The Northern Agenda

The Northern Agenda is a weekly podcast covering politics and public affairs from across the North of England, voiced by journalists who are outside the Westminster bubble, reporting from the other side of the North/South divide.

From Blackpool to Barnsley and Bamburgh and everywhere in between, exploring subjects such as levelling up to buses, elections to the latest council scraps, The Northern Agenda brings you discussion and analysis of the North's big political stories, from people experiencing them on the ground.

Rob Parsons speaks to politicians, activists, campaigners, experts, community figures, journalists, business leaders, pollsters and more about the political stories that really matter to the North - and from the North - that you won't hear about from the national media in London.

The Northern Agenda is a Laudable production for Reach. It is presented by Rob Parsons, and it is produced by Daniel J. McLaughlin.

You can subscribe to the daily Northern Agenda newsletter here: http://www.thenorthernagenda.co.uk/

News
Politics
News Commentary
1
Election special: who wants to be mayor of Hull...
Rob Parsons hosts a special mayoral hustings edition of The Northern Agenda podcast, brought to you from the home of the Hull Daily Mail and Hull Live.
51 min
2
Our Kids in the North: So you've finished schoo...
In the final episode of The Northern Agenda's Our Kids In The North podcast, Rob Parsons and Annie Gouk look at the choices facing young people in our region when they reach 16.
53 min
3
Our Kids in the North: It's hard being a kid - ...
This week on The Northern Agenda's series Our Kids In The North, Rob Parsons and Annie Gouk look atโ€‹ what it's like to go to a school in Northern England, where absence and exclusion rates are higher than the rest of the country.
68 min
4
Our Kids in the North: The children let down by...
In the fourth episode of The Northern Agenda's Our Kids In The North series, Rob Parsons and Annie Gouk look into why there are so many children in care in the North and what this tells us about the failings of society.
48 min
5
The truth about family abuse and grooming gangs
This episode might make you think a little differently about the recent grooming gangs coverage, particularly whether the media focus on a certain type of offending might be putting off the victims of other types of abuse from reporting whatโ€™s happened to them.
33 min
6
Our Kids in the North: how Northern working par...
Annie Gouk, Data Investigations Editor at Reach and host of our sister podcast, explores the data on the rising cost and lack of availability of childcare, and what this means both for working parents, and for kids when it comes to being ready for school.
50 min
7
Our Kids In The North: fighting back against ch...
Speaking to child poverty campaigners, entrepreneurs, top politician, and charities, Rob Parsons highlights the determination of local leaders and communities to find innovative solutions to the pressing social issue of child poverty
36 min
8
Our Kids In The North: the scandal of child pov...
With one in three children in the North living below the poverty line - and the rate much higher in some areas - you can't talk about young people without first looking at the impact child poverty is having on our region.
40 min
9
A Christmas Message from The Northern Agenda
Northern Agenda editor Rob Parsons previews our brand new series, Our Kids in the North.
1 min
10
A message from The Northern Agenda editor Rob P...
The Northern Agenda podcast is changing - and our editor Rob Parsons shares the details!
1 min
11
Reaction to the Labour party conference in Live...
Rob is joined by Jo Timan and Ethan Davies, chatting about the rain-soaked conference vibes, Keir Starmer's personal speech, money worries for the Manchester to Liverpool train line and Lisa Nandy's love of Britney Spears.
32 min
12
Will Labour really deliver for the North? | Lea...
New Labour MP Josh Sumons delivers his thoughts on replacing the levelling up agenda and the cutting of the winter fuel allowance for many pensioners
57 min
13
Nasty individuals, racists and useful idiots | ...
Northern Agenda interviews with political leaders in Rotherham and Cleveland about the summer riots
32 min
14
๐Ÿ‘ถ Women failed from the day they're born | Joe ...
A new very hard-hitting report finds that women in the North of England live shorter lives, work more hours for less pay, are more likely to be an unpaid carer, and more likely to live in poverty
34 min
15
Thinking outside of the box: how embracing neur...
Corporate psychologist Tina Catling tells the podcast about her innovating work and how she sees Yorkshire as "a little sanctuary"
34 min
16
The Northern Agenda on the road: Clitheroe in t...
Rob Parsons heads to Clitheroe to chat to locals about why the area's doing so well, the one thing that's worrying locals and intriguingly, why, if everything's so great, the area has just booted out its two Conservative MPs in favour of Labour politicians at the last General Election.
63 min
17
York and North Yorkshire mayor David Skaith on ...
Rob Parsons is joined by the first elected mayor of York and North Yorkshire, and two researchers who spent five days in pubs in Bolton to hear what kind of things punters talk about.
33 min
18
What the future holds for our town halls after ...
Find out why we're expecting this year to be the toughest yet for setting town hall budgets, how our national housing crisis could be solved if the rest of the country was like Leeds and Manchester, and how the North keeps the lights on in London.
40 min
19
Is TransPennine Express on the right track for ...
On the Northern Agenda this week, Chris Jackson tells Rob Parsons how work is going on giving the North's rail passengers the service they need and deserve, plus exciting news on the UKโ€™s first intercity battery train.
31 min
20
Matt Vickers: the last remaining Tory MP in the...
The Stockton West MP speaks to Rob Parsons about how he managed to defy the odds, what it's been like as a Tory MP since returning to Parliament and what the near Tory wipeout means for Tees Valley mayor Ben Houchen.
46 min
21
๐Ÿ“ˆ Alarming Vital Signs in the North East
Rob Parsons takes a look under the bonnet of the North East of England, a region with so much going for it but with issues like poverty, economic inactivity and bad health continuing to plague it for decades.
48 min
22
From Wearside to Westminster: what's it like to...
Newly-elected Sunderland MP Lewis Atkinson talks about his first few days in Parliament
42 min
23
Rishi, Binface and me: election night in North ...
Hear Rob's dispatch from election night, where he speaks to some of the quirkier candidates including an intergalactic space traveller called Count Binface and the hopefuls from Labour and Reform UK.
25 min
24
Why voters in the North are so disillusioned by...
With three days to go until voters go to the polls, Rob Parsons reassembles a panel of top political journalists to hear what's happening at local level across the North of England
25 min
25
Northern election rivals taken to task
Five hopefuls go head-to-head in Newcastle as July 4 General Election approaches
67 min