The News Agents

The Prime Minister has called the Israeli Prime Minister's actions in Gaza 'increasingly intolerable' in a phone call with Netanyahu after the deaths of three British aid workers in an Israeli airstrike.

The words are tougher than we've seen before.

But the PM is now coming under pressure to end arms sales to Israel. Will he wait for America to move first? Is he watching to see where public opinion goes? Should Keir Starmer be more forthright - as the Lib Dem leader has been - in taking the initiative and call for arms sales to end - something many in his party are desperate to see.

We speak to Zarah Sultana , the Labour backbencher who's been at the forefront of this appeal - and to former Labour front bencher Jess Philips.

Later, what time is it on The Moon and why does NASA believe we need to sort it out?

Editor: Tom Hughes

Senior Producer: Gabriel Radus

Producer: Laura FitzPatrick

Social Media Editor: Georgia Foxwell

Video Production: Shane Fennelly and Arvind Badewal

You can listen to this episode on Alexa - just say "Alexa, ask Global Player to play The News Agents"!

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

A new law has Police Scotland saying that they'd investigate every online hate crime.

But what they've categorised as a hate crime has caused controversy. Why? And should the state decide what is and isn't a protected characteristic?

And - Israel accept responsibility and apologise for a rocket strike that's killed foreign aid workers in Gaza. It comes after a precision stirke on the Iranian consulate in Syria. What is the IDF doing - and is it ostracising their greatest allies the US even further?

Editor: Tom Hughes

Senior Producer: Gabriel Radus

Social Media Editor: Georgia Foxwell

Video Production: Shane Fennelly and Arvind Badewal

You can listen to this episode on Alexa - just say "Alexa, ask Global Player to play The News Agents"!

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

This week, The Sports Agents dug into why Arsenal are still in a league of their own when it comes to the commercial success of their Women's team, how Gabby became 'obsessed' with Andy Murray and if Gareth Southgate would be a perfect fit for Man United's new owners?

And to keep you going over the extended Easter weekend Gabby & Mark also found out all about Corinthians FC - one of the finest teams in English football history, that you've probably never heard of!

New episodes every Tuesday and Thursday.

Your questions answered in a special Q&A edition of the podcast with Emily, Jon and Lewis.

Editor: Tom Hughes

Social Media Editor: Georgia Foxwell

Video Production: Shane Fennelly and Rory Symon

You can listen to this episode on Alexa - just say "Alexa, ask Global Player to play The News Agents"!

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

Forget everything you know about an exploding world population.

The sad truth is, our birthrate is plummeting globally to the point where there soon won't be enough young workers to take care of the aging population.

What happens then? Can you financially incentivise people to have kids? Should we be thinking harder about immigration?

And why does this subject - and its pronatalist rhetoric - so often become the domaine of the authoritarian right?

We'll hear from Elon, Jordan and Jacob - about why we should all be having more babies.

Plus Robert Colville and Stephen J Shaw.

Editor: Tom Hughes

Senior Producer: Gabriel Radus

Producer: Laura FitzPatrick

Social Media Editor: Georgia Foxwell

Video Production: Shane Fennelly and Arvind Badewal

You can listen to this episode on Alexa - just say "Alexa, ask Global Player to play The News Agents"!

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

Once you have revealed that China is hacking British citizens on a major and global scale, the next question is - well, what are you going to do about it?

Well this is the one the prime minister is currently pondering. He's talking about putting China on an 'enhanced' list - which basically sounds like a glorified registration. But is he prepared to risk trading links? Or shut down Confucious institutes in the UK - China's soft power - or even say no to tiktok?

Also - the Tavistock child gender identity services are shutting their doors for good this week, after the Care Quality Commission declared the care they were offering our children was 'inadequate'. We speak to the investigative journalist Hannah Barnes, who helped expose the failures at the Tavistock. And we ask where children in need of help should seek it now?

Editor: Tom Hughes

Senior Producer: Gabriel Radus

Producer: Laura FitzPatrick

Social Media Editor: Georgia Foxwell

Video Production: Shane Fennelly and Arvind Badewal

You can listen to this episode on Alexa - just say "Alexa, ask Global Player to play The News Agents"!

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

The bombing of a Moscow concert hall left at least 137 dead and even more wounded.

The regrouped ISIS - now ISIS K- have claimed responsibility even though Putin is insisting on blaming Ukraine.

Why has ISIS come for Putin? What does it tell us about the strategic alignments now dominating the Middle East, and does this act of terror bring the threat of more closer to home?

Also - another by-election looms in the marginal seat of Blackpool South as Tory MP Scott Benton resigns. And Donald Trump wins a golf course. Organised by Donald Trump.

Editor: Tom Hughes

Senior Producer: Gabriel Radus

Producer: Laura FitzPatrick

Social Media Editor: Georgia Foxwell

Video Production: Shane Fennelly and Arvind Badewal

You can listen to this episode on Alexa - just say "Alexa, ask Global Player to play The News Agents"!

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

Influential left-wing commentator Owen Jones is in News Agents HQ a day after he quit the Labour Party - despite being a member since he was 15 - on account of what he perceived to be Keir Starmer's fundamental 'dishonesty'. We ask him why he thinks that, whether Labour have lost his vote forever, and if he wants to become the left-wing's Nigel Farage.

Editor: Tom Hughes

Senior Producer: Gabriel Radus

Producer: Laura FitzPatrick

Social Media Editor: Georgia Foxwell

Video Production: Shane Fennelly and Arvind Badewal

You can listen to this episode on Alexa - just say "Alexa, ask Global Player to play The News Agents"!

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

This week, The Sports Agents took a closer look at the state of Rugby Union, reflected on Nottingham Forest becoming the latest Premier League club to suffer a points deduction, as well as, the infamous story of one, Ali Dia...

On Tuesday, Andy Burnham - Greater Manchester Mayor and furious Everton fan - certainly didn't hold back when discussing why the Premier League needs an independent regulator.

Top comedians Dara O'Briain and Josh Widdicombe were then on hand to talk about their six-part podcast series exploring the phenomenon of Ali Dia’s overnight rise to the Premier League – for 53 minutes.

Then on Thursday, it was Rugby Union under the microscope as Courtney Lawes, Louis Rees-Zammit, Premiership CEO Simon Massie-Taylor and Wales legend Sam Warburton joined Gabby & Mark to debate the biggest threats to Rugby's future.

New episodes every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon.

At 6pm on Friday the Princess of Wales released a video statement. In it, she discusses her cancer diagnosis for the first time.

She acknowledges the difficulties facing their family in maintaining their privacy throughout her diagnosis and treatment. Will she now be left alone? And will the conspiracy theories stop?

Editor: Tom Hughes

Senior Producer: Gabriel Radus

Producer: Laura FitzPatrick

Social Media Editor: Georgia Foxwell

Video Production: Shane Fennelly and Arvind Badewal

You can listen to this episode on Alexa - just say "Alexa, ask Global Player to play The News Agents"!

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