Podcasts by The Slow Newscast

The Slow Newscast from Tortoise takes the news slowly. We investigate, and every week we focus on stories that really matter in the UK and around the world. From the war in Ukraine, the downfall of Boris Johnson, to true crime and injustice and real life mysteries, The Slow Newscast team is devoted to narrative investigations. From a startup newsroom with a different approach to journalism.

For the premium Tortoise listening experience, curated by our journalists, download the free Tortoise audio app.

For early and ad-free access, subscribe to Tortoise+ on Apple Podcasts.

If you’d like to further support slow journalism and help us build a different kind of newsroom, do consider donating to Tortoise at tortoisemedia.com/support-us. Your contributions allow us to investigate, campaign and explore, and to build a newsroom that is responsible and sustainable.

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Assad: The rubble king from 2023-12-12T05:00:40

President Assad has won the war in Syria and to consolidate his power he’s demolishing opposition neighbourhoods in order to create a shiny new Syria - one in which dissent never existed.

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Unforgivable: Boris Johnson and Covid’s second wave from 2023-12-04T12:24:58

From the middle of Sep 2020 to the end of October, Boris Johnson’s government dithered and delayed the decision over a second national lockdown. This is the story of those 43 days, laid bare at ...

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Eight years' hard Labour from 2023-11-28T06:00:26

This is the inside story of two revolutions in the Labour party in eight short years. From the takeover by the far left under Jeremy Corbyn to the election of Keir Starmer who set about erasing ...

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Walter's War: An English gentleman from 2023-11-21T06:00:53

To listen to the full series subscribe to the Tortoise Investigates feed.

It’s Londo...

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Sneakered: Adidas, Yeezy & Kanye from 2023-11-14T05:00:19

The deal between Kanye West and Adidas was no ordinary celebrity endorsement. Now under renewed scrutiny after West’s outrageous behaviour, how can one rapper’s departure cause such chaos at a m...

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The lottery winner from 2023-11-07T05:00:16

Paul Caruana Galizia investigates how a lucrative contract to run the UK’s National Lottery was awarded to a company whose Czech billionaire owner retains links with Russia.

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The shadow: Hamas's hidden commander from 2023-10-31T06:00:50

Mohammed Deif – thought to be the mastermind behind Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7th - hasn’t been seen for 20 years and no one’s even sure if he’s still alive. When the enemy is more of a...

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Introducing... Media Confidential from 2023-10-26T23:01:24

We are partnering with Prospect Magazine, so that we can continue to bring our listeners brilliant investigations. You can join Tortoise as a member to get early and ad-free access to new series...

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Dr Anti-Vax: The fall from 2023-10-24T04:00:37

A British doctor sparks a global health panic about the safety of vaccines. But even though his work is discredited, he lights a fire that becomes the modern anti-vax movement.

For...

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Mr Right: Paul Marshall and the battle for The Telegraph from 2023-10-17T04:00

The Telegraph is for sale for the first time in a generation. The new owner will become one of the most influential people on the right in Britain. Who will win the race?

For the p...
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Killer mountain: Abandoned on K2 from 2023-10-10T05:00:31

It’s been a dangerous year in the world of extreme mountaineering. Has the focus on record-breaking gone too far?

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Trump and Rudy: A bare-knuckle romance - episode 3 from 2023-10-06T05:00:10

Twenty years ago, Rudy Giuliani was “America’s mayor”. Now he’s been indicted, along with Donald Trump, for allegedly attempting to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia. Will Rudy die in jail f...
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Trump and Rudy: A bare-knuckle romance - episode 2 from 2023-10-05T05:00:08

Twenty years ago, Rudy Giuliani was “America’s mayor”. Now he’s been indicted, along with Donald Trump, for allegedly attempting to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia. Will Rudy die in jail f...
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Trump and Rudy: A bare-knuckle romance - episode 1 from 2023-10-02T23:00:38

Twenty years ago, Rudy Giuliani was “America’s mayor”. Now he’s been indicted, along with Donald Trump, for allegedly attempting to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia. Will Rudy die in jail f...
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Blue light: one woman's story of policing on the frontline from 2023-09-26T05:00:42

For years, Claire McEnery was the most senior woman in the Lancashire police force. With that seniority came exposure to the best – and worst – of life, but also to the best and worst of the pol...
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Introducing... Trendy from 2023-09-21T15:20:01

Welcome to Trendy, the new weekly show from Tortoise.

Britain’s top pollster, Sir John Curtice, and former Downing Street advisor, Rachel Wolf, explore the key political, social and ec...
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William and Murdoch: the prince and the press baron from 2023-09-19T05:00:51

Earlier this year, when the media went into a frenzy about the rift between the royal brothers and the publication of Harry's book Spare Paul Caruana Galizia started looking into a different asp...
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Boris’s Baroness: The mysterious rise of Charlotte Owen from 2023-09-12T04:00:02

From intern to baroness in seven years, Charlotte Owen’s entry to the House of Lords has left even friends scratching their heads in wonder. Her elevation might be hard to explain, but it tells ...
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Attack of the Killer Whales from 2023-09-05T05:00:15

Humans think of themselves as the world’s apex predator. But what happens when another powerful carnivore threatens us in a place where they are the masters? Killer whales have been attacking - ...
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Putin v Prigozhin: A story of mutiny and death from 2023-08-29T05:00:52

In late June, Yevgeny Prigozhin marched on Moscow with a small army of mercenaries. Exactly two months later, he was dead. This is the story of what really happened on the road to Moscow.
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Spotted: snooker’s fight against match fixing from 2023-08-22T05:00:58

In June a scandal erupted that threatened the future of snooker after ten elite players were banned for match fixing. It all starts in a small snooker hall in Sheffield, but ends on a journey th...
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Sick river: saving the Brent from 2023-08-15T04:00:48

Cities are where the battle to save planet earth will be won and lost. But it is not the urban environment that matters, but our relationship with nature within it. What can the story of one dyi...
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Johnny Depp: the great uncancelling from 2023-08-08T05:00:14

In 2017 the MeToo movement swept through Hollywood. Some men, such as Harvey Weinstein, went to prison. Others who were accused of sexual misconduct and assault were ostracised and struggled to ...
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The death of Kellie Sutton from 2023-07-31T04:00:14

A family's six-year fight for a pioneering legal decision. Will an inquest jury conclude, for the first time, that a woman who took her own life was actually killed?

<...
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Genocide hunters: on the trail of a mass murderer from 2023-07-25T05:00:45

For almost three decades, one of the world's most wanted men had stayed at large. Earlier this year, he was finally caught. This is the story of how a small band of genocide hunters caught him i...
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Three doors down from 2023-07-18T05:00:13

In May this year David Boyd was found guilty of the brutal murder of seven year-old Nikki Allan in 1992. Why did it take the police thirty years to find Boyd and get a conviction? This is the st...
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The News Meeting with Basia from 2023-07-14T05:00:15

Slow Newscast host Basia Cummings is in the editor's chair for this episode of The News Meeting. The podcast where three journalists each pitch the one story they think matters most and the edit...
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Modern family: I had my dead son’s baby at 68 from 2023-07-11T05:00:15

Spanish celebrity Ana Obregón shocked the world when she announced that she had a child via surrogate, using a donor egg and the sperm of her deceased son. Her story takes us to the new frontier...
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Crispin Odey: The Octopus’s world from 2023-07-04T05:00:24

Crispin Odey was one of the most powerful hedge funders in London. He’s been dismissed from his own company which is being wound up after he was accused of assaulting more than a dozen wom...
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Into The Dirt from 2023-06-27T05:00:22

Rob Moore had a successful career in television until one day he ran out of ideas. After a stint as a gardener, a more enticing door was opened for him. He was offered a job in the shadowy world...
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Gender GP: inside the world of private trans healthcare from 2023-06-20T04:00:48

Last year journalist Polly Curtis spent months trying to understand what went wrong at the Tavistock’s Gender Identity Development Service for young people. You can hear her Tortoise podcast ser...
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Epstein's moneymen episode 4: the prey from 2023-06-19T04:00:03

Bill Gates was the golden philanthropist at the top of the billionaire's league - he was also Epstein's way back into society

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Epstein's moneymen episode 3: master of the universe from 2023-06-16T04:00:34

Leon Black was the aggressive private equity billionaire at the top of New York society - he also bankrolled Epstein

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Epstein's moneymen episode 2: eyes wide open from 2023-06-15T04:00:23

After Epstein was dropped by JP Morgan, another bank stepped in to help his sex trafficking empire keep rolling

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Epstein's moneymen episode 1: the man in the hot tub from 2023-06-13T04:00:01

Introducing our new four part series: Epstein's moneymen. A new wave of lawsuits is building against the banks and bankers who are alleged to have enabled Jeffrey Epstein to fund and conceal his...
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Boris Johnson: The Dishonours List from 2023-06-06T04:00:25

Boris Johnson is not a man who has much care for institutions or conventions. So what does his forthcoming resignations honours list mean for the future of the House of Lords?

For the&...
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The 31: Ukraine’s stolen children from 2023-05-30T04:00

Why is the Kremlin forcibly deporting tens of thousands of children to Russia?

Tortoise is a newsroom devoted to slow journalism. For early access and ad-free listening subscribe to To...
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Beastly: The stories of David Walliams from 2023-05-23T10:00

In February this year, the Telegraph newspaper revealed that Roald Dahl's publisher had “updated” some of his stories for young readers and modern audiences. The news went viral – to some it was...
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Children locked away: Britain's modern bedlam from 2023-05-16T04:00:48

A new Tortoise investigation into how the country’s most distressed and vulnerable children are being abandoned by the state.

Tortoise is a newsroom devoted to slow journalism...
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Blackout: Coal, corruption and cyanide from 2023-05-09T03:00:54

South Africa was once a symbol of hope. Now the country experiences regular blackouts. This is the story of how the lights went out in Mandela’s country – and how criminal gangs and flawed polit...
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Londongrad: Iran’s Hit Squads from 2023-05-02T03:00:30

Towards the end of last year the Director General of MI5, Ken McCallum, warned that the security services knew of at least ten attempts to kidnap or kill UK-based enemies of the regime in Iran. ...
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Rogue Lawyer: Power, money and a scandal at a London law firm from 2023-04-25T08:45:34

In 2014, a Jordanian man was imprisoned in a prison in Ras Al Khaimah, the northernmost Emirate in the UAE. He alleges he has been illegally detained and threatened. And the man he blames for th...
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Yesterday's Men: The Brexit hardliners' last stand from 2023-04-18T04:00:20

The European Research Group was once the most consequential faction in the Conservative party, playing a central role in bringing down former prime minister Theresa May and installing Boris John...
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Ignition: The quest for nuclear fusion from 2023-04-11T03:00:34

In the early hours of the morning of the 5 December 2022, a shot – a pulse – was fired that could save the world. It was a shot that achieved what fusion scientists had been seeking for more tha...
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Safe country: A death, and a deal, in Rwanda from 2023-04-04T03:00:14

John Williams Ntwali, one of the last critical journalists in Rwanda, died in suspicious circumstances just before Suella Braverman, the British home secretary, flew in to Kigali to sell the cou...
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Boris Johnson: The six million pound man episode 4 from 2023-03-30T03:00:46

Boris Johnson seems incapable of living within his means – but talented beyond measure at finding people to help him live beyond them. So just who is funding the ex PM? This is the brand of Bori...
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Boris Johnson: The six million pound man episode 3 from 2023-03-29T03:00:32

Boris Johnson seems incapable of living within his means – but talented beyond measure at finding people to help him live beyond them. So just who is funding the ex PM? And how does he get to al...
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Boris Johnson: The six million pound man episode 2 from 2023-03-29T02:00:41

This is the story of a politician incapable of living within his means but talented beyond measure at finding people to help him live beyond them. It’s the story of how that dependence on others...
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Boris Johnson: The six million pound man episode 1 from 2023-03-29T02:00:18

This is the story of a politician incapable of living within his means but talented beyond measure at finding people to help him live beyond them. It’s the story of how that dependence on others...
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Peltz-Beckham: A super-wedding gone wrong from 2023-03-28T03:00:38

Eight months after his daughter’s wedding to Brooklyn Beckham, billionaire Nelson Peltz filed a lawsuit against two wedding planners demanding a refund. So what happens when you treat a wedding ...
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Detained in Modi’s India: A British citizen’s story from 2023-03-21T04:00:30

For five years a British citizen has been locked up in an Indian prison, and the British state hasn’t been willing – or not strong enough – to stand up for him

Tortoise is a news start...
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Rupert Murdoch: News vs the truth from 2023-03-14T05:00:11

What happened inside Fox News in those critical weeks following Donald Trump’s election defeat in 2020?

Tortoise is a news start-up devoted to slow journalism. To access more of our jo...
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After the Fall – A death on the Lansdowne Estate from 2023-02-28T05:00:57

Warning: This episode describes domestic abuse and a death by falling.

When a woman falls out of a window, on an estate that’s been abandoned by the council, how do yo...
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Wagner’s war: A year in Ukraine and beyond from 2023-02-21T04:00:46

First they were known as the “little green men”, an anonymous private Russian force appearing first in Crimea, then Syria, then in central Africa. Now, they are on the frontline of Putin’s war i...
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The prince against the press from 2023-02-14T04:00:07

The Harry show – the bestselling memoir, the Netflix documentary, the rounds of television interviews – isn’t over. In fact, it’s only just begun: the prince’s legal claims against Britain’s big...
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Wronged: a murder and a miscarriage of justice from 2023-02-07T04:00:55

Following a brutal killing in north London in 2016, two innocent men, Patryk and Grzegorz, who had just arrived from Poland, were handed a life sentence for a murder they didn’t commit. This is ...
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Snatched: A mother's quest to find her children from 2023-01-31T04:00:40

What do you do when your children are taken away by your ex-partner? Who do you call for help? A...
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God on your side: Christians, courts and culture wars from 2023-01-24T04:00:40

The Christian Legal Centre is behind some of the most tragic cases in the British courts helping parents fight against hospitals in life support cases. Who are they – and what do they want?
<...
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Real Money - episode 1 of our new investigative series from 2023-01-17T04:00:02

Introducing: 'Real Money: The hunt for Tether's billions'. To listen to episode two of the series, click this...
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Introducing: The News Meeting from 2023-01-13T06:00:20

Introducing...The News Meeting from Podimo and Tortoise.

In every newsroom around the world th...
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The Westminster Accounts from 2023-01-09T04:00

Over £183 million of outside funds has flowed into this parliament alone, with no way of fully understanding who’s getting what, from whom, and why. Until now. This is the story of the money flo...
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Damn and blast off: how not to go back to the moon from 2023-01-03T14:25:15

Nasa wants to put people back on the moon, half a century after Apollo 11. Its Artemis moon mission is over-budget, overhyped and underpowered – it might even be the end of Nasa as we know it....
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2022 picks - The Darwin job: the mystery of the vanishing notebooks from 2022-12-29T04:00:30

One sleuth, two notebooks – and a 20-year puzzle
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Musking it: Inside Elon’s Twitter takeover from 2022-12-15T06:00:49

The inside story of a troubled company that was bought by the world’s richest man.
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Octopus: the allegations against Crispin Odey from 2022-12-05T06:00:26

One of Britain’s richest and most powerful men was cleared of sexual assault last year. Four more women have now come forward with similar allegations that Crispin Odey, a major donor to the Conser...
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The Tavistock: inside the gender clinic from 2022-12-01T02:30:44

Introducing – The Tavistock: inside the gender clinic.

In a few months, the Tavistock – the only NHS clinic in England and Wales which treats children suffering from gender dysphoria ...
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Inside Unite from 2022-11-24T02:30:54

One of Britain’s biggest trade unions has built a hotel in Birmingham at vast cost. Following the threads which explain why it became so wildly expensive leads inevitably to a surprising place: to ...
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The Alzheimer's casino from 2022-11-17T02:30:03

Big money and bad science: what happens when science and medical research meet Wall Street?
Hosted on Acast. See from 2022-11-10T02:30:54
The story of one man, fighting to his last breath, to reveal the darkness that lies behind this year’s UN Climate Change Conference.
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Mutiny: The undoing of Liz Truss from 2022-11-03T05:00:03

The inside story of how the shortest premiership in British history came to an end
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The missing male pill from 2022-10-27T01:30:13

More than 60 years after the development of the contraceptive pill for women, we still don’t have an equivalent for men. Why?
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Pig Iron from 2022-10-20T02:00:03

Introducing Pig Iron: five years after his death on a distant frontline in South Sudan, the truth about what happened to Christopher Allen is still a mystery. Was he a reckless freelancer? A mer...
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Britannia unhinged from 2022-10-13T02:00:26

What happened in the 17 days between Kwasi Kwarteng becoming chancellor, sacking the Treasury’s top civil servant, and his fiscal event which crashed the British economy?
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Paradise Bust: Scandal in the British Virgin Islands from 2022-09-29T01:00:17

When the premier of the British Virgin Islands was arrested in a drugs sting in Miami, what did British government officials know about the operation?
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The Second Elizabethan Age: the constitution from 2022-09-16T05:00:17

Richard Lambert talks to one of the UK’s foremost constitutional experts about the state of the monarchy.

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The Second Elizabethan Age: rule Britannia from 2022-09-15T05:00:49

Richard Lambert examines how the Queen navigated the world of international politics as head of state and head of the Commonwealth.

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The Second Elizabethan Age: head of state from 2022-09-14T05:00:46

Richard Lambert charts the evolving relationship between the Queen, politicians and her Prime Ministers during her reign.
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The Second Elizabethan Age: speak to us ma'am from 2022-09-13T05:00

When the Queen came to the throne the media was deferential to the 27-year-old monarch and her family. But in the 1960s that began to change. Richard Lambert maps the sometimes fractious relatio...
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The Second Elizabethan Age: strong as a yak from 2022-09-12T14:00:27

Richard Lambert assesses the Queen's strengths and weaknesses as a monarch.

If you'd like to read and listen to more of Tortoise's reporting on the Queen, including photo galleri...
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The Second Elizabethan Age: the coronation from 2022-09-09T15:54:55

Richard Lambert recalls the excitement at the start of the second Elizabethan age. In 1953 Britain was a deferential society and adulation of the Queen was the order of the day.
<...
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The Fix from 2022-09-08T04:00:02

Desiree Fixler was a high-flyer in the world of finance until she raised questions about whether sustainable investing is living up to its promise. Her decision to speak out had huge consequences. ...
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Thank the Lord from 2022-08-31T23:01:56

Peter Cruddas is a self-made billionaire, a Conservative party donor and now, a Lord. His rise reveals a lot about Boris Johnson’s battle with parliament.
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Hostile environment from 2022-08-18T01:00:24

The making of the modern Home Office
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Chained woman from 2022-08-04T01:00:48

When a video of a woman chained to a wall went viral in China, it ignited a battle for the truth between the people and the state.
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America at the crossroads: abortion in South Bend from 2022-07-28T01:00:13

The fallout from the Supreme Court’s decision to reverse abortion rights is reverberating across America. Arguably nowhere more so than in South Bend, Indiana, a small city in the heart of the Midw...
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Left to die: Return to the Amarula from 2022-07-21T04:00:25

Last summer our three-part podcast Left To Die told the harrowing story of 200 civilians trapped in a hotel in Mozambique under siege by violent extremists. This week, we’re looking back to find...
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Londongrad: The Johnson Affair from 2022-07-14T01:00:24

A former KGB officer, Britain’s foreign secretary – and a potential national security breach.

Listen to Londongrad, Paul Caruana Galizia's 6-part series investigating the influence of...
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The Darwin job: the vanishing, reappearing notebooks from 2022-07-07T01:00

One sleuth, two notebooks – and a 20-year mystery.

Listen to Life, Changing, a new series from Tortoise and the Nuffield Foundation: Listen

A coup at Claridge’s: Qatar’s quiet move on London from 2022-06-30T01:00:57

A tiny Gulf state has bought up some of Britain’s prized assets. But at what cost?
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Hollywood’s cultural revolution from 2022-06-23T09:13:24

When China opened up to the West, Hollywood saw a massive opportunity. But China had its own dreams. Now the movie studios are beginning to realise what they gave away
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The Rules: democracy in Britain from 2022-06-09T01:00

Every day more cracks emerge in the political system that guarantees the freedoms Britons hold dear. How do we stop it shattering?
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Introducing: Londongrad from 2022-06-03T01:00:08

How the Lebedevs partied their way to power is a 6 part series investigating two men - who are at the heart of the story of Britain opening its doors to Russian oligarchs. Alexander Lebedev is a...
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Stripped. Searched. Traumatised. Children and the police from 2022-06-02T01:00

How many more Child Qs are there? How many children are strip-searched by the police and who are they? Patricia Clarke and Claudia Williams investigate
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Revealed: Stormy Daniels and her battle for truth from 2022-05-19T01:00:59

Who is the real Stormy Daniels? Hattie Garlick meets arguably one of America’s most misunderstood and misrepresented women
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Downfall: twenty days that did for Rishi Sunak from 2022-05-12T01:00:44

How did Rishi Sunak go from one of the most popular members of the government to one of the least in a matter of days? Matthew d’Ancona pieces together what happened.

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The Backstory from 2022-05-05T01:00:18

Today we are sharing an episode of Tortoise's new podcast series: The Backstory with Andrew Neil. This week Andrew talks to Fiona Hill, former director for Europe and Russia at the US National S...
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Mariupol from 2022-04-28T01:00:34

Two atrocities in the port city of Mariupol epitomise Russia’s violence in Ukraine. This is the story of those atrocities and of Mariupol’s truth

With special thanks to Konstantin Koro...
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The Lost Ark from 2022-04-21T01:00:09

What happens when a museum possesses a group of objects so sacred that they can never be seen in public or studied in private – and the original owners want them back?
from 2022-04-14T03:00:10
The days of the Russian oligarch in London are numbered. What fate awaits the enablers – those well-connected people who worked for and provided services to wealthy Russians? This is the story o...
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Fallen women from 2022-04-07T03:00:44

Twenty-seven women fell in suspicious circumstances. Seventeen died. Often, in the shadow of their fall, was a man. What if they didn’t fall. What if they were pushed?

War...
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The trials of Alexei Navalny from 2022-03-31T03:00:03

What does the story of Alexei Navalny and wife Yulia Navalnaya tell us about Vladimir Putin’s Russia and the state of opposition?

Tortoise is a news start-up devoted to slow journalism...
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Into the dark: The broken promise of a bionic eye from 2022-03-24T05:00:04

Imagine being blind but thanks to the wonders of technology being able to see again. How would you then feel if that sight was taken away?

Tortoise is a news start-up devoted to slow j...
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Shadow whipping: The men who saved Boris from 2022-03-17T05:00:38

Political wisdom says the Russian invasion of Ukraine saved Boris Johnson’s skin. But the really successful operation to rescue the prime minister started long before and involved three men who you...
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Russian warship, go f**k yourself from 2022-03-10T05:00:55

We thought the Russians were masters of the information war; that they’d sweep Ukraine aside. It's not turning out that way.
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Lebedev: Lord of Siberia from 2022-03-03T02:00:03

Door after door in Britain has been opened for Evgeny Lebedev, all the way to a seat in the House of Lords. Who has opened the doors, and why?
Hos...
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An injection of fear from 2022-02-24T02:00:16

The ‘epidemic’ of spiking with needles in clubs and at parties in autumn 2021 revealed something important about women’s lives in Britain. But it wasn’t what we thought.
from 2022-02-17T02:00:28
The brilliance of populist politicians often lies in creating subtle dividing lines on apparently innocuous issues. What could be more innocuous than yoga? But India’s prime minister Narendra Mo...
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Inside Branch 251 from 2022-02-10T02:00:47

In a courtroom in west Germany, a man called Anwar Raslan stands accused of torturing Syrian civilians. He faces life in prison. But why does Germany care? These were far-away crimes. The answer li...
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The Ministry of Untruths from 2022-02-03T02:00:02

In March 2020 the prime minister told the country to stay at home. He then did the opposite and travelled to Chequers. This the story of one crucial fortnight in March 2020, and how the prime minis...
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China’s missing tennis player from 2022-01-27T02:00:42

In November, athlete Peng Shuai accused a senior Chinese politician of sexual assault. Then, she vanished. In this episode, we investigate her disappearance – and the silencing of China’s #MeToo mo...
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Virginia from 2022-01-20T02:00:49

Who is Virginia Roberts Giuffre? She was only 17 years old when she appeared in a now-famous photo, taken in Ghislaine Maxwell’s London mews house. Maxwell is behind her, grinning. Jeffrey Epstein,...
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A finding of rape from 2022-01-13T02:00

How a former government minister used the secrecy of the family courts in an attempt to hide the truth.
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School 49 from 2021-12-16T02:00:01

China’s transformation into an economic powerhouse has come at a cost to its children, under enormous pressure to succeed. Now the country is wondering if the price has been too high. Reporter Popp...
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The super divorce from 2021-12-09T02:00

London's courts play host to some of the world's most high-profile divorces. In the sorry case of Akhmedov vs Akhmedova, a family feud turned into a costly game of hide and seek...
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A place for Elliott from 2021-12-02T02:00

This is a story about a boy called Elliott – trapped in time.
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Shamsa, the forgotten princess from 2021-11-04T02:00

The reputation of Sheikh Mohammed of Dubai has been tarnished beyond repair by the way he treated his wife Haya and daughter Latifa. At least we know about what they went through. There's another d...
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Introducing: Sweet Bobby from 2021-10-28T01:00

Sweet Bobby is a new series by Tortoise. Kirat is a successful local radio presenter. Online she’s contacted by a man she vaguely knows called Bobby, and they start chatting. Slowly, they become cl...
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True crime: the tragedy of Gabby Petito from 2021-10-21T01:00

When a young woman travelling across the US disappeared, an army of digital detectives and citizen journalists jumped on the case. When she was found murdered, they went into overdrive. In this wee...
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Havana Syndrome: the mystery illness spreading through America's embassies from 2021-10-14T01:00

It started with a high-pitched noise. Then, American diplomats started getting sick. Nausea, dizziness, confusion. Across the world, this strange syndrome is spreading. Is it an attack? A sophistic...
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From Russia with diamonds: part 2 from 2021-10-07T01:01

More than 20 years after emptying the Russian state treasure of hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of diamonds and gold, Andrei Kozlenok breaks his silence with an even more extraordinary tale....
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From Russia with diamonds: part 1 from 2021-10-07T01:00

When Communism collapsed, a young man was tasked with selling Russia’s diamonds to the highest bidder. Then, he went on the run with $600m. He was missing for more than 20 years, until reporter Gil...
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Pfizer's war from 2021-09-30T01:00

It’s been said often enough: the pandemic has been like a war. Economically, on civil liberties and the deaths it has caused, it’s hard to find a better comparison. And just like a war it places re...
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Wrong turn: murder and miscarriage of justice from 2021-09-23T03:00

Plenty of people take wrong turns in their lives. But so too can justice systems. John Crilly and hundreds more have been the victims of the legal doctrine of Joint Enterprise and how it has been a...
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Beau and Biden: Constant companions from 2021-09-16T01:00

Joe Biden’s life has been marked by grief, most recently at the death of his beloved son, Beau. And Beau Biden’s legacy isn’t only personal, it’s political, too.
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Orphaned by America from 2021-09-09T01:00

In Donald Trump's America, thousands of children who crossed the border from Mexico were separated from their parents. It's now clear that some of those families - perhaps hundreds - may never be r...
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Smear: cartels and conspiracies in Oldham from 2021-09-02T12:04:23

A year ago, journalist Joshi Herrmann got an anonymous tip. It sent him to a website claiming to have evidence of serious corruption, grooming gangs and “cartels” operating in Oldham. From there, J...
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Son of Afghanistan from 2021-08-26T01:00

The remarkable story of Rohullah Yakobi, a daring escape, and a 20-year war.
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Boycott! The lost Olympics from 2021-07-29T01:00

With human rights groups demanding a diplomatic boycott of next year’s Winter Olympics in Beijing, we look back to Moscow 1980, and ask what’s the lesson of the most notorious Olympic boycott in mo...
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The porn headmaster from 2021-07-22T01:00

In the internet age, anyone with a camera can make and sell porn. But what happens when a shoot goes wrong? In the second episode in our Porn Planet series investigating online pornography, we look...
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Genesis: The mystery of where Covid began from 2021-07-15T01:00

The truth of an origin story has never mattered more: did Covid cross to humans from an animal, or did it escape from a laboratory? The arguments have only grown fiercer. And in the fog of war, the...
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The arms race from 2021-07-08T06:54:23

How the richest nations on the planet promised to vaccinate every adult, everywhere, against Covid. They failed.
Hosted on Acast. See See See Hos...
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Hunt for the porn king from 2021-05-27T01:00

As dozens of women accuse the world’s largest porn company of profiting from their abuse, listen to the full story of how we traced its secretive owner to his London mansion
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Pariah - episode 3 from 2021-04-29T02:00

Harvey Proctor was caught in the middle of a deadly serious police investigation, Operation Midland. How could he fight it?
Hosted on Acast. See <...
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Pariah - episode 2 from 2021-04-29T01:30

It’s tough to survive one huge, public scandal in your life. Two is almost unheard of. But that was about to happen to Harvey Proctor.
Hosted on A...
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Pariah - episode 1 from 2021-04-29T01:00

Harvey Proctor was a Conservative MP, notorious in the 1980s for his right-wing views. Until he was entrapped by a newspaper in a ‘gay sex scandal’ and his life started to unravel.
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Lost at sea from 2021-04-21T23:01

The mysterious story of Gulf Livestock 1, a 12,000-tonne ship carrying 6,000 cows that disappeared without a trace in the Pacific Ocean.
Hosted o...
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The battle for truth from 2021-04-15T01:00

We're launching a brand new podcast from Tortoise called ThinkIn with James Harding. In this week's Slow Newscast, a preview.
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What the RFK Jr?! from 2021-04-07T23:01

This week we introduce a new podcast, and re-up an episode from our archive on the hero lawyer turned anti-vaxxer who has spent the pandemic spreading medical misinformation.
Hosted on Acas...
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Disaster at Camp 3 from 2021-03-18T00:01

Reaching the summit of K2 in winter had never been done before. In January, a group of mountaineers – professionals, amateurs, social media adventurers – attempted it. It ended in triumph… and trag...
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The Navalny Show from 2021-03-11T08:37:45

As he returned to Moscow after months recovering from a nerve agent attack, Alexei Navalny released a remarkable YouTube video – and with it, sowed the seeds for a new Russian revolution by meme...
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March of the mutants from 2021-03-04T00:01

Covid-19 may be losing the vaccine battle, but as the virus evolves fast to form new variants, the war is most definitely not over...

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A fairy tale on Wall St from 2021-02-18T02:00

The myth of Gamestop was that it was a David and Goliath struggle. The truth was very different.
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306 days from 2021-02-11T02:00

Geoffrey Woolf spent longer in hospital after Covid-19 than almost anyone - 306 days. His son Nicky tells the story of what he went through, and how it changed everything.
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Hidden Homicides - episode 4 from 2021-01-28T07:51:26

The final episode of our special series. How do you fix a fatal problem no one is properly measuring?

To learn more, go to tortoisemedia.com/hiddenhomicides

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Hidden Homicides - episode 3 from 2021-01-28T02:03

The astonishing case of Emily Whelan, and decisions and delays that cannot be undone. The third episode in our special series on the deaths that may be going unrecognised, and uncounted, by poli...
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Hidden Homicides - episode 2 from 2021-01-28T02:02

The second part of our new series, Hidden Homicides: the story of a killer twice missed. When Susan Nicholson died suddenly, her parents were immediately suspicious. Her partner was known to pol...
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Hidden Homicides - episode 1 from 2021-01-28T02:01

In a new series by Tortoise, we tell the shocking stories of women whose possible homicides go unrecognised, and uncounted, by police. In episode 1: the life and death of 21-year-old Katie Wildi...
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This was a coup from 2021-01-21T02:00

What was really going on when President Trump's supporters invaded the Capitol?
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Is Covid cover for corruption? from 2020-12-10T02:00

The British government has spent billions tackling the coronavirus, and some of it has gone to friends and family of people in high places. Contracts for safety equipment or for testing for Covid h...
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The rise & fall of The Wing from 2020-12-03T11:18:18

The Wing was part co-working space, part feminist haven - a high-concept, big-money chain of women-only spaces, the brainchild of super-smart, ultra-connected New Yorker, Audrey Gelman. It was a ch...
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The split from 2020-11-26T03:00

A story centuries in the making that is building an unstoppable momentum. This week we are going north of the wall and asking: is Scotland on a march to independence?
from 2020-11-19T02:00
On Saturday October 31st, the British government was forced to announce a second national coronavirus lockdown. We know the announcement itself was mishandled; the reasons why are fascinating. In t...
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China takes down a superstar from 2020-11-12T02:00

Jack Ma set up the Chinese online giant Alibaba. It made him hugely rich, and perhaps too powerful for comfort for China's ruling elite. Last week his plan for the biggest-ticket stock market launc...
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JK Rowling and the Unfinished Business from 2020-11-05T02:00

In June 2020, JK Rowling sent a Tweet which took her to the heart of the bitter debate about trans rights and women's rights. A few days later, with an online storm gathering around her, she publis...
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The (un)Christian president from 2020-10-29T02:00

From the first moment of his presidency, Donald Trump has courted - and largely won - the votes of white, Evangelical Christians. For a famously profane and worldly president it's a striking achiev...
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Recession 2021 from 2020-10-22T01:00

It's not that our economies haven't already taken a hit because of the coronavirus, it's that what's coming may be much worse. Politicians, and people in finance and business, can see it, but there...
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Happy - the elephant in the courtroom: episode 3 from 2020-10-17T01:00

If animals share many qualities with humans - if they're self-aware, if they communicate, and grieve for their dead, as we know they do - do they deserve human-like rights? Next month, the case of ...
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Happy - the elephant in the courtroom: episode 2 from 2020-10-16T01:00

If animals share many qualities with humans - if they're self-aware, if they communicate, and grieve for their dead, as we know they do - do they deserve human-like rights? Next month, the case of ...
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Happy - the elephant in the courtroom: episode 1 from 2020-10-15T01:00

If animals share many qualities with humans - if they're self-aware, if they communicate, and grieve for their dead, as we know they do - do they deserve human-like rights? Next month, the case of ...
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Tested: How test and trace became a national disaster from 2020-10-08T02:00

The serial failures of the UK's test and trace system will never be a footnote in the coronavirus crisis. In fact, they're the headline. Matthew d'Ancona reports on how it got so bad.
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The golden egg from 2020-10-01T02:00

The fertility industry is booming, but there is a tightrope to walk between what is possible, ethical and harmful. Reporter Claudia Williams and host Basia Cummings investigate the rise and rise of...
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The endless virus from 2020-09-23T16:09:34

Coronavirus can kill, or pass through a body unnoticed. Its effects in the short term are wildly unpredictable. But as we learn to live with this new virus we're discovering more of its grisly secr...
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Florida: The punchline state from 2020-09-17T01:00

We went to the perennial swing state where Trump won narrowly in 2016. Four years later, is Florida ready to flip again? Will it be an election about Covid and competence, law and order or racial j...
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Inside Evin from 2020-09-10T01:00

Evin Prison is one of the most secretive places on earth; the heart of Iran's oppression of its own people. We've spent months getting inside its walls through the testimony of people who've been d...
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Beat police from 2020-09-03T01:00

Drill music styles itself as a tough and uncompromising representation of life in poor communities in cities like Chicago and London. Police forces have clamped down on it in the belief that it pro...
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How the world filled a hole - and saved itself from 2020-08-27T01:00

Something which is now almost unimaginable happened between 1974 and 1989. The world spotted a massive problem; the fix required action by consumers, businesses and governments; and they came toget...
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Trailblazer from 2020-08-20T01:00

Michaela Coel's TV drama I May Destroy You has just finished playing on the BBC and HBO. Based partly on her own experience it's an unsettling, sometimes harrowing, examination of sexual assault, c...
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The slaver who stayed put from 2020-08-13T01:00

The story of the toppling of Edward Colston's statue in Bristol became a prominent chapter in the global response to the murder of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter protests. Those events wer...
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What the RFK Jr?! From Camelot to conspiracies from 2020-08-06T02:00

How a member of the Kennedy political dynasty has become the most prolific super-spreader of conspiracies connecting anti-vaxxers, 5G and coronavirus
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Silenced in China: the price of protest from 2020-07-23T05:32:19

As president Xi uses the pandemic to crack down again, we speak to Dr Teng Biao and Simon Cheng about their treatment in China's battle to control its people
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Together, with Jurgen Klopp from 2020-06-25T01:00

Like a handful of football managers before him, Jurgen Klopp is fascinating as a leader. His ability to motivate people around him would be exceptional in any occupation, in any circumstances, and ...
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The sick man: Boris Johnson, Britain and the virus from 2020-06-18T01:00

Boris Johnson could have died from coronavirus. He recovered, but the costs to the country of his illness were huge. Government was paralysed without him and vital decisions weren't taken. How did ...
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Black Lives Matter 2020 from 2020-06-11T01:00

The protests on the streets of the United States and around the world have taken the authorities by surprise. But they haven't sprung from nowhere; they've sprung from attitudes and events dating b...
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Inside Amazon: a superpower in a pandemic from 2020-06-04T01:00

Amazon is a true economic superpower; a company of a scale and kind we haven't seen before. It's relentless in its pursuit of efficiency on behalf of its customers, but what does it believe in? How...
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What if they don't turn up? from 2020-05-28T01:00

It's not just the hopes of young people which depend on them going to university, whole towns and cities rely on them too. The British government estimated that education would be worth £23bn to th...
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Cash and caring: the business of care homes from 2020-05-21T01:00

No part of British society has been harder hit by the coronavirus pandemic than care homes. 15,000 people have died there. Why were they uniquely vulnerable? Partly because they housed vulnerable p...
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The jobs tightrope from 2020-05-14T01:00

When coronavirus struck and the UK locked down, the government began paying the wages of furloughed workers. It's a hugely expensive policy. There are risks in continuing it but the risks of stoppi...
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Undercrowded and overfunded: the Nightingale hospitals from 2020-05-07T01:00

The Nightingale hospitals - huge intensive care hospitals built in a matter of days to deal with the overspill if regular hospitals couldn't cope with the numbers of coronavirus patients - are sitt...
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Coronavirus in Africa: the final straw? from 2020-04-30T01:00

Claude Jibidar is country director for the World Food Programme in the Democratic Republic of Congo - a huge country beset with vast problems, not just food shortages but armed conflict and ebola a...
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No weddings and fourteen funerals from 2020-04-23T01:00

Jan Gould is the vicar for the Church in Wales in the parish of Glen Ely in Cardiff. It's a poor neighbourhood and the church is still an important part of the community. In normal times, there's a...
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Covid-19: The 5G conspiracy from 2020-04-16T01:00

This week on the slow news podcast, we’re looking at the messy conspiracy theory of 5G and Covid-19. What has been going on? And why are these ideas spreading? We’ve had the investigative reporter ...
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The zoo-keeper: surviving coronavirus from 2020-04-09T01:00

The coronavirus lockdown is not just a difficult time for business, it's an emotional time. How to survive as a going concern? How to treat workers fairly? And, if your business is running a zoo, h...
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Coronaviolence: domestic abuse in a lockdown from 2020-04-02T01:00

One of the unavoidable consequences of the coronavirus lockdown is that it traps women and children with their abusers. And for women seeking to escape, the routes out may be closed. Even making a ...
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Lives on the line: why is coronavirus killing so many health workers? from 2020-03-26T02:00

In some countries where the coronavirus has hit hard - Italy or Spain - health workers account for up to 20% of people infected, and the death toll among them is mounting. The front line of health ...
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How pandemics end from 2020-03-19T02:00

Pandemics are part of life. They've caused millions of deaths over the centuries but, in the end, the lesson of history is that, just like the Black Death, smallpox, cholera and many others, this p...
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The rules: can we fix our broken politics? from 2020-03-12T02:00

UK politics has torn itself apart over Brexit. Parliament, the prime minister, 'the people' and the courts have been at each others' throats, and old conventions governing the way the system works ...
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A college with secrets from 2020-03-05T02:00

Trinity Hall is a small Cambridge college - one of the 30+ which make up the university. After an investigation over several months, Tortoise has brought to light a number of allegations of sexual ...
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My mother's murder - episode 4: The last domino from 2020-02-27T02:00

Daphne Caruana Galizia was Malta's pre-eminent investigative journalist. She exposed corruption at the highest levels of politics and business in the country until, in October 2017, she was murdere...
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My mother's murder - episode 3: Truth to power from 2020-02-20T02:00

Daphne Caruana Galizia was Malta's pre-eminent investigative journalist. She exposed corruption at the highest levels of politics and business in the country until, in October 2017, she was murdere...
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My mother's murder - episode 2: An assassination foretold from 2020-02-13T02:00

Daphne Caruana Galizia was Malta's pre-eminent investigative journalist. She exposed corruption at the highest levels of politics and business in the country until, in October 2017, she was murdere...
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My mother's murder - episode 1 from 2020-02-10T02:00

Daphne Caruana Galizia was Malta's pre-eminent investigative journalist. She exposed corruption at the highest levels of politics and business in the country until, in October 2017, she was murdere...
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Trump in Bethlehem from 2020-02-06T05:00

This week we're in Pennsylvania, where Trump won in 2016. Can he win here again?
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Labour's North Star from 2020-01-23T02:00

The Labour Party in the UK is choosing a new leader. Few people care - after a crushing election defeat, the party has got work to do to make itself interesting again. It's a gloomy picture for Lab...
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The man who counts trees from 2020-01-16T02:00

Tom Crowther is a young ecologist who asked a simple question: how many trees are there on planet earth? The answer has changed our understanding of the world, but Crowther's work has provoked a fi...
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The new superpowers: Apple from 2020-01-09T02:00

For months, Tortoise has been investigating big tech companies as if they were countries: holding them to the same standards that we apply to nation states; caring about what they think; understand...
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Labour: anatomy of a catastrophe from 2019-12-13T19:00

Since the general election was called, one of Britain's foremost political journalists has been tracking the Labour campaign for Tortoise. Here's his story of tension and bad choices inside the par...
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Nameless, stateless: N3 from 2019-12-07T01:00

To find out more about Tortoise go to tortoisemedia.com/friend and use the code POD50 to become a member for just £1 a week, half our normal price.
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Murder in Malta from 2019-11-29T16:00

The murder of the investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia denied Malta its best hope of beating endemic corruption and bribery. Her family have fought ever since for her legacy and for just...
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The PRince disaster from 2019-11-22T23:00

It’s easy to conclude that Prince Andrew shouldn't have agreed to give an interview to the BBC, but it’s more interesting to ask why he thought it was a good idea.

Three Tortoise ed...
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Techno Tories from 2019-11-15T18:00

In this election, the Conservatives are betting on youth to win the social media campaign. The kids running their digital strategy don’t know what a 30th birthday is like but they’re aggressively i...
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It’s Your Identity, Stupid from 2019-11-09T06:00

British politics is undergoing a fundamental shift. Traditionally, economics has been the key to who wins elections but in recent years - and turbocharged by Brexit - identity has come to the fore....
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