About our audio
Slow news stories designed for listening
Our audio journalism invites you into our newsroom, and takes you deeper into the stories.
The Slow Newscast covers our biggest stories and investigations of the week; the Editor’s Voicemail reveals what’s on co-founder James Harding’s mind; and Behind the News is a window into what’s going on in the Tortoise newsroom, exclusively for members.
The Slow Newscast
Our biggest stories, given voice
The split
23 November 2020
36 minutes
Scotland voted No to independence in 2014, but a lot has happened since then: Brexit, Boris Johnson, Nicola Sturgeon. So how would the country vote now?
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Lockdown meltdown
Fear, delays, mistakes and recrimination. On 31 October, we looked to Boris Johnson’s government for certainty – they served up a nightmare
Hero of the financial revolution
Can the Chinese Communist Party learn to live with Jack Ma?
JK Rowling and the Unfinished Business
Why did a famous author wade into the debate over trans rights?
Blessed are the deal-makers
Evangelicals have been key to Donald Trump’s presidency, and to his bid for re-election
You can listen to the Slow Newscast on any popular podcast platforms. Subscribe, listen, react. Be part of Tortoise
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Behind the News
What we’re working on
Episode 8: What’s the deal?
28 November 2020
27 minutes
This week on Behind the News, the podcast that takes you inside our newsroom, we speak to Sir Ivan Rogers, the UK’s former representative to the EU. We discuss the possibility of an accidental no deal, the intricacies of negotiating and securing a trade agreement, and the contrast between the complexity of the globalised world and the “simplism” of modern politics.
More episodes
Episode 7: Our Covid Inquiry
There are urgent questions to ask – of the government and the public sector. But also of ourselves – the media.
Episode 6: Truth to power
Were US news networks right to cut away from Donald Trump when he made baseless claims of voter fraud?
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?
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.
Editor’s Voicemail
James Harding dials in
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
Good COP
A lot must be achieved at the postponed climate summit in Glasgow next year. Is David Cameron the man for the job?
Donald Trump, importantly pathetic
The 45th president’s refusal to concede is laughable – but we ought to remember it
What Sunak should do now
Britain’s finance minister has been running behind the pandemic. Here’s how he can get ahead
My mother’s murder
My Mother’s Murder is an investigation by Paul Caruana Galizia into the life and killing of his mother, the Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.
Voices of Evin
Listen to those who’ve experienced the prison first hand
Former inmates of Iran’s notorious Evin prison tell their stories.
This report contains descriptions of torture, rape and execution.
