The News Agents

Latest Episodes:

The man jailed for 17 years for a crime he didn’t commit Aug 08, 2023

Show notes

Andrew Malkinson was convicted of rape in 2003 and it took nearly two decades for this miscarriage of justice to be corrected. But it could have happened much earlier, were it not for the police repeatedly bungling the case, or perhaps worse. Andrew joins Jon and Lewis for an extended conversation about his time in jail, what the police did wrong and what it tells us about the justice system itself.

A content warning - the episodes contains mentions of rape and suicide.

Editor: Tom Hughes

Senior Producer: Gabriel Radus

Social Media Editor: Georgia Foxwell

Planning Producer: Alex Barnett

Video Producer: Rory Symon

The News Agents is a Global Player Original and a Persephonica Production.

This week on The News Agents: USA - Trump, the law, and The Lord Aug 08, 2023

Show notes

Emily and Jon host a new 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 exclusively on Global Player and all other platforms every Wednesday.

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

So Suella's putting asylum seekers on a barge Aug 07, 2023

Show notes

It's "small boats week" on the government media grid; or that was the idea.

It looks like it could have been over before it began.

Jon is back, and with Lewis they chew over why the government keeps pointing to a policy area on which it's failed.

They also talk through the Home Secretary's latest great idea as to where to house up to 500 asylum seekers. The Bibby Stockholm, a huge barge currently moored off the Isle of Portland.

And we preview the latest and fourth indictment coming for Trump, likely this week.

Meanwhile...Matt Hancock has been pretending to be Ken, from Barbie. It gives the silly season a bad name.

Editor: Tom Hughes

Senior Producer: Gabriel Radus

Social Media Editor: Georgia Foxwell

Planning Producer: Alex Barnett

Video Producer: Rory Symon

The News Agents is a Global Player Original and a Persephonica Production.

Will the indictments actually help Donald Trump? Aug 04, 2023

Show notes

Donald Trump was indicted for a third time this week and a fourth is on the way. He emerged from a DC courthouse this week actually inviting more - he thinks it's helping him, feeding into a long-established persecution complex which he feels will been a key asset in his bid to be re-elected.

In this episode, we ask a simple question: is he right? And is he right everywhere? If it is helping him secure the Republican nomination, will all this actually end up hurting his chances of obtaining the thing he truly craves - the presidency itself?

And in the latest of our extended political conversations Lewis talks to Labour peer and refugee champion Lord Alf Dubbs about a political life which stretches back to Clement Attlee and Nazi-occupied Prague.

Editor: Tom Hughes

Senior Producer: Gabriel Radus

Social Media Editor: Georgia Foxwell

Planning Producer: Alex Barnett

Video Producer: Will Gibson Smith

The News Agents is a Global Player Original and a Persephonica Production.

Sunak, Starmer, and the death of the political interview Aug 03, 2023

Show notes

Rishi Sunak isn’t much good at interviews. Sir Keir Starmer isn’t that much better. It follows a pattern of politicians become less and less willing to take part in political interviews, which they see as increasingly pointless, all risk and no gain. We ask, does it matter? And why does our democracy lose, as a result?

And interest rates rose for again- now at a 15 year high.

Torsten Bell joins Lewis to explain where it leaves households and Rishi Sunak’s re-election chances.

Editor: Tom Hughes

Senior Producer: Gabriel Radus

Social Media Editor: Georgia Foxwell

Video Producer: Will Gibson Smith

The News Agents is a Global Player Original and a Persephonica Production.

Donald Trump vs. The United States Aug 02, 2023

Show notes

Donald Trump has been indicted. Again.

But this is the most serious of the lot - a series of conspiracies against the republic itself and an attempt to subvert an election. Emily and Lewis talk what it means for America, Trump and 2024.

Jon got bored on holiday and couldn’t resist popping up either.

We speak to Trump's former Deputy Press Secretary, Hogan Gidley.

Editor: Tom Hughes

Senior Producer: Gabriel Radus

Social Media Editor: Georgia Foxwell

Video Producer: Will Gibson Smith

The News Agents is a Global Player Original and a Persephonica Production.

Are house prices about to plummet? Aug 01, 2023

Show notes

House prices have fallen an average of 4% in the last year due to rising interest rates and the knock on effect on mortgages.

How low will they go and does anyone think we're on the cusp of a housing crash? We ask esteemed economist Roger Bootle.

Also - we’re in Ukraine which has been hitting back - drone attacks on Russian apartment blocks in Moscow. Putin calls it “terrorism“.

What does this tell us about the Ukrainian offensive? We speak to Andrew Harding, foreign correspondent and author of Small, Stubborn Town; Life, Death and Defiance in Ukraine.

And how the Great Crested Newt is playing havoc with Boris Johnson’s plan for a swimming pool.

Editor: Tom Hughes

Senior Producer: Gabriel Radus

Social Media Editor: Georgia Foxwell

Video Producer: Will Gibson Smith

The News Agents is a Global Player Original and a Persephonica Production.

This week on The News Agents: USA - Has the Republican party become 'a cult'? Aug 01, 2023

Show notes

Emily and Jon host a new 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 exclusively on Global Player and all other platforms every Wednesday.

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

Is Rishi on 'the wrong side of history'? Jul 31, 2023

Show notes

Rishi Sunak is handing out around one hundred new oil and gas licences for North Sea drilling and says it is entirely consistent with his plans for net-zero. But his former energy minister has said the government is 'on the wrong side of history'.

Can you get to clean energy by going back for more fossil fuels? Will voters thank him at the ballot box if he can make the transition less painful?

And what do the Independence-intent SNP make of this? We ask their leader for Westminster, Stephen Flynn.

Later, we ask what's happening in Niger? As a military coup in one of the world's poorest countries leaves it wide open to Russian mercenary influence. We talk to journalist and geopolitical expert Tim Marshall.

Editor: Tom Hughes

Senior Producer: Gabriel Radus

Producer: Laura FitzPatrick

Social Media Editor: Georgia Foxwell

Video Producer: Will Gibson Smith

The News Agents is a Global Player Original and a Persephonica Production.

Andy Burnham on Keir Starmer, Manchester United, and the police Jul 28, 2023

Show notes

The Mayor for Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, says he is a "place first" not a "policy first" politician.

In a week where the Greater Manchester Police have been in the headlines for all the wrong reasons, Lewis travels to Manchester to meet the Mayor and ask him whether he has confidence in the force.

In today's The News Agents, we talk about his relationship with Keir Starmer and the central Labour party, the potential Qatari takeover of Manchester United and the Mayor's political ambitions going forward.

Editor: Tom Hughes

Senior producer: Gabriel Radus

Field producer: Laura FitzPatrick

Video producer: Will Gibson Smith

Social media editor: Georgia Foxwell

The News Agents is a Global Player Original and a Persephonica Production.