Will the Lebanon blasts lead to an escalation in the Middle East?

Pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah have exploded across Lebanon killing several people and injuring thousands more.Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant says the country is "opening a new phase in the war" - and the "centre of gravity is shifting to the north through the diversion of resources and forces".Sir Alex Younger, a former head of MI6, talks to Amol and Nick about the significance of the attacks, which were reportedly carried out by the Israeli spy agency Mossad.They’re also joined by the presenter of Radio 4’s Kitchen Cabinet, Jay Rayner, for his moment of the week.If you have a question you’d like Amol and Nick to answer, get in touch by sending us a message or voice note on WhatsApp to +44 330 123 4346 or send an email to [email protected]. To get Amol and Nick's take on the biggest stories of the week, with insights from behind the scenes at the UK's most influential radio news programme, subscribe to The Today Podcast on BBC Sounds so you don’t miss an episode. You can also listen any time on your smart speaker by saying “Smart Speaker, ask BBC Sounds to play The Today Podcast.”The Today Podcast is hosted by Amol Rajan and Nick Robinson, both presenters of BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. Amol was the BBC’s media editor for six years and is the former editor of the Independent, he’s also the current presenter of University Challenge. Nick was the BBC’s political editor for ten years before and was also ITV’s political editor. The senior producers are Tom Smithard and Lewis Vickers, the producer is Joe Wilkinson, the editor is Louisa Lewis and the executive producer is Owenna Griffiths. Technical production from Hannah Montgomery and digital production from Charlie Henry and Joe Wilkinson.

How do independent MPs work together to hold the government to account? What do the producers behind Today do? And why does the programme mark the end of each hour with the pips?Amol and Nick return with answers to more listener questions.You too can put a question to Amol and Nick. Get in touch by sending us a message or voice note to WhatsApp to +44 330 123 4346 or you can email [email protected] of The Today Podcast with Amol and Nick land first on BBC Sounds. Get Amol and Nick's take on the biggest stories with insights from behind the scenes at the UK’s biggest and most influential radio news programme.The Today Podcast is hosted by Amol Rajan and Nick Robinson, both presenters of BBC Radio 4’s Today. Amol was the BBC’s media editor for six years and is the former editor of the Independent, he’s also the current presenter of University Challenge. Nick has presented the Today programme since 2015, he was the BBC’s political editor for ten years before that and also previously worked as ITV’s political editor.You can listen to the latest episode of The Today Podcast any time on your smart speaker by saying “Smart Speaker, ask BBC Sounds to play The Today Podcast.”The senior producer is Tom Smithard, the producer is Hatty Nash, research and digital production from Joe Wilkinson. The editor is Louisa Lewis. The executive producer is Owenna Griffiths. Technical production from Hannah Montgomery.

As Lord Darzi’s report on the state of the NHS is released, Nick and Amol take a look at what needs to be done to bring about real change. They speak to Professor Sir John Bell - one of the country's most decorated doctors and an adviser to government during the Covid-19 pandemic - who believes that more funding is not the only way of improving the NHS.Plus, the nation's favourite pub landlord Al Murray drops in with his moment of the week.If you have a question you’d like to Amol and Nick to answer, get in touch by sending us a message or voice note via WhatsApp to +44 330 123 4346 or email us [email protected] of The Today Podcast land first on BBC Sounds. Get Amol and Nick's take on the biggest stories of the week, with insights from behind the scenes at the UK's most influential radio news programme.The Today Podcast is hosted by Amol Rajan and Nick Robinson, both presenters of BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. Amol was the BBC’s media editor for six years and is the former editor of the Independent, he’s also the current presenter of University Challenge. Nick has presented the Today programme since 2015, he was the BBC’s political editor for ten years before that and also previously worked as ITV’s political editor.You can listen to the latest episode of The Today Podcast any time on your smart speaker by saying “Smart Speaker, ask BBC Sounds to play The Today Podcast.”The senior producer is Tom Smithard, the producers are Hatty Nash and Hazel Morgan, the researcher is Joe Wilkinson. The editor is Louisa Lewis. The executive producer is Owenna Griffiths. Technical production from Hannah Montgomery and digital production from Elliot Ryder and Joe Wilkinson.

A scathing report from the public inquiry into the Grenfell Tower fire has concluded that all 72 deaths were avoidable – but were the result of a chain of failures by governments, "dishonest" companies and a lack of strategy by the fire service.Nick assesses whether anyone will now be held accountable – and whether this might be the moment that substandard social housing becomes a major political issue.He’s joined by Emma Dent Coad, the former Labour MP for Kensington who had just been elected to represent Grenfell constituents at the time of the fire, to reflect on that morning and the subsequent campaign for justice.And Nick and Amol also speak to Today sports presenter Garry Richardson ahead of his final programme, fifty years to the day he joined the BBC.If you have a question you’d like to Amol and Nick to answer, get in touch by sending us a message or voice note via WhatsApp to +44 330 123 4346 or email us [email protected] of The Today Podcast land first on BBC Sounds. Get Amol and Nick's take on the biggest stories of the week, with insights from behind the scenes at the UK's most influential radio news programme.The Today Podcast is hosted by Amol Rajan and Nick Robinson, both presenters of BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, the UK’s most influential radio news programme. Amol was the BBC’s media editor for six years and is the former editor of the Independent, he’s also the current presenter of University Challenge. Nick has presented the Today programme since 2015, he was the BBC’s political editor for ten years before that and also previously worked as ITV’s political editor.You can listen to the latest episode of The Today Podcast any time on your smart speaker by saying “Smart Speaker, ask BBC Sounds to play The Today Podcast.”The editor is Tom Smithard, the producer is Hatty Nash, research and digital production from Joe Wilkinson. The executive producer is Owenna Griffiths. Technical production from Hannah Montgomery.

“Things will get worse before they get better.” That was the gloomy warning given by Keir Starmer this week, in his first major speech since becoming prime minister.Labour have previously blamed the Tories for the ‘economic black hole’ they say they’ve found in the public finances since taking office. But what did Starmer mean when he referred to a ‘societal black hole’ left by his predecessors? And if there are cracks in British society, how does the government fix them?Amol and Nick are joined by Starmer’s former director of policy and expert on the working class Claire Ainsley – now a director at the left-leaning thinktank, the Progressive Policy Institute. And Tom Walker - the comedian behind the fictitious political correspondent Jonathan Pie - is in the studio to give his moment of the week and reminisce on some of his favourite bloopers by news reporters.If you have a question you’d like to Amol and Nick to answer, get in touch by sending us a message or voice note via WhatsApp to +44 330 123 4346 or email us [email protected] of The Today Podcast land first on BBC Sounds. Get Amol and Nick's take on the biggest stories of the week, with insights from behind the scenes at the UK's most influential radio news programme.The Today Podcast is hosted by Amol Rajan and Nick Robinson, both presenters of BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, the UK’s most influential radio news programme. Amol was the BBC’s media editor for six years and is the former editor of the Independent, he’s also the current presenter of University Challenge. Nick has presented the Today programme since 2015, he was the BBC’s political editor for ten years before that and also previously worked as ITV’s political editor.You can listen to the latest episode of The Today Podcast any time on your smart speaker by saying “Smart Speaker, ask BBC Sounds to play The Today Podcast.”The senior producer is Tom Smithard, the producer is Hatty Nash, research and digital production from Joe Wilkinson. The editor is Louisa Lewis. The executive producer is Owenna Griffiths. Technical production from Mike Regaard.

What tips would you give a government minister ahead of a Today programme interview? What was the best advice you got when you first became a Today presenter? And how do you get up so early?In this special summer edition of The Today Podcast, Amol and Nick take on questions from some invited guests and friends of the podcast, including the queen of the high street Mary Portas, historian Greg Jenner, TV’s Kirstie Allsopp, Peaky Blinders creator Stephen Knight, journalist Helen Lewis and comedian Angela Barnes.You too can put a question to Amol and Nick. Get in touch by sending us a message or voice note to WhatsApp to +44 330 123 4346 or you can email us [email protected] of The Today Podcast with Amol and Nick land first on BBC Sounds. Get Amol and Nick's take on the biggest stories and get insights from behind the scenes at the UK’s biggest and most influential radio news programme.The Today Podcast is hosted by Amol Rajan and Nick Robinson, both presenters of BBC Radio 4’s Today. Amol was the BBC’s media editor for six years and is the former editor of the Independent, he’s also the current presenter of University Challenge. Nick has presented the Today programme since 2015, he was the BBC’s political editor for ten years before that and also previously worked as ITV’s political editor.You can listen to the latest episode of The Today Podcast any time on your smart speaker by saying “Smart Speaker, ask BBC Sounds to play The Today Podcast.”The senior producer is Tom Smithard, the producer is Hatty Nash, research and digital production from Joe Wilkinson. The editor is Louisa Lewis. The executive producer is Owenna Griffiths. Technical production from Jack Graysmark.

Amol and Nick use their decades of experience as journalists to discuss the future of news in this special episode of The Today Podcast.Joining them are Sun editor David Yelland and former No10 communications director Simon Lewis – the duo behind Radio 4’s When It Hits The Fan – to look at what’s happening in journalism, where the future lies for the profession... and why it really matters for us all.If you have a question you’d like to Amol and Nick to answer, get in touch by sending us a message or voice note via WhatsApp to +44 330 123 4346 or email us [email protected] of The Today Podcast with Amol and Nick land first on BBC Sounds. Get Amol and Nick's take and get insights from behind the scenes at the UK’s biggest and most influential radio news programme.The Today Podcast is hosted by Amol Rajan and Nick Robinson, both presenters of BBC Radio 4’s Today. Amol was the BBC’s media editor for six years and is the former editor of the Independent, he’s also the current presenter of University Challenge. Nick has presented the Today programme since 2015, he was the BBC’s political editor for ten years before that and also previously worked as ITV’s political editor.You can listen to the latest episode of The Today Podcast any time on your smart speaker by saying “Smart Speaker, ask BBC Sounds to play The Today Podcast.”The senior producer is Tom Smithard, the producer is Hatty Nash, research and digital production from Joe Wilkinson. The editor is Louisa Lewis. The executive producer is Owenna Griffiths. Technical production from Jack Graysmark.

Elon Musk has repeatedly attacked Sir Keir Starmer on his platform ‘X’ this week over the handling of riots in England and Northern Ireland. The disorder follows the fatal stabbing last week of three young girls in Southport and has been fuelled by misinformation online, the far-right and anti-immigration sentiment.This week Amol looks at whether social media companies should be forced to go further in stopping the spread of misinformation online.He is joined by David Wilding, a former director of Twitter UK who resigned when Musk took over, and former Facebook trust & safety manager Professor Victoria Baines, now at Gresham College.And University Challenge’s Roger Tilling returns to the podcast to chat about the new series – and his moment of the week. If you have a question you’d like to Amol and Nick to answer, get in touch by sending us a message or voice note via WhatsApp to +44 330 123 4346 or email us [email protected] of The Today Podcast land first on BBC Sounds. Get Amol and Nick's take on the biggest stories of the week, with insights from behind the scenes at the UK's most influential radio news programme.The Today Podcast is hosted by Amol Rajan and Nick Robinson, both presenters of BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, the UK’s most influential radio news programme. Amol was the BBC’s media editor for six years and is the former editor of the Independent, he’s also the current presenter of University Challenge. Nick has presented the Today programme since 2015, he was the BBC’s political editor for ten years before that and also previously worked as ITV’s political editor.You can listen to the latest episode of The Today Podcast any time on your smart speaker by saying “Smart Speaker, ask BBC Sounds to play The Today Podcast.”The senior producer is Tom Smithard, the producer is Hatty Nash, the researcher is Joe Wilkinson. The editor is Louisa Lewis. The executive producer is Owenna Griffiths. Technical production from Jack Graysmark and digital production from Charlie Henry.

Every week on The Today Podcast Amol and Nick share something significant that’s happened to them that week and they call it their ‘moment of the week’.But as Nick’s on holiday, Amol invited one of Britain’s best known comedians, Frank Skinner, to The Today Podcast studio to help him out.And they ended up talking for so long about faith, class, parenthood, grief - and, of course, poetry, we’ve made it into a bonus podcast.Frank Skinner has been a stand-up comedian for 30 years. He presented Fantasy Football in the 1990s alongside David Baddiel and for co-created the anthem of English football, 'Three Lions’.But you may not know that he is also a practising Catholic, reads poetry every day, and is striving to write cleaner comedy material.Subscribe to The Today Podcast for more ‘Moments of the Week’ with Amol and Nick and other special guests sharing theirs including Sara Cox, Hugh Dennis, Prue Leith, Greg James, James May and many more.Episodes of The Today Podcast land first on BBC Sounds. Get Amol and Nick's take on the biggest stories of the week, with insights from behind the scenes at the UK's most influential radio news programme.The Today Podcast is hosted by Amol Rajan and Nick Robinson, both presenters of BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, the UK’s most influential radio news programme. Amol was the BBC’s media editor for six years and is the former editor of the Independent, he’s also the current presenter of University Challenge. Nick has presented the Today programme since 2015, he was the BBC’s political editor for ten years before that and also previously worked as ITV’s political editor.If you have a question you’d like to Amol and Nick to answer, get in touch by sending us a message or voice note via WhatsApp to +44 330 123 4346 or email us [email protected] can listen to the latest episode of The Today Podcast any time on your smart speaker by saying “Smart Speaker, ask BBC Sounds to play The Today Podcast.”The senior producer is Tom Smithard, the producer is Hatty Nash, research and digital production from Joe Wilkinson. The editor is Louisa Lewis. The executive producer is Owenna Griffiths. Technical production from Mike Regaard.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves and Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner have been championing growth this week. But will their plans actually work? Amol has assembled an expert panel to provide their take on how to generate more wealth in the UK – Institute for Fiscal Studies director Paul Johnson and venture capitalist and co-founder of Lovecrafts, Cherry Freeman.And comedian Frank Skinner joins Amol with his moment of the week – watch out for a bonus episode with much more of their chat coming to this feed soon.If you have a question you’d like to Amol and Nick to answer, get in touch by sending us a message or voice note via WhatsApp to +44 330 123 4346 or email us [email protected] of The Today Podcast land first on BBC Sounds. Get Amol and Nick's take on the biggest stories of the week, with insights from behind the scenes at the UK's most influential radio news programme.The Today Podcast is hosted by Amol Rajan and Nick Robinson, both presenters of BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, the UK’s most influential radio news programme. Amol was the BBC’s media editor for six years and is the former editor of the Independent, he’s also the current presenter of University Challenge. Nick has presented the Today programme since 2015, he was the BBC’s political editor for ten years before that and also previously worked as ITV’s political editor.You can listen to the latest episode of The Today Podcast any time on your smart speaker by saying “Smart Speaker, ask BBC Sounds to play The Today Podcast.”The senior producer is Tom Smithard, the producer is Hatty Nash, research and digital production from Joe Wilkinson. The editor is Louisa Lewis. The executive producer is Owenna Griffiths. Technical production from Mike Regaard.