Morning briefing Wednesday 20th 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 news briefing on Wednesday 20th May. Ministers could ask supermarkets to freeze the price of essentials, including milk, eggs and bread, as part of efforts to minimise the economic impact of the war in Iran.

0:48In exchange, regulations on things like packaging and healthy foods could be lifted. Times Radio Newsroom reporter Olly Cole says ministers are trying to ease pressure on households. The Treasury is going to set out a bunch of measures that they hope is going to ease the cost of living, things like full duty, things to help on energy costs. Now the supermarket stuff isn't necessarily going to be part of that package, but it is being mauled over by the Treasury. Something similar has happened in Scotland pretty recently. Sakhir Starmer's allies are predicting he could still be in Downing Street come the new year.

1:21They've told the State of It podcast there are still a number of obstacles stopping Andy Burnham taking over. Not only would Mr Burnham need to win the Makerfield by-election, he's claimed he'd have to wait until after a vote on who replaces him as Mayor of Greater Manchester. Patrick Maguire presents the podcast. People close to Keir Starmer are under the impression or have been given the message by Andy Burnham's people that no, Andy is going to lead the campaign to that and prove that an Andy Burnham campaign is capable not just of winning in Makerfield, but Andy Burnham at the forefront of the campaign for the Greater Manchester Merrill T can win it with Andy Burnham's backing.

1:58Then we've got Labour Party conference. The PM has continued to resist demands to set out a timetable for his resignation. It's thought around half a million children in England have ended up in A &E over the last six years in mental health crisis. Research has been carried out by the Royal College of Nursing, which says it's evidence of a catastrophic system-wide failure. The government says its mental health strategy, out later this year, will focus on earlier intervention. Arsenal fans have been celebrating their first Premier League title in more than 20 years. Ahead of the final weekend of the season, Mikel Arteta's side can't be caught after second-place Manchester City were held to a 1-0 draw by Bournemouth.

2:37Times radio sports reporter Hugo Chombray has reflected on Arsenal's title win. They've had all sorts of critics this season about the way they play. They're too defensive. They've been dubbed set-piece FC because they only score goals from set-pieces and not from open play. But their fans, their team, their manager, they will not care one jot about the manner in which they've done this. They are the best team in the Premier League this year. No one can debate that. And it is claimed Times tables involving the number nine are the trickiest to do. A company that provides teaching materials has been looking at a quarter of a million answers from more than 300 ,000 children.

3:15The four that were answered incorrectly the most all had a nine in. The study found the easiest multiplication was 11 times eight. You can follow The Times Radio News Briefing on Spotify and listen live to Times Radio online.

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