Slow Newscast
Boycott! The lost Olympics
The most political sports show on earth has just opened its doors. But we’re already looking to next year’s Olympics, the winter games in Beijing, which human rights groups are demanding countries boycott. It’s been tried before many times. What are the lessons from the most notorious one – Moscow 1980?
EDITOR’S LETTER
What’s on
Next week we’re hitting pause on our ThinkIns until September. Before we do, join us at this week’s events, including the DrinkIn on Thursday.
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A ThinkIn with Jess Phillips
This evening at 6.30pm BST, Jess Phillips MP will be lifting the lid on what a life and career in politics is really like.
Slow Views
Cummings’ coup
The former Number 10 advisor’s plot to depose the PM in 2019 shows how vulnerable our institutions have become to rogue figures like him.
Accelerating net zero
Electric vehicles aren’t the answer
Electrifying road transport won’t solve our problems. In fact, as Rachael Revesz writes, it may just exacerbate them.
sensemaker our daily roundup of the news that matters
Vaccine stockpiling
26 juLY 2021
- Tunisia’s president removed the prime minister and suspended parliament following violent mass protests against the government’s handling of Covid.
- The Afghan government banned all movement between 10pm and 4am, apart from in Kabul and two other provinces, “to curb violence and limit Taliban movements”.
- Tom Pidcock won Team GB’s third gold medal of the Olympic Games in the men’s mountain bike cross-country race, after Adam Peaty’s gold for the men’s 100m breaststroke and divers Tom Daley and Matty Lee won the men’s synchronised 10m platform (more below).
Namibia and Tunisia have the highest, fastest-growing Covid death rates in the world. In Uganda and Zambia, over 80 per cent of new deaths are from the virus.
The Arms Race
New Covid-19 variants are emerging. To beat them we need to get the world vaccinated as fast as possible. But right now the variants are racing ahead, the vaccines are falling short.
That’s why we’ve launched the Arms Race – our campaign to vaccinate the world by the end of next year.
thinkin with james harding
The Battle for Truth
Does truth even exist anymore and, if so, who owns it? Welcome to Season One of ThinkIn with James Harding.
Cancel culture and the battle for truth
Grenfell Tower and the battle for truth
Dominic Cummings, Barnard Castle and the battle for truth
What our members are saying about the Battle for Truth podcast series
The Battle for Truth series was outstanding and truly thought-provoking.
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I definitely plan to go back to them in my lifelong pursuit of learning how to think.
I have to tell you how outstanding the Battle for Truth podcasts were. The adjective “enjoyable” is too bland. For me they were illuminating.
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We’re not cutting emissions fast enough
In the run-up to COP26 in Glasgow, Tortoise – in collaboration with members and a network of coalition organisations – is running a programme of ThinkIns and journalism devoted to accelerating net zero.
By the time we get to the conference, we want to have an agenda with a difference.
Slow Views
The Cummings coup failed. But the next one might not
The brazen way in which Boris Johnson’s former adviser described his team’s plan to depose the PM – only days after his 2019 election triumph – is a warning of how much is at stake in the new age of populist, digitised politics
Modi hails the vaccinated as “Strong Arms” – but there are far too few of them
India has suffered terribly from the failure of its populist government to order anything like the number of doses it needs – and must now hope that the international community acts with urgency
Electric vehicles aren’t the answer
If we are to reach Net Zero in the decades ahead, then we have to do something about road transport. But electrifying it could just exacerbate many of the problems we face today
GB News will not divide us; television already has
We have a natural bias towards people like us, but, for years, various unifying institutions kept this instinct in check… until a certain electrical box arrived on the scene
covid Inquiry
Why wait until spring 2022?
That’s when the prime minister has said an independent inquiry into the government’s response to Covid will begin. Here at Tortoise, we felt the need was far more urgent – and so, last Autumn, we held our own.
Listen
Boycott! The lost Olympics
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 modern times?
The next Olympics
After Tokyo comes Paris in 2024. If these Olympic games are difficult because of Covid, what legacy will they hand on?
The end of Guantanamo?
There were 40 prisoners left in the US detention camp at Guantanamo Bay. Until one was released this week.
A spy called Pegasus
Pegasus is a piece of spyware that can infiltrate your phone and steal its secrets. This week we learned how governments are using it.
Watch
How can Tortoise go local?
Bring your friends to share your thoughts and ideas about the launch of Tortoise Local.
Sign of the times: How does pop define the 1980s?
Join us in a ThinkIn as we look back at the ten pop songs which defined the decade – and bring along some suggestions of your own!
Is Boris Johnson invincible?
Join Matt d’Ancona and invited experts as we sift fact from fiction from a dramatic year in politics.
The Heywood Prize Awards Ceremony
Join us for the Heywood Foundation Public Policy Prize Awards Ceremony 2021.
Book
In conversation with Jess Phillips
Join us for a ThinkIn with Jess Phillips hat gets behind the smoke and mirrors of today’s political scene.
Weekly Open News Meeting
In conversation with John Amaechi: where have all the great leaders gone?
The Tortoise Summer DrinkIn
Join the Tortoise team for a joyous summer DrinkIn before the holidays kick off.
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