The News Agents

Vanity Fair may be contenders for this years 'scoop of the year' after securing a series of interviews with Trump's closest White House ally, Susie Wiles. The candid interviews provide a rare window into the West Wing and Trump's inner circle. She went much further than perhaps the President might have expected - describing the teetotal President as having “an alcoholic’s personality", the Vice President as a "conspiracy theorist",...

Overnight came Trump's ten billion dollar lawsuit against the BBC. It claims malicious intent in the edit of his speech in the Panorama documentary. And it claims the programme would have been viewed in Florida ahead of the 2024 election. Is there a legal case here? Is there the political will to stand up to Trump? And where does the British public stand when it comes to backing the BBC?

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As the sun was setting on the first night of Hanukah, a father and his son opened fire on Jewish people celebrating on Sydney’s Bondi Beach. 16 people were left dead - forty remain in hospital, including the hero who tried to disarm one of the IS-linked terrorists. Jews around the world have been sounding the alarm on the rise of anti-semitism. They believe their fear has gone unheeded. Will this tragedy change anything? And how sh...

Although some Labour MPs are still fawning over Zohran Mamdani's victory in New York, they may be better off looking to a very different sort of American politician if they want lessons they can draw on in the attempt to recover the party's fortunes.

Patrick Maguire, chief political commentator for the Times, is one of the UK's best connected and closest observers of Keir Starmer's government. And he's written this week about how H...

Pippa York, then known as Robert Millar, was crowned the Tour de France King of the Mountains, winning three stages in the 1980s. But ever since she was five she wanted to be a girl. 

Years after quitting cycling, aged 41, she started a 10-year transition process to become Pippa York, who joins Gabby and Mark.

What was it like racing the Tour de France with gender dysmorphia? And what does she make of the debate around trans-in...

Trump has attacked a huge oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela - and when asked what would happen now to the oil responded “we will probably keep it". Is there actual strategy behind the piracy? Will it help him topple the illegitimate Venezuelan President Maduro? Or is it just about seizing assets? And what does Nobel peace prize winner Maria Machado make of Americas posturing?

Later, why is Tony Blair interviewing Shabana Mahmoo...

An exclusive investigation by Andy Hughes, co-host of The Crime Agents and LBC crime correspondent, raises disturbing questions about whether a London police officer was operating a grooming gang in the capital. He speaks to Lewis about his report, the accusations of a cover up, and the Met police response.

Later, Keir Starmer has been leading efforts today to get Europe to reform the ECHR. He's claimed that the best way to fight "...

Netflix and Paramount are locked in an epic fight to take over Warner Bros. Discovery. The price tag could well reach north of $100bn. And at stake - a huge back catalogue of blockbuster film and TV, a streaming giant, a Hollywood studio, even CNN.

Enter Donald Trump, who's expressed concern about the potential for a monopoly, and also reportedly wants a say on any potential restructuring of the news network under new ownership. The...

European leaders have met in Downing Street once again to discuss peace plans for Ukraine, following Trump's latest proposal - but once again it seems Zelenskyy has wound Trump up, leaving America and Europe at odds. And another document from the Trump administration illustrates an even deeper division. The 33 page National Security Strategy says Europe is facing "civilisational erasure" and says the US has an obligation to “cultiv...

While China is an engineering state, tech analyst Dan Wang says the America and the West are "lawyerly societies", reflexively blocking everything - good and bad - and it's halting real progress.

Dan joins Lewis in the studio this Friday to discuss why Europe stopped building, how lawyers contribute to a slow in progress, and what all this means for wider geopolitivs and the rise of the far right.

The News Agents is broug...

Six-time Olympic cycling champion Sir Chris Hoy joins Gabby and Mark after his terminal prostate cancer diagnosis at just 47 years old.

What more does Chris think the government should be doing to help? How has his sporting background helped him? And why is he excited for the Darts World Championship?

And we bring you the best bits from The Sports Agents this week from President Trump meddling in the FIFA World Cup to rumours of a ...

Reform's Deputy Leader, Richard Tice, popped up on the BBC today and appeared to dismiss the antisemitism claims of Jewish men who’d been at school with Nigel Farage as “politically motivated…made up twaddle“. Hours later, Farage exploded at a BBC reporter during a press conference, demanding an apology for what he said was "despicable" coverage of the antisemitism row by the BBC.

Farage has previously admitted to the slurs but excu...

Today's episode is an exclusive interview with David Lammy - Justice Secretary, Deputy Prime Minister and former Foreign Secretary.

Is he prepared to ignore the internal Labour criticism of his jury plans? Does he admit the budget was a fiasco? And what is going on with Labour and Brexit right now. Are we about to see a change of plan?

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In the sane world of the commons, the Shadow Justice Secretary was only two minutes into his speech before he called the justice secretary a “Lammy Dodger“ and accused him of going back on his previous position on jury trial. Today’s question is this does ending most jury trials speed up a sclerotic system? Or is it the wrong solution for the right diagnosis?

Later, is public sympathy with the striking junior doctors? And do they ...

Rachel Reeves is accused of misleading the public, lying and “possible market abuse” by the opposition. They’ve called for her resignation. The Prime Minister, however, is standing by her and told us today the budget was a thing of “personal pride” for him. 

Meanwhile the OBR - the body that accidentally leaked the Chancellors budget an hour before it was given - have admitted this evening it was the worst failure in its fiftee...

Salman Rushdie has spent half of his life under the threat of death, but it is only in his latest novel - The Eleventh Hour - that he has devoted a whole book to the themes of mortality. It is his first return to fiction since an attempt on his life on 2022.

This Friday, Rushdie joins Lewis and Jon in the studio to discuss his new book, political violence, and the "cowardice" of the BBC.

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Can other sports teach football a thing or two? On today's show Gabby and Mark take your suggestions on how to fix football, using your passion for a massive range of sports.

Plus, we look back at The Sports Agents this week: a huge interview with McLaren CEO Zak Brown as Lando Norris could win them the world title this weekend; and we talk about the elephant in the room at struggling Liverpool - grief.

📩 Got a question? Send it h...

Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves have been out defending their Budget - denying that the tax-raising measures contained within it break the Labour manifesto's promises around taxes on working people. Instead they have been trying to focus on the additional money for the NHS, lifting children out of poverty, and raises to the minimum wage.

Yesterday's package of measures amounts to a fundamental shift in both the size of the State and...

This time last year, Rachel Reeves pledged that her tax raising Budget “wiped the slate clean” and would mean no more need for future tax raids. Today demonstrably proved what a hostage to fortune those comments were. As a result of the Chancellor’s statement today - shambolically accidentally leaked by the OBR before she had got to her feet - the tax burden is due to reach an all time high by the end of the decade. Due to her tax ...