The News Agents The News Agents

The Middle East, the world, not for the first time in these long six months, has been holding its breath. Ever since Iran fired 300 hundred rockets into Israel, itself a response to the Israel’s killing of several senior Iranian military figures in Damascus, that dreaded word “escalation” has haunted the conversation, the grim realisation that the region, maybe more than the region, is just one mistake, one miscalculation away from all out war in every direction.
Overnight, the promised Israeli retaliation to the Iranian attack came, with missle attacks in the heart of Iran itself, in the cities of Isfahan and Tabriz.
Is this it? Can we exhale again? And for how long?
Editor: Tom Hughes
Senior Producer: Gabriel Radus
Producers: Laura FitzPatrick
Social Media Editor: Georgia Foxwell
Video Production: Rory Symon & 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 3am call, and a Tory MP talking about a life or death situation in which he was being held captive in a flat.
Amazingly, that wasn't even the weirdest bit. As the day, and the story, unfolded, there were allegations of campaign money donated by Conservative supporters being used to pay for the MP's medical bills and more.
Mark Menzies , Fylde MP, is just - remarkably - the latest in a long line of MPs - both Tory and Labour - who have lost the whip this parliament.
What's going on? Has scandal become easier to detect? Harder to hide? Or is this what the end of every reign starts to feel like?
We talk to the Times journalist who broke the story, Billy Kenber, and to the man whose job at the heart of Downing Street was interfacing between the PM and his MPs' each time scandal broke, Craig Oliver.
Later, whats going on in the West Midlands race? We have exclusive Savanta polling.
Editor: Tom Hughes
Senior Producer: Gabriel Radus
Producers: Laura FitzPatrick
Social Media Editor: Georgia Foxwell
Video Production: Rory Symon & 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/

Yes, yes, yes. She crashed the economy, has blamed everyone else, made Britain a laughing stock, inflicted higher mortgage rates on millions of households, and was the shortest serving prime minister in our history. But her 49 days has spawned a 100,000 word book (be thankful she didn’t last ten years - can you imagine how long that book would be?). And it does have a central argument - that Britain has become an administrative state, with civil servants ruling the roost.
Does she have a point? We speak to John McTernan, Tony Blair's former political advisor, and Tom Fletcher, diplomat who's co-authored a report for the UCL Policy Unit on the need for Whitehall reform.
Meanwhile Rishi Sunak is likely to get his Rwanda legislation passed this week. But will getting planes off the ground happen anytime soon?
Editor: Tom Hughes
Senior Producer: Gabriel Radus
Producers: Laura FitzPatrick
Social Media Editor: Georgia Foxwell
Video Production: Rory Symon & 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/

It was a conference that few people here would have ever noticed. Suella, Nigel, Orban - speakers deemed "far right" by the Brussels authorities - found their conference filled with Belgian police as they took to the stage for their NatCon gathering.
The Federal Deputy served a court order on the grounds the conference "endangered public safety" and asked for its immediate closure. Cue great excitement amongst the Nat Conners. They could not be more delighted with this intervention which allowed them to rail - with some justification - against "Belgian democracy".
Has it helped their cause and fuelled their victimhood narrative? Or were police right to act? Later, Rishi wants to ban smoking for anyone born after Jan 1st 2009. Can he? and should he?
Editor: Tom Hughes
Senior Producer: Gabriel Radus
Producers: Laura FitzPatrick
Social Media Editor: Georgia Foxwell
Video Production: Rory Symon & 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/

On Saturday night, Israel warned its citizens to go to a safe room and prepare to spend the night there.
Two hours later, Iran began sending drones into Israeli territory - revenge for the killings of 7 men in the Iranian consulate two weeks ago in Damascus, Syria.
Of the 350 drones, 99 percent were intercepted. Tragically -and miraculously - there was only one reported injury - a 7 year old Israeli bedouin child.
So what happens next? Does Israel retaliate? Or heed it's allies and 'walk away with a win'. We talk to Tim Marshall and Yaakov Katz who know this war well.
Later, Liz Truss tells our colleague Iain Dale she has 'unfinished business'. Is that a sign she's coming back? Her new book is out tomorrow. His interview with her is out tonight. We give you the sneak peak.
Editor: Tom Hughes
Senior Producer: Gabriel Radus
Producers: Laura FitzPatrick
Social Media Editor: Georgia Foxwell
Video Production: Rory Symon & 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 on The Sports Agents...
An array of stardust as the likes of legendary jockeyAP McCoy and Team GB icon Denise Lewis joined Gabby & Mark on the podcast.
Is your Premier League club trying to kill off season tickets and is Everton's latest points deduction fair?
Does Seb Coe deserve credit for announcing prize money will be paid to Athletes who win gold at the Olympics - and after terror threats at Champions League games - how will Paris ensure fan safety at the Games this summer?
All this and much more on the Sports Agents over the last seven days.
Here's a little flavour of some of the highlights...