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, how to think about the welfare of animals as well as humans? Twycross Zoo in the UK is celebrated for its role in animal conservation. But that won't protect it from some very difficult decisions ahead. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Apr 09, 2020•29 min•Ep 24•Transcript available on Metacast 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 phone call for help may be impossible. Basia Cummings has been talking to people trying to help victims of domestic abuse in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Apr 02, 2020•26 min•Ep 23•Transcript available on Metacast 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 has become a very dangerous place, and that may be one of the stories of this pandemic. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Mar 26, 2020•32 min•Ep 22•Transcript available on Metacast 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 pandemic will pass. How and why does that happen? What do human beings do, what do viruses do, to learn to live with each other? With special guest Professor Deenan Pillay, Professor of Virology at University College London. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Mar 19, 2020•30 min•Ep 21•Transcript available on Metacast 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 have been ripped up. Tortoise has set out to answer an old and important question: instead of celebrating the fact that Britain is one of the few countries in the world without a written constitution, is it time for us to draft one? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Mar 12, 2020•25 min•Ep 20•Transcript available on Metacast 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 impropriety and assault. In each case, there's evidence that the college may have put its own interests ahead of the victims'. The question has been asked: is this the #MeToo moment for British universities? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Mar 05, 2020•33 min•Ep 19•Transcript available on Metacast 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 murdered by a car bomb. Since her death, her family has fought tirelessly for justice in the face of overwhelming odds. In this four-part series, Daphne's son Paul Caruana Galizia returns to Malta to uncover an assassination plot which extends into the highest reaches of the Maltese government. Hosted on Acas...
Feb 27, 2020•33 min•Ep 18•Transcript available on Metacast 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 murdered by a car bomb. Since her death, her family has fought tirelessly for justice in the face of overwhelming odds. In this four-part series, Daphne's son Paul Caruana Galizia returns to Malta to uncover an assassination plot which extends into the highest reaches of the Maltese government. Hosted on Acas...
Feb 20, 2020•33 min•Ep 17•Transcript available on Metacast 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 murdered by a car bomb. Since her death, her family has fought tirelessly for justice in the face of overwhelming odds. In this four-part series, Daphne's son Paul Caruana Galizia returns to Malta to uncover an assassination plot which extends into the highest reaches of the Maltese government. Hosted on Acas...
Feb 13, 2020•39 min•Ep 16•Transcript available on Metacast 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 murdered by a car bomb. Since her death, her family has fought tirelessly for justice in the face of overwhelming odds. In this four-part series, Daphne's son Paul Caruana Galizia returns to Malta to uncover an assassination plot which extends into the highest reaches of the Maltese government. Hosted on Acas...
Feb 10, 2020•32 min•Ep 15•Transcript available on Metacast This week we're in Pennsylvania, where Trump won in 2016. Can he win here again? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Feb 06, 2020•33 min•Ep 13•Transcript available on Metacast The new frontier of medical science is closer than you think – much closer. It lies within us, in the bacteria and viruses of the gut, and in the mysterious efficacy of faecal transplants. There’s so much hype in health journalism. But the study of the gut microbiome – the universe of bacteria living in our intestine – really is opening up a new age in our understanding of the human body that promises to unlock revolutions in drugs and healthcare, food and nutrition, wellbeing and even happiness...
Feb 01, 2020•29 min•Ep 12•Transcript available on Metacast One day, the next catastrophic global epidemic will strike. Scientists already know a few things about it: it will probably have crossed the species barrier from animal to human; it’s likely to originate in Asia; it will travel easily from person to person. The coronavirus has all those characteristics but we may be fortunate. The early signs are that it’s not as fatal as some of the viruses responsible for previous pandemics, and the lessons we learned from those outbreaks may help to contain i...
Jan 30, 2020•25 min•Ep 11•Transcript available on Metacast We'd like you to meet Toni, Sharon and Nicky. You may have passed them on the street - somebody who listens to this podcast almost certainly will have done. But you won't have met them, any more than most of us really meet women who are homeless and sleeping rough in subways, stations and shop doorways. Audrey Gillan has spent time with all three women, hearing their stories; how they came to be where they are, and what their lives are like. The number of homeless women in the UK has shot up in ...
Jan 27, 2020•53 min•Ep 10•Transcript available on Metacast 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 Labour, but a surprise candidate is shining through. Could Lisa Nandy be Labour's bright new face? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Jan 23, 2020•23 min•Ep 9•Transcript available on Metacast 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 firestorm. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Jan 16, 2020•23 min•Ep 8•Transcript available on Metacast 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; understanding what they're planning to do; figuring out who's in charge now, and who might be next. It's been a huge reporting project. In this week's podcast, Basia Cummings talks to two of the Tortoise editors behind it, Alexi Mostrous and James Harding. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more informat...
Jan 09, 2020•26 min•Ep 7•Transcript available on Metacast 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 party machine. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Dec 13, 2019•24 min•Ep 6•Transcript available on Metacast 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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Dec 07, 2019•27 min•Ep 5•Transcript available on Metacast 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 justice. This week events have taken dramatic turns, with arrests and the resignation of government ministers. Daphne’s son Paul, a reporter at Tortoise, has been at the heart of it all. Join Tortoise for only £50. Use code POD50 at tortoisemedia.com/friend Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more i...
Nov 29, 2019•34 min•Ep 4•Transcript available on Metacast 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 editors – James Harding, Basia Cummings and Ceri Thomas – have spent this week asking that question, talking to people in and around Buckingham Palace, and re-examining the Jeffrey Epstein case. In this week’s Tortoise podcast: how fears about a slimmed-down monarchy and financial independence led to a terrible misjudge...
Nov 22, 2019•27 min•Ep 3•Transcript available on Metacast 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 in charge. And, for better or worse, they’re changing the game. Tortoise editors Basia Cummings and Ceri Thomas get inside the digital campaign with help from fellow editors Alexi Mostrous, Polly Curtis and Matt D’Ancona. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Nov 15, 2019•35 min•Ep 2•Transcript available on Metacast 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. The implications are enormous. Political parties are reshaping and their economic policies are being transformed. Tortoise editors Basia Cummings and Ceri Thomas explore what this could mean in this election and in decades to come. Guests in Edition #1 are John Aitken , Glasgow youth worker, Andrew (L...
Nov 09, 2019•44 min•Ep 1•Transcript available on Metacast 
