The News Agents

Latest Episodes:

Can there ever be peace in the Middle East? Oct 17, 2023

Show notes

The Israeli military has denied that there is a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, but there are now reports of people drinking toilet water to survive.

So will Joe Biden's visit tomorrow make any difference in the hope for peace in the middle east, and help accelerate a resolution to the current conflict? And will the Rafah crossing open into Egypt to allow for food and medical supplies into Gaza, and for the safe passage of people out?

And as Humza Yousaf makes makes his first leader's speech at the SNP conference in Aberdeen today, we ask whether the party has really refocused its aim of independence.

Editor: Tom Hughes

Producer: Laura FitzPatrick

Planning Producer: Alex Barnett

Social Media Editor: Georgia Foxwell

Video Producers: Rory Symon & Ben Bate

You can listen to this episode on Alexa - just say "Alexa, ask Global Player to play The News Agents".

This week on The News Agents USA: Is Biden going to Israel a bad idea? Oct 17, 2023

Show notes

Emily and Jon host a weekly US politics podcast; giving you everything you need to know about the world of US politics and how it affects you.

Episodes are available every Tuesday, on Global Player.

Find the latest episode of News Agents USA here on Global Player.

The UK politics of Israel-Palestine Oct 16, 2023

Show notes

Over the weekend, Palestinian flags flooded central London as thousands marched for 'Free Palestine'. But has legitimate support for the rights of Palestinian citizens been merged with more sinister support, or acquiescence of, the presence of Hamas, a deeply illiberal, misogynistic, homophobic and anti-semitic terrorist organisation, in Gaza and the Palestinian territories?

And as Israel starts to evacuate parts of the north of the country - is Hezbollah - the Islamist militant group in Lebanon far stronger than Hamas with equal hate for everything Jewish and Israeli - about to get heavily involved in what could soon become a regional war? We ask former UK Ambassador in Beirut, British diplomat Tom Fletcher.

Poland went to the polls over the weekend - and voted in their masses for more pro-European, less far-right governance. We talk to Jakub Krupa, Polish journalist, about what this means.

And another MP is suspended for sexual misconduct. The train of sleaze in Westminster trudges on.

Editor: Tom Hughes

Senior Producer: Gabriel Radus

Producer: Laura FitzPatrick

Planning Producer: Alex Barnett

Social Media Editor: Georgia Foxwell

Video Producers: Rory Symon & Ben Bate

You can listen to this episode on Alexa - just say "Alexa, ask Global Player to play The News Agents".

Is Israel about to commit war crimes? Oct 13, 2023

Show notes

Israeli officials have told Gazan citizens to leave the north and head south ahead of a potential ground invasion - retaliating after a week of war crimes perpetrated by Hamas on Israeli soil. 1.1million people - the number of people roughly in Birmingham, trekking largely on foot, down one of two roads, in the middle of a war. Is that possible? Most think not.

Are many, many thousands of Palestinian civilians about to get caught up in warfare that will see so many lives, on both sides, lost? Israel say they're acting proportionately - but are they about to commit war crimes, and why are British politicians largely happy with this interpretation?

We speak to the former Director of Prosecutions at the International Criminal Court, Fabricio Guariglia, Chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee Alicia Kearns, author of The Only Language They Understand: Forcing Compromise in Israel and Palestine & A Day in the Life of Abed Salama: A Palestine Story, Nathan Thrall, and military expert Michael Clarke.

Editor: Tom Hughes

Senior Producer: Gabriel Radus

Producer: Laura FitzPatrick

Planning Producer: Alex Barnett

Social Media Editor: Georgia Foxwell

Video Producers: Rory Symon & Charlie Clinton

You can listen to this episode on Alexa - just say "Alexa, ask Global Player to play The News Agents".

How does Israel get its hostages back? Oct 12, 2023

Show notes

There are an estimated 150 hostages in Gaza - all ages, all nationalities, some taken from their beds as they slept.

How does Israel even begin to contemplate ground war when so many of its people are the other side of that border?

And how do you begin to negotiate with terrorists when they've broken every rule of war with the sheer evil of their acts? We speak to an expert in hostage negotiation Rachel Briggs OBE.

Later, we discuss the SNP defection to- checks notes - the Conservative party, and we ask whether judges are going to let convicted rapists roam free because our prisons are now full. The former barrister who broke that story for the Times, Catherinke Baksi, is with us.

Editor: Tom Hughes

Senior Producer: Gabriel Radus

Producer: Laura FitzPatrick

Planning Producer: Alex Barnett

Social Media Editor: Georgia Foxwell

Video Producer: Rory Symon

You can listen to this episode on Alexa - just say "Alexa, ask Global Player to play The News Agents".

How far will Israel go in response to Hamas terrorism? Oct 11, 2023

Show notes

Keir Starmer was asked live on LBC how far he'd be prepared to see Israel go in response to Hamas.

Would he support a blockade? A siege of Gaza? And that's where the questions get tough. Israel has the world's sympathies right now - but no one wants to see this escalated into an existential middle east war. Who is prepared to say so?

And later, we talk about the new BBC drama about Jimmy Savile and "hiding in plain sight" with Meirion Jones, the journalist who first tried to tell the world Jimmy Savile was a monster.

Editor: Tom Hughes

Senior Producer: Gabriel Radus

Producer: Laura FitzPatrick

Planning Producer: Alex Barnett

Social Media Editor: Georgia Foxwell

Video Producers: Rory Symon & Charlie Clinton

You can listen to this episode on Alexa - just say "Alexa, ask Global Player to play The News Agents".

Starmer's speech: has he done enough to win a majority? Oct 10, 2023

Show notes

The News Agents at the Labour Party Conference: Day 2

If Sir Keir Starmer was looking for a bit of sparkle today in his Leader's speech he shouldn’t have worried: it came to find him in the shape of a glitter-throwing protestor before he’d had the chance to say a word.

Undeterred, he took to shirt sleeves and spelled out a working class mantra of aspiration and renewal for a country on its knees. Was it enough?

Editor: Tom Hughes

Senior Producer: Gabriel Radus

Producer: Laura FitzPatrick

Planning Producer: Alex Barnett

Social Media Editor: Georgia Foxwell

Video Producer: Rory Symon

You can listen to this episode on Alexa - just say "Alexa, ask Global Player to play The News Agents".

This week on The News Agents USA: A power vacuum in Washington and chaos in the Middle East Oct 10, 2023

Show notes

Emily and Jon host a weekly podcast; giving you everything you need to know about the world of US politics and how it affects you.

Episodes are available every Tuesday, on Global Player.

Find the latest episode of News Agents USA here on Global Player.

War in Israel, and an interview with Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves Oct 09, 2023

Show notes

The News Agents at the Labour Party Conference: Day 1

The Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves joins The News Agents following her speech in Liverpool.

We discuss her plans to tax tech firms, her unwillingness to tax the rich and the Labour members carrying Palestinian flags outside the conference centre.

We also talk about the war that has begun formally today in Israel, after Hamas carried out a series of terror attacks this weekend.

Editor: Tom Hughes

Senior Producer: Gabriel Radus

Producer: Laura FitzPatrick

Planning Producer: Alex Barnett

Social Media Editor: Georgia Foxwell

Video Producer: Rory Symon

You can listen to this episode on Alexa - just say "Alexa, ask Global Player to play The News Agents".

Rishi Sunak’s Great British Train Robbery Oct 06, 2023

Show notes

In the biggest story of the past week - a flagship, important, party conference week for the Prime Minister, he announced the scrapping of the biggest infrastructure project in Britain in a decade. A project that many saw key to levelling up the north of the country.

But, is 'scrapping' it even that easy, that possible? And what's to say what they've promised in its place will come to fruition?

We then go to Scotland and a seismic result in Rutherglen and Hamilton West, where the Labour Party have romped home to victory, unseating a decent SNP majority. What significance will results like this have in determining how Labour will do in next year's general election?

And Lewis sits down with Dawn Butler, to talk race (and racism), Suella's 'multiculturalism' rhetoric, her journey to being a Labour MP and former shadow minister and the state of the Labour Party going ahead into next week's conference.

Editor: Tom Hughes

Senior Producer: Gabriel Radus

Producer: Laura FitzPatrick

Planning Producer: Alex Barnett

Social Media Editor: Georgia Foxwell

Video Producer: Will Gibson-Smith

You can listen to this episode on Alexa - just say "Alexa, ask Global Player to play The News Agents".