James was Director of BBC News and before that was Editor of the Times.
James Harding
Co-founder & Editor
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Tuesday 27 April 2021
08:00-09:00 BST
Back to reality: how will going back to work work?
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Thursday 27 May 2021
08:30-14:00 BST
The Future of Work Summit
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Thursday 29 April 2021
10:00-10:50 BST
Can companies change faster than the climate?
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Tuesday 20 April 2021
08:00-09:00 BST
Covid corruption: how much money has been wasted on the Bounce Back Loans?
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Thursday 29 April 2021
08:30-14:00 BST
The Tortoise Climate Summit: How can we accelerate net zero?
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Thursday 15 April 2021
18:30-19:30 BST
COP26: who are they kidding?
Will COP26 really be a catalyst for meaningful global action on climate change? Join us to find out.
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Thursday 1 April 2021
18:30-19:30 BST
DrinkIn: Happy 2nd Birthday Tortoise
Share a (virtual) cocktail with us to celebrate our second birthday.
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Wednesday 31 March 2021
18:30-19:30 BST
A ThinkIn with Lisa Nandy
Join James Harding in conversation with Lisa Nandy to discuss the direction of the Labour Party on the international stage.
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Tuesday 30 March 2021
08:00-09:00 BST
In conversation with Michelle Mitchell, CEO of Cancer Research UK
Join James Harding in conversation with Michelle Mitchell on the impact of Covid on cancer services and patients.
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Tuesday 23 March 2021
08:00-09:00 BST
A ThinkIn with Jeremy Darroch
Join James Harding in conversation with Jeremy Darroch, Executive Chairman of Sky.
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Wednesday 24 March 2021
18:30-19:30 BST
A ThinkIn with Mark Carney on Value(s)
What does value really mean? Join James Harding in conversation with Mark Carney to find out.
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Monday 15 March 2021
18:30-19:30 BST
A ThinkIn with Jeremy Hunt
Join us to expand on the findings of the Tortoise Covid Inquiry and put your questions to Jeremy Hunt.
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Thursday 4 March 2021
18:30-19:30 BST
Is Britain quietly retiring its army?
What is the army’s role in modern Britain? Join us to find out.
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Tuesday 9 March 2021
08:00-09:00 BST
In conversation with Sharon White, Chair of the John Lewis Partnership
Join James Harding in conversation with Sharon White, Chair of the John Lewis Partnership
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Friday 26 March 2021
09:00-15:00 BST
The Future of Cars Summit
Join us and invited experts to discuss the big questions about the future of cars
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Tuesday 23 February 2021
08:00-09:00 BST
In conversation with Carolyn McCall, CEO of ITV
Carolyn McCall on the future of home entertainment, public service broadcasting, diversity and representation and much more.
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Wednesday 17 February 2021
18:30-19:30 BST
A ThinkIn with David Baddiel on Jews Don’t Count
Join James Harding in conversation with author David Baddiel
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Wednesday 10 February 2021
18:30-19:30 BST
The Maxwells: what a family, what a story
What does the psychodrama of the Maxwell family reveal about toxic power in the 21st century?
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Tuesday 9 February 2021
08:00-09:00 BST
In conversation with John Holland-Kaye, CEO of Heathrow
Join James Harding over breakfast in conversation with John Holland-Kaye, CEO of Heathrow
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Monday 8 February 2021
18:30-19:30 BST
A ThinkIn with Nadhim Zahawi, Minister for COVID Vaccine Deployment
Join James Harding in conversation with Nadhim Zahawi.
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Thursday 4 February 2021
18:30-19:30 BST
In conversation with Caroline Lucas
Join James Harding in conversation with Caroline Lucas as part of our ‘Accelerating Net Zero’ series
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Monday 25 January 2021
18:30-19:30 BST
What does Carrie Symonds think – and does it matter?
Is Carrie Symonds more of a Dominic Cummings than a Denis Thatcher? And should we care?
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Wednesday 20 January 2021
18:30-19:30 BST
Goodbye Donald: end of an era, or start of the sequel?
What next for Trump’s followers? We ask the experts.
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Tuesday 26 January 2021
18:30-19:30 BST
Feeding the world sustainably after Covid: how will we do it?
How do we get food to everyone who needs it at a price they can afford?
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Thursday 25 February 2021
08:30-14:50 BST
The Future of Money Summit
Join us an invited experts to discuss the big questions about the future of money
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Tuesday 19 January 2021
08:00-09:00 BST
In conversation with Anne Boden, CEO Starling Bank
Join James Harding in conversation with Anne Boden
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Monday 18 January 2021
18:30-19:30 BST
Trans kids: what has been happening inside the Tavistock?
Join us to take a deep dive into what has really been happening inside the Tavistock
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Tuesday 12 January 2021
13:00-14:00 BST
Open News
Add your voice to the Tortoise editors’ weekly news conference. Bring story ideas and perspectives. Have your say.
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Tuesday 12 January 2021
08:00-09:00 BST
Are business leaders stalling over disability inclusion?
Join us to ask why disability inclusion still isn’t on the boardroom table
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Wednesday 6 January 2021
18:30-19:30 BST
Does Britain have an answer to immigration now?
Freedom of movement is over, but what does that really mean for Britain?
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Tuesday 5 January 2021
13:00-14:00 BST
Open News
Add your voice to the Tortoise editors’ weekly news conference. Bring story ideas and perspectives. Have your say.
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Tuesday 8 December 2020
08:00-09:00 BST
A ThinkIn with Gavin Patterson, President and Chief Revenue Officer of Salesforce
Salesforce’s President and Chief Revenue Officer, Gavin Patterson, in conversation with James Harding
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Tuesday 15 December 2020
13:00-14:00 BST
Open News Special: what did we learn in 2020?
What really happened this year? Which stories mattered, and what did we miss?
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Wednesday 9 December 2020
18:30-19:30 BST
A ThinkIn with Ed Miliband
The former Labour leader in conversation with James Harding.
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Tuesday 1 December 2020
13:00-14:00 BST
Open News
Add your voice to the Tortoise editors’ weekly news conference. Bring story ideas and perspectives. Have your say.
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Thursday 3 December 2020
08:30-14:00 BST
The Global AI Summit
On 3rd December, second Global AI Summit will imagine a world with AI at its core.
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Tuesday 20 October 2020
07:55-09:00 BST
What can smart machines do for humankind and for you?
What role will robots play in society? And how best can they serve humanity?
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Wednesday 4 November 2020
18:25-20:00 BST
US Election: The Result – what now?
As the votes were still being counted, we discussed the US election – why it played out in the way that it did, and what the outcome will mean for America and the world.
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Tuesday 24 November 2020
18:25-19:30 BST
How do we radically decarbonise our world, while meeting vital human needs?
How can we ensure that people and our planet can coexist harmoniously, and sustainably?
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Tuesday 10 November 2020
13:00-14:00 BST
Open News
Add your voice to the Tortoise editors’ weekly news conference. Bring story ideas and perspectives. Have your say.
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Tuesday 10 November 2020
07:55-09:00 BST
Is Jack Ma the world’s greatest entrepreneur?
How powerful is Jack Ma?
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Monday 30 November 2020
18:25-19:30 BST
In conversation with P.J. O’Rourke on the state of the United States
Join James Harding in conversation with satirist P.J. O’Rourke.
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Wednesday 25 November 2020
18:25-19:30 BST
Settled but not resolved: what next for the opioid crisis?
We return to our first ever story, and investigate the opioid crisis in the context of the pandemic.
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Monday 16 November 2020
18:25-19:30 BST
What is the job of scientists? with Jim Al-Khalili
Have we misunderstood what science can and can’t do?
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Monday 9 November 2020
18:25-19:30 BST
In conversation with Lionel Barber: inside the corridors of power
Lionel Barber on the powerful and damned.
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Monday 19 October 2020
18:30-19:30 BST
Members’ Open House
We want you to know how we’re doing, what’s changing in Tortoise, and to hear your feedback directly.
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Wednesday 21 October 2020
18:25-19:30 BST
Britain and slavery: Who profited and what should they do now?
What should companies that profited from slavery do now to make amends?
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Wednesday 28 October 2020
18:25-19:30 BST
How will the climate crisis transform the Middle East?
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Tuesday 27 October 2020
12:55-14:00 BST
Open News
Add your voice to the Tortoise editors’ weekly news conference. Bring story ideas and perspectives. Have your say.
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Tuesday 20 October 2020
13:00-14:00 BST
Open News
Add your voice to the Tortoise editors’ weekly news conference. Bring story ideas and perspectives. Have your say.
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Wednesday 14 October 2020
18:25-19:30 BST
Will Nicola Sturgeon lead Scotland to independence?
Have the twin pressures of Brexit and Covid gifted independence to the SNP?
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Tuesday 13 October 2020
13:00-14:00 BST
Open News
Add your voice to the Tortoise editors’ weekly news conference. Bring story ideas and perspectives. Have your say.
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Monday 12 October 2020
18:25-19:30 BST
How do we live with loneliness?
Why is the 21st century the loneliest ever, and what can we do about it?
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Tuesday 29 September 2020
13:00-14:00 BST
Open News
Add your voice to the Tortoise editors’ weekly news conference. Bring story ideas and perspectives. Have your say.
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Tuesday 15 September 2020
07:50-09:00 BST
Why isn’t the ethnicity pay gap reporting mandatory?
How can we make sure more companies commit to reporting on the ethnicity pay gap?
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Tuesday 8 September 2020
08:00-09:00 BST
In other news, Brexit: what’s happening?
Has Covid 19 scuppered the UK’s chances of landing a deal, or could the government still pull it off?
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Monday 7 September 2020
18:30-19:30 BST
Living Better: In conversation with Alastair Campbell on mental health
Listen to Alastair Campbell’s intensely personal story about coping with depression.
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Tuesday 1 September 2020
13:00-14:00 BST Open News
Join the Tortoise editors and members from all over the world as, together, we grapple with the evolving live news agenda.
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Thursday 23 July 2020
18:30-19:30 BST
A House Through Time: a ThinkIn with David Olusoga & Melanie Backe-Hansen
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Wednesday 22 July 2020
18:30-19:30 BST
How do we get 2m under 25s into work?
Under-25s were two and half times more likely than others to have been working in the parts of the economy that shut-down in March.
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Monday 15 June 2020
18:30-19:30 BST
Digital ThinkIn – Is there such a thing as a fair trial?
Is our justice system still fit for purpose or is wholesale judicial reform long overdue?
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Friday 15 May 2020
15:00-15:45 BST
Sovereignty & surveillance: In conversation with Shoshana Zuboff
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Wednesday 22 April 2020
18:30-19:30 BST
Crisis Leadership – Tony Blair
The UK’s former prime minister in conversation with James Harding.
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Tuesday 28 January 2020
08:00-09:00 BST
What does Dominic Cummings think?
In the week of Brexit, we looked at what the PM’s chief advisor – the highly influential Dominic Cummings – means for investment in the north, defence procurement, the future of education; decision-making in government and more.
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Monday 12 April 2021
This week in Tortoise: ThinkIn with James Harding
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Tuesday 6 April 2021
This week in Tortoise: Slow Reviews, Part III
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Monday 29 March 2021
This week in Tortoise: Cross Stitch – An Embroidery Scandal
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Monday 22 March 2021
This week in Tortoise: Keir Starmer
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Monday 15 March 2021
This week in Tortoise: K2
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Monday 8 March 2021
This week in Tortoise: The Navalny Show
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Monday 1 March 2021
This week in Tortoise: the Covid Variants
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Monday 22 February 2021
This week in Tortoise: Tax and honour
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Monday 15 February 2021
This week in Tortoise: WallStreetWins
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Monday 8 February 2021
This week in Tortoise: A year of Covid
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Monday 1 February 2021
This week in Tortoise: Corinna & the king
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Monday 25 January 2021
This week in Tortoise: Hidden homicides
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Monday 18 January 2021
This week in Tortoise: The Trump hangover
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Monday 11 January 2021
This week in Tortoise: The vaccine
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Monday 4 January 2021
This week in Tortoise: Immigration after Brexit
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Monday 28 December 2020
This week in Tortoise: The good parts of 2020
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Monday 21 December 2020
This week in Tortoise: Slow Reviews, Part II
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Monday 14 December 2020
This week in Tortoise: The Covid Inquiry
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Monday 7 December 2020
This week in Tortoise: Year of the Screen
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Monday 30 November 2020
This week in Tortoise: Feminism Inc.
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Monday 23 November 2020
This week in Tortoise: Scottish independence
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Monday 16 November 2020
This week in Tortoise: Halloween 2020
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Saturday 14 November 2020
Behind the News, 14 November 2020
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Friday 13 November 2020
Donald Trump, importantly pathetic
The 45th president’s refusal to concede is laughable – but we ought to remember it
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Friday 25 September 2020
Harry Evans: restless, romantic… and relentless
Sir Harold Evans, Britain’s greatest newspaper editor, has died. In 14 years on The Sunday Times, he redefined the possibilities of journalism and inspired a generation – among them Tortoise editor James Harding
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Monday 15 June 2020
The government is unwell
Britain’s disease
Coronavirus is a vicious illness which has brutally exposed the weakness of the British government. The UK stands alone, suffering damage which is almost without parallel
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Thursday 9 January 2020
Tech Nations: Apple
The new superpowers: Apple
The big technology corporations are more than companies, they’re global powers. It’s time we treated them that way
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Friday 16 April 2021
Buckle up! The role of seatbelts in the Battle for Truth
As it was with cars in the mid-20th Century, so it is with the internet now. These technologies are wonderful advancements for humanity, but they also need to be prevented from causing harm
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Friday 16 April 2021
Facebook and the battle for truth
In the court of public opinion, Facebook is Exhibit A in the battle for truth; the most powerful example on the planet of the damage unregulated social media is doing to the public square. Facebook’s response has been to set up a higher court, its own supreme court in fact. Whatever it does, whatever it says, it won’t be the last word.
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Thursday 15 April 2021
Dominic Cummings, Barnard Castle and the battle for truth
In theory, it’s the crucible where politicians encounter journalists and a story is revealed in the white heat of the moment. In practice, critics would have it, it’s a cooked-up charade co-produced by the media and politics. What role does the political press conference have now in the battle for truth?
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Wednesday 14 April 2021
Grenfell Tower and the battle for truth
Public inquiries have been an important clearing house in the battle for truth. They’ve settled arguments about who was responsible for national scandals and tragedies and, crucially, taken the pen away from people in power and given it to victims and campaigners. In the age of social media, when anyone can hold the pen, can the idea of the public inquiry survive?
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Tuesday 13 April 2021
Cancel culture and the battle for truth
Is cancel culture a way to wrest the mic from the powerful? A means of stifling debate? Or both? Late last year, Suzanne Moore left the Guardian after a letter signed by over 300 staff was sent in protest of the newspaper’s alleged “pattern of publishing transphobic content”. Moore and other guests join us.
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Monday 12 April 2021
Rhodes Must Fall and the battle for truth
For a long time in the UK, the arguments about our modern-day responsibility for empire and slavery – the acknowledgements we might make, the debts we might owe – seemed muted. The silence came to a noisy end in 2016 with an argument over a tiny statue on the front of an Oxford college. It was a taste of bigger arguments to come.
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Thursday 1 April 2021
The true cost of Johnson’s briefing room
Televised press briefings may sound more open, a democratising force. But, actually, they risk turning political reporting into a branch of the entertainment industry
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Friday 26 March 2021
And now the hard part
There is a crisis in capitalism. Even those who’ve been its most vocal proponents admit that. But while the analyses of the problems are largely correct, the detail of the solutions will prove tricky
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Thursday 4 March 2021
The ties that bind
It’s no secret that Joe Biden’s White House has little time for Boris Johnson. But while the prime minister’s cosy relationship with Donald Trump and his Brexit-style nationalism have hardly endeared him to the new president, it’s not totally implausible that the two leaders could forge a good working relationship, over one issue in particular
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Thursday 25 February 2021
Source of trouble
The use of anonymous sources in the reporting around Harry and Meghan’s departure raises troubling questions about the royal family – and the press
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Thursday 18 February 2021
What we’re for
Walking the tightrope between conviction and ambivalence is part and parcel of being a slow and open newsroom. It is not always easy
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Thursday 11 February 2021
Giving it more than 100 per cent
Rishi Sunak doesn’t really want Britain’s national debt to exceed the size of its economy. But what if he changed that?
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Wednesday 3 February 2021
Looking downstream
The big streaming platforms are piling on new subscribers during the pandemic. But there could be tough questions to come, particularly over how they handle news and information
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Wednesday 27 January 2021
The beginning of the middle
The vaccine provides humanity with a dose of much-needed hope in the face of the pandemic, but it’s unlikely to be a silver bullet. There’s still a lot we don’t know – about the jabs, the economic impact, and the disease itself
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Wednesday 20 January 2021
After today’s poetry, the prose
In his Inaugural Address, Joe Biden will present himself as America’s first green president. Good. But his presidency will be defined by other concerns
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Wednesday 13 January 2021
Parliaments not plutocrats
The parameters of truth and free speech should not be set by self-interested social media platforms. It’s time the lawmakers stepped in
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Wednesday 6 January 2021
The upper house stoops lower
Offering a peerage to Peter Cruddas doesn’t just make a mockery of the House of Lords – it’s indicative of Boris Johnson’s entire attitude towards the country he governs
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Saturday 19 December 2020
Episode 11: Covidcasting
Talking about viruses used to be a niche pursuit. In 2020, it went mainstream – as did the podcasts doing it
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Friday 18 December 2020
Exposed
Johnson and the British state have failed the test of Covid
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Monday 14 December 2020
Episode 10: Cultural influence
Is the government filling the UK’s cultural institutions with people it believes will do its bidding? And, even if it is, is this anything new?
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Friday 11 December 2020
What’s missing
2020 has been a year of lost encounters, and lost encounters mean lost stories
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Saturday 5 December 2020
The Tavistock ruling
This week’s high court judgement on puberty blockers has huge implications. It also raises questions about where the debate goes next, outside of the courtroom
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Saturday 5 December 2020
Episode 9: Clause Corbyn
Labour has once again descended into civil war. What does the decision to suspend Jeremy Corbyn say about the direction of the party and its leader, Keir Starmer?
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Saturday 28 November 2020
Episode 8: What’s the deal?
Securing a trade agreement with the EU has proved harder than initially suggested. Is politics in its current form equipped to deal with the complex reality of globalisation?
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Friday 27 November 2020
Pause for thought
The Archbishop of Canterbury’s decision to take sabbatical isn’t, as some are suggesting, an abdication of responsibility. In fact, it’s an act of leadership
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Saturday 21 November 2020
Episode 7: Our Covid Inquiry
There are urgent questions to ask – of the government and the public sector. But also of ourselves – the media.
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Friday 20 November 2020
Good COP
A lot must be achieved at the postponed climate summit in Glasgow next year. Is David Cameron the man for the job?
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Saturday 14 November 2020
Episode 6: Truth to power
Were US news networks right to cut away from Donald Trump when he made baseless claims of voter fraud?
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Friday 13 November 2020
Donald Trump, importantly pathetic
The 45th president’s refusal to concede is laughable – but we ought to remember it
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Friday 6 November 2020
Episode 5: The State of the States
In the wake of a messy election, what do the results tell us about the US today? Is America really as divided as everyone says?
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Friday 6 November 2020
What Sunak should do now
Britain’s finance minister has been running behind the pandemic. Here’s how he can get ahead
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Friday 30 October 2020
Go Ngozi
Who will be the next director general of the World Trade Organisation? Who cares? But, in truth, these are the sorts of leaders who could guide us out of the current mess
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Friday 30 October 2020
Episode 4: Vaccines
This week on Behind the News, the podcast that takes you inside our newsroom, we check in with Matt d’Ancona, who’s working on an audio essay on coronavirus vaccines and the big political decisions they’ll require.
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Friday 23 October 2020
A shrinking country
With No.10 representing just England, the Union really is at risk of breaking up
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Friday 23 October 2020
Episode 3: It’s complicated
This week on Behind the News, the podcast that takes you inside our newsroom, we’re taking a deeper look at the contracts the government has rushed through during the pandemic; and we try to make sense of JK Rowling’s intervention in the gender identity debate.
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Monday 19 October 2020
Recession 2021
Alistair Darling and Mervyn King, who were both at the centre of the 2008 crisis, talk to James Harding about what’s coming next
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Friday 16 October 2020
Just the start
Mark Zuckerberg’s choice to ban Holocaust denial on Facebook is undoubtedly the right one. But who adjudicates for such decisions in parts of the world where he doesn’t know or understand the issues? What about the untruths and conspiracy theories that don’t cross his radar?
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Friday 16 October 2020
Episode 2: Beyond 2020
This week on Behind The News, the podcast that takes you inside the Tortoise newsroom, we’re starting to think about stories on the other side of the US election and into 2021. James chats to Mona Sutphen, deputy White House chief of staff under Obama who’s plugged into Biden’s transition team, and Sir John Sawers, the former head of MI6.
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Friday 9 October 2020
Episode 1: Welcome to our newsroom
This week, we talk to Louise Tickle about an investigation we have just begun into hidden homicides; two great economic thinkers – Larry Summers at Harvard and Torsten Bell at the Resolution Foundation – tell us why governments need to keep borrowing and spending.
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Friday 9 October 2020
Chumocracy Inc.
There are echoes of 2008 in the arguments about the reputation of business
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Friday 2 October 2020
The prime minister’s veil
We know startlingly little about Boris Johnson’s state of health or the health of his finances – much less than Americans have come to expect they should know about their President. In the week when President Trump’s tax returns finally saw the light of day it’s time we looked again. What’s legitimately private for a British prime minister, and what does the public interest demand that we should see?
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Thursday 30 July 2020
The hopeful Chancellor
Rishi Sunak is diligent and decent, but is he the man for the job of saving the British economy?
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Thursday 4 June 2020
Inside Amazon: A superpower in a pandemic
What’s in the Amazon box? We open up the world’s biggest company and take a look inside