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£36m donations are like busses for Reform - you wait ages for one and then two come along at once. Reform's £72m haul this weekend dwarfs the money raised by all the other parties - it is a simply unprecedented level of funding for British politics. There are complications. Are the donations within the rules? Could Labour change the rules to prevent them? And most importantly - can it actually make a difference? Could two crypto billionaires potentially swing an election for Nigel Farage? Later, Anthony Scaramucci on how Trump is raking it in from crypto - and where American democracy has…

The News Agents

by Global · English · News

Emily Maitlis, Jon Sopel and Lewis Goodall – three of the UK’s top journalists – host an award-winning daily news podcast: The News Agents. They’re not just here to tell you what's happening, but why.

More from The News Agents

  1. 17 Sep 2026 · 31 min

    Is the King gaslighting Diana's brother?

    Buckingham Palace has said it doesn't comment on book releases as a matter of principle. And yet it has commented on a new book - from Princess Diana's brother - in a way that has sparked off a news cycle. Earl Spencer claims in his new book that in a heated row with Charles in the preparation for Diana's funeral, the then Prince spat out "Rest assured, we'll forget her soon enough". The Palace's response: "His Majesty is mindful that the pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason, affect judgment and colour memory in ways others do not recognise, even many years after such a loss." Why has…

  2. 16 Sep 2026 · 34 min

    Is Andy Burnham just Keir Starmer with TikTok?

    Six weeks out from the budget some of the critics are already circling - warning the new Prime Minister not to play it safe as “a traditional tax and spend PM with better TikTok". Is Burnham in control of events? Or is the economy being thrown further off course by Houthi rebels in the Red Sea closing off? Later, pussycat impersonator, and leader of the Workers Party George Galloway, is back and standing in the Holborn and St Pancras by-election. Will this split the Green vote? The News Agents is a Global Production. The News Agents is brought to you by HSBC UK - https://www.hsbc.co.uk/

  3. 15 Sep 2026 · 38 min

    Why are men in balaclavas descending on an Oxfordshire village?

    It's referendum day in Piddington. A symbolic gesture that would see it "ceding from the UK" over their frustration with the setting up of of an asylum centre on their doorstep. They’ve argued that 1250 single foreign men is too much for their modest village of 350 to handle. But now - guess who’s coming to the rescue? Danny Tommo and his masked Patriot Platform - seemingly backed by Reform's Sarah Pochin, who's said protestors would "not be unwelcome" in the village. Is this what the people of Piddington wanted? Later, Donald Trump has told us all not to worry about the myriad warnings…

  4. 11 Sep 2026 · 55 min

    How 9/11 changed everything

    Is 9/11 the most consequential event of our lifetimes? It's hard to think of another moment that so completely turned the world on its axis and rewired the assumptions that a generation had come to take for granted. The immediate human toll was unfathomably tragic - this was the most deadly terrorist attack in history, leaving thousands dead. But what came next - and how profoundly it changed politics, American foreign policy, global warfare, and civil liberties - has radically reshaped our world. In this episode, 25 years on from that fatal morning in New York, Jon and Emily, along with…

  5. 10 Sep 2026 · 48 min

    Boxing's Dirty Secret: Why so many fighters use PEDs | Garcia x Benn - The Sports Agents

    Conor Benn ’s super fight against Ryan Garcia in Las Vegas has brought the issue of Performance Enhancing Drugs in sport back into the spotlight. While both boxers deny ever having taken PEDs, both have failed drugs tests and it remains a complex and emotive issue, particularly in potentially lethal sports such as boxing. On this episode of The Sports Agents we have the whole conversation and not just the convenient parts of it... Larry Olubamiwo was a British heavyweight contender before he failed a drugs test and he became a pariah. Larry joins Mark & Nedum to talk about why he chose to…

  6. 10 Sep 2026 · 28 min

    Did Trump just try to bribe American voters?

    “If the Republicans win, you win with us and you get $5,000”. That's what Donald Trump told an audience of Republicans in Dallas last night. The 'Trump dividend' would cost America more than a trillion dollars. Critics are already announcing that the offer is illegal, And Democrats are bragging that this is a sign of just how desperate Donald Trump is ahead of the midterms which are looking bleak. So why's he done it? Could it work? Or will Americans see through such a naked attempt to buy their voters? Later, Nigel Farage has created the mother of all headaches for his hard right allies in…

  7. 9 Oct 2026 · 38 minNew

    Polanski's by-election crash out - is he finished?

    For Polanski, this was supposed to be a defining moment. He chose to put his own leadership on the line in the seat vacated by Keir Starmer. Instead, Labour’s Sagal Abdi-Wali won with 45% of the vote. With questions over the Greens’ economic offer, internal divisions and the fallout from their controversial conference motion on Zionism, is this the moment Polanski’s movement meets the limits of its appeal? And what is the future of the party now? The News Agents is a Global Production. The News Agents is brought to you by HSBC UK - https://www.hsbc.co.uk/

  8. 8 Oct 2026 · 44 minNew

    Man City vs The Premier League | Nedum Onuoha: 'A Grifter's Paradise' - The Sports Agents

    After the boardroom drama of the last fortnight the Premier League is back and focus shifts to Manchester City ’s players who face the court of public opinion for the first time since the guilty verdicts vs Liverpool at Anfield. It’s going to be a bear pit and, as Liverpool await, lifelong City fan Nedum Onuoha opens up for the first time about how the Manchester City financial case has changed his relationship with the club. He joins Gabby Logan and Mark Chapman to explore the pressure facing City’s players and your ideas for making Premier League spending rules fairer. Plus: Manchester…

  9. 8 Oct 2026 · 50 minNew

    Did Trump just lose it in Texas?

    Donald Trump’s latest campaign rally for the midterms was beset with hecklers as the president urged Texans to vote Republican. It was his third trip to the traditionally ruby red state this month alone. He made some characteristically inaccurate statements on stage, including calling Democratic senate candidate James Talarico a "christian who hates christianity", who also believes God is "transgender". So is Trump in panic-mode ahead of next months election? Jon and Lewis ask whether the President is starting to unravel as the polls turn against him across the country. Later, Emily speaks…

  10. 7 Oct 2026 · 37 min

    Has Kemi decided Reform are a bunch of racists?

    Kemi Badenoch's speech to the Tory party conference was much trailed for its tax cuts and its economic adventurism. What was not expected, however, was the manner in which she would choose to sock it to Reform. Drawing on her own family experiences, she called out the ethno-nationalism of the parties on her right, swearing she would not “unite with THAT”. This on the same day the Reform party - marking its own homework - declared no wrongdoing over the polling scandal exposed by Channel 4 News and Verbatim. Is Kemi winning new friends? Or is the party still deluded about its popularity? The…

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