political_landscape

Two more Labour wins in two more by-elections. Kingswood and Wellingborough were very safe Conservative seats, but now they've turned red.  

The Conservatives have now suffered the most by-election defeats of any government since the 1960s - so what does this mean in a General Election year?

Later, we reflect on the life of Russian opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, who has died in a Russian prison.

Editor: Tom Hughes

Senior Producer: Gabriel Radus

Producer: Laura FitzPatrick

Social Media Editor: Georgia Foxwell

Video Production: Shane Fennelly & Arvind Badewal

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Labour have promised to simplify and reform the Gender Recognition Act that helps trans people officially change their gender identity.

Self ID will NOT be Labour policy - you will still need a medical assessment to transition. And they are drawing clear lines between sex and gender.

Will this help politicians answer the toxic question of whether a woman can have a penis? And what does it tell us about Labour's direction of electoral travel? Who are they trying to please?

Later we look at the protests in Israel and what the new 'reasonableness vote' means for Israel's claim on democracy.

Editor: Tom Hughes

Senior Producer: Gabriel Radus

Producer: Laura FitzPatrick

Planning: Alex Barnett

Video producers: Rory Symon & Will Gibson Smith

Social media editor: Georgia Foxwell

The News Agents is a Global Player Original and a Persephonica Production.

After no party won a majority, forming a government may take weeks—or another election. But predictions that Vox, a far-right party, might enter government failed to materialise. Russia’s navy is repainting its vessels in a bid to frustrate munitions powered by artificial intelligence (10:03). And why the push to invent outlandish ice-cream flavours such as ketchup is deeply misguided (17:59).

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As we settled into News Agents USA HQ, the breaking news that Trump may be set to face trial for a third time, and criminal proceedings for a second time, wafted in. We talk to the Washington Post's Olivier Knox about what this means for Trump, his rivals and the ever-quickening race to be the next incumbent of the White House.

Joe Manchin, the highly influential Democrat Senator of West Virginia, seems to be flirting with an independent run for the White House, forging a ticket with a former Republican Governor of Utah. What are third parties like in the US? Is it even possible to get close to the presidency without the backing of the two major US parties?

And... don't send sensitive emails without checking who you're sending to. A lesson for the Pentagon, who, instead of sending private emails to staff, accidentally sent the missives to the government of Mali.