the times | Monday June 29 2020 2GM 7
News
Times Radio will provide company and
intelligent conversation for the
millions of Britons working from home
during the pandemic, according to the
station’s programme director.
The new digital speech station went
live at 6am today, with a schedule
including Aasmah Mir and Stig Abell,
the breakfast show co-presenters, plus
Mariella Frostrup and John Pienaar.
It is the first time that a British news-
paper group has launched a news and
current affairs radio station.
Tim Levell, the former BBC execu-
tive recruited to run Times Radio, said
he hoped that listeners would find it
“warm and welcoming”. Radio had
“come into its own” during coronavirus,
he said, and Times Radio, which is free
of adverts, would offer a daily sound-
track for those working from home.
He added: “What’s so special about
radio more than any other medium is
back to 2006 when he acted as a guar-
antor for the debts of Global Ispat
Koksna Industrija Lukavac (Gikil), a
Bosnian producer of coke used in steel
making.
He was pursued by Stemcor, which is
based in London and is one of the
world’s largest steel trading companies,
when Gikil failed to repay $166 million
of financing in 2013.
Stemcor later hived off its non-trad-
ing businesses, including Mr Mittal’s
guarantee, into a separate company
called Moorgate Industries, which ob-
tained the bankruptcy order from
Judge Catherine Burton in the Insol-
vency and Companies Court.
Michael Swangard and Duncan
Lockhart, partners at the global law
firm Clyde & Co which represents
Moorgate Industries, said: “Mr Mittal’s
bankruptcy represents a significant
step forward for Moorgate in what has
been a long and arduous process to re-
cover significant monies owed to it bySAS medic
takes his life
after inquest
An SAS medic who saved hundreds of
soldiers’ lives has killed himself amid a
surge in armed forces suicides.
Staff Sergeant Jamie Ferguson, 36,
made a video moments before he took
his own life on June 18. He said: “I asked
for help but no one was listening. They
didn’t understand.”
Sergeant Ferguson, a veteran of mul-
tiple tours to Iraq and Afghanistan, shot
himself after making the recording at
the Leuchars military base in Fife.
His death was one of five military sui-
cides in a week. It is believed that since
the start of lockdown at least 14 serving
and former armed forces personnel
have taken their own lives.
His widow, Sammi, told the Sunday
Mirror: “My husband asked for help but
was ignored. The Ministry of Defence is
in denial over military suicides. How
many more need to die before the MoD
does something?”
Sergeant Ferguson, originally from
Leicestershire, joined the army at 16
and served for more than 20 years. Hewas a member of the Royal Army Medi-
cal Corps and served with the SAS
between 2008 and 2012. His last post-
ing was as a permanent staff instructor
at 205 Field Hospital in Dundee.
Mrs Ferguson, 50, said her husband
had been treated for an acute stress dis-
order. He developed the condition after
serving on an anti-poaching operation
in Malawi last May. During the mission,
Guardsman Mathew Talbot, 22, was
trampled to death by an elephant.
The incident was “super-traumatic”
for Sergeant Ferguson, his widow said.
She added: “The inquest had been
weighing heavily on Jamie. He wanted
somebody to say to him, ‘You did every-
thing you could, you couldn’t have done
anything more.’ ”
An army spokesman said: “Jamie’s
regiment and Police Scotland are fully
co-operating as they investigate the cir-
cumstances that led to his death. As this
is ongoing, it would be inappropriate for
us to comment further.”A £50m wedding, an arrest and
bankruptcy for Mittal brother
David Brown
Mr Mittal and several of his connected
companies.” The seizure of his assets
comes at a difficult time for Mr Mittal
following his arrest in Bosnia in July
last year as part of an investigation into
allegations of involvement in organised
crime at Gikil.
He was later released on €1 million
bail but the investigation continues.
The bankruptcy is likely to lead to the
appointment of financial experts to un-
tangle his international web of business
interests.
Paul Rouse, head of client services at
Mazars Restructuring Services, said:
“Creditors close to the bankrupt will no
doubt provide valuable insight to the
bankruptcy trustees to assist in the re-
covery of assets, which may be well pro-
tected by offshore trust arrangements
across the world.”
Richard Viegas, Pramod Mittal’s law-
yer, said that a “complex corporate ma-
trix” had led to the bankruptcy order
and he was pursuing an appeal.Lakshmi Mittal, second left, and his brother Pramod, far right, whose daughter Shristi had the world’s costliest weddingEDWARD LLOYD/ALPHA PRESSSergeant Ferguson
had been left
traumatised by the
death of a fellow
soldier on patrolBen ElleryA scion of one of Britain’s richest fami-
lies who spent £50 million on his
daughter’s wedding has been declared
bankrupt with debts of more than
£130 million, The Times can reveal.
Pramod Mittal, 64, appears to have
lost a fortune while becoming em-
broiled in an investigation into orga-
nised crime.
His family’s mansion in Mayfair, cen-
tral London, is a two-mile stroll across
Hyde Park from the £300 million home
of his older brother Lakshmi Mittal,
who is Britain’s 19th richest person with
an estimated fortune of £6.78 billion.
Lakshmi, 70, head of Arcelor Mittal,
the world’s largest steel maker, has
declined to bail out his brother despite
the damage that the news of his bank-
ruptcy will cause to their family name.
The siblings became estranged when
Lakshmi went against their father’s
wishes by splitting off the international
arm of the family’s steel empire.
A source said: “They are no longer
close and live separate lives. Lakshmi
does not see why he should be finan-
cially responsible for his brother. This
debt has nothing to do with him.”
Lakshmi Mittal was reported last
year to have helped pay off the bulk of
his brother’s £235 million debt owed to
an Indian government trading com-
pany. The repayment led to the Su-
preme Court in Delhi quashing all
criminal cases against Pramod.
Lakshmi dropped from 11th place in
the Sunday Times Rich List published
last month to 19th after his fortune fell
by an estimated £4 billion.
Pramod Mittal came to public
prominence with the ostentatious
nuptials for his daughter, Shristi,
in what was considered to have
been the world’s most expensive
wedding. A ceremony at the
National Museum of Catalan
Art in Barcelona in 2013 was
followed by three days of cele-
brations in the city for 500
guests with a 60kg wedding
cake and food cooked by a
Michelin-starred chef.
Costs surpassed the
£40 million bill for the
wedding of Lakshmi’s own
daughter, Vanisha, in
2004, which was held at
the Palace of Versailles
outside Paris and culminated in a
private performance by Kylie Minogue
set to fireworks launched from the Eif-
fel Tower.
The sibling rivalry has been com-
pared to the dispute between the broth-
ers in Britain’s second richest family,
the Hindujas, who have an estimat-
ed £16 billion fortune
Srichand Hinduja, 84,
launched a High Court action
in London this week against
his brothers Gopichand, 80,
Prakash, 75, and Ashok,
70, seeking an order that
a letter they had all
signed stating that
“assets held in any
single brother’s
name belong to all
four” has no legal
effect.
The origins of
Pramod Mittal’s
bankruptcy dateNationwide’s own data suggests that
people have been withdrawing larger
amounts of cash when they do visit an
ATM, as the coronavirus crisis has
continued.
In January and February, the average
withdrawal was just over £80. In March
it was close to £100 and between April
and June it was about £120.
Mark Nalder, head of payments at
Nationwide, said: “While we can’t
predict the future usage of cash after
the outbreak, we can expect to see a
steady rise in with-
drawals as we begin to
return to normal life.
“But what we do
know is that cash rep-
resents safety and
security to many, par-
ticularly in difficult
times.”Times Radio vows thoughtful approach
the intimacy that it gives, that connec-
tion it gives. Lockdown is still continu-
ing, although of course it’s easing, and
we want to be a fresh voice in people’s
ear, particularly those at home.”
The station is aimed at those who
may have been turned off other radio
networks by the febrile tone of political
debate. It will shun phone-ins and
unnecessarily adversarial interviews,
with a focus on informed expertise.
“The genesis of Times Radio was
around the time of the heat around the
post-Brexit maelstrom. It felt like the
public discourse was getting increas-
ingly polarised,” Mr Levell said. “We
feel that listeners want an intelligent,
thoughtful approach to the news.”
BBC executives have admitted that
presenters who repeatedly interrupt
guests during interviews are now the
biggest source of audience complaints.
New ideas include PMQs Unpacked, a
feature in Matt Chorley’s 10am-1pm
show. The live audio from the Com-mons will be paused after exchanges to
put the issues under debate in context.
Frostrup, Pienaar and Luke Jones,
who co-presents weekend breakfast,
Phil Williams and Carole Walker have
all been poached from the BBC.
Mr Levell said he hoped to win listen-
ers from a range of stations, plus those
who are out of the habit of radio-
listening entirely.
Times writers Giles Coren, Hugo
Rifkind, Rachel Sylvester and Alice
Thomson will host shows. Other
signings include Michael Portillo, the
former Conservative minister, Gloria
De Piero, the ex-Labour MP, and Cathy
Newman, host of Channel 4 News.
Times Radio is a partnership
between The Times, The Sunday Times
and Wireless, the News UK audio busi-
ness that also produces Virgin Radio,
TalkSport and TalkRadio. The station
will be available on DAB, online and via
smart speakers.
Cathy Newman gets tough, TimesMatthew Moore Media Correspondent
Lack of cash means third of
us haven’t seen new £20 note
Thirty-seven per cent of people say that
they have still not used one of the new
polymer £20 banknotes, the Nation-
wide Building Society has found.
The notes feature JMW Turner, the
artist, and were issued by the Bank of
England from February 20, about a
month before the lockdown started.
Reports have pointed to a decline in
use of cash during the lockdown, with
ATM withdrawals down generally
across the UK compared with last year
and stores encouraging cards. In April,
the contactless card
limit was raised
from £30 to £45.
More than 2,
people were ques-
tioned between
June 8 and 9 for
the building
society’s research.