Anna Turley on the North East becoming the UK's child poverty hotspot | Upgrading the 76-mile Transpennine rail between Manchester and York

In a week where the North East was revealed as the country's child poverty hotspot, with one in two children growing up in poverty in some towns, what can we do to turn the situation around?The Northern Agenda podcast speaks to former Labour MP Anna Turley, who now chairs the North East Child Poverty Commission. She tells Dan O'Donohue about the grim situation facing the region - and what the government should do to tackle child poverty.And while the recent political debate about rail in the North has centred around HS2 and Northern Powerhouse Rail, we look at another massive rail project in our region: the multi-billion-pound upgrade to the Transpennine railway.Rob Parsons talks to Rob McIntosh, the managing director for Network Rail's eastern region, about the upgrade to the 76-mile rail project that stretches across the North between York and Manchester, via Leeds and Huddersfield.The Northern Agenda is a Laudable production for Reach. It is presented by Rob Parsons and Daniel O'Donoghue, and it is produced by Daniel J. McLaughlin.You can subscribe to the daily Northern Agenda newsletter here: http://www.thenorthernagenda.co.uk/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices