Morning briefing Thursday 21st November

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This is the Times Morning Briefing on Thursday the 21st of November. The Kremlin Intelligence Chief has warned of retaliation after British applied long-range missiles were reportedly fired into Russia. It happened days after President Biden gave Ukraine permission to use American ones on Russian territory for the first time. John Formans, a former defense attachator both Moscow and Kiev, has told Times Radio what reaction we might get from Russian President Vladimir Putin.

respond by ramping up even more attacks on Ukrainian cities to deter them from using these weapons. He could escalate laterally by using a weapon of a supply weapon to Russian clients and proxies elsewhere, that's in Africa, perhaps in Yemen, perhaps to Iran and North Korea. But he also ramp up his unconventional campaign of warfare against the West in a more cyber, more sabotage.

more about assassinations. As Russia's invasion continues, its claimed Ukrainian forces find themselves on the back foot. That's something the Times radio has put to Ukrainian MP Alexander Moreshko.

We're talking about the war of attrition. And in such kind of wars, wins. Not the biggest fighter, but the one who is ready to go to the end, who is determined to survive. And we're survivors. I have no doubt that no matter what, we will continue fighting because we don't have any other option. The other option is surrender and death.

Her aboard found the family of pandemic fundraiser captains Tom Moore made more than a million pounds through their association with the charity set up in his name. The charity's watchdogs found there have been repeated instances of misconduct by his daughter Hannah Ingram Moore and her husband Colin. The couple said they've been treated unfairly and have accused the charity commission of selective storytelling.

A push to make sure schools focusing on five core GCSE subjects, including scientists and maths, could be dropped. There are fears over a big fall in the number of pupils, taking things like music, drama and design. The consultation is part of a major review. It's a curriculum in England and closes on Friday. The Times' assistant news editor Francesca Marshall can tell us why the Education Secretary ordered it.

In this consultation, a concern is that the arts are being left out. And therefore, do we need to have a relook at this and see whether are we being too narrow? Are we forcing students to do something that potentially might not be what's the best fit for that? Donald Trump says he's sticking with Matt Gaetz as his nomination for attorney general when he returns to the White House. The congressional ethics panels found to agree on whether to release its reports into allegations of sexual misconduct made against Mr Gaetz. We're told the committee will meet again in December to discuss the issue.

And figures from the RAC show the number of pot hole compensation claims made to councils in Britain has more than doubled in a year to 20,000. The government says it's investing another £500 billion next year to end what ministers are calling the pot hole plague. Don't forget you can follow the Times News Briefing on Spotify and you can listen live to Times Radio online.

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