Byline Times Podcast

The phone hacking scandal was part of the origin story of Byline Times, prompting founding editor Peter Jukes to switch careers from playwriting to journalism. In the latest episode of the Byline Times podcast he joins Adrian Goldberg and Byline Times Chief Reporter Josiah Mortimer to reflect on Prince Harry's recent court victory against Mirror Group Newspapers. In his verdict, the judge Mr Justi...

This time, a look in the Byline Times "year view mirror" as we explore the latest aspects the perennially unravelling Covid scandal. These include the belated admission by Baroness Michelle Mone that her family trust was a beneficiary of PPE Medpro, a company which provided millions of pounds worth of unusable protective equipment to the NHS.Adrian Goldberg is joined by Peter Jukes, executive edit...

Investigative journalist Nick Wallis Shares insights from his book, The Great Post Office Scandal. Nick will be on tour in the UK during 2024, sharing his story. Produced in Birmingham by Adrian Goldberg and Harvey White.   Funded by subscriptions to the Byline Times.   Made by We Bring Audio for Byline Times. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad c...

This time, Adrian Goldberg hears from Kherson, on the front line of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. His guests are photo journalist Paul Conroy, and Zarina Zabrisky, an expert in the Kremlin's hybrid warfare. Produced in Birmingham by Adrian Goldberg and Harvey White.   Funded by subscriptions to the Byline Times.   Made by We Bring Audio for Byline Times. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for...

The government has made a shibboleth of cutting down the numbers of people coming into the UK. As far back as 2010 the then Prime Minister David Cameron pledged to reduce net migration below 100,000 but that target has never been met - not even during the pandemic. Recently updated figures from the Office of National Statistics showed that last year net migration reached a record 745,000. The gap...

What is Artificial Intelligence? And is it our our friend or foe?  Elon Musk recently claimed that AI would eliminate the need for human jobs in the future; which is great if you’re a billionaire like him, but doesn’t explain how the rest of us would earn enough to live. This poses big questions about who controls the technology – and what their plans are for the rest of us. Will AI liberate us fr...

US data firm Palantir Technologies Inc has won a £480 million contract (along with professional services firm Accenture) to handle the new Federated Data Platform for the Health Service. On the face of it this looks like a positive for patients. The new Platform is designed to facilitate information sharing among hospital trusts and other parts of the NHS, enabling them to communicate more efficie...

Unelected Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has given the plum job of Foreign Secretary to the equally unelected former PM David Cameron, who has been fast tracked into the House Of Lords after giving up his parliamentary seat. Adrian Goldberg gets reaction from Jessie Joe Jacobs, Director of the Democracy Network, a group representing 800+ organisations seeking to renew UK politics and David Wearing, a...

Streaming giant Spotify is coming in for flak over proposals to cut revenue for small independent artists. The idea is that Is that tracks which would otherwise account for the lowest 0.5% of royalty payments will be demonetised. Adrian Goldberg hears from Skepwax Records co-founder Amelia Fletcher who has played in a host of well loved indie bands including Talulah Gosh and Heavenly. Amelia is al...

As the UK government announces plans for an independent football regulator, how well governed and regulated is sport internationally?   In this episode we look specifically at how Saudi Arabia is extending its global geopolitical reach through football, golf, F1 and esports, despite its well documented human rights abuses.    The repressive regime of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman - or MBS - has...

Byline Times contributor Zarina Zabrisky presents her Ukraine war diary - a series of dispatches from Kherson and beyond. There's an account of life under fire in Kherson with war photographer Paul Conroy. Zarina also discusses Russia’s nuclear blackmail and meets Yaroslava Antipina aka @strategywoman – a Ukrainian using the power of social media to show the beauty of her war torn country.    The...

After four years, the Byline Times has finally hit the UK's news stands and has secured an exclusive royal story to mark its arrival.   Byline Times editor Hardeep Matharu and executive editor Peter Jukes explain why it's so important to extend the availability of the newspaper, while talking us through the connections between King Charles, Dan Wootton, Prince Harry and press freedom.   Produced i...

Adrian Goldberg hears from UK medics calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.   Israel has launched the onslaught in the territory, in retaliation for horrific attacks by Hamas in which more than 1400 people were killed. More than 200 hostages were taken.   More than 4300 people have since died in Gaza, many of them civilians, as a result of aerial strikes, which are thought to be the prelude of a ground...

Adrian Goldberg talks to Udi Goren, whose cousin Tal Haimi was kidnapped by Hamas after a terrorist attack on the kibbutz where he lived on the day the war broke out.   Hamas committed terrible atrocities, including the slaughter of unarmed young people attending a music festival; but more than 3,700 people have died as a result of Israel’s retaliation. Palestinians argue the bombing and siege of...

This time…new figures showing a sharp rise in the number of care leavers facing homelessness. The figures come from the government’s annual Statutory Homelessness in England report    They show that  3,710 care leavers were either homeless or under threat of homelessness for the year 2022/23. That represents a rise of 33 per cent since 2018.   To find out what lies behind the statistics and what w...

Alexandra Hall Hall is the 'undiplomatic diplomat.' She was Britain’s Ambassador to Georgia, and later lead envoy for Brexit at the British embassy in Washington but she quit that joh in 2019 in protest at having to be the bearer of messages that she says were untrue.    Alex tells Adrian Goldberg that she thinks Brexit is only half the story. Democracy itself at risk, she warns; and not only in t...

Adrian Goldberg hears about the destruction of the Ukrainian city of Khersona city from Zarina Zabrisky, one of only two foreign journalists in the area, alongside war photograoher Paul Conroy. You can also hear Zarina on the Russia Ukraine War News podcast.   Produced in Birmingham by Adrian Goldberg and Harvey White.   Funded by subscriptions to the Byline Times.   Made by We Bring Audio for Byl...

UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman has questioned whether the United Nations’ 1951 Refugee Convention is fit for our modern age. She told a meeting of the right wing American Enterprise Institute in Washington DC that "we now live in a completely different time" from when the convention was signed. Ms Braverman said, "we will not be able to sustain an asylum system if in effect, simply being gay,...

The UK government has once again postponed border checks for food being imported to the UK from the EU, because it would increase inflation. That’s the fifth time the deadline has been put back.   But British food exporters have faced additional checks when they sell their goods into Europe – putting them at a competitive disadvantage. Is this the 'Brexit dividend' promised by the Leave campaign. ...

Most people in the UK would take pride in the fact that whatever your political persuasion you can take part in free and fair elections. But two new reports suggest that this right isn’t always all it seems.   The Electoral Commission – the government’s own watchdog – has warned that hundreds of thousands of people could be excluded from voting the next time the country goes to the polls because o...

  On the weekend that this podcast is released, Saudi Arabia will be playing two international football matches at Newcastle United’s St James Park, against Costa Rica and South Korea - but the results won’t really matter, and not just because the games are friendlies.   Critics say that whatever the final scores, the despotic regime of Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS) will already have won,...

London is about to have the world’s largest pollution charging area, as the capital’s outer suburbs are added to the inner city Ultra Low Emission Zone - ULEZ. Drivers of vehicles that don’t meet emissions standards will be charged £12.50 a day – with motorists facing the threat of a £180 fine if they don’t comply.   ULEZ expansion was widely regarded as a key factor in the Conservatives holding o...

The life and death of Yevgeny Prigozhin tells us much about modern Russia. After spending years in prison, he launched a business career in St Petersburg in the 1990s, supported by former KGB agent Vladimir Putin. Prigozhin became the figurehead of the Wagner mercenary group, whose troops supported the regular Russian army in Ukraine before launching a short-lived rebellion against Putin, now his...

Adrian Goldberg hears from Nathan Akehurst a British volunteer, working on a search and rescue boat in the Mediterranean. The vessel - the Sea Eye IV - has been impounded by the Italian authorities after saving 114 migrants who'd been drifting for days without food, fuel, and water.    Produced in Birmingham by Adrian Goldberg and Harvey White.   Funded by subscriptions to the Byline Times.   Made...

Adrian Goldberg hears from former US congressman Joe Walsh, once a member of the low tax, socially conservative Tea Party faction of the Republican party, who supported Donald Trump's presidential campaign in 2016. Joe has since been on a remarkable political journey that led him to challenging Trump for the 2020 presidential nomination. He now calls himself 'woke' and is on a mission to heal the...