In the weeks following Donald Trump’s scrapping of diversity, equality and inclusion schemes in government, a number of big-name companies have followed suit rolling back their DEI commitments. So why are so many big companies ditching DEI? And what could this rolling back of DEI policies mean for businesses and workplaces? We speak to Alexandra Mousavizadeh.

Later, Gabriel Gatehouse joins us to tell us about frozen heads, psychedelic art, and his search for the mysterious Bitcoin founder.

Tickets to The News Agents Live On Stage with HSBC UK are now on sale! You can get your tickets for Birmingham, Manchester and Edinburgh here: https://articles.globalplayer.com/7giHoMavXLgdrd6gaC3GxWG7T8

Editor: Tom Hughes

Executive Producer: Louis Degenhardt

Producer: Natalie Indge

Digital Editor: Michaela Walters

Social Media Editor: Georgia Foxwell

Video Production: Rory Symon, Shane Fennelly & Arvind Badewal

Digital Journalist: Michael Baggs

Don’t forget you can also subscribe to our other News Agents podcasts via the link below:

https://linktr.ee/thenewsagents

The News Agents USA now have merch! Click here to buy yours now: https://store.global.com/collections/the-news-agents

The News Agents is brought to you by HSBC UK - https://www.hsbc.co.uk/

European leaders are heading to Paris. American negotiators are heading to Saudi. And the News Agents have arrived in Birmingham. It’s our first live show of 2025 and as a broadcasting first we’re joined by some abseiling window cleaners on today’s episode. We discuss Americas unilateral plan for Ukraine. Why has it left Europeans in tears? What can Starmer do with Trump? And are we really going to see British troops on Ukraine's borders?

Tickets to The News Agents Live On Stage with HSBC UK are now on sale! You can get your tickets for Birmingham, Manchester and Edinburgh here: https://articles.globalplayer.com/7giHoMavXLgdrd6gaC3GxWG7T8

Editor: Tom Hughes

Executive Producer: Louis Degenhardt

Producer: Natalie Indge

Digital Editor: Michaela Walters

Social Media Editor: Georgia Foxwell

Video Production: Rory Symon, Shane Fennelly & Arvind Badewal

Digital Journalist: Michael Baggs

Don’t forget you can also subscribe to our other News Agents podcasts via the link below:

https://linktr.ee/thenewsagents

The News Agents USA now have merch! Click here to buy yours now: https://store.global.com/collections/the-news-agents

The News Agents is brought to you by HSBC UK - https://www.hsbc.co.uk/

Despite Keir Starmer's long march to Downing Street, there is so much we don't know about our Prime Minister. His media presence, and his Downing Street, is more guarded than the PMs who have preceded him. He has worn many different political personalities on his journey from lawyer, to the House of Commons, to leader of the opposition - he has evolved as his journey to No 10 took shape.

What drives him? What are his fundamental principles? Who are his real allies? Gabriel Pogrund and Patrick Maguire have an arguably clearer picture than anyone except the man himself. Their new book 'Get In: The Inside Story of Labour Under Starmer' attempts to get beneath the skin of the man running our country.

They sat down with Lewis to try and answer some of those questions.

Tickets to The News Agents Live On Stage with HSBC UK are now on sale! You can get your tickets for Birmingham, Manchester and Edinburgh here: https://articles.globalplayer.com/7giHoMavXLgdrd6gaC3GxWG7T8

Editor: Tom Hughes

Executive Producer: Louis Degenhardt

Producer: Natalie Indge

Digital Editor: Michaela Walters

Social Media Editor: Georgia Foxwell

Video Production: Rory Symon, Shane Fennelly & Arvind Badewal

Digital Journalist: Michael Baggs

Don’t forget you can also subscribe to our other News Agents podcasts via the link below:

https://linktr.ee/thenewsagents

The News Agents USA now have merch! Click here to buy yours now: https://store.global.com/collections/the-news-agents

The News Agents is brought to you by HSBC UK - https://www.hsbc.co.uk/

This week on The Sports Agents...

Can the Six Nations learn from the star-studded Super Bowl? We chat to ex-England rugby union player Ugo Monye (03:30).

Could rugby league help the Premier League get VAR right? That's with Phil Bentham, Head of Match Officials at the RFL and former PGMOL VAR coach (10:45).

Joe McEwan tells us about suffering a sudden cardiac arrest when playing lacrosse. At just 22 his heart stopped for 4 minutes but he survived and now he's raising money by walking the length of New Zealand (16:45).

And we laugh about Andy Murray's fateful first ski trip, where he had to be transported down the mountain after biting off more than he could chew (22:45).

Find out more about Cardiac Risk in the Young here

Got a question for The Sports Agents - email us at [email protected]

New episodes every Tuesday and Thursday.

Donald Trump's first stab at a deal on Ukraine appears to have gone very well - for Russia. During a 90 minute phone call with Putin they started to lay out the terms. Including a veto on Ukraine joining NATO and an understanding that Ukraine would never reclaim Crimea. The phone call with Zelensky did not come until afterwards. European leaders are up in arms at being left out of the conversation and can’t work out why Trump is conceding to Putin before he’s even stopped his illegal invasion. Is Trump 'the deal maker' just not actually very good at making deals? And has he profoundly given up on the West and its defence?

Later, what does the Munich terror attack presage for the forthcoming German election? Is it making life for the anti immigrant parties much easier?

And which toddler dared to tell Trump he was not actually the President?

Tickets to The News Agents Live On Stage with HSBC UK are now on sale! You can get your tickets for Birmingham, Manchester and Edinburgh here: https://articles.globalplayer.com/7giHoMavXLgdrd6gaC3GxWG7T8

Editor: Tom Hughes

Executive Producer: Louis Degenhardt

Producer: Natalie Indge

Digital Editor: Michaela Walters

Social Media Editor: Georgia Foxwell

Video Production: Rory Symon, Shane Fennelly & Arvind Badewal

Digital Journalist: Michael Baggs

Don’t forget you can also subscribe to our other News Agents podcasts via the link below:

https://linktr.ee/thenewsagents

The News Agents USA now have merch! Click here to buy yours now: https://store.global.com/collections/the-news-agents

The News Agents is brought to you by HSBC UK - https://www.hsbc.co.uk/

Kemi Badenoch got rebuffed in PMQs by the Prime Minister telling her for the second week in a row she “hadn’t done her homework".

Why isn’t she cutting through? Does she need to do more media interviews? Or might her safe space be the kind of podcasts Trump used to secure the 2024 election? Today we ask if that media exists here in the UK and if not, why not?

Tickets to The News Agents Live On Stage with HSBC UK are now on sale! You can get your tickets for Birmingham, Manchester and Edinburgh here: https://articles.globalplayer.com/7giHoMavXLgdrd6gaC3GxWG7T8

Editor: Tom Hughes

Executive Producer: Louis Degenhardt

Producer: Natalie Indge

Digital Editor: Michaela Walters

Social Media Editor: Georgia Foxwell

Video Production: Rory Symon, Shane Fennelly & Arvind Badewal

Digital Journalist: Michael Baggs

Don’t forget you can also subscribe to our other News Agents podcasts via the link below:

https://linktr.ee/thenewsagents

The News Agents USA now have merch! Click here to buy yours now: https://store.global.com/collections/the-news-agents

The News Agents is brought to you by HSBC UK - https://www.hsbc.co.uk/

The AI Summit in Paris assumed it would be the centre of tech action today. That was until Elon Musk put in a cheeky (hostile) bid for Sam Altman's OpenAI company, claiming he was owed the money anyway from a previous deal. There is beef between these two tech bros - who both proudly wear Trump's patronage. They previously worked and innovated together on the company that is now Altman's. Can Musk bully Altman into giving it up? Will Trump help him? And what happens if AI as well as X, tesla, SpaceX and (checks notes) the entire US government is now within Musk's grasp?

Later, is Trump serious about pulling out of NATO? And is the Ukraine war already lost? We speak to Jeremy Hunt about what he's learned from 14 years at the top of government, and what he'd do differently.

Tickets to The News Agents Live On Stage with HSBC UK are now on sale! You can get your tickets for Birmingham, Manchester and Edinburgh here: https://articles.globalplayer.com/7giHoMavXLgdrd6gaC3GxWG7T8

Editor: Tom Hughes

Executive Producer: Louis Degenhardt

Producer: Natalie Indge

Digital Editor: Michaela Walters

Social Media Editor: Georgia Foxwell

Video Production: Rory Symon, Shane Fennelly & Arvind Badewal

Digital Journalist: Michael Baggs

Don’t forget you can also subscribe to our other News Agents podcasts via the link below:

https://linktr.ee/thenewsagents

The News Agents USA now have merch! Click here to buy yours now: https://store.global.com/collections/the-news-agents

The News Agents is brought to you by HSBC UK - https://www.hsbc.co.uk/

Labour has been trying to show how tough it’s getting on immigration - releasing videos of its door to door raids whilst simultaneously putting up Reform turquoise ads on Facebook. The messaging goes to the heart of the Labour conundrum. Should it fight Reform or copy it? Does it need more muscular pushback? Or an acceptance that’s where voters concerns now lie? We discuss with MP Jake Richards.

Later, what is 'Blue Labour' and why are they favourites of Donald Trump? And who is DJ Dowster and WTF is he singing ?

Tickets to The News Agents Live On Stage with HSBC UK are now on sale! You can get your tickets for Birmingham, Manchester and Edinburgh here: https://articles.globalplayer.com/7giHoMavXLgdrd6gaC3GxWG7T8

Editor: Tom Hughes

Executive Producer: Louis Degenhardt

Producer: Natalie Indge

Digital Editor: Michaela Walters

Social Media Editor: Georgia Foxwell

Video Production: Rory Symon, Shane Fennelly & Arvind Badewal

Digital Journalist: Michael Baggs

Don’t forget you can also subscribe to our other News Agents podcasts via the link below:

https://linktr.ee/thenewsagents

The News Agents USA now have merch! Click here to buy yours now: https://store.global.com/collections/the-news-agents

The News Agents is brought to you by HSBC UK - https://www.hsbc.co.uk/

In a time of rising populism, a raging debate around free speech online, and with Donald Trump fixating upon Greenland, Helle Thorning-Schmidt sits in a unique vantage point.

Denmark's first female Prime Minister remains one of the most influential social democrats in Europe. And her experiences grappling with the migrant crisis have equipped her with some big ideas on how the left should combat the radical right.

She's also now one of the few people with Mark Zuckerberg's ear. Thorning-Schmidt co-chairs Meta's oversight board - a body which checks the tech giant on content moderation and rules on what can and cannot be posted on Facebook and Instagram. With Donald Trump effectively seeking to scrap restrictions on online expression, and eyeing up Greenland, a territory she once governed, Lewis sat down with her to discuss some of the big - potentially defining - issues of our time.

Tickets to The News Agents Live On Stage with HSBC UK are now on sale! You can get your tickets for Birmingham, Manchester and Edinburgh here: https://articles.globalplayer.com/7giHoMavXLgdrd6gaC3GxWG7T8

Editor: Tom Hughes

Executive Producer: Louis Degenhardt

Producer: Natalie Indge

Digital Editor: Michaela Walters

Social Media Editor: Georgia Foxwell

Video Production: Rory Symon, Shane Fennelly & Arvind Badewal

Digital Journalist: Michael Baggs

Don’t forget you can also subscribe to our other News Agents podcasts via the link below:

https://linktr.ee/thenewsagents

The News Agents USA now have merch! Click here to buy yours now: https://store.global.com/collections/the-news-agents

The News Agents is brought to you by HSBC UK - https://www.hsbc.co.uk/

This week on The Sports Agents...

A big helping of American sport as we geared up for Sunday's Super Bowl and explained the NBA transfer that broke the internet...

Former Super Bowl champion Jason Bell, was in the studio to talk about Patrick Mahomes' G.O.A.T status, The Kansas City Chiefs' attempt at a historic 'Three-Peat' and the 'Taylor Swift Super Bowl conspiracy'? (09:50)

Tas Melas, co-host of 'No Dunks' podcast joined us to break down Luka Doncic's shock trade to the LA Lakers - one of the biggest stars in the sport and he had no idea it was about to happen and no power to stop it! (21:46)

Plus, would you know what to do if a brand wanted to sponsor your 12-year old child? The mother of Arsenal's Myles Lewis-Skelly, Marcia Lewis, joined us to talk about her mission to help parents navigate the world of academy football. (03:59)

And can TikTok really help the growth of women's sport? Women's Sport Trust CEO Tammy Parlour and Birmingham City defender Shannon Cooke explain (16:23)

Got a question for The Sports Agents - email us at [email protected]

Find out more about No1fan.club here

New episodes every Tuesday and Thursday.