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The Slow Newscast

The Observer

300 episodes

The Slow Newscast from The Observer takes the news slowly. We investigate, and every week we focus on stories that really matter in the UK and around the world. From wars in Ukraine and Gaza through to true crime and injustice and real life mysteries, The Slow Newscast team is devoted to narrative investigations covering some of the biggest topics of the day.

More about the show

Who are the people biohacking themselves in a quest for immortality? Or the man taking on an entire nation in the high seas to protect whales? And what happened when humanity's most distant messenger fell silent? From a newsroom with a different approach to journalism these are the stories we tell.

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Episodes page 6 of 6

  1. Beastly: The stories of David Walliams

    · 42 min · S1 E205

    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 the moment the world…

  2. Children locked away: Britain's modern bedlam

    · 43 min · S1 E204

    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. For early access and ad-free listening…

  3. Blackout: Coal, corruption and cyanide

    · 45 min · S1 E203

    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 political leadership are…

  4. Londongrad: Iran’s Hit Squads

    · 36 min · S1 E202

    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. That number is now even…

  5. Rogue Lawyer: Power, money and a scandal at a London law firm

    · 49 min · S1 E201

    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 this is a British lawyer.…

  6. Yesterday's Men: The Brexit hardliners' last stand

    · 36 min · S1 E200

    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 Johnson in Number 10. And…

  7. Ignition: The quest for nuclear fusion

    · 33 min · S1 E199

    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 than half a century. They…

  8. Safe country: A death, and a deal, in Rwanda

    · 38 min · S1 E198

    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 country as a “safe” place…

  9. Boris Johnson: The six million pound man episode 4

    · 19 min · S1 E197

    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 Boris Johnson. Tortoise is…

  10. Boris Johnson: The six million pound man episode 3

    · 23 min · S1 E196

    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 all his exotic holidays?…

  11. Boris Johnson: The six million pound man episode 2

    · 28 min · S1 E195

    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 sullied him and them.…

  12. Boris Johnson: The six million pound man episode 1

    · 28 min · S1 E194

    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 sullied him and them.…

  13. Peltz-Beckham: A super-wedding gone wrong

    · 40 min · S1 E193

    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 like a billion-dollar…

  14. Detained in Modi’s India: A British citizen’s story

    · 34 min · S1 E192

    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-up devoted to slow journalism.…

  15. Rupert Murdoch: News vs the truth

    · 51 min · S1 E191

    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 journalism and get invites to…

  16. After the Fall – A death on the Lansdowne Estate

    · 46 min · S1 E190

    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 you find out what really happened? And who do you…

  17. Wagner’s war: A year in Ukraine and beyond

    · 37 min · S1 E189

    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 in Ukraine. Just how…

  18. The prince against the press

    · 55 min · S1 E188

    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 biggest media groups are…

  19. Wronged: a murder and a miscarriage of justice

    · 47 min · S1 E187

    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 the story of a…

  20. Snatched: A mother's quest to find her children

    · 48 min · S1 E186

    What do you do when your children are taken away by your ex-partner? Who do you call for help? And how do you get them back? Tortoise is a news start-up devoted to slow journalism. To access more of our journalism and…

  21. God on your side: Christians, courts and culture wars

    · 43 min · S1 E185

    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? Tortoise is a news start-up…

  22. Real Money - episode 1 of our new investigative series

    · 38 min · S1 E184

    Introducing: 'Real Money: The hunt for Tether's billions'. To listen to episode two of the series, click this link. The dream of cryptocurrencies is in danger of imploding along with their value. If the crypto coin…

  23. Introducing: The News Meeting

    · 9:00 · Trailer

    Introducing...The News Meeting from Podimo and Tortoise. In every newsroom around the world there’s a daily meeting to decide what leads the news, what follows and in what order. As editor of The Times newspaper,…

  24. The Westminster Accounts

    · 42 min · S1 E183

    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 flowing into our politics,…

  25. Damn and blast off: how not to go back to the moon

    · 38 min · S1 E182

    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. Hosted on Acast. See…

  26. 2022 picks - The Darwin job: the mystery of the vanishing notebooks

    · 44 min · S1 E181

    One sleuth, two notebooks – and a 20-year puzzle Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  27. 2022 picks - Lebedev: Lord of Siberia

    · 1 h 03 min · S1 E180

    Door after door in Britain has been opened for Evgeny Lebedev, all the way to the House of Lords. Who has opened them, and why? To listen to the 'Londongrad' series follow this link. Hosted on Acast. See…

  28. Musking it: Inside Elon’s Twitter takeover

    · 31 min · S1 E179

    The inside story of a troubled company that was bought by the world’s richest man. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  29. Octopus: the allegations against Crispin Odey

    · 49 min · S1 E178

    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 Conservative party,…

  30. The Tavistock: inside the gender clinic

    · 40 min · S1 E177

    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 – will close. This is the story of…

  31. Inside Unite

    · 58 min · S1 E176

    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 Liverpool. And to…

  32. The Alzheimer's casino

    · 41 min · S1 E175

    Big money and bad science: what happens when science and medical research meet Wall Street? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  33. Egypt's bad cop

    · 39 min · S1 E174

    The story of one man, fighting to his last breath, to reveal the darkness that lies behind this year’s UN Climate Change Conference. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  34. Mutiny: The undoing of Liz Truss

    · 39 min · S1 E173

    The inside story of how the shortest premiership in British history came to an end Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  35. The missing male pill

    · 43 min · S1 E172

    More than 60 years after the development of the contraceptive pill for women, we still don’t have an equivalent for men. Why? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  36. Pig Iron

    · 36 min · S1 E171

    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 mercenary? Or a young and…

  37. Britannia unhinged

    · 36 min · S1 E170

    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? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for…

  38. Toxic: The making of Andrew Tate

    · 34 min · S1 E169

    What happened when social media platforms banned Andrew Tate, whose misogyny netted him a fortune and millions of online followers? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  39. Paradise Bust: Scandal in the British Virgin Islands

    · 47 min · S1 E168

    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? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  40. A crime in the making

    · 39 min · S1 E167

    No war crime is ever inevitable, but it’s possible to make one likely. Russia did exactly that before 53 prisoners of war burned to death at Olenivka. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  41. The Second Elizabethan Age: the constitution

    · 32 min · S1 E166

    Richard Lambert talks to one of the UK’s foremost constitutional experts about the state of the monarchy. If you'd like to read and listen to more of Tortoise's reporting on the Queen, including photo galleries, an…

  42. The Second Elizabethan Age: rule Britannia

    · 23 min · S1 E165

    Richard Lambert examines how the Queen navigated the world of international politics as head of state and head of the Commonwealth. If you'd like to read and listen to more of Tortoise's reporting on the Queen,…

  43. The Second Elizabethan Age: head of state

    · 24 min · S1 E164

    Richard Lambert charts the evolving relationship between the Queen, politicians and her Prime Ministers during her reign. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  44. The Second Elizabethan Age: speak to us ma'am

    · 24 min · S1 E163

    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 relationship between the Queen…

  45. The Second Elizabethan Age: strong as a yak

    · 19 min · S1 E162

    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 galleries, an obituary by Matthew d’Ancona and…

  46. The Second Elizabethan Age: the coronation

    · 21 min · S1 E161

    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. Listen here:…

  47. The Fix

    · 41 min · S1 E160

    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. Hosted on Acast. See…

  48. Thank the Lord

    · 49 min · S1 E159

    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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  49. Myanmar: the forgotten coup

    · 35 min · S1 E158

    More than a year after Myanmar fell to a military coup, Ali Fowle investigates the growing resistance movement. Is there hope of a different future? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  50. Hostile environment

    · 45 min · S1 E157

    The making of the modern Home Office Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Shows are listed from Apple Podcasts' charts and directory, and Podcast Index where it is used. Every show and episode belongs to its publisher and plays from the publisher's own feed; this site hosts none of them. Explicit shows are for adult profiles only, and children’s profiles hear only children’s shows. More about this list.