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 in Sensemaker Daily our journalists serve up one short story every day to make sense of the world.
Our new podcast
Slow Politics
Matt d’Ancona and Lara Spirit investigate what’s driving the agenda in Westminster each week.
The Slow Newscast
Our biggest stories, given voice
Odesa
23 May 2022
35 minutes
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?
More episodes
Revealed: Stormy Daniels and her battle for truth
Who is the real Stormy Daniels? Hattie Garlick meets arguably one of America’s most misunderstood and misrepresented women
Downfall: twenty days that did for Rishi Sunak
How did Rishi Sunak go from one of the most popular members of the government to one of the least in a matter of days? Matthew d’Ancona pieces together what happened
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
The Lost Ark
What happens when a museum possesses a group of objects so sacred that they can never be seen in public or studied in private – and the original owners want them back?
The Backstory
With Andrew Neil
A series of in-depth conversations with people in power and those trying to influence them, hosted by the UK’s most formidable interviewer – Andrew Neil.
Editor’s Voicemail
James Harding dials in
A glimpse of other worlds
This week saw people walk into the Tortoise newsroom and light it up with stories and ideas we hadn’t heard before. For a journalist, it’s the most exciting thing imaginable
A royal taboo
Confronting death is never easy, much less when it concerns the head of state. But we need to talk about the death of the Queen, not least so we can discuss what comes next
Do something, or leave
Democracy is in a dismal state, both in the UK and throughout the West. At Tortoise we’re determined to do all we can to fix it
The port that feeds the world
Four hundred million people globally rely on exports that come via Odesa in Ukraine – a port currently blocked by Russian forces. If it isn’t reopened within eight weeks, the effects will be felt globally
voicemails from ukraine
Invaded
A collection of daily messages from inside Ukraine as the Russian invasion unfolds.
Olga, Wednesday 18 May 2022
Olga describes the impact that increased bombing of Odesa is having
Vera, Monday 2 May 2022
Vera describes how multicultural Kharkiv was before the war
Mariia, Monday 2 May 2022
Mariia is still in Kyiv and has been thinking about how, even in the darkest of times, you can still find moments of happiness and hope
Brand new podcast series
Inside the energy transition
Is a fair transition away from fossil fuels the stuff of dreams, or a genuine possibility?
Over six episodes, Centre for Net Zero CEO Lucy Yu and Tortoise editor Giles Whittell explore the biggest questions and debunk the most commonplace myths about the transition to a green, clean energy future.
Sensemaker Daily
One story every day to make sense of the world.
tHINKIN WITH JAMES HARDING
The China Problem
“What we’re going to do in this series of podcasts is take a big idea and look for the moments that shine a light on it.”
TikTok: The China Problem
Taiwan: The China Problem
Wuhan: The China problem
Hong Kong: The China problem
A multi-part podcast series
Sweet Bobby
How well do you know the person you love?
Listen to our six-part investigation into one of the world’s most sophisticated catfishers.
Audio essays
Matthew d’Ancona investigates
Over the last two years, Tortoise editor Matthew d’Ancona has been investigating the UK government and, among other things, its management – and mismanagement – of the pandemic.
Retreat from Kabul: 11 days in August – Part I
As the Taliban closed in on Kabul, and Western troops and desperate Afghans scrambled to leave, Britain found itself frozen out of decision making and incapable of influencing events. It was a stark illustration of the UK’s status, made worse by catastrophic misjudgements at the top of government
The second couple
After Boris Johnson and Carrie Symonds’ wedding, there are now two powerful married couples in Number 10. Meet the other: Munira and Dougie
March of the Mutants
Covid may be losing the vaccine battle. But, as the virus evolves fast to form new variants, the war is most definitely not over
Shot in the dark
The vaccine is an incredible scientific achievement. But some of the political decision-making behind its rollout is rather less impressive.
Playmaker
Our new Sensemaker podcast that covers everything football-related. We’ll be bringing you one story every day to make sense of the world of football.
The people vs Harvey Proctor
Pariah
What lessons does the story of Harvey Proctor – the twice-disgraced former Conservative MP with extreme anti-immigration views – hold about the way society deems it acceptable to treat those who we cast as hate figures?
Intolerance
Harvey Proctor’s political star burned brightly in the 1980s. He was the anti-immigrant heir-apparent to Enoch Powell, until a tabloid sting exposed him as a gay man who paid for sex
Incredible
To suffer one shattering public scandal in a lifetime is hard enough. Harvey Proctor has endured two. In the second episode of Pariah, one of the highest profile police investigations of the past decade – Operation Midland – comes knocking on his door
The high wire
For the second time in his life, Harvey Proctor was being battered by a storm of dreadful allegations. His lawyers advised a safety-first approach. He had other ideas
Mixing and merging
It seems important for all of us to understand the meaning of what’s happened to Harvey Proctor. What was it which liberated the media and the police to behave as they did; to create or fuel the two scandals which wrecked his life?
a four-part podcast series
Hidden homicides
How many women are killed – but not counted?
Left to die
When Islamist insurgents attacked a town in Mozambique in March, civilians and foreign contractors raced to a local hotel for safety. Over three agonising days, they waited for a rescue. But no one came.
My Mother’s murder
An investigation by Paul Caruana Galizia into the life and killing of his mother, the Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.
