The News Agents

Keir Starmer came away from a bruising Prime Minister's Questions encounter having to explain why he appeared to make the same mistake twice. No sooner had the fallout from the Mandelson appointment settled (briefly) than the question of why he’d sent another friend of a paedo to the House of Lords.
This time it’s his former comms director Matthew Doyle who admitted his error of judgment in campaigning for a sex offender after he was charged by police. What does it tell us about Downing Street, vetting and the House of Lords?
Later, is the story of the Murdoch dynasty essentially one of emotional abuse? We’re with author and insider Gabriel Sherman.
The News Agents is brought to you by HSBC UK - https://www.hsbc.co.uk/

What was the moment of maximum jeopardy for the Prime Minister on Monday? And how did he turn it around? Was there more than one plotter? And what brought the party back from the brink?
We dissect what we know about the coup that went wrong.
Later, why is Congress talking about the perilous state of our monarchy? And is the King doing enough to set the Andrew Mountbatten record straight?
The News Agents is brought to you by HSBC UK - https://www.hsbc.co.uk/

Another head spinning day in Westminster. Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar called on Starmer to stand down as Prime Minister, saying "the distraction needs to end and the leadership in Downing Street has to change."
Many Cabinet Ministers were quick to jump to Starmer's defence. Some were notably slow to back the Prime Minister. With the drama coming just a day after Starmer lost his right-hand-man, Morgan McSweeney, the question today is whether this is the beginning of the end for Keir Starmer?
The News Agents is brought to you by HSBC UK - https://www.hsbc.co.uk/

Imagine a loan where the Government sets the terms. It can change the terms at any time, and you have no recourse to alter them yourself.
A loan designed so most people never clear it, but pay for it anyway. Not because they failed, but because that’s how it was built.
This is the system successive British governments have built. In this episode of The News Agents, we examine the relations of our student loan system and ask how can it be that the UK government has built a system that you might say would make a loan shark blush?
The News Agents is brought to you by HSBC UK - https://www.hsbc.co.uk/

The Winter Olympics are here! What sport are we all going to pretend to be an expert at? Curling maybe? Today Gabby and Mark are joined by one of Great Britain’s biggest medal hopes, freestyle skier Kirsty Muir.
She started skiing at 3 years old on the dry slopes of Scotland - imagine the carpet burn doing flips on that surface! Her nan can’t even watch when she does the huge tricks. This year she’s already won gold at the X Games and her third World Cup title. So can she win gold in Italy?
Plus, we catch you up on the best bits from The Sports Agents this week, from Carlos Alcaraz's historic victory in Australia, to Gabby being pranked by Roger Federer at Wimbledon, and a big look at the Super Bowl this weekend.
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Executive Producer: Adonis Pratsides
Producer: Sophie Penney
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Tom Hughes is Editor for The News Agents podcast network
Vicky Etchells is the Commissioning Editor for Global
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