Lewis, Jon and Emily have all been speaking to various Tory MPs either running the campaigns or voting in the leadership race. Together we work out what actually happened behind the scenes, and the buyers regret some are now feeling. Later, Yuval Noah Harari, author of Sapiens and now Nexus, on why information and truth are two completely different things. And lastly, the GetJimAJingle campaign reaps succulent rewards from our listeners. Editor: Tom Hughes Producer: Natalie Indge Digital Editor:...
Oct 10, 2024•38 min
It's very rare you see the News Agents speechless. But today is one of those rare moments. James Cleverly, Tory MPs favourite as of yesterday has just been knocked out of the leaders race by Kemi Badenoch and Robert Jenrick. You can hear from our voices, that we spend the entire episode trying to work out what on earth has happened. Did Team Cleverly's maths go wrong? Did MPs have a sudden change of heart over the direction of the party? And what does it mean for what happens to the Tory party n...
Oct 09, 2024•24 min
Elon Musk has linked up with Donald Trump on the campaign trail - visiting Butler Pennsylvania and speaking to the crowds on the very spot Trump was targeted by a sniper back in July. He's parroting the Trump lines - calling this the last election ever if Trump loses - and offering people 47 dollars to sign up swing voters in key states. Is it bribery? Is it legal? Does anyone care? Later, will Labour's recent fiasco push Reeves to be bolder in her budget? Will she choose to borrow billions to i...
Oct 08, 2024•38 min
Sue Gray's resignation might have come as a surprise to some but as rumours swirled about mounting hostility towards her inside Number 10, her departure was inevitable. So, what will her exit mean for Keir Starmer? And what does the latest shake up in No 10 reveal about the mood behind the scenes? And, 12 months on from the 7th October attacks in Israel, we ask whether we're any closer to peace in the Middle East? Editor: Tom Hughes Producer: Natalie Indge Digital Editor: Michaela Walters Social...
Oct 07, 2024•35 min
This week on The Sports Agents , Gabby & Mark asked former Chelsea talisman Frank Lampard for his thoughts on their current one - Cole Palmer - but is he the best player in the Premier League right now? Plus, Sam Burgess was among our guests as we explored whether the only way to save Rugby was to reunite the two codes! And after Liverpool's Ibrahima Konate questioned why he hadn't received the Player of the Match award last weekend, we explained how (and who) actually decides... Got a quest...
Oct 05, 2024•24 min
After eight years as North America Editor Jon returned home to the UK, but things weren't quite as he had left them. In his book, Strangeland, Jon recounts what it was like in the US, looking back to the UK - and the strange feeling when he returned home to realise that either Britain had changed, or he had. Lewis sits down with Jon to discuss just how much the British political landscape has changed over the past 10 years. Editor: Tom Hughes Producer: Natalie Indge Digital Editor: Michaela Walt...
Oct 04, 2024•36 min
The Labour freebies story “broke“ over a month ago. Yet last night whilst Keir Starmer was meeting with Ursula von der Leyen in Brussels he found himself fielding questions about what free stuff he was handing back after agreeing to repay 6k. Why is Labour being so weird about this? Does it tell us something more about labours naïveté? Or perhaps their unreadiness for government? Or is the media environment just a whole lot more complicated since they were last in power. Later, new documents hav...
Oct 03, 2024•33 min
Overnight nearly 180 missiles were targeted at Israel by Iran - revenge for the killing of Hizbollah leader, Nasrallah, last week. Western governments have offered their help to Israel - calling it an existential fight for survival. What will Israel do next? How long will their invasion of Lebanon go on? Is Russia involved and was the assassination of Nasrallah helped by an insider? All these questions...Luckily, Mark Urban is at hand. Later in the show, the Tories are wrapping up their conferen...
Oct 02, 2024•34 min
Overnight Israeli began its ground war in Lebanon. They’re targeting Hezbollah but inevitably ordinary Lebanese citizens will pay a heavy price. Iran, which backs Hezbollah, has said it may strike Israel in retaliation. How should western leaders respond to this escalation? And how can it end? We speak to Shadow Foreign Secretary, Andrew Mitchell. Later, have the Tories found their new Brexit? Why is Robert Jenrick promising that leaving the ECHR can solve immigration (it can’t)? And why aren’t ...
Oct 01, 2024•37 min
The Tories suffered their worst electoral defeat for a hundred and fifty years in July. So why are they so upbeat this conference? Today we introduce you to the four remaining candidates for party leader - frontrunner Robert Jenrick, Kemi Badenoch, James Cleverly and Tom Tugendhat - and ask the biggest question of all. Why does Liz Truss still believe she can save Western Civilization? Tickets are now on sale for The News Agents 'live on stage' at The Royal Albert Hall on Sunday December 1st. Bu...
Sep 30, 2024•36 min
This week on The Sports Agents , We were joined by an array of brilliant guests to assess Anthony Joshua 's shock defeat at Wembley and what's turning into a fierce rivalry between Arsenal and Man City . Later in the week, what finally feels like the end of the Everton takeover saga was in sharp focus. Gabby & Mark wanted to find out who the prospective new owners - The Friedkin Group - really are and why they've become so unpopular in Rome? New episodes every Tuesday and Thursday....
Sep 28, 2024•17 min
What is your biggest journalistic regret? Should a Prime Minister's spouse get an allowance? And what does 'middle class' mean in America? Thank you all for some BRILLIANT questions. The answers take us down some very strange alleys indeed... Tickets are now on sale for The News Agents 'live on stage' at The Royal Albert Hall on Sunday December 1st. Buy yours from Global Player at the link below. https://app.af.globalplayer.com/Br0x/7ggnmqw4 Editor: Tom Hughes Producer: Natalie Indge Digital Edi...
Sep 27, 2024•32 min
Keir Starmer has tried to shake off further accusations that he's indulged in freebies from a Labour donor by pointing out how many in the media do it too. What does this row tell us about the relationship between politicians and the public purse, and the part the media plays in creating that sense of injustice? Are we happy to hunt down every penny gifted - albeit publicly declared - in the quest for 'cleaner politics'? Or will we just invite comparisons that ANYONE in public life is 'all the s...
Sep 26, 2024•38 min
The Prime minister has arrived in New York and called on British citizens to evacuate Lebanon after Israeli missiles targetting Hezbollah left more than 550 dead in one day. Who are Hezbollah? Where did this war begin? We talk to the historian James Barr about the strange paramilitary army that is sewn into the society of Southern Lebanon. Later, Labour lose their first conference vote over winter fuel - UNITE union are triumphant. And... stay with us to the end for a special guest appearance. N...
Sep 25, 2024•27 min
Keir Starmer made an hour long speech with the one funny moment carefully tucked away 55 minutes in. It was the first conference speech from a Labour prime minister for 15 years, and the hall went wild for every mention of the victory they’d just witnessed. But after that? What was there? A promise from the Prime Minister to restore trust in politics again and make people see it as a force for good. Is the country in the mood to do that? We talk to health secretary Wes Streeting and look at the ...
Sep 24, 2024•35 min
As protesters were wrangled off the conference floor, The Chancellor reminded her audience they were not a party of protest but a party of power. They’re now IN power. But Labour’s timetable has created a vacuum into which bad headlines have been allowed to dominate. Are these early teething problems or does it tell us something more structural about a lack of vision? We talk to Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Darren Jones, and Tom Baldwin, Starmer's biographer. And we hear from Gary Neville on...
Sep 23, 2024•37 min
This week on The Sports Agents ... Ahead of the opening matchday of the new and extended Champions League , we were joined by UEFA vice secretary general Giorgio Marchetti and European Clubs Association CEO Charlie Marshall. They discussed the suggestion that players may need to strike over the ever-increasing number of games and why UEFA's recent letter to No.10 Downing St. was not a thinly-veiled threat to Keir Starmer's government and their plans to introduce an independent football watchdog....
Sep 22, 2024•16 min
Tickets are now on sale for The News Agents 'live on stage' at The Royal Albert Hall on Sunday December 1st. Buy yours from Global Player at the link below. https://app.af.globalplayer.com/Br0x/7ggnmqw4 On today's show Jon asks whether we're edging closer to the end of the war in Ukraine. Two and a half years on from Russia's invasion, President Zelenskyy is confident he now has a plan for victory. But how realistic is this? What might a peace deal look like? And how will the outcome of the US P...
Sep 20, 2024•26 min
Just two months on from the landslide general election and Starmer is having to field questions about the 100k worth of freebies he's received since 2019 and why his chief of staff, Sue Gray, is being paid more than the PM. The story it tells is of frantic briefing around the PM by disgruntled special advisors. Is this a problem he has to fix? Or can he ignore it? And can he withstand accusations of 'sleaze' after labelling the Tories with that for so long? We talk to the Starmer's chief of staf...
Sep 19, 2024•40 min
The attacks on Hezbollah operatives were as audacious as they were incredible. Yesterday, targeting four thousand potential terrorists remotely through their pagers. And further attacks today using handheld radios. But when the dust has settled, how will the world view this move? Was it justifiable? Or a breach of international law? What are the ethics of targeting so large a group? And was it a breach of Lebanese sovereignty? Jon and Emily talk to former Newsnight defence editor Mark Urban, and...
Sep 18, 2024•29 min
Donald Trump has blamed Kamala Harris and Joe Biden's rhetoric for the latest assassination attempt, calling them 'Marxist communists'. So how is the rhetoric changing in American politics? And is political violence on the edge of tipping over again? Later, Keir Starmer is cosying up to Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni. And Jon asks about those donations for the Prime Minister's wife's clothes. Tickets to see the News Agents Live on Stage at the Royal Albert Hall go on sale this Friday, Se...
Sep 17, 2024•28 min
It's the second attempt on Donald Trump's life in just two months, once again calling into to question the security services and the state of gun violence in America. But will this change the course of the US elections? And, why did JD Vance just admit to making up the story about immigrants eating cats and dogs in Springfield, Ohio? Editor: Tom Hughes Producer: Natalie Indge Digital Editor: Michaela Walters Social Media Editor: Georgia Foxwell Video Production: Rory Symon, Shane Fennelly & ...
Sep 16, 2024•26 min
This week on The Sports Agents, Gabby Logan and Mark Chapman are joined by former England rugby captain Will Carling to discuss the future of the game, Spencer Matthews pops by to chat about his successful challenge of running 30 marathons in 30 days and Executive Producer: Adonis Pratsides Senior Producer: Adem Waterman Video Producer: Sam Trudgill Social Media Editor: Calum Scotland Tom Hughes is Editor for The News Agents podcast network Vicky Etchells is the Commissioning Editor for Global&n...
Sep 15, 2024•24 min
It was the interview that shook the monarchy and saw the downfall of one of its most senior members. A brand new drama based on that interview, titled “A Very Royal Scandal” is set to be released on Amazon next week, so Lewis sits down with Emily to talk about Prince Andrew, the shockwaves it triggered, and the new drama. Editor: Tom Hughes Producer: Natalie Indge Digital Editor: Michaela Walters Social Media Editor: Georgia Foxwell Video Production: Rory Symon, Shane Fennelly & Arvind Badew...
Sep 13, 2024•47 min
Two days after former president Donald Trump claimed immigrants are eating cats and dogs, and babies are being executed after birth, Jon and Lewis discuss how deep-rooted conspiracy theories have become in American politics. They're joined in the studio by Gabriel Gatehouse, whose book 'The Coming Storm' delves deep into the world of conspiracy, to find out just how much it is dominating American political discourse. So why is America so pre-disposed to conspiracy? How will it affect the electio...
Sep 12, 2024•34 min
Donald Trump was either up early this morning or didnt go to bed at all after his encounter with Kamala. He appeared on Fox News as they were discussing last night's debate performance - and claimed that 'polls' had called him the winner by 80 percent. Does he really believe it went well? Will he be convinced to do another one in October? And whose mind will have been changed by the performance of either candidate. There was no rowing back from the 'pet eating migrants' line. No softening on his...
Sep 11, 2024•35 min
The Presidential debate on Tuesday night was everything that team Harris were praying it would be. Trap after trap laid for Donald Trump which he appeared to walk into. His areas of strength - the economy and immigration - didn’t really get off the ground. She baited him on his rallies and his racism. And he got very cross. Moments after the debate ended the Democratic nominee won the support of arguably the most powerful woman alive - Taylor Swift. How will this shift the electoral race? Editor...
Sep 11, 2024•31 min
Health Secretary Wes Streeting has told Lewis that the wishes of the parents of the babies murdered by Lucy Letby must be respected. And yet - as the inquiry into the hospital culture surrounding those deaths opens in London today, we ask why so many people are refusing to believe the verdict delivered by a jury after a ten month trial. Have we become too distrustful of our institutions? Or is it endemic to this particular case and context? Journalist David Aaronovitch joins us to discuss the gr...
Sep 10, 2024•42 min
The (brat) summer was Kamala's. The Democratic nominee had two months of rave press reviews and sell out crowds. And a convention that left many remarking that the energy and momentum of the race was with her. But two months out from the election - and two weeks before the first ACTUAL postal votes are cast - Harris and Trump are now neck and neck in key swing polls. What's going on there? Later, winter fuel for pensioners. Was the cut to universal allowance a mistake? A sign of strength? Or of ...
Sep 09, 2024•36 min
This week on The Sports Agents , Gabby & Mark were joined by former Chelsea F.C manager Emma Hayes to discuss her brand new book, ‘ A completely different game: My Leadership playbook’. There was a half full Lord's in the cricket - why may that have been? And the team digest how the new Manchester United exec board are getting on after their 3-0 loss to Liverpool. New episodes every Tuesday and Thursday.
Sep 08, 2024•24 min
