There is growing uncertainty in the American economy as stocks fall, and Donald Trump refuses to rule out a recession. He's even said he will double metal tariffs against Canada and threatened to impose levies on its car industry. As the trade war heats up and Americans watch their market falter, will Donald Trump change his strategy? And how will the rest of the world respond? Editor: Tom Hughes Executive Producer: Louis Degenhardt Producer: Natalie Indge Digital Editor: Michaela Walters Social...
Mar 11, 2025•40 min•Transcript available on Metacast "America is not Canada, and Canada never ever will be part of America in any way." The words of the chiselled ice hockey player and former Bank of England Governor Mark Carney who is Canada's new Prime Minister. He's unafraid of Trump, has mocked his economic policy, and his expansionist pretensions. He's put the Liberal Party of Justin Trudeau in poll position to win the next general election against the Conservatives, and against all the odds. Will he become the pin up for centrists around the...
Mar 10, 2025•39 min•Transcript available on Metacast In our first ever Live Q&A edition Jon and Lewis answer your most pressing questions. Is Trump working for Putin? Will a military coup overthrow the Trump administration? If Zelensky ends up going back to America, should he wear a suit? And why are we all so obsessed with Lewis's jumper? You can watch our Live Friday Q&A here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeOrLLSSBhc Tickets to The News Agents Live On Stage with HSBC UK are now on sale! You can get your tickets for Edinburgh here: htt...
Mar 07, 2025•55 min•Transcript available on Metacast This week on The Sports Agents... Imagine flying on EasyJet and seeing the men's team on private jets. That's one of the many gaps the England women's team experienced before Baroness Sue Campbell stepped in and five years later, the women won the Euros. One of the greatest trailblazers in UK sport joins us for International Women's Day (02:15). After Emma Raducanu spoke out about crying when she saw her stalker at a match, we found out what it's like to have a stalker with former GB middle dist...
Mar 07, 2025•25 min•Transcript available on Metacast Trump is no fan of Zelenskyy. That much has been clear for months. But according to Politico, his administration is now tapping up Ukrainian opposition politicians and former leaders to try to push Zelenskyy out of power. Is America now interfering in Ukraine’s domestic policies as well as forcing its submission to Putin? We talk to CNN Correspondent and Chief International Anchor, Christiane Amanpour about her time with Zelensky. And what do European leaders have to offer Ukraine as they meet n...
Mar 06, 2025•31 min•Transcript available on Metacast A carefully worded letter from Ukraine's President Zelenskyy has made its way to Donald Trump - The News Agents have details on the role that the British government may have played in getting that message delivered to the American President. What's less clear is how Trump will respond - what happens now? He described Zelenskyy's letter as "important" - so why has he suspended intelligence sharing with Kyiv? And will there be any punishment for Russia in this “deal”? Plus, we’re with the CEO of t...
Mar 05, 2025•31 min•Transcript available on Metacast Trump has ordered a “pause“ on all US military aid to Ukraine. All the pending military assistance Biden signed off before leaving office is now in a holding pattern until Trump gets his apology/ submission/ minerals deal from Zelenskyy. How long can Ukraine go on fighting now? Will the EU find the money to plug the gap? And is Trump remotely interested in peace? Later, as tariffs the tariffs imposed on Mexico, Canada and China come into affect we ask how long before Americans will start noticin...
Mar 04, 2025•36 min•Transcript available on Metacast What is it like to take on Rupert Murdoch and win? We have an exclusive interview with David Sherborne - the media barrister who represented Prince Harry last month and has been the go to lawyer for the highest profile celebrity trials ever fought. But we start in Ukraine where Trump is threatening to stop military aid and the British Ambassador to America, Peter Mandelson, appears to have “wandered off the reservation“ in terms of party lines. Tickets to The News Agents Live On Stage with HSBC ...
Mar 03, 2025•45 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this bonus episode of The News Agents, Jon and Lewis get together to discuss Sunday's emergency meeting of European Leaders here in the UK to resolve a peace plan for Ukraine. Will Keir Starmer's plan bring us closer to peace in Ukraine? Will Donald Trump get on board? And what will Putin make of the events that have unfolded over the last few days? Tickets to The News Agents Live On Stage with HSBC UK are now on sale! You can get your tickets for Edinburgh here: https://articles.globalplayer...
Mar 02, 2025•27 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this bonus episode of The News Agents, Jon and Lewis react to Friday evening's remarkable events in the White House. How will the Trump-Zelenskyy fallout impact the war? How will Keir Starmer react? And will Zelenskyy be forced into a resignation as Ukrainian president? Tickets to The News Agents Live On Stage with HSBC UK are now on sale! You can get your tickets for Edinburgh here: https://articles.globalplayer.com/7giHoMavXLgdrd6gaC3GxWG7T8 Editor: Tom Hughes Executive Producer: Louis Dege...
Feb 28, 2025•21 min•Transcript available on Metacast There were smiles, laughs, and a few pats on the shoulder - the mood in the Oval Office felt at times amorous as Keir Starmer and Donald Trump got down to business. The Prime Minister appeared to have defied some of his harshest critics in DC, earning almost fawning praise from the American President and seemingly a series of wins - on tariffs, the Chagos islands, and on Ukraine. But if Donald Trump is a man who trades on personal relationships and rapport, will that positivity endure once Starm...
Feb 28, 2025•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast This week on The Sports Agents... The first refugee to win an Olympic medal, Cindy Ngamba , joined Gabby and Mark before her professional boxing debut to talk about her incredible story from a shock arrest to the hilarious moment she discovered boxing (03:00). The story of fleeing Afghanistan and getting no support from cricket's governing body (the ICC) with Afghanistan women's cricketer, Firooza Amiri , and international cricket journalist Alison Mitchell (09:00). Former England women's footba...
Feb 28, 2025•25 min•Transcript available on Metacast If you’ve been charged with people trafficking and rape, entry into the US is normally impossible. But it seems the Trump administration has been instrumental in ‘persuading’ the Romanian authorities to hand back the US passports of Andrew Tate and his brother, Tristan. But why? Why would the US president want to help a man facing the most serious criminal charges - and he is wanted by the authorities in the UK too? Well Andrew Tate’s following on social media is huge. And his macho, misogyny br...
Feb 27, 2025•40 min•Transcript available on Metacast As we record, Zelenskyy is looking through the draft agreement which would give America oil, gas and mineral rights in exchange for…what? The final part of the deal is the bit that's missing. Will America pledge military help? And if not what does Ukraine get back? Later, former Chief Whip Simon Hart describes the utter circus (*shitshow) that surrounded the last few years of Conservative rule. His book, "Ungovernable: The Political Diaries of a Chief Whip", is brutally honest. Will it put peopl...
Feb 26, 2025•36 min•Transcript available on Metacast On the eve of his trip to Washington, Keir Starmer told the commons that UK defence spending would rise to 2.5 percent within two years. It’s an increase in real money of £13.4 billion. £5 billion of which will come from cutting our foreign aid budget. Is he trying to protect Europe? Or to please Trump? And will it work? Later, does Labour have the right response to the falling birth rate? Why are all the conversations about family and children coming from the hard right and the MAGA traditional...
Feb 25, 2025•39 min•Transcript available on Metacast It didn't take long for Germany's new Chancellor in waiting, Friedrich Merz, to make his presence felt across the Atlantic. Before the final ballots had even been counted in the German elections, Merz took to a television debate to warn that "after Donald Trump's remarks last week...it is clear that this government does not care much about the fate of Europe". He called for the EU to work together at pace to "really achieve independence from the USA", even questioning whether NATO in its current...
Feb 24, 2025•35 min•Transcript available on Metacast Right now, culture wars seem to punctuate every moment of our daily lives. Politicising more and more and dividing people over issues both big and small. How have culture wars embedded themselves in so deeply in our politics? What if they are part of a wider design to keep the rich powerful? And how damaging have identity politics been for the left? Ash Sarkar sat down with Lewis to discuss these questions, which are at the heart of her new book 'Minority Rule: Adventures in the Culture War'. Ti...
Feb 21, 2025•47 min•Transcript available on Metacast This week on The Sports Agents... Mark and Gabby hit the road this week, meeting Formula One drivers at the O2 Arena and travelling to Wigan to chat to the best and possibly most underrated coach in Britain. First up, an exclusive interview with three-time Grand Prix winner George Russell about taking over from Lewis Hamilton as Mercedes lead driver, swearing rules and the moment you know if your car will be good enough to win a world championship (it's sooner than you think!). (02:45) Mark also...
Feb 21, 2025•24 min•Transcript available on Metacast The backlash against Donald Trump for his diatribe against Volodymyr Zelenskyy has strengthened. Keir Starmer called the Ukrainian President in a show of support and told him it was "perfectly reasonable" to have suspended elections given Russia's invasion. European leaders have also lined up to reject Trump's claims that Zelenskyy is a "dictator" - even Nigel Farage has distanced himself from that notion, though pointedly has suggested that Ukraine needed to set a timeline for new elections. Bu...
Feb 20, 2025•40 min•Transcript available on Metacast Not content with parroting talking points from the Kremlin, Donald Trump has hardened his position on Ukraine even further. Taking to Truth Social, the US president branded Volodymyr Zelenskyy a "dictator without elections" who has done "a terrible job" for his country. He warned his counterpart in Kyiv to "move fast or he is not going to have a country left". Those words will chill European leaders, already baffled at President Trump's decision to align himself with Russia so acutely - are we w...
Feb 19, 2025•38 min•Transcript available on Metacast In the weeks following Donald Trump’s scrapping of diversity, equality and inclusion schemes in government, a number of big-name companies have followed suit rolling back their DEI commitments. So why are so many big companies ditching DEI? And what could this rolling back of DEI policies mean for businesses and workplaces? We speak to Alexandra Mousavizadeh. Later, Gabriel Gatehouse joins us to tell us about frozen heads, psychedelic art, and his search for the mysterious Bitcoin founder. Ticke...
Feb 18, 2025•33 min•Transcript available on Metacast European leaders are heading to Paris. American negotiators are heading to Saudi. And the News Agents have arrived in Birmingham. It’s our first live show of 2025 and as a broadcasting first we’re joined by some abseiling window cleaners on today’s episode. We discuss Americas unilateral plan for Ukraine. Why has it left Europeans in tears? What can Starmer do with Trump? And are we really going to see British troops on Ukraine's borders? Tickets to The News Agents Live On Stage with HSBC UK are...
Feb 17, 2025•34 min•Transcript available on Metacast Despite Keir Starmer's long march to Downing Street, there is so much we don't know about our Prime Minister. His media presence, and his Downing Street, is more guarded than the PMs who have preceded him. He has worn many different political personalities on his journey from lawyer, to the House of Commons, to leader of the opposition - he has evolved as his journey to No 10 took shape. What drives him? What are his fundamental principles? Who are his real allies? Gabriel Pogrund and Patrick Ma...
Feb 14, 2025•48 min•Transcript available on Metacast This week on The Sports Agents... Can the Six Nations learn from the star-studded Super Bowl ? We chat to ex-England rugby union player Ugo Monye (03:30). Could rugby league help the Premier League get VAR right? That's with Phil Bentham , Head of Match Officials at the RFL and former PGMOL VAR coach (10:45). Joe McEwan tells us about suffering a sudden cardiac arrest when playing lacrosse. At just 22 his heart stopped for 4 minutes but he survived and now he's raising money by walking the lengt...
Feb 14, 2025•26 min•Transcript available on Metacast Donald Trump's first stab at a deal on Ukraine appears to have gone very well - for Russia. During a 90 minute phone call with Putin they started to lay out the terms. Including a veto on Ukraine joining NATO and an understanding that Ukraine would never reclaim Crimea. The phone call with Zelensky did not come until afterwards. European leaders are up in arms at being left out of the conversation and can’t work out why Trump is conceding to Putin before he’s even stopped his illegal invasion. I...
Feb 13, 2025•32 min•Transcript available on Metacast Kemi Badenoch got rebuffed in PMQs by the Prime Minister telling her for the second week in a row she “hadn’t done her homework". Why isn’t she cutting through? Does she need to do more media interviews? Or might her safe space be the kind of podcasts Trump used to secure the 2024 election? Today we ask if that media exists here in the UK and if not, why not? 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 h...
Feb 12, 2025•32 min•Transcript available on Metacast The AI Summit in Paris assumed it would be the centre of tech action today. That was until Elon Musk put in a cheeky (hostile) bid for Sam Altman's OpenAI company, claiming he was owed the money anyway from a previous deal. There is beef between these two tech bros - who both proudly wear Trump's patronage. They previously worked and innovated together on the company that is now Altman's. Can Musk bully Altman into giving it up? Will Trump help him? And what happens if AI as well as X, tesla, Sp...
Feb 11, 2025•41 min•Transcript available on Metacast Labour has been trying to show how tough it’s getting on immigration - releasing videos of its door to door raids whilst simultaneously putting up Reform turquoise ads on Facebook. The messaging goes to the heart of the Labour conundrum. Should it fight Reform or copy it? Does it need more muscular pushback? Or an acceptance that’s where voters concerns now lie? We discuss with MP Jake Richards. Later, what is 'Blue Labour' and why are they favourites of Donald Trump? And who is DJ Dowster and W...
Feb 10, 2025•42 min•Transcript available on Metacast In a time of rising populism, a raging debate around free speech online, and with Donald Trump fixating upon Greenland, Helle Thorning-Schmidt sits in a unique vantage point. Denmark's first female Prime Minister remains one of the most influential social democrats in Europe. And her experiences grappling with the migrant crisis have equipped her with some big ideas on how the left should combat the radical right. She's also now one of the few people with Mark Zuckerberg's ear. Thorning-Schmidt ...
Feb 07, 2025•37 min•Transcript available on Metacast This week on The Sports Agents... A big helping of American sport as we geared up for Sunday's Super Bowl and explained the NBA transfer that broke the internet... Former Super Bowl champion Jason Bell , was in the studio to talk about Patrick Mahomes' G.O.A.T status, The Kansas City Chiefs' attempt at a historic 'Three-Peat' and the 'Taylor Swift Super Bowl conspiracy'? (09:50) Tas Melas , co-host of 'No Dunks' podcast joined us to break down Luka Doncic's shock trade to the LA Lakers - one of ...
Feb 07, 2025•26 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
