The News Agents

Keir Starmer, sounding in tone closer to Nigel Farage than previous Labour prime ministers, has called immigration a failed lab experiment and decreed it’s time to take back control. Introducing the government's immigration white paper, the PM says that high net migration has done "incalculable damage" to the country. It’s language that suggests he has been spooked by Reform's recent successes. But language, he presumes, voters now want to hear from their leader. Is he right? And what happens to our most vulnerable if we don’t have NHS staff and care home workers to fill the job gaps no one here is taking?

But we start with an extraordinary interview with Victor Orban's right hand man. In the week where Zelesnkyy and Putin could meet in Istanbul for a potentially crucial moment in attempts to bring the Ukraine war to an end, why is Hungary at odds with the rest of the EU over Russia? Why have Hungary and Ukraine accused each other of spying over the weekend? And is Starmer's language on immigration now mirroring Orban's a decade earlier?

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

For half a century, Tina Brown has been a titan of journalism both here in the UK and in America. Editor of Tatler at just 25, she continued to take on Vanity Fair and The New Yorker, moving now into the digital age of journalism. Through the Reagan era to Trump, Tina Brown has seen it all.

This Friday, Lewis is joined by Tina in the studio to talk about her vast career, Trump's drive for payback, and the future of journalism in the digital age.

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

This week on The Sports Agents...

After two dramatic Champions League semi-finals we caught up with European Football Journalist Guillem Balagué (03:45).

World number one tennis player, Jannik Sinner, returned from a three-month doping ban this week. His lawyer Jamie Singer came into the studio (12:15).

With young superstars lighting up sport recently like Lamine Yamal and Luke Littler, we spoke to skateboarder Sky Brown, who became Britain's youngest Olympic medallist aged 13 (16:15).

The new snooker world champion Zhao Xintong just came back from a 20-month ban for being party to match fixing. To find out more Jeremy Wilson, Chief Sports Reporter for The Telegraph, joined us (20:45).

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

New episodes every Tuesday and Thursday.

Keir Starmer could only dial in to Donald Trump's press conference, hailing the new US-UK trade deal, but that didn't stop an Oval Office love in between the two leaders.

Starmer praised a "historic" day for both countries, as Trump thanked Starmer, speaking warmly of the special “external and internal bond” between the two countries.

The timing could hardly be better for the Prime Minister, some much needed good economic news after a brutal set of local election results and growing unease on his backbenches about welfare cuts. But is there actually that much to get excited about in this trade deal? Or does it still leave us in a worse place with the US than just a few months ago?

Later, Jon and Emily speak to Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor of the Atlantic, and the man who was added to that infamous 'Houthi PC Small Group' Signal chat that ended up with the firing of America's National Security Advisor.

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

For nearly a decade, Harvey Weinstein's former assistant, Zelda Perkins, has been exposing the way NDAs are abused by people of power, and trying to bring about change in how they are used in the workplace. Later in today’s episode we ask her why employers are still using NDAs to gag employees and why the government STILL hasn’t banned this practice.

But we start on the border of India and Pakistan where shots have been fired between two nuclear powers. We’re going back to the start with Tim Marshall. Why do these countries hate each other so much? And how did it all begin? We have the explainer for those trying to make sense of the big geopolitical row in the subcontinent.

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

In the latest round of “did I hear that correctly?“, the Prime Minister's spokesman has refused to rule out housing asylum seekers in tents. It’s a policy that's been touted by Reform's new mayor for Greater Lincolnshire, and, you'd think, should be an easy one for Labour to knock down. The fact they can’t - or won’t - speaks to a larger issue about how Labour deals with the Reform party in Britain and how progressive parties more generally should approach populist ideas. Should mainstream parties shun them or embrace them?

Later, Netanyahu’s latest plan for political survival is to occupy and annexe Gaza in its entirety - right as food supplies in the Gaza strip are so low that civillians are just days away from starvation. Why isn’t there enough political momentum at home to stop him? We speak to Dahlia Scheindlin, an expert in Israeli public opinion.

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

For the last decade, the spectre of Nigel Farage has been haunting British politics. From UKIP to the Brexit Party, he has loomed in the background of Westminster, threatening but never quite managing to pose a real threat to the two major parties. All that changed today. With just six votes in it, Reform took their first seat from Labour, in Runcorn - which had been one of the safest seats in the country. The party has secured other big council and mayoral wins too. Farage now claims that he, not Kemi Badenoch, is the leader of the opposition.

Is he right? How will Labour respond to this Reform victory in the by-elections? What does it mean for Keir Starmer's government? And does it mark the end of the two party system as we know it?

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

This week on The Sports Agents...

Gabby and Mark were live from Lords Cricket Ground this week for the launch of the 2026 Women's T20 Cricket World Cup in England and Wales. They spoke to World Rugby Player of the Year, Ellie Kildunne, about their own home World Cup this summer, the new trend for celebrations, and the cowboy craze (01:15).

At Lords we also caught up with the new Head Coach of the England women's cricket team, Charlotte Edwards. Her task is to take the team from an Ashes whitewash to a home World Cup victory - so how's she going to pull that off? (20:30)

After Liverpool won the Premier League (sorry Mark!) we marvelled at the smooth handover from talisman Juergen Klopp to Premier League newbie Arne Slot with Football Correspondent for the Sunday Times, Jonathan Northcroft, and John Gibbons from the Anfield Wrap (09:30).

Tennis players are suing the governing bodies over prize money, "invasive" phone searches and more. So we caught up with the man behind the lawsuit, Ahmad Nassar, Executive Director of the Professional Tennis Players Association (15:30).

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

New episodes every Tuesday and Thursday.

Trump has sent 50 million dollars of military aid to Ukraine - the first shipment of aid since he took power. The money started flowing after Ukraine signed that much discussed minerals deal: in it, America recognised Russia's “full scale invasion of Ukraine". So has the minerals deal finally made peace possible? Or is it little more than a shakedown of the Ukrainians?

Later, the Labour MP who says he wouldn’t be disappointed if more UK universities closed. Do we have too many universities? And are some Labour figures now starting to parrot the language and talking points of Reform?

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

Today, America's GDP figures show the economy is dramatically contracting, and recession continues to loom. It’s not an ideal backdrop for Trumps 100 day celebration. Jon has been in Detroit, where Trump has been addressing autoworkers terrified by Trump's tariffs.

So, with 100 days of Trump 2.0 under our belts, we answer your most pressing questions about how it's gone so far, and whether things are only going to get crazier.

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