The News Agents

Emily and Jon host a weekly US politics podcast; giving you everything you need to know about the world of US politics and how it affects you.

Episodes are available every Tuesday, on Global Player.

Find the latest episode of News Agents USA here on Global Player.

Should it be a crime to shout "jihad" on the streets of London during a protest to support Palestinian rights?

The Home Secretary had a meeting with Met Commissioner Mark Rowley to ask why the police weren't prepared to arrest those seeking to incite "violence or hatred" on Britain's streets.

Context is everything of course, and jihad can mean many things. So where does free speech collide with threatening behaviour - when hate crime has risen so sharply since the October 7th Hamas attacks?

We speak to one of the country's top voices on counter terrorism, Sir Peter Fahy - who warns politicians not to put community relations in jeopardy.

And - after historic by election losses last week what is the Tory strategy? And is the chancellor going to stick around to find out?

Editor: Tom Hughes

Senior Producer: Gabriel Radus

Producer: Laura FitzPatrick

Planning Producer: Alex Barnett

Social Media Producer: Phoebe Dampare-Osei

Video Producers: Rory Symon & Ben Bate

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

Two massive by-election losses in Tory heartland. Are Rishi Sunak's hopes of holding onto his premiership next year in tatters?

They may still win Tamworth and Mid Bedfordshire back in next year's general election, but that doesn't arrest the growing expectation that there is a distinct possibility the Conservatives could soon face electoral annihilation.

We speak to Lara Spirit, editor of The Times' Red Box, to understand the political implications for the Tories and Sunak in the wake of last night's results.

And - a voice from each party.

Tory MP Robin Walker, who, despite campaigning in Mid Beds is still confident his party can recover (though one might say there's a slight falter in his voice);

Lib Dem Deputy Leader Daisy Cooper tries to dampen her party's disappointment;

and Labour shadow secretary Peter Kyle, who led the Labour campaign in Mid Beds has a thing or two (or three) to say about the Lib Dem's campaign - which he calls 'filth'.

Editor: Tom Hughes

Senior Producer: Gabriel Radus

Producer: Laura FitzPatrick

Planning Producer: Alex Barnett

Social Media Producer: Phoebe Dampare-Osei

Video Producers: Rory Symon & Ben Bate

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

Just one day after the US president Joe Biden, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is on the ground in Israel pleading for the lives of British hostages and facing calls from Netanyahu for Britain’s “continuous support “. Rishi like Biden, is walking a fine line.

We talk to Shashank Joshi, Defence Editor of The Economist about what's next as Western leaders scramble in the search for de-escalation.

And later - is Sam Bankman-Freid a crook or a victim of a political pile-on? Once anticipated to be the world's first trillionaire he’s now got a "99.5% chance" of going to prison for fraud for 115...years.

We speak to Michael Lewis - of 'Moneyball' and 'The Big Short' fame. He’s written a biography of SBF - Going Infinite - and talks to us about understanding the man many can't.

Editor: Tom Hughes

Senior Producer: Gabriel Radus

Producer: Laura FitzPatrick

Planning Producer: Alex Barnett

Social Media Producer: Phoebe Dampare-Osei

Video Producers: Rory Symon & Ben Bate

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

A deadly inhumane attack on a Gazan hospital by Israeli forces killing hundreds.

Or, a failed rocket by Palestinian Islamic Jihad, aimed at Israel, landing accidentally in a hospital car park killing dozens.

We are at that inevitable stage of the conflict where truth has become another casualty.

How does Biden - who's just landed in Israel - attempt to forge a path of peace through such differing narratives? And what happens when the truth comes out, if no one chooses to believe it?

We talk to Lord Simon McDonald, who not only called time on misinformation in the Boris Johnson era - famously over what the former PM knew and denied - but was also Israel’s ambassador in the years of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza in the mid 2000s.

Editor: Tom Hughes

Senior Producer: Gabriel Radus

Producer: Laura FitzPatrick

Planning Producer: Alex Barnett

Social Media Editor: Georgia Foxwell

Video Producers: Rory Symon & Ben Bate

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

The Israeli military has denied that there is a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, but there are now reports of people drinking toilet water to survive.

So will Joe Biden's visit tomorrow make any difference in the hope for peace in the middle east, and help accelerate a resolution to the current conflict? And will the Rafah crossing open into Egypt to allow for food and medical supplies into Gaza, and for the safe passage of people out?

And as Humza Yousaf makes makes his first leader's speech at the SNP conference in Aberdeen today, we ask whether the party has really refocused its aim of independence.

Editor: Tom Hughes

Producer: Laura FitzPatrick

Planning Producer: Alex Barnett

Social Media Editor: Georgia Foxwell

Video Producers: Rory Symon & Ben Bate

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

Emily and Jon host a weekly US politics podcast; giving you everything you need to know about the world of US politics and how it affects you.

Episodes are available every Tuesday, on Global Player.

Find the latest episode of News Agents USA here on Global Player.

Over the weekend, Palestinian flags flooded central London as thousands marched for 'Free Palestine'. But has legitimate support for the rights of Palestinian citizens been merged with more sinister support, or acquiescence of, the presence of Hamas, a deeply illiberal, misogynistic, homophobic and anti-semitic terrorist organisation, in Gaza and the Palestinian territories?

And as Israel starts to evacuate parts of the north of the country - is Hezbollah - the Islamist militant group in Lebanon far stronger than Hamas with equal hate for everything Jewish and Israeli - about to get heavily involved in what could soon become a regional war? We ask former UK Ambassador in Beirut, British diplomat Tom Fletcher.

Poland went to the polls over the weekend - and voted in their masses for more pro-European, less far-right governance. We talk to Jakub Krupa, Polish journalist, about what this means.

And another MP is suspended for sexual misconduct. The train of sleaze in Westminster trudges on.

Editor: Tom Hughes

Senior Producer: Gabriel Radus

Producer: Laura FitzPatrick

Planning Producer: Alex Barnett

Social Media Editor: Georgia Foxwell

Video Producers: Rory Symon & Ben Bate

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

Israeli officials have told Gazan citizens to leave the north and head south ahead of a potential ground invasion - retaliating after a week of war crimes perpetrated by Hamas on Israeli soil. 1.1million people - the number of people roughly in Birmingham, trekking largely on foot, down one of two roads, in the middle of a war. Is that possible? Most think not.

Are many, many thousands of Palestinian civilians about to get caught up in warfare that will see so many lives, on both sides, lost? Israel say they're acting proportionately - but are they about to commit war crimes, and why are British politicians largely happy with this interpretation?

We speak to the former Director of Prosecutions at the International Criminal Court, Fabricio Guariglia, Chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee Alicia Kearns, author of The Only Language They Understand: Forcing Compromise in Israel and Palestine & A Day in the Life of Abed Salama: A Palestine Story, Nathan Thrall, and military expert Michael Clarke.

Editor: Tom Hughes

Senior Producer: Gabriel Radus

Producer: Laura FitzPatrick

Planning Producer: Alex Barnett

Social Media Editor: Georgia Foxwell

Video Producers: Rory Symon & Charlie Clinton

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

There are an estimated 150 hostages in Gaza - all ages, all nationalities, some taken from their beds as they slept.

How does Israel even begin to contemplate ground war when so many of its people are the other side of that border?

And how do you begin to negotiate with terrorists when they've broken every rule of war with the sheer evil of their acts? We speak to an expert in hostage negotiation Rachel Briggs OBE.

Later, we discuss the SNP defection to- checks notes - the Conservative party, and we ask whether judges are going to let convicted rapists roam free because our prisons are now full. The former barrister who broke that story for the Times, Catherinke Baksi, is with us.

Editor: Tom Hughes

Senior Producer: Gabriel Radus

Producer: Laura FitzPatrick

Planning Producer: Alex Barnett

Social Media Editor: Georgia Foxwell

Video Producer: Rory Symon

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