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The News Agents

The News Agents

Podcast | United Kingdom | Left

UK political news podcast with Emily Maitlis, Jon Sopel, and Lewis Goodall. Making sense of the news.

Engagement Insights

1.16 score
146
Discussions
2
Participants
6
Total Votes
142
Articles

Discussions from The News Agents

Politics

Is Tony Blair getting in Andy Burnham’s way?

On the eve of Andy Burnham’s first party conference as Prime Minister, Tony Blair has entered centre stage - to talk about rejoining the EU. Is he nudging Burnham towards his own goal? Or putting unnecessary hurdles in the new PM's way? And what is the state of the relationship between them? We talk to The New Statesman’s Tom McTague. And, as a new mega MRP poll lands suggesting the current number of parliamentary seats each party would win if the election were held tomorrow, we analyse why a...

United Kingdom
Culture

Will Piers Morgan make Earl Spencer pulp his own book?

"I made a small error and I've apologised and it will be put right in the second edition, but that's it." That's what Earl Spencer told Lorraine this morning. The error in question is about Piers Morgan. In his new book, Spencer claims that Morgan published a hidden camera photo of Diana in 1993 while working for the Daily Mirror. The big problem with that? Morgan didn't join the Mirror until 1995. He's launched legal action against Diana's brother - and speaks to Jon and Emily. Later, Andy B...

United Kingdom
Politics

How Trump silenced himself

It wasn’t meant to happen like this. When Trump decided to ban three news organisations from the White House in his latest iteration of an old man sulk, he didn’t expect the rest of the press to back them. But they have. No one took up the reins to lead the press pool - so last night went unfilmed. And various news outlets have decided not to take Trump audio either. Which is why, in a magnificent volte-face Trump ended up crashing socialist Mayor Mamdani's press conference in New York so he ...

United Kingdom
Politics

Has Trump's war on the press just spectacularly backfired?

Trump’s war on the media has been deepening for decades - whether it’s been litigation, doxxing, intimidation or simply a ban on access - we kind of feel like we’ve seen it all before. But today one thing happened that changed all that - the broadcast media joined ranks and fought back. After three major outlets - CNN, MS Now and Politico - were shut out of the White House, other outlets pulled their participation from the pool team. They're refusing to cover his visit to New York. So has Tru...

United Kingdom
Business

Meet Hull City's Acun Ilıcalı - The Premier League’s most UNUSUAL owner! - The Sports Agents

The story of Hull City owner Acun Ilicali is one of the most extraordinary in the Premier League. TV star turned media mogul turned football club owner, Acun is a force of nature — and in this special episode of The Sports Agents, Gabby Logan and Mark Chapman meet the man himself, live and direct from Istanbul. This is the story of a man who lost his parents in a tragic car accident, saw his marriage collapse, faced financial ruin in his early twenties — and somehow emerged to create a global...

United Kingdom
Politics

After the Reform scandal - does anyone still trust pollsters?

Opinion polls are supposed to tell us what the public thinks. But what happens when the people commissioning, funding and promoting those polls have a political interest in the results? The latest controversy surrounding Reform UK has put the polling industry under an uncomfortable spotlight. Allegations that polling commissioned by Reform was funded through an overseas company and that the party's involvement was not disclosed when the results were published have prompted investigations. Ref...

United Kingdom
Culture

Is the King gaslighting Diana's brother?

Buckingham Palace has said it doesn't comment on book releases as a matter of principle. And yet it has commented on a new book - from Princess Diana's brother - in a way that has sparked off a news cycle. Earl Spencer claims in his new book that in a heated row with Charles in the preparation for Diana's funeral, the then Prince spat out "Rest assured, we'll forget her soon enough". The Palace's response: "His Majesty is mindful that the pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason, affect judgm...

United Kingdom
Politics

Is Andy Burnham just Keir Starmer with TikTok?

Six weeks out from the budget some of the critics are already circling - warning the new Prime Minister not to play it safe as “a traditional tax and spend PM with better TikTok". Is Burnham in control of events? Or is the economy being thrown further off course by Houthi rebels in the Red Sea closing off? Later, pussycat impersonator, and leader of the Workers Party George Galloway, is back and standing in the Holborn and St Pancras by-election. Will this split the Green vote? The News Agent...

United Kingdom
Politics

Why are men in balaclavas descending on an Oxfordshire village?

It's referendum day in Piddington. A symbolic gesture that would see it "ceding from the UK" over their frustration with the setting up of of an asylum centre on their doorstep. They’ve argued that 1250 single foreign men is too much for their modest village of 350 to handle. But now - guess who’s coming to the rescue? Danny Tommo and his masked Patriot Platform - seemingly backed by Reform's Sarah Pochin, who's said protestors would "not be unwelcome" in the village. Is this what the people ...

United Kingdom
Politics

Does £72m win you an election?

£36m donations are like busses for Reform - you wait ages for one and then two come along at once. Reform's £72m haul this weekend dwarfs the money raised by all the other parties - it is a simply unprecedented level of funding for British politics. There are complications. Are the donations within the rules? Could Labour change the rules to prevent them? And most importantly - can it actually make a difference? Could two crypto billionaires potentially swing an election for Nigel Farage? Lat...

United Kingdom
Society

The REASON so many boxers take PEDs? Garcia x Benn & Boxing's uncomfortable TRUTH - The Sports Agents

Conor Benn’s super fight against Ryan Garcia in Las Vegas has brought the issue of Performance Enhancing Drugs in sport back into the spotlight. While both boxers deny ever having taken PEDs, both have failed drugs tests and it remains a complex and emotive issue, particularly in potentially lethal sports such as boxing. On this episode of The Sports Agents we have the whole conversation and not just the convenient parts of it. Larry Olubamiwo was a British heavyweight contender before he fai...

Global
Geopolitics

How 9/11 changed everything

Is 9/11 the most consequential event of our lifetimes? It's hard to think of another moment that so completely turned the world on its axis and rewired the assumptions that a generation had come to take for granted. The immediate human toll was unfathomably tragic - this was the most deadly terrorist attack in history, leaving thousands dead. But what came next - and how profoundly it changed politics, American foreign policy, global warfare, and civil liberties - has radically reshaped our w...

Global