigation is underway after a 15-year-old boy was stabbed in North London yesterday afternoon. Police were called to Islington along with paramedics who treated the teenager, but despite the best efforts of the medics, the boy died in hospital. Australia's ban on social media for under-16s has come into force, causing millions of children to lose access to platforms like Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. Several countries, including Denmark and Norway, have indicated they will adopt a similar ban.

2:39The UK government said it's closely monitoring Australia's approach. And there's another day of high winds and rain ahead, this time in Scotland, as Storm Bram continues to batter the UK. Yellow warnings for wind are in place across the country, with gusts of up to 90 miles per hour expected to hit the west and northwest coasts. John Hammond is a meteorologist and told Times Radio what is expected today. Those winds will continue to increase across the northwest of Scotland in particular until, well, beyond midnight. Admittedly, across the northwest highlands and islands, not that many people live here.

3:14There aren't many trees. So actually, the amount of disruption across this part of the world will probably be a lot less than it will be through the central bough of Scotland, for example. And you can hear more on all of those stories throughout the day over on Times Radio.

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