SPECIAL REPORT: An election like no other in Birmingham
5/7/202647 min
It’s polling day in elections across Great Britain. Labour is braced for a battering, at the hands of insurgent forces on every side. Birmingham is a microcosm of that picture: an unloved Labour administration dealing with complex problems and complex politics.
But here it’s not just the Greens and Reform the party must contend with, but the rise of the so-called Gaza independents. A new political force appealing largely to British Muslims who, like everyone else, are disatissfied with the status quo.
Is this really a new sectarian politics, as the newspapers suggest? And if it is - should we be concerned about who is propelling those forces? With the control of the biggest local authority in Europe up for grabs, Lewis has gone home to England’s second city to find out.
The News Agents is brought to you by HSBC UK - https://www.hsbc.co.uk/
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First 90 secondsSpeaker 00:00
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Lewis Goodall· Host0:28
[upbeat music] This is a Global Player original podcast.
Ahmed Yaqoob· Guest0:35
Dancing in the middle of stage with naked men in front of little children.
Lewis Goodall· Host0:39
You compare yourself to Nelson Mandela.
Ahmed Yaqoob· Guest0:40
He's not saying... I'm, I'm not saying I compare. I follow people like that.
Lewis Goodall· Host0:43
But you do think you're a great man.
Ahmed Yaqoob· Guest0:44
Of course.
Lewis Goodall· Host0:45
Pretty antisemitic- How is that antisemitic? ... to suggest that there are Zionist puppet masters who control the media.
Ahmed Yaqoob· Guest0:50
All... No, because the whole media is like that because you try to push a certain narrative. You have people like Jimmy Savile around here, and then you're trying to target me, Louis? Come on.
Lewis Goodall· Host0:59
Jimmy Savile, what's Jimmy Savile got to do with the Epstein files or the Zionist clans?
Ahmed Yaqoob· Guest1:02
He was a close, he was a close friend of Keir Starmer's.
Lewis Goodall· Host1:04
No, he wasn't.
Ahmed Yaqoob· Guest1:05
Of course he was.
Lewis Goodall· Host1:06
No, he wasn't.
Ahmed Yaqoob· Guest1:06
You just must- That's just a conspiracy, nonsense.
Lewis Goodall· Host1:08
Conspiracy theory nonsense ...
Ahmed Yaqoob· Guest1:08
you, okay, everything I say is a conspiracy.
Lewis Goodall· Host1:09
No.
Ahmed Yaqoob· Guest1:09
Everything you say is not.
Speaker 31:10
[upbeat music] The News Agents.
Lewis Goodall· Host1:16
For those watching, no, it's not about me. What you just heard was the sound, the sound of politics in Birmingham in 2026.