The FT’s Laura Hughes speaks to Samantha Power, former head of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) who spearheaded efforts to fight lead poisoning globally. They talk about why she got interested in lead poisoning, efforts at supply chain tracing Ecuadorian cinnamon, and the UK government’s new plans for a lead testing trial. For more information on how to live safely with lead, please visit the LEAPP Alliance website. Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. ...
May 04, 2026•33 min
A sleepy Catholic bookshop and events space run by Opus Dei priests in Washington, has turned into a central networking hub for an ascendant conservative movement. Some of the biggest names on the right gravitate around it. People close to Opus Dei say that is not a coincidence. This podcast has been edited to remove an unverifiable reference to the number of Opus Dei members living in Washington DC. Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more info...
Apr 17, 2026•38 min•Season 4Ep. 4
Over the past decade, elite universities have become home to a network of influential conservative think-tanks fighting against the “woke secular creed”. Meanwhile, at Opus Dei student centres, the next generation of ambitious leaders hear similar moral teachings creep into partisan politics. Is it just ideas that link the two – or more? Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Apr 10, 2026•34 min•Season 4Ep. 3
Opus Dei’s founder taught his followers that spiritual formation is a continual development of character. But some find that the views spread by Opus Dei do not always match the Church’s official teaching – particularly its attitudes towards women and homosexuality. Insiders describe a complex youth recruitment network that offers some clues to the kind of person Opus Dei molds – and what kind of person it is interested in. Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.c...
Apr 01, 2026•31 min•Season 4Ep. 2
We meet Sarah – a young girl drawn to Opus Dei’s message that professional work can be a path to holiness. At 18, Sarah says goodbye to her family and moves into an Opus Dei centre to learn how to make her work an offering to God. But what she experiences there feels different to the organisation she thought she knew. Sarah chafes at unexpected rules, unquestioning obedience and dehumanising treatment. Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more in...
Mar 25, 2026•36 min•Season 4Ep. 1
Introducing Opus Dei, a new season of Untold from the Financial Times. Host Antonia Cundy uncovers the cultural and political influence of a controversial Catholic organisation in America. Opus Dei exists to help people get closer to God, but some members say they found other agendas – and unexpected harm – entangled in that spiritual mission. The first episode of Untold: Opus Dei launches on March 25. Listen on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , Pocket Casts or wherever you get your podcasts. Hosted on...
Mar 11, 2026•1 min
In this special bonus episode from The Financial Times, "The Broker" tells the story of how a failed baseball hopeful and disgraced stockbroker reinvented himself as one of America’s most consequential modern arms dealers. From a family-run warehouse in Virginia Beach, Will Somerindyke built his company into a crucial conduit in the Pentagon’s covert supply chains — sourcing Soviet-era weapons for wars in Syria and Yemen before emerging as a central player in Ukraine’s fight against Russia. As a...
Feb 17, 2026•37 min
How much do we really know about ageing? For decades, scientists have been trying to understand the biology of the ageing process - what happens to our bodies as we get older? And is it possible to slow that process down or even stop it all together? In this series of Tech Tonic, the FT’s Hannah Kuchler and Michael Peel look into the past, present and future of longevity - the wellness movement focused on extending and bettering your quality of life. Episode 1 follows Hannah as she speaks with U...
Dec 31, 2025•37 min
Swamp Notes: The Bethlehem Project is a new FT podcast series that tackles some of the US’s biggest political and economic issues through the lens of one city: Bethlehem Pennsylvania. The city is a politically divided area in a critical swing state, and reflects a lot of conversations happening nationally. The first episode tackles what happens when immigration enforcement comes to town, and the second episode explore what it's like growing up in Donald Trump's America. Subscribe to Swamp Notes ...
Dec 24, 2025•39 min
A toddler in Leeds died from lead poisoning. Laura Hughes speaks to doctors in the UK to learn what must be done to prevent it from happening again. She learns that truly addressing the problem will be a massive undertaking. It would require a complete overhaul of the housing, environmental and food standards systems. But first, we need to find out where the lead is. Learn more about Untold: Toxic Legacy . For more information on how to live safely with lead, please visit the LEAPP Alliance webs...
Nov 05, 2025•28 min•Season 3Ep. 3
The UK has some of the oldest housing in the world. Although the use of lead paint is banned, what happens to the paint already on your walls? Laura Hughes speaks to families fighting for answers and the children poisoned by their own homes. She learns that it’s not only old homes that pose a serious risk. For more information on how to live safely with lead, please visit the LEAPP Alliance website. Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more infor...
Oct 29, 2025•29 min•Season 3Ep. 2
Laura Hughes receives a tip that horses are dropping dead in Wales. As she investigates, she finds decades of academic studies researching the problem. She learns these aren’t isolated incidents. Something is spreading across the countryside. It’s undetectable to humans, nobody knows it’s there — until they fall ill. For more information on how to live safely with lead, please visit the LEAPP Alliance website. Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for...
Oct 22, 2025•41 min•Season 3Ep. 1
Introducing Toxic Legacy, a new season of Untold from the Financial Times. Host Laura Hughes uncovers a lead poisoning epidemic across the UK. You might be living with lead and not know it: the toxin is often invisible to the human eye, but wreaks havoc on our bodies once we’re exposed. The first episode of Untold: Toxic Legacy launches October 22. For information on how to live safely with lead, please visit the LEAPP Alliance website. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information...
Oct 08, 2025•2 min
The Retreat has been nominated for a Signal Award in the Health and Wellness category! It's a listener choice award, which means we need your help. If you enjoyed The Retreat, please vote for the show to win here . We appreciate your support! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Oct 10, 2024•30 sec
Since the podcast published earlier this year, Madison’s inbox has been filled with emails. Some were from former volunteers at the Goenka network who wished to speak out. In this bonus episode of The Retreat, they pull back the curtain on why they believe some people are not being supported when they come on retreats and find themselves psychologically unraveling. Translations of Sayagyi U Ba Khin’s discourses from Daniel M Stuart and Swe Swe Mon can be found in the paper: Local Cure, Global Ch...
Jun 26, 2024•41 min•Season 1Ep. 5
With elections just weeks away, and news of more foreign interference scandals in the European parliament, the reporting team gives an accounting of where the investigation and the suspects are to date. Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Jun 05, 2024•26 min•Season 2Ep. 4
It seemed like the Belgians had everything they needed to bring a case against the people involved with Qatargate, but the investigation hit a wall. Valentina and the reporting team speak to the prosecution side to find out why. Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Jun 05, 2024•25 min•Season 2Ep. 3
Through wiretap transcripts and surveillance footage, captured by Belgian intelligence, Valentina and the investigative reporting team learn just who is involved with this scandal and how it all worked. Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
May 29, 2024•28 min•Season 2Ep. 2
Valentina learns of raids and arrests at the European parliament and a scandal unfolds. They talk to the face of the scandal, Eva Kaili, and hear about the day of the raids through her eyes. Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
May 29, 2024•30 min•Season 2Ep. 1
Introducing Power for Sale, a new season of Untold from the Financial Times. In Untold: Power for Sale, host Valentina Pop and a team of FT correspondents from all over Europe investigate what happened in the Qatargate scandal, where EU lawmakers were accused of accepting payments from Qatar to whitewash its image. Untold: Power for Sale airs May 29. Follow wherever you listen. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
May 16, 2024•2 min
Madison Marriage hears of another death, one that happened five years before Jaqui’s. Was the Goenka network aware of the dangers of intensive meditation? Marriage asks what the organisation is doing, if anything, to protect people from harm. For support or more information about adverse meditation experiences, take a look at the Cheetah House website. If you are in need of urgent mental health support, please contact your local emergency services or reach out to a mental health helpline, such a...
Feb 14, 2024•45 min•Season 1Ep. 4
Jaqui was 22 when she signed up to a 10-day Goenka retreat. It was the last known thing she did before she died. This is Jaqui’s story. For support or more information about adverse meditation experiences, take a look at the Cheetah House website. If you are in need of urgent mental health support, please contact your local emergency services or reach out to a mental health helpline, such as the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline in the US or Samaritans in the UK. Read a transcript of this episode ...
Feb 07, 2024•40 min•Season 1Ep. 3
Emily’s twin sister spirals after going on a Goenka retreat, and she’s not the only one. Madison Marriage hears multiple accounts of terror, hallucinations and psychosis. Was meditation just the catalyst that unleashed psychological problems? Or did this network of silent meditation retreats actually cause their suffering? For support or more information about adverse meditation experiences, take a look at the Cheetah House website. We also spoke to Miguel Farias and Jonny Say to corroborate cla...
Jan 31, 2024•44 min•Season 1Ep. 2
Madison Marriage receives an email from a desperate father named Stephen. Over the past five years, he says, his twin daughters have changed drastically. They were bright and outgoing, with exciting plans for their future. But over their early twenties, they became increasingly distressed, struggling to eat or sleep and disassociating from normal life. Stephen believes the root of his daughters’ problems is a particular network of intensive meditation retreats. For support or more information ab...
Jan 24, 2024•42 min•Season 1Ep. 1
Introducing Untold, a new podcast from the special investigations team at the Financial Times. In its first series, The Retreat, host Madison Marriage examines the world of the Goenka network, which promotes a type of intensive meditation known as Vipassana. Thousands of people go on Goenka retreats every year. People rave about them. But some people go to these meditation retreats, and they suffer. They might feel a deep sense of terror, or a break with reality. And on the other side, they’re n...
Dec 21, 2023•2 min
