The Audio Long Read - podcast cover

The Audio Long Read

The Guardianwww.theguardian.com
The Audio Long Read podcast is a selection of the Guardian’s long reads, giving you the opportunity to get on with your day while listening to some of the finest longform journalism the Guardian has to offer, including in-depth writing from around the world on current affairs, climate change, global warming, immigration, crime, business, the arts and much more. The podcast explores a range of subjects and news across business, global politics (including Trump, Israel, Palestine and Gaza), money, philosophy, science, internet culture, modern life, war, climate change, current affairs, music and trends, and seeks to answer key questions around them through in depth interviews explainers, and analysis with quality Guardian reporting. Through first person accounts, narrative audio storytelling and investigative reporting, the Audio Long Read seeks to dive deep, debunk myths and uncover hidden histories. In previous episodes we have asked questions like: do we need a new theory of evolution? Whether Trump can win the US presidency or not? Why can't we stop quantifying our lives? Why have our nuclear fears faded? Why do so many bikes end up underwater? How did Germany get hooked on Russian energy? Are we all prisoners of geography? How was London's Olympic legacy sold out? Who owns Einstein? Is free will an illusion? What lies beghind the Arctic's Indigenous suicide crisis? What is the mystery of India's deadly exam scam? Who is the man who built his own cathedral? And, how did the world get hooked on palm oil? Other topics range from: history including empire to politics, conflict, Ukraine, Russia, Israel, Gaza, philosophy, science, psychology, health and finance. Audio Long Read journalists include Samira Shackle, Tom Lamont, Sophie Elmhirst, Samanth Subramanian, Imogen West-Knights, Sirin Kale, Daniel Trilling and Giles Tremlett.
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Episodes

From the archive: The battle over dyslexia

We are raiding the Guardian Long Read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week, from 2020: It was once a widely accepted way of explaining why some children struggled to read and write. But in recent years, some experts have begun to question the existence of dyslexia itself. By Sirin Kale. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

May 01, 202446 min

From the archive: How Hindu supremacists are tearing India apart

We are raiding the Guardian Long Read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week, from 2020: For seven decades, India has been held together by its constitution, which promises equality to all. But Narendra Modi’s BJP is remaking the nation into one where some people count as more Indian than others. By Samanth Subramanian. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod...

Apr 24, 202443 min

What is the real Hamas?

How Israeli, Palestinian and US political actors understand Hamas is not merely a theoretical question – it will determine what kind of agreement can be reached to end the current war, and what the future of Gaza will look like. By Joshua Leifer. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

Apr 22, 202443 min

From the archive: Did Brazil’s evangelical superstar have her husband killed?

We are raiding the Guardian Long Read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week, from 2021: Flordelis grew up in a Rio favela, but rose to fame after adopting more than 50 children, becoming a hugely successful gospel singer and winning a seat in congress. And now she is on trial for murder. By Tom Phillips. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod...

Apr 17, 202457 min

Rage, waste and corruption: how Covid changed politics

Four years on from the start of the pandemic, the drama may have subsided but the lingering effects go on. Are we suffering from political long Covid? By David Runciman. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

Apr 15, 202434 min

Disappearing tongues: the endangered language crisis

Linguistic diversity on Earth is far more profound and fundamental than previously imagined. But it’s also crumbling fast. By Ross Perlin. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

Apr 12, 202429 min

From the archive: The mystery of the Gatwick drone

We are raiding the Guardian Long Read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week, from 2020: A drone sighting caused the airport to close for two days in 2018, but despite a lengthy police investigation, no culprit was ever found. So what exactly did people see in the Sussex sky? By Samira Shackle. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

Apr 10, 202437 min

From the archive – Out of thin air: the mystery of the man who fell from the sky

We are raiding the Guardian Long Read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors This week, from 2021: In 2019, the body of a man fell from a passenger plane into a garden in south London. Who was he? by Sirin Kale. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

Apr 03, 202440 min

200 cats, 200 dogs, one lab: the secrets of the pet food industry

Pet food is a £120bn industry, with vast resources spent on working out how best to nourish and delight our beloved charges. But how do we know if we’re getting it right? By Vivian Ho. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

Apr 01, 202427 min

Power grab: the hidden costs of Ireland’s datacentre boom

Datacentres are part of Ireland’s vision of itself as a tech hub. There are now more than 80, using vast amounts of electricity. Have we entrusted our memories to a system that might destroy them? By Jessica Traynor. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

Mar 29, 202425 min

From the archive: ‘Is anybody in there?’ Life on the inside as a locked-in patient

We are raiding the Guardian Long Read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week, from 2020: Jake Haendel spent months trapped in his body, silent and unmoving but fully conscious. Most people never emerge from ‘locked-in syndrome’, but as a doctor told him, everything about his case is bizarre. By Josh Wilbur. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod...

Mar 27, 202436 min

What we talk about when we talk about giving up

We give things up when we believe we can change; we give up when we believe we can’t. By Adam Phillips. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

Mar 22, 202428 min

From the archive – Operation Condor: the cold war conspiracy that terrorised South America

We are raiding the Guardian Long Read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week, from 2020: During the 1970s and 80s, eight US-backed military dictatorships jointly plotted the cross-border kidnap, torture, rape and murder of hundreds of their political opponents. Now some of the perpetrators are finally facing justice. By Giles Tremlett. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod...

Mar 20, 202444 min

The tyranny of the algorithm: why every coffee shop looks the same

From the generic hipster cafe to the ‘Instagram wall’, the internet has pushed us towards a kind of global ubiquity – and this phenomenon is only going to intensify. By Kyle Chayka. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

Mar 18, 202429 min

From the archive: How western travel influencers got tangled up in Pakistan’s politics

We are raiding the Guardian Long Read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week, from 2020: Travel bloggers have flocked to Pakistan in recent years – but have some of them become too close to the authorities? By Samira Shackle. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

Mar 13, 202448 min

From the archive: ‘A chain of stupidity’: the Skripal case and the decline of Russia’s spy agencies

We are raiding the Guardian Long Read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week, from 2020: The unmasking of the Salisbury poisoning suspects by a new digital journalism outfit was an embarrassment for Putin – and evidence that Russian spies are not what they once were. By Luke Harding. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

Mar 06, 202440 min

The Guardian’s new podcast series about AI: Black Box – prologue

We wanted to bring you this episode from our new series, Black Box. In it, Michael Safi explores seven stories and the thread that ties them together: artificial intelligence. In this prologue, Hannah (not her real name) has met Noah and he has changed her life for the better. So why does she have concerns about him? If you like what you hear, make sure to search and subscribe to Black Box, with new episodes every Monday and Thursday.. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/l...

Mar 02, 202415 min

From the archive: How maverick rewilders are trying to turn back the tide of extinction

We are raiding the Guardian Long Read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week, from 2020: A handful of radical nature lovers are secretly breeding endangered species and releasing them into the wild. Many are prepared to break the law and risk the fury of the scientific establishment to save the animals they love. By Patrick Barkham. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod...

Feb 28, 202436 min
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