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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.

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Articles

Discussions from The News Agents

Politics

Has Trump lost the battle for Minneapolis?

Donald Trump's tone on Minneapolis has changed in the last 24 hours. He’s now having conciliatory meetings and phone calls with State Governor Tim Walz and the city's Mayor Jacob Frey. And it looks like he’s removed his Border Commander Gregory Bovino and put him out to pasture in California. What's behind the change of heart? Was it the polls? The murder of American citizens? Or the fact that his administration’s account of the killings has been flatly caught out by camera evidence. Is his I...

United States
Politics

Is Reform UK becoming a Tory party retirement home?

Former Home Secretary Suella Braverman has renounced the party that gave her power, and defected to Reform. She's telling us today that Britain is broken and “she” (Britain, not Suella) was “suffering”. Are Reform better off with her? Are the Tories better off without her? And has it been enough of a distraction from the Andy Burnham saga to give Keir Starmer a lucky break? Later, is Trump panicking about his ICE strategy after the latest murder of a US citizen on the streets of Minneapolis? ...

United Kingdom
Culture

Brand Beckham & Osaka's Jellyfish - has sport ever been so fashionable? - The Sports Agents

Everyone’s been talking about the Beckhams and Naomi Osaka this week. Hard to believe a family feud and a jellyfish outfit at the Australian Open have anything in common - but where Sir Alex Ferguson used to fight to keep David Beckham's focus on the pitch, sport is now embracing fashion like never before. Lewis Hamilton and Serena Williams pictured at the Met Gala, Stella McCartney designing Arsenal kits, and the famous NBA Tunnel Walks. Have we all grown up enough to appreciate that athlete...

Global
Politics

Special Report: Surveillance and snatch squads in Trump's new America

In Minneapolis right now, there are more ICE and border patrol agents than there are police officers. The national guard - the army - is on standby to deploy to the city. Everybody in the city has a story about being targeted by ICE. Many now carry passports on them when they leave the house. If they are fortunate enough not to have been stopped themselves, they will know a neighbour, a friend, a colleague or a relative. Some Minnesotans literally do not know where their family have been take...

United States
Geopolitics

Dictators, Invaders and Trump's motley crew on the Board of Peace

Originally intended to be a small group overseeing a ceasefire in Gaza, Trump's Board of Peace has evolved into something much bigger. Apparently "a lot of great people" want to join, but who’s going to pay the billion dollars to sit on it? And what are Trump's real aspirations for the Board of Peace? On today’s show we try and break down what he’s hoping to achieve, whether the UN should feel threatened and why there’s no mention of Gaza in the draft text. Later, we are joined by Peter Frank...

Global
Geopolitics

Trump's Greenland shakedown: 'Say no and we will remember'

Donald Trump took to the stage at Davos to take the military invasion of Greenland off the table, cue sighs of relief from European leaders and NATO. But his ambitions for the US to own the territory have gone nowhere. He still wants to acquire it, and demanded immediate negotiations to begin that process. Increasingly. it seems that America's one-time allies have grown impatient with Trump's belligerent approach. What happens if he doesn’t get what wants? And is Europe actually growing a bit...

Global
Politics

A year of Trump: terror, territory and tariffs

We bring you a special report today of the 'dark flights' that are deporting hundreds of people - the vast majority of them here legally - in shackles from Minnesota to Texas detention centres. There is no official record these flights exists, so one man - an aviation specialist - has made it his life’s work to document each flight that leaves and count the number of people who are being "disappeared" without trace. But - on this inauguration anniversary - we start with the latest conundrum f...

United States
Politics

Special Episode: Trump, ICE and cruelty on the streets of Minneapolis

Emily and Lewis report from Minneapolis which has become the dark heart of President Trump's ICE agent immigration crackdown. We patrol the streets with ICE watchers - witnessing a raid alongside the patrollers literally sounding the alarm. We are at a far right rally - watching a January 6th insurrectionist get chased out of town. And we are with people from Somali and Latino communities who describe to us how their lives have been turned upside down by Trump's random and often lawless depor...

United States
Business

Introducing: Explosive Lies

Here's a new podcast you might like - this is episode 1 of Explosive Lies. All episodes are available now on Global Player, or search for 'Explosive Lies' wherever you get your podcasts. Jim McCormick was a cocky English salesman with an outrageous claim: a black plastic gadget that could sniff out bombs using “electromagnetic energy.” The science was pure fiction. But in the panic after 9/11, governments bought the lie - paying up to $60,000 for a device that started life as a $20 novelty go...

Global
Culture

AFCON Final: what's the impact of the diaspora? - The Sports Agents

Hosts Morocco face Senegal in the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) final on Sunday. At this AFCON almost 40% of players were born outside Africa, like the face of the tournament Ashraf Hakimi. So where should teams be putting their money - improving recruitment from the diaspora or investing more at home? What needs to change to attract these players? And can Sadio Mane and Senegal stop the powerhouse of Morocco from winning their first AFCON in 50 years? Gabby and Mark are joined by former Prem...

Global
Politics

The man the BBC censored for calling Trump corrupt

Just a few months ago, historian and author Rutger Bregman found himself at the centre of a very British controversy. He had been asked to deliver a BBC Reith lecture. His theme was the decadence of the political elite and in his lecture, he made a throw away line about President Trump. But when the lecture was broadcast, that critical line had been taken out. What followed was a row about censorship, media power and truth. This Friday, Rutger Bregman joins Lewis in the studio to talk about t...

United Kingdom
Politics

Mehdi Hasan on America's 'Neo-Fascism'

We are barely a week into 2026, and already Donald Trump has toppled the president of Venezuela, threatened a NATO ally, labelled a protestor killed by ICE as a "professional agitator", and insisted his own morality is the only check on his otherwise total power. It appears that America's president is entering the second year of his term more aggressively, more defiantly, and more viciously. What does that mean for the US, and the wider world? And when Trump dismisses legal constraints, threa...

United States