The News Agents

Although some Labour MPs are still fawning over Zohran Mamdani's victory in New York, they may be better off looking to a very different sort of American politician if they want lessons they can draw on in the attempt to recover the party's fortunes.

Patrick Maguire, chief political commentator for the Times, is one of the UK's best connected and closest observers of Keir Starmer's government. And he's written this week about how Huey Long, the wildly controversial 1930s Louisiana populist, provides something of a model that Starmer could seek to emulate.

He came into the News Agents studio to speak to Lewis about why...

Trump has attacked a huge oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela - and when asked what would happen now to the oil responded “we will probably keep it". Is there actual strategy behind the piracy? Will it help him topple the illegitimate Venezuelan President Maduro? Or is it just about seizing assets? And what does Nobel peace prize winner Maria Machado make of Americas posturing?

Later, why is Tony Blair interviewing Shabana Mahmood at his own Xmas party? Is this a not too subtle endorsement? Or a friendly festive chat? Is the replacement of Keir Starmer now an open secret even in Blair circles? And who might the other contenders be?

An exclusive investigation by Andy Hughes, co-host of The Crime Agents and LBC crime correspondent, raises disturbing questions about whether a London police officer was operating a grooming gang in the capital. He speaks to Lewis about his report, the accusations of a cover up, and the Met police response.

Later, Keir Starmer has been leading efforts today to get Europe to reform the ECHR. He's claimed that the best way to fight "the forces of hate and division" is to show that mainstream politics can fix the problem. Is he right? Jake Richards, the justice minister, came in to the News Agents studio to discuss what's at stake.

You can listen to the special investigation from The Crime Agents here:

Netflix and Paramount are locked in an epic fight to take over Warner Bros. Discovery. The price tag could well reach north of $100bn. And at stake - a huge back catalogue of blockbuster film and TV, a streaming giant, a Hollywood studio, even CNN.

Enter Donald Trump, who's expressed concern about the potential for a monopoly, and also reportedly wants a say on any potential restructuring of the news network under new ownership. The outcome could result in the mother of all media monoliths.

Democrat Senator Elizabeth Warren has claimed that Netflix and Warner Bros. combined would capture close to half of the streaming market -that figure is disputed by Netflix, which says it has less than a 20% market share.

Could it really be determined by Donald Trump's ire at one recent Marjorie Taylor Greene interview?

Later, Lewis speaks to Noah Oppenheim, the writer of 'A House of Dynamite', a film that deals with a nuclear strike on America. The Pentagon doesn't like his depiction - why?