Xavier joined Tortoise straight from studying at City University and Oxford University.
Xavier Greenwood
Development Producer and Reporter

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Friday 19 May 2023
Step aside, Jeremy
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Wednesday 10 May 2023
The godfather of AI quits and sounds the alarm
One of the pioneers of artificial intelligence has quit Google and warned about the dangers of the technology. But will anyone listen?
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Saturday 6 May 2023
The (lonely) king of the internet
Forget the King of England. Jimmy Donaldson, better known as Mr Beast, is King of YouTube – the first person in its history to rack up 150 million subscribers.
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Monday 12 December 2022
Sensemaker: Hotel management
What just happened
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Thursday 26 May 2022
10 minute readSensemaker: Nightmare of wheat
What just happened
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Wednesday 17 November 2021
10 minute readSensemaker: Cricket racism
What just happened
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Wednesday 10 November 2021
10 minute readSensemaker: Turbulence ahead?
What just happened
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Monday 8 November 2021
10 minute readSensemaker: Get serious week
What just happened
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Tuesday 2 November 2021
10 minute readSensemaker: Standoff in the sea
What just happened
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Monday 1 November 2021
10 minute readSensemaker: Don’t give up
What just happened
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Wednesday 27 October 2021
10 minute readSensemaker: Failing Facebook?
What just happened
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Monday 25 October 2021
10 minute readSensemaker: The Turkey ten
What just happened
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Friday 22 October 2021
10 minute readSensemaker: Vaccine mandates
What just happened
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Monday 18 October 2021
10 minute readSensemaker: Power down
What just happened
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Wednesday 13 October 2021
10 minute readSensemaker: The new one-percenters
What just happened
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Wednesday 6 October 2021
10 minute readSensemaker: Russia’s space movie
What just happened
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Monday 4 October 2021
10 minute readSensemaker: Pandora’s cave
What just happened
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Wednesday 29 September 2021
10 minute readSensemaker: Pump panic
What just happened
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Monday 27 September 2021
10 minute readSensemaker: Substantial injustice
What just happened
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Wednesday 22 September 2021
10 minute readSensemaker: After the summer, the fall
What just happened
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Monday 20 September 2021
10 minute readSensemaker: Submarine warfare
What just happened
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Friday 17 September 2021
How Nicki took over politics
It’s easy to laugh at the rapper’s strange outbursts, but precedents set by Elvis Presley and Donald Trump suggest that swollen testicles are a problem for all of us
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Monday 13 September 2021
10 minute readSensemaker: Vaccinating teenagers
What just happened
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Friday 10 September 2021
10 minute readSensemaker: Back to the big state
What just happened
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Thursday 9 September 2021
Gimme, gimme, gimme the actual Abba
After nearly 40 years, the Swedish quartet have returned – but not in the way you’d expect
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Monday 6 September 2021
10 minute readSensemaker: Winning streak
What just happened
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Friday 3 September 2021
Big local lies: how misinformation is wrecking community politics
The terrible decline of the regional press and the rise of unregulated social media activity mean that local democracy can be trashed by determined individuals
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Thursday 2 September 2021
10 minute readSensemaker: England’s petri dish
What just happened
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Thursday 19 August 2021
10 minute readSensemaker: Women and the Taliban
What just happened
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Tuesday 17 August 2021
10 minute readSensemaker: Eurasian migration
What just happened
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Monday 16 August 2021
10 minute readSensemaker: Twenty years on
What just happened
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Wednesday 11 August 2021
10 minute readSensemaker: Behind the IPCC
What just happened
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Monday 2 August 2021
10 minute readSensemaker: Access capitalism
What just happened
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Monday 19 July 2021
10 minute readSensemaker: Freedom Day
What just happened
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Monday 5 July 2021
10 minute readSensemaker: Failure in Afghanistan
What just happened
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Monday 28 June 2021
10 minute readSensemaker: Macron becalmed
What just happened
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Tuesday 22 June 2021
Horror without spin
The election of Ebrahim Raisi as Iranian president does not mark a return to darker days but a more brazen declaration of the character – and terrible crimes – of this theocratic state
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Monday 21 June 2021
10 minute readSensemaker: Covid nations
What just happened
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Thursday 10 June 2021
The second homecoming
With football the latest battleground in the culture wars, is it possible to unite the country behind a new English anthem for Euro 2020? That’s the task for rappers Krept and Konan…
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Monday 7 June 2021
10 minute readSensemaker: Historic tax deal
What just happened
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Thursday 27 May 2021
Just a game?
The three-week Epic v Apple trial has come to an end. But why did Epic Games take Apple to court? At the centre of the case is Fortnite, a game that is, arguably, more than just a game
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Friday 21 May 2021
#PornPlanet
Hunt for the porn king: the secretive owner of Pornhub revealed
As dozens of women accuse the world’s largest porn company of profiting from their abuse, we trace its owner to his London mansion
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Monday 10 May 2021
10 minute readSensemaker: When, not if, for Scotland
What just happened
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Monday 26 April 2021
10 minute readSensemaker: India burning
What just happened
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Thursday 8 April 2021
10 minute readSensemaker: Plans on ice
What just happened
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Monday 22 March 2021
10 minute readSensemaker: The vaccine gulf
What just happened
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Monday 15 March 2021
10 minute readSensemaker: Populism and protest
What just happened
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Monday 8 March 2021
10 minute readSensemaker: Biden attacks poverty
What just happened
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Monday 1 March 2021
10 minute readSensemaker: The missing 300
What just happened
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Thursday 18 February 2021
10 minute readSensemaker: Arctic Texas
What just happened
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Wednesday 17 February 2021
10 minute readSensemaker: Way out
What just happened
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Monday 15 February 2021
10 minute readSensemaker: Can the EU handle Hungary?
What just happened
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Thursday 11 February 2021
Creative Sensemaker: Streaming success
Welcome to Creative Sensemaker, our weekly guide to all that’s best in culture and the arts – movies, streaming, books, music, galleries and much else
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Monday 8 February 2021
10 minute readSensemaker: The view from South Africa
What just happened
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Monday 1 February 2021
10 minute readSensemaker: Coup in Myanmar
What just happened
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Monday 25 January 2021
10 minute readSensemaker: Tesco’s awkward pay gap
What just happened
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Wednesday 20 January 2021
10 minute readSensemaker: Changeover day
What just happened
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Monday 18 January 2021
10 minute readSensemaker: Bravest man alive
What just happened
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Friday 1 January 2021
The good that happened in 2020: Our Planet
2020 wasn’t all bad. And it’s important that we remember that. This series considers the heartening things that happened this year, according to each of Tortoise’s five main themes
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Thursday 24 December 2020
Slow Reviews Part II
Since I Left You
Xavier Greenwood on an album that pre-empted today’s cut-paste culture
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Wednesday 9 December 2020
10 minute readSensemaker: Convince the unconvinced
What just happened
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Friday 4 December 2020
10 minute readSensemaker: Brexit: to diverge, or not?
What just happened
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Wednesday 2 December 2020
10 minute readSensemaker: Brexit crunch week part 2
What just happened
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Tuesday 1 December 2020
Did the media fail?
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Thursday 26 November 2020
10 minute readSensemaker: Human wrongs
What just happened
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Wednesday 25 November 2020
10 minute readSensemaker: No one’s safe until everyone is safe
What just happened
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Wednesday 18 November 2020
10 minute readSensemaker: Devolution disaster
What just happened
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Monday 16 November 2020
Following the science? Early failures of test and trace
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Wednesday 11 November 2020
10 minute readSensemaker: Paris in 15 minutes
What just happened
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Monday 9 November 2020
10 minute readSensemaker: Biden’s time
What just happened
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Tuesday 3 November 2020
10 minute readSensemaker, 3 November 2020
What just happened
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Friday 30 October 2020
10 minute readSensemaker, 30 October 2020
What just happened
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Friday 16 October 2020
10 minute readSensemaker, 16 October 2020
What just happened
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Monday 5 October 2020
10 minute readSensemaker, 5 October 2020
What just happened
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Thursday 1 October 2020
10 minute readSensemaker, 1 October 2020
What just happened
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Thursday 10 September 2020
Iran
Evin and Iran: further reading
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Wednesday 9 September 2020
Iran
‘Escape isn’t a possibility’: paintings of Evin
Activist Nasrin Parvaz’s haunting artworks reveal glimpses of life inside Iran’s most notorious prison
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Monday 7 September 2020
Iran
Inside Evin
The prison that Iran built for itself
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Monday 7 September 2020
Iran
The state of Iran
How a prison came to stand for a state
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Friday 7 February 2020
Drones
A survivor speaks
And what you can do to make a difference in the age of drone warfare
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Monday 3 February 2020
Drones
Rise of the swarm
The end of the soldier
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Thursday 16 January 2020
Trees: Saviours of the planet
Further reading
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Wednesday 15 January 2020
Trees: Saviours of the planet
The roots list
Inspirational heroes who have written, campaigned, climbed – and died – in defence of trees
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Monday 21 October 2019
Rain stopped play
The October Rebellion pitted climate protestors against police – and left both sides bedraggled
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Monday 7 October 2019
The XR strategy
Activists demanding action on the climate emergency will try to take over London again today
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Friday 4 October 2019
The accidental activist
Your route to work every day takes you past the Extinction Rebellion demonstrations, blocking the streets of London. You’re aware of the threat of climate change but not actively part of the environmental movement. What do you do? Do you keep walking?
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Tuesday 1 October 2019
The rebels
Climate activists occupied five key sites in London. Now, they are occupying a sixth: the City of London Magistrates’ Court
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Sunday 14 April 2019
Power in the shadows
- Merthyr Tydfil in Wales overthrew its Labour council with the help of a Facebook group that started as protest against parking wardens
- Ahead of council elections in many areas of the UK next month, closed groups are influencing voters, but how are they administered and moderated?
- The risk is that such groups can become a breeding ground for lies and extreme views, closing off political debate and dissent
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Thursday 1 June 2023
Policing mental health
Within three months, the Met Police will stop attending all but the most serious mental health calls. Will it put vulnerable people in danger?
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Tuesday 30 May 2023
The 31: Ukraine’s stolen children
Why is the Kremlin forcibly deporting tens of thousands of children to Russia?
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Friday 12 May 2023
Ed Sheeran’s legal victory
A court has ruled that the British musician did not copy a Marvin Gaye song when he wrote the 2014 hit Thinking Out Loud. What does the verdict mean for the music industry?
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Tuesday 9 May 2023
The godfather of AI quits with a warning
One of the pioneers of artificial intelligence has quit his job at Google and warned about the dangers of the technology. What does Geoffrey Hinton’s departure tell us about the future of AI?
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Wednesday 26 April 2023
Sudan on the brink
The UK government is evacuating Brits from one of the world’s poorest countries as it teeters on the edge of civil war. How did Sudan get here?
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Tuesday 11 April 2023
Au revoir to e-scooters
Paris has become the first city in the world to ban rental e-scooters. Could the UK be next?
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Wednesday 5 April 2023
Prince Harry in court
The Duke of Sussex has been in the high court, fighting a legal battle against the owner of the Daily Mail newspaper. What is he trying to achieve?
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Tuesday 28 March 2023
Ofsted under pressure
Teachers are calling for the UK’s schools watchdog to stop inspections following the death of a headteacher. Why?
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Thursday 23 March 2023
Xi, Putin and Russia’s war
The Chinese president has just returned from a three-day visit to Russia. What did we learn about Xi Jinping’s support for Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine?
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Friday 10 March 2023
The small boats plan
The government has unveiled new, tougher measures to stop people crossing the Channel in small boats. But it faces legal and practical challenges. Why are they doing it and will it work?
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Wednesday 8 March 2023
The Covid lab leak theory
After three years and countless deaths, were the people who think Covid came from a Chinese lab right all along?
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Friday 3 March 2023
Roald Dahl rewritten
A major publishing house has revised some of Roald Dahl’s children’s books. Why did it do it?
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Friday 24 February 2023
Invaded: A year at war
Tortoise has been speaking to a Ukrainian woman ever since Russia began its full scale invasion of Ukraine. A year later and the war is still raging. This is Halyna’s story
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Monday 20 February 2023
The energy companies force-fitting prepayment meters
Energy suppliers have agreed to stop forcibly installing prepayment meters in the homes of vulnerable people. Why was it happening in the first place?
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Friday 3 February 2023
The death of Tyre Nichols
A Black man has become yet another victim of police violence in the US. Why does this keep happening?
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Monday 30 January 2023
Germany’s difficult tank decision
After much agonising Germany has agreed to give battle tanks to Ukraine. Why was it so reluctant and what difference will they make?
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Friday 20 January 2023
A British citizen executed by Iran
Iran has killed a British-Iranian national accused of spying for the UK. What does it tell us about the relationship between the two countries?
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Wednesday 11 January 2023
Is Prince Harry winning?
Prince Harry has made a series of extraordinary claims about the British royal family. But what is he trying to achieve and is he succeeding?
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Thursday 5 January 2023
Within striking distance?
Britain is in the middle of yet more train strikes. How close are the unions and the rail companies to a deal?
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Tuesday 20 December 2022
Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover
There were legal wranglings, lots of firings and plenty of missteps when one of the world’s richest men bought Twitter. Why did Elon Musk do it and what does it mean for the social network?
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Monday 19 December 2022
A union leader for our times
Mick Lynch’s union, the RMT, was one of the first to go on strike this year. Since then many more have taken industrial action to demand better pay and working conditions as the cost of living rises
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Thursday 15 December 2022
The OG Satanic Panic – where’s the evidence?
In this special bonus episode of Hoaxed, Alexi and Gemma catch up on what’s happened since the last episode of Hoaxed went out and Alexi goes back to the original satanic panic to examine the evidence. He speaks to a professor who investigated dozens of satanic ritual abuse cases in the 1990s – and to a psychotherapist who believes that satanism is a modern-day “Auschwitz”.
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Thursday 15 December 2022
Taylor’s Swifties fight back
A group of Taylor Swift fans are suing a ticket company for fraud, price fixing and antitrust violations. It’s not the first time Ticketmaster has been criticised
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Thursday 8 December 2022
Royal race row
Lady Susan Hussey has caused a race row after asking a Black charity boss where she was “really” from during a reception at Buckingham Palace. Who is Ngozi Fulani and why does this come at such a bad time for the royal family?
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Friday 2 December 2022
After the final whistle
Iran’s football team has been knocked out of the men’s World Cup, but their refusal to sing the national anthem means they may face repercussions back home. What will happen to them next?
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Monday 21 November 2022
Inside Unite: the union, Liverpool and the £100m hotel
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 questions which could hurt the Labour party.
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Wednesday 19 October 2022
General Armageddon
Vladimir Putin has appointed a man with a ruthless reputation to command his war in Ukraine. What does Sergei Surovikin tell us about the state of Russia’s invasion?
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Thursday 13 October 2022
Bonnie and Clyde
In the final episode of Hoaxed, Alexi confronts Abraham and Ella about what they did in Hampstead – and why. And the police give Alexi some surprising news
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Wednesday 12 October 2022
A bridge too far
A huge explosion has damaged a bridge linking Russia and Crimea. Why has it triggered such a furious response from the Kremlin?
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Thursday 6 October 2022
The Healer
Alexi and his producer fly to Morocco to confront Abraham Christie – and learn dark secrets about his past
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Wednesday 5 October 2022
A mess in chess
The game’s greatest player has accused his opponent of cheating, throwing the world of chess into turmoil. What does it mean for its future?
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Thursday 29 September 2022
Infiltration
For a conspiracy to spread, important people need to be listening. Alexi discovers that the perpetrators of the Hampstead hoax have friends in high places, while he and the team close in on Abraham’s location
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Thursday 22 September 2022
Secrets and lies
Two young children make horrific allegations in a London police station, lighting the fuse on one of the most serious British conspiracy theories in decades
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Thursday 22 September 2022
Ella’s list
Seized upon by conspiracy theorists, Ella’s list of alleged cult members spreads like wildfire across the Internet. Hampstead parents start receiving death threats and lives are torn apart
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Thursday 22 September 2022
The Avengers
The perpetrators of the Hampstead hoax meet their match in an unassuming mystery novelist, who is determined to expose their lies and bring them to justice
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Monday 12 September 2022
The rule of King Charles
It is thought that Britain’s new monarch will favour a slimmed down royal family. What will this look like?
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Friday 9 September 2022
Operation London Bridge
Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II died on Thursday afternoon. For 70 years, she was a constant figurehead. So what happens now?
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Friday 2 September 2022
Who chooses?
The next prime minister will be decided by Conservative Party members, but we know very little about them. So Tortoise has asked the Conservative Party to tell us and threatened legal action if it doesn’t
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Friday 26 August 2022
Invaded: The war at six months
Since February we have been telling the story of Halyna, a Ukrainian woman who woke up one morning to find her country at war. We catch up with her, six months on
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Friday 19 August 2022
The attack on Salman Rushdie
The British-Indian writer has been seriously injured after being stabbed at a literary event in the US. What does Iran have to do with it?
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Monday 15 August 2022
Labour’s union spat
Why is the Labour Party finding it so hard to deal with the trade union movement?
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Friday 5 August 2022
Monkeypox: what we know
The virus is spreading and the World Health Organization has declared a public health emergency. How is monkeypox infecting people and who needs to be vaccinated first?
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Friday 29 July 2022
Liz Truss’s pitch for PM
Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss are going head-to-head to replace Boris Johnson as prime minister. What does the foreign secretary believe and what might she do if she wins?
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Friday 22 July 2022
Return of Q
The leader of QAnon, the conspiracy theory that believes the US is run by Satanic baby-eating paedophiles, is back. What does it mean for America?
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Thursday 14 July 2022
Londongrad revisited
Boris Johnson has finally admitted to meeting a former KGB officer without officials in a palace in Italy. Why does it matter?
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Monday 4 July 2022
Porn king under pressure
The man behind MindGeek, which owns some of the world’s biggest porn sites, has lost his CEO and chief operating officer recently. Staff have also been fired. What is going on at the company?
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Wednesday 29 June 2022
Roe v Wade overturned
The US Supreme Court has overturned Roe v Wade, a 50 year old ruling that guaranteed a woman’s right to abortion. Why did it make the decision and what can pro-choice supporters do now?
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Monday 27 June 2022
A coup at Claridge’s: Qatar’s quiet move on London
A tiny Gulf state has bought up some of Britain’s prized assets. But at what cost?
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Wednesday 8 June 2022
The fight for eastern Ukraine
Fierce battles are raging for control of the Donbas region, a key target for Vladimir Putin. Both Russia and Ukraine are claiming successes, but who is really winning?
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Monday 6 June 2022
The Rules: democracy in Britain
Every day more cracks emerge in the political system that guarantees the freedoms Britons hold dear. How do we stop it shattering?
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Wednesday 25 May 2022
A Russian war crime
A 21-year-old soldier has been jailed for life for killing an unarmed civilian in the early days of the Russian invasion. What does it mean and how might the Kremlin retaliate?
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Monday 23 May 2022
Odesa
The Ukrainian port normally feeds the world, but the Russian invasion means nothing is getting out. Can we reopen the port – or will millions starve?
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Thursday 5 May 2022
Overturning Roe
A leaked opinion by the US Supreme Court suggests that it could reverse an historic ruling that gives women the right to have an abortion. What impact would that have?
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Friday 29 April 2022
Invaded: Mariupol’s last defence
Russian forces have reduced Mariupol to ruins. But they are still meeting fierce resistance at the city’s steel plant, where Ukrainian fighters are deep underground. Halyna’s cousin is one of them.
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Wednesday 27 April 2022
Elon Musk goes shopping
Twitter’s board has accepted Elon Musk’s offer to buy the social media company for around $44 billion. But what’s he going to do with it?
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Monday 25 April 2022
Mariupol
Two atrocities in the port city of Mariupol epitomise Russia’s violence in Ukraine. This is the story of those atrocities and of Mariupol’s truth
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Monday 11 April 2022
Invaded: Russian atrocities
Like many Ukrainians, Halyna and her parents are returning to homes they fled just a few weeks ago. But the carnage left behind is beginning to emerge.
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Monday 28 March 2022
The trials of Alexei Navalny
What does the story of Alexei Navalny and his wife Yulia Navalnaya tell us about Vladimir Putin’s Russia and the state of opposition?
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Friday 18 March 2022
Invaded: A family reunited
Halyna’s parents attempt to escape their hometown in eastern Ukraine.
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Friday 11 March 2022
Invaded: Realities of war
In Lviv, Halyna feels quite far from the invasion. But for her parents, who live near the border with Russia, it is very real.
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Wednesday 9 March 2022
Prosecuting Russia’s crimes
Accused of committing war crimes, Russia is being investigated by the international criminal court. But prosecuting those responsible will not be easy.
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Friday 4 March 2022
Invaded: Escape from Kyiv
Just a few days ago, Halyna was a young woman living a peaceful life in Ukraine’s capital. Now she has been forced to flee because of the war.
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Tuesday 1 March 2022
Judging Russian dissent
There have been protests and high profile Russians have criticised the invasion of Ukraine. But how do you work out the true extent of opposition to Putin’s war?
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Friday 25 February 2022
Invaded: A view from Kyiv
A Ukrainian woman describes the day her country was invaded by Russia.
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Monday 7 February 2022
Unforgotten: Syria’s war crimes
How the chief of a notorious Damascus torture unit was put on trial thousands of miles away, in a German courtroom
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Monday 31 January 2022
The Ukrainian puppet?
Yevhen Murayev was named in a strange Foreign Office press release as the potential leader of a pro-Russian government in Ukraine. Who is he and what is the UK up to?
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Wednesday 22 December 2021
Lights, camera, space station!
How a Russian actress, not a joyriding billionaire, is the best person to show us where space travel is going.
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Friday 19 November 2021
The battle across the Channel
Some days, more than 1000 migrants cross the English Channel in small boats. Could the UK and France stop them if they wanted?
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Friday 12 November 2021
Xi Jinping’s great rejuvenation
The Chinese Communist Party has just passed a landmark new resolution under Xi Jinping. But what’s really motivating him?
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Tuesday 2 November 2021
Handing back stolen treasures
France has decided to return some artefacts from one of its museums which were looted from Benin more than a century ago. Might museums in other western countries have to follow suit?
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Wednesday 20 October 2021
Does ‘Prevent’ prevent extremism?
Prevent is the British government’s first line of defence against radicalisation and extremism. How does it work?
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Friday 15 October 2021
Vaccinating for two?
How did an overabundance of caution help cause a Covid crisis among pregnant women?
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Friday 8 October 2021
A movie star in space
A Russian actor and director are about to become the first to film a movie in space. Why are they doing it?
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Friday 1 October 2021
The far right’s favourite currency
Right wing extremists have started to turn to cryptocurrencies as they’ve been sidelined by big financial institutions. But they might prosper in the shadows.
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Wednesday 22 September 2021
The Kremlin v big tech
Why Apple and Google removed a voting app developed by the Russian opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, just as Russians head to the polls.
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Tuesday 7 September 2021
Understanding the Covid numbers
Schools in England have gone back this week, and there’s real worry about a surge in Covid infections. What can we learn from what’s happened to infections this summer?
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Wednesday 1 September 2021
Beyond Love Island – Molly-Mae’s brilliant career
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Tuesday 31 August 2021
Smear
Grooming gangs, conspiracy theories and the lawless digital politics of Oldham
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Friday 13 August 2021
The Duke of York… in the dock?
When Virginia Giuffre was under the age of 18, she claims Prince Andrew forced her to have sex with him. He’s always denied it. But her lawyer is now convinced the case will come to court. Is he right?
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Friday 6 August 2021
The end of Covid?
With coronavirus cases and hospitalisations both falling in the UK… could we really have sent Covid packing?
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Tuesday 27 July 2021
Israel – vaccine battleground
Israel was best in the world at vaccinating its people against Covid. Now, as the country opens up, sceptics are claiming that what’s happening in Israel means vaccines aren’t very effective. They’re wrong.
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Wednesday 21 July 2021
Climate catastrophe in Germany
Floods in Germany have left more than a hundred dead and wrecked whole towns. It’s not just a freak event, it’s a climate change catastrophe.
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Friday 2 July 2021
A bitter by-election
Labour won this week’s by-election after a very hard-fought campaign. And the party wasn’t only fighting its opponents
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Monday 21 June 2021
China’s racy but radical tabloid
How a salacious newspaper – full of gossip and dramatic crime stories – is getting the Chinese authorities really worried
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Wednesday 16 June 2021
Israel’s Houdini
Has Israel’s longest-standing prime minister run out of road? Or does he have another trick up his sleeve?
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Thursday 10 June 2021
The app that trapped criminals
A mobile phone app and an Aussie crime boss gave the FBI one of their biggest breakthroughs
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Tuesday 8 June 2021
A crypto carnival
What a Miami convention hall packed with 12,000 Bitcoin enthusiasts tells us about the cult of crypto
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Friday 4 June 2021
Bad marks for the Covid recovery plan
Boris Johnson’s government announced its plans to help school children catch up on what they’ve missed because of Covid. It went straight to the back of the class.
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Wednesday 2 June 2021
Naomi Osaka serves up a challenge to tennis
The argument between tennis star Naomi Osaka and the tennis authorities is about much more than post-match press conferences
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Thursday 27 May 2021
A coma, a car crash and a president
Syria’s president is about to ‘win’ another election. He became president almost accidentally, but he seems to be in power for life
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Tuesday 25 May 2021
Belarusian roulette
The dictator who rules Belarus wanted to get his hands on an opponent – enough to force down a plane he was travelling on
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Monday 24 May 2021
Hunt for the porn king
As dozens of women accuse the world’s largest porn company of profiting from their abuse, listen to the full story of how we traced its secretive owner to his London mansion
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Tuesday 4 May 2021
A man in a van, fighting drugs
Peter Krykant is waging an unorthodox, possibly illegal, war against the terrible death toll from drugs in Scotland.
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Wednesday 28 April 2021
A genocide, recognised
Why America’s recognition of a genocide from a century ago is causing a diplomatic commotion
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Monday 26 April 2021
Victims of the Post Office
The Post Office said its computer system never made a mistake: if there was money missing, someone must have stolen it. A lot of sub-postmasters were wrongly sent to jail.
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Tuesday 20 April 2021
A super controversy
How a new competition could change football forever… and why it’s about far more than just football.
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Wednesday 14 April 2021
A vaccine warning from Chile
Is the pandemic behind us in the UK because the vaccine roll-out has gone so well? Not necessarily. Just look what’s happening in Chile.
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Friday 9 April 2021
Brexit + a funeral = trouble in Northern Ireland
The violence on the streets of Northern Ireland is worrying politicians. Is the peace deal under threat?
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Wednesday 31 March 2021
The trial of Derek Chauvin
Millions of people saw the video of Derek Chauvin on George Floyd’s neck. But how do you tell two different stories about the same video?
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Monday 29 March 2021
You can’t vaccinate a victory
Israel’s prime minister was hoping a successful vaccination programme would win him an election victory. It turned out it wasn’t that simple
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Wednesday 24 March 2021
The first minister who didn’t lie
What exactly has Scotland’s Nicola Sturgeon been cleared of – and what does it mean for Scottish independence?
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Monday 22 March 2021
Brazil’s president vs. the world
In recent days, a quarter of all Covid deaths worldwide have been in Brazil. So why won’t President Jair Bolsonaro take the virus seriously?
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Wednesday 17 March 2021
Police power
The government’s controversial new anti-protest bill – and what people really think about it.
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Monday 15 March 2021
The multi-million dollar .JPEG
Hong Kong is meant to have some independence from China. But those days are nearly over.
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Thursday 11 March 2021
The end of the Piers show?
Piers Morgan is probably the biggest name in British broadcasting right now. This week he left Good Morning Britain in a blaze of publicity. He’ll be back.
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Tuesday 9 March 2021
Joe Biden’s frenemy
One politician – a member of Joe Biden’s own party – could shoot down some of the President’s biggest plans
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Friday 5 March 2021
Jolene, vaccine
America’s willingness to take the vaccine is split down party lines. Can the beloved Dolly Parton bridge the divide?
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Wednesday 3 March 2021
Post-pandemic freedom at last?
We’ve all got the date in our heads: the 21st of June – the great reopening. But is it a realistic deadline?
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Friday 19 February 2021
McDonald’s in the dock
McDonald’s stands accused of discriminating against Black owners of its restaurants.
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Tuesday 16 February 2021
The falling-out
A bitter row is threatening to tear apart the Scottish National Party. It matters to the whole of the UK.
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Friday 12 February 2021
306 days with Covid
Geoff Woolf has spent longer than almost anyone in hospital with Covid. His son Nicky tells his story.
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Wednesday 10 February 2021
The man who risked his life for civilisation
Khaled Asaad loved Palmyra, a beautiful, ancient Syrian city. But when Isis captured it, his life was on the line.
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Friday 5 February 2021
The bat woman
There’s a theory that Covid-19 escaped from a lab in Wuhan. Should we take it seriously?
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Wednesday 3 February 2021
Zero Covid
Some countries have decided not to try to live with Covid. They’re trying to get rid of it altogether.
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Monday 1 February 2021
A man called Swampy
Britain’s best-known environmental activist is up to his old tricks again, underground.
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Friday 29 January 2021
The vaccine queue-jumpers
How a super-rich Canadian couple sneaked two jabs of the Moderna vaccine by posing as motel workers.
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Tuesday 26 January 2021
The great vaccine gamble
The UK is betting everything on giving people a single dose of the coronavirus vaccine. How sure are we that it will work?
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Friday 22 January 2021
The alien hunter
A leading scientist says our solar system had a visit from an alien spacecraft. His fellow scientists disagree but he’s not backing down.
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Wednesday 20 January 2021
Why the UK is good at vaccinating
Nearly everything that could go wrong with the UK’s coronavirus response has gone wrong. But not the vaccine roll-out.
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Monday 18 January 2021
How to throw away £200m
The digital currency Bitcoin is so hyper-secure that some people have lost millions by accident
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Tuesday 12 January 2021
The dark story of the Boeing 737 MAX
After two plane crashes and 346 deaths, Boeing has agreed to pay $2.5 billion to settle a US criminal case. Is that enough?