The News Agents

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.

The front pages proclaim just one story in town: the sex photos that were allegedly sold by an underage crack addict to a top BBC presenter.

But look a little deeper, and there may be more to this story than meets the eye. What do we know about the money that's changed hands? What does it tell us about the relationship between The Sun newspaper and the BBC? And where is the line between privacy and transparency?

Today we talk to former editor of The Sun, David Yelland, who tells us whether he would have published this story. And we ask what it tells us about media power in the digital age.

Later, we look at the sudden collapse of the Dutch government, over asylum issues. Does anyone in Europe have an answer to small boats?

Mark Zuckerberg launched his new platform, Threads, this week. It's designed to knock Twitter - owned Elon Musk - off of its perch.

This story is a parable of our age. Men of unbelievable wealth and unbelievable power locking battle. Whoever wins, if anyone wins, it will have reverberations on our culture, on our politics, on the tapestry of our lives.

And Lewis also talks to the SNP leader for Westminster, Stephen Flynn MP, about his political make-up.

The prospect of another by-election looms after Parliament's standards committee recommended an eight-week suspension of former Conservative whip, Chris Pincher.

If the name is familiar, it’s because he was arguably the one who sealed the fate of Boris Johnson and led ultimately to his resignation.

Today we discuss the ramifications of the sexual assault and we look at Keir Starmer's pledge to give working class kids better oracy skills.

Exclusive footage of Boris Johnson from the One Decision Podcast has been shared with The News Agents.

He was facing questions from hosts Julia Macfarlane and Richard Dearlove about Ukraine, democracy and global security.

Towards the end, Julia asked him about his own response to British democracy - his refusal to accept the findings of the 'kangaroo court' privileges committee into his wrongdoing.

She also asked him about Chris Pincher - the deputy chief whip who resigned from government over sexual assault allegations - and that's where Johnson's answers got really odd...

Later on the show we talk about the escalating violence in Israel and Jenin, and why Netanyahu's personal fortunes may be influencing his military moves...

Joining The News Agents today were freelance journalist Julia Macfarlane, Channel 4's foreign correspondent Secunder Kermani, & Cambridge Gates Scholar and expert on populism, Ayala Panievsky.

The SNP's deputy leader in Westminster, Mhairi Black MP, joins us exclusively in News Agents HQ to announce she's stepping down at the next election.

We discuss the "toxic" culture that's led to Black - the youngest MP in 350 years when she was elected in 2015 - to leave parliament, and we ask why so many other MPs won't be standing again.

If you landed in this country and wondered what its problems were you might see the long queues for the health services, the high inflation, the shortage of workers to fill public sector jobs and the difficulties the country has with its supply chains.

The New Conservatives are a new fringe Conservative group trying to solve a different problem.

They think we need to cut immigration numbers by 400k, stop foreign workers visas, and offer the jobs (that we can't currently fill) to British workers. So that's now on Rishi's plate for him to ponder.

We talk to their leader Tom Hunt and ask him how he'd get Brits to do those jobs.

And after the press regulator IPSO ruled the Jeremy Clarkson column in the Sun was 'sexist, pejorative and prejudicial' we talk to IPSO's chairman Lord Faulks.

Rishi Sunak and now former government minister Lord Zac Goldsmith have a war of words over why Goldsmith resigned this morning. Sunak says its because of the latest Privileges Committee report. Goldsmith says it's because Sunak and his government are not serious about climate change.

It comes in a week where it's been announced that this June has been the hottest ever, and the head of the Climate Change Committee, Lord Deben, questions how serious the Conservative government are about sticking to net zero policies. Does Rishi Sunak not care about climate change? We speak to Lord Deben himself, Ed Conway, Economics Editor at Sky News, and Lara Spirit of The Times.

The Court of Appeal thwarts Home Secretary Suella Braverman's eye-wateringly expensive Rwanda plan (for now) - cue a government appeal and derision and fury from a number of Tory MPs, some of whom have also been named in the latest Privileges Committee report for their choice language on Twitter and other social media platforms in response to the findings against Boris Johnson a couple of weeks ago.

And why are there riots on the streets of Paris? We talk to writer Nabila Ramdani who's reporting on the streets.

As we record, the government is on standby in case Thames Water collapses. The country's largest water company has £14billion of debt, and is rudderless after the exit of their chief executive.

It's prompting many to ask questions about privitisation more widely. How did bills get so high, as quality got so bad? That's before you even get on to the shit in the sea. We ask what we've learnt about taking essential industries out of public control.

And, we discuss football, national identity, brexit , and what it means to lose - with the cast and director of Dear England - James Graham's latest play at the National Theatre.