In the first episode of our 'What If' series, Emily, Jon and Lewis look back at some of the big sliding doors moments of our recent history and examine how much our politics has been shaped by these pivotal events. Grappling with some of your submissions, The News Agents ask - what if Scottish independence had won out in the 2014 referendum? What if Rupert Murdoch had never bought The Sun newspaper? And, what if Gordon Brown hadn't been caught on hot mic making disparaging remarks against a Roch...
Dec 24, 2024•36 min
This week on The Sports Agents... Sports Personality of the Year winner and 2024 Olympic gold medallist, Keely Hodgkinson, joins us for an exclusive interview (03:45). We find out more about Tyson Fury and what it's like to box a rematch with cruiserweight boxer and former WBO title holder, Chris Billam-Smith , ahead of the biggest rematch of the century Fury v Usyk 2 (11:25). And how extreme can running get? We find out with ultra-runner Jon Shield (17:45). Got a question for The Sports Agents ...
Dec 20, 2024•25 min
2024 really has been a political year like no other - treating us to an indulgent helping of seismic elections, career comebacks and a gluttony of scandals. So we thought we’d try and make some sense of it all with the inaugural News Agents awards of the year. With some help from LBC’s Natasha Clark and Aggie Chambre, Lewis adjudicates on the highlights and the lowlights, the heroes and the villains of the last twelve months - and a look ahead to what’s in store for us all in 2025. We’ll be back...
Dec 20, 2024•38 min
Later in this episode we will be speaking exclusively to James Harding, founder of Tortoise media, in his first broadcast interview since buying the Observer newspaper. But we start in a court room in Avignon, packed to the brim with now convicted rapists who all abused a woman who had been drugged and "passed around“ by her husband. That women was Gisele Pelicot. She waived her anonymity to speak out for other victims. She is a hero in her native France. And increasingly around the world. But a...
Dec 19, 2024•33 min
Nigel Farage, Reform treasurer Nick Candy, and Elon Musk gathered below a portrait of a young Donald Trump in Mar-a-Lago. They were discussing campaign tactics, apparently, and whether Musk's money could be funnelled into Reform. What can governing parties do to stop elections being bought? We ask the Polish Foreign Minister, Radek Sikorski, a politician who has helped to see off populist government in his own country. Nigel Farage clip courtesy of GB News. Tickets to The News Agents Live On Sta...
Dec 18, 2024•33 min
Lewis has been urged to cancel his new year holiday by Britain’s best known conservationist Chris Packham. When he tweeted asking for travel tips in the remote Faroe Islands, he did not expect to find himself at the centre of a mini-social media backlash, with animal rights campaigners arguing the islands should be boycotted because of their practice of whale and dolphin slaughter. We were intrigued by the political questions at play here. Do you have moral culpability just because you visit a c...
Dec 17, 2024•45 min
A modern day thriller - a Chinese spy who infiltrated not only government, but Buckingham Palace. The alleged spy, Yang Tengbo, says he did "done nothing wrong or unlawful". How did Prince Andrew get mixed up in this, and why is he getting so much flack? Later, we talk about Stephen Bartlett's podcast after a BBC investigation revealed widespread health misinformation. How is wellness being weaponised to support "freedom of expression"? Tickets to The News Agents Live On Stage with HSBC UK are n...
Dec 16, 2024•28 min
Emily Thornberry is one of Labour's great survivors. An MP since 2005, she stuck with the party through 14 long years of opposition - serving in the shadow cabinets of Ed Miliband, Jeremy Corbyn and Keir Starmer. Never afraid to speak her mind, she's one of the party's most relaxed communicators, so why didn't Starmer bring her into government? On the backbenches, she's become chair of the foreign affairs committee - a powerful role scrutinising the work of the foreign secretary and Britain on t...
Dec 13, 2024•47 min
This week on The Sports Agents... After the biggest contract in sports history was signed (15 years and $765m dollars for baseball player Juan Soto ) we tried to get our heads around the huge numbers with U.S. Sports Business Reporter, Daniel Kaplan (01:43). As the Formula One season ended we had a debrief about the big driver argument, Lewis Hamilton and next year's wide open title race with BBC F1 presenter and voice of Drive to Survive, Jennie Gow (07:34). We talked about the Game of Thrones ...
Dec 13, 2024•24 min
Angela Rayner promises to deliver 1.5 million new homes within five years. It’s setting the battle lines for what the Telegraph is calling the “bulldozing of the Home Counties“. Is Keir Starmer ready to take on the Nimbys even if the Nimbys are now his core 2024 voter? Later, who will be the “Voice of America“ - and what’s happening at the FBI? Tickets to The News Agents Live On Stage with HSBC UK are now on sale! You can get your tickets for Birmingham, Manchester and Edinburgh here: https://ar...
Dec 12, 2024•33 min
The agriculture company Arla foods is trialing a new cow feed in the UK that aims to cut down climate changing methane emissions. It’s been approved by the regulatory authorities here, in Europe, and in America. But it hasn’t stopped milk becoming the latest conspiracy in the culture war, with reform MPs arguing for its ban and labelling it “woke milk “. Later, Kemi Badenoch goes for Keir Starmer over immigration at PMQs. Is that wise? Tickets to The News Agents Live On Stage with HSBC UK are no...
Dec 11, 2024•33 min
Luigi Mangione is a 26 year old Ivy League graduate and an alleged cold blooded murderer. He’s also the top trending name worldwide with a Gen Z fanbase swooning over his abs. What does the shooting of a healthcare executive in New York, and the public response to it, tell us about American society and meme culture? Later, what’s Israel doing in Syria - and could Netanyahu end up In jail for bribery ? Tickets to The News Agents Live On Stage with HSBC UK are now on sale! You can get your tickets...
Dec 10, 2024•31 min
Syria’s brutal dictator, Bashar al-Assad, has fled Syria for Moscow. On today's episode we speak to his first cousin Ribal al-Assad about the character of the man who tortured and killed millions of his own people, and ask what hope is there for Syria now that he’s gone? And should the UK accept the incoming regime of proscribed jihadi terrorists? Later, Carole Cadwalladr tells us why she is concerned that the sale of The Observer to Tortoise media is the route to self implosion for The Guardian...
Dec 09, 2024•35 min
Rebel forces have seized control of Syria, leaving the country's President Bashar al-Assad scrambling to flee his homeland. There is jubilation on the streets of Damascus at the toppling of a despot who committed such grievous atrocities against his own people. But this is a move that will make leaders across the world nervous. Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the group now in control of Syria, was set up as an affiliate of al-Qaeda and is a proscribed terrorist organisation in the UK, the US and many othe...
Dec 08, 2024•25 min
Why aren't politicians funny anymore? Who is the most important Prime Minister in your lifetime? Will Elon Musk and Donald Trump's bromance last? And who will succeed Donald Trump? Emily, Jon and Lewis answer the questions that we couldn't get to at our live show at the Royal Albert Hall. Tickets to The News Agents Live On Stage 2025 with HSBC UK are now on sale! You can get your tickets for Birmingham, Manchester and Edinburgh here: https://articles.globalplayer.com/7giHoMavXLgdrd6gaC3GxWG7T8 E...
Dec 06, 2024•30 min
This week on The Sports Agents, Gabby & Mark tackled the controversy surrounding the Premier League’s annual LGBTQ+ ' Rainbow Laces ' campaign - after some players chose to directly challenge the Premier League’s directives. Wales all-time top goalscorer, Jess Fishlock (10:34) - MBE awarded for her services to football and the LGBTQ+ community and double-Paralympic 200m Champion Richard Whitehead joined us for a discussion about how 'inclusion' in wider sport (17:13). The 4x Olympic Cha...
Dec 06, 2024•25 min
Today, in a movie studio setting Keir Starmer attempted to grab the public imagination with talks of pledges, missions and milestones. But the revelation came thirty minutes into his own speech when he acknowledged people’s impatience with traditional politics. Of which he is perhaps the archetype. Is he thinking about Reform who are now edging ahead of Labour in some polls? And is this what is driving his big fear now? Labour simply won’t have time to finish the job they’ve just begun with popu...
Dec 05, 2024•30 min
Keir Starmer is making a 'plan for change' speech tomorrow. Just don't call it a relaunch. Why does the government think it's necessary? What will it hope to do? And is this about changing policy or messaging, as Reform threaten to transform UK politics with foreign money? Later, South Korea has not only stopped martial law in its tracks hours after it was threatened, but appears to be about to impeach its own President. Is this what functioning democracy in action looks like? Tickets to The New...
Dec 04, 2024•33 min
Elon Musk is reported to be weighing up a 100 million dollar donation to Nigel Farage to help him become Prime Minister. Farage has played it down but conceded that Musk does like his style. Is there a world in which this could actually happen? And could this be an issue which brings the mainstream parties together - united by a common threat? (Nigel Farage clip courtesy of GB News). And as South Korea's president declares an emergency, martial law and puts media outlets under government control...
Dec 03, 2024•35 min
Masterchef presenter Gregg Wallace has just issued an apology for 'any offence caused' after he blamed middle class women for coming forward to complain about his over sexualised banter in the work place. Just to be clear, that's not an apology for the sex stuff. Just for the instagram post. He also told us he felt 'under siege' for just being Gregg on Masterchef. What does this episode tell us about victim blaming and victimisation, about work places that profess 'zero tolerance', and about the...
Dec 02, 2024•29 min
The week on The Sports Agents... Gabby and Mark Pougatch play darts with the world's best, teenage superstar Luke Littler and world number one Luke Humphries (3:49). Do they act like rivals or friends? How's it been for Littler becoming famous so young and so quickly? And what darts tips can they give us? Lawyer to the likes of David Beckham and Alex Ferguson , Nick Freeman , aka 'Mr Loophole' , joined us (11:01) to tell some entertaining stories from court and discuss whether high-profile stars...
Nov 30, 2024•24 min
When the vote in the Commons came back, you could have heard a pin drop. In the end, after hours of often compelling, personal and emotional debate the result was conclusive. 330 MPs voted to pass the assisted dying bill on to the next stage. 275 voted against. But there was no whooping or cheering when the result came through - just a defeating silence as the chamber grapples with what a huge social shift this could now mean to the country. Editor: Tom Hughes Executive Producer: Louis Degenhard...
Nov 29, 2024•35 min
Net migration figures hit more than 900,000 in the year up to June 2023. And fell by 20 percent this year, down to 730,000. It was only a decade ago that Prime Minister David Cameron was talking about bringing immigration into the "tens of thousands". So, where did things go so badly wrong? And why after the Brexit referendum and the pledge to 'Take Back Control' did Boris Johnson's administration see immigration rise to a million people? Today we ask new Labour MP, Jake Richardson - who has Ref...
Nov 28, 2024•37 min
The assisted dying bill goes before MPs on Friday. If it goes through it will mark one on the biggest social changes in legislation the country has seen, and Britain will join around a dozen other countries who have decided to allow the state to step in at end of life. The tight parameters around the legislation mean only those who are terminally ill and facing six months or less to live would be given the choice of ending their lives on their terms. And they have to be residents of England or W...
Nov 27, 2024•32 min
Later in the show we’ll be speaking to Department for Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall straight from the Commons, after she delivers her plans to cut the welfare bill. But we start with the economic story you might be missing, and one that could dwarf everything else. It begins in France where Marine Le Pen is currently threatening to bring down the Michel Barnier government by voting against his budget with the help of the far left parties. She says the budget is out of touch with the ne...
Nov 26, 2024•38 min
The newly released Jaguar advert displays an array of brightly coloured models cat-walking around a large rock with no car. It has sent Jaguar traditionalists into a tailspin. The company's CEO is unrepentant, and moreover says he's quite enjoying the attention/backlash. Today, we speak to the masters of the advertising world, Saatchi & Saatchi. So, is the advert any good? Is the backlash about something more profound than cars? Is 'woke capitalism' on the way out? Later, Romania's first rou...
Nov 25, 2024•28 min
The week on The Sports Agents... Gabby travels to Newcastle United to speak to players Dan Burn and Amber-Keegan Stobbs , and club icon Shola Ameobi about using the power of the Premier League to help the local community (02:40). Burn chats about his work with the Foundation, the pressure of 'local hero' status and Eddie Howe's England snub. Plus... this stadium ain't big enough for the both of us: we look at lots of sports to see if women's football will actually get more fans by sharing the me...
Nov 23, 2024•26 min
Next week, MPs will get their first opportunity in almost a decade to vote on extending the choices available to terminally ill people at the end of their lives. A contentious subject, The Assisted Dying bill is being championed by MP Kim Leadbeater, sister of the murdered MP Jo Cox. Lewis joined Kim in her parliamentary office to talk about the bill, her optimism for the future, and the legacy of her sister. Editor: Tom Hughes Executive Producer: Louis Degenhardt Producer: Natalie Indge&nb...
Nov 22, 2024•41 min
The International Criminal Court has issued a warrant for the arrest of Israel’s Prime Minister, a former defence minister, and separately for the Hamas commander - saying it has dismissed Israel’s appeal. What will be the repercussions of this around the world? Will the court's findings be rejected by the US? And how will the UK government respond if Benjamin Netanyahu sets foot in Britain? Later, John 'Prezza' Prescott has died. Deputy Labour leader and master of the (centre) left hook after f...
Nov 21, 2024•31 min
Whatever happens on the streets of Britain, there's always an Elon Musk tweet. Often misinformed. Now parliament wants to take Musk on - or "invite him to explain" what's going on. The protests in the summer following the Southport stabbings were a critical example of how fast and how dangerously lies can spread online. Today, in her first broadcast interview, we hear from the chair of the Science and Technology Committee, Chi Onwurah, on her proposals to stop the spread of disinformation on the...
Nov 20, 2024•37 min
