Another shot
The G7 summit was a shiny failure that achieved almost nothing of substance. But it is not too late for richer nations to avert humanitarian catastrophe by vaccinating the world against Covid before the end of 2022
Slow down, wise up
What’s different about Tortoise is slow news. Not breaking news, but what’s driving it.
Our award-winning team doesn’t cover every story but takes the time to reveal just one a week. Calm, clear reporting on the stories that matter most.
sensemaker our daily roundup of the news that matters
Wealth tax
18 june 2021
PAUL CARUANA GALIZIA and sophia sun
- More than 500 police officers searched the newsroom of Apple Daily, a popular Hong Kong newspaper, and arrested its editor along with four executives under China’s national security law.
- An ongoing public inquiry into the Manchester Arena attack in May 2017 found there were six missed opportunities to prevent or minimise suicide bomber Salman Abedi’s “devastating impact”.
- The Liberal Democrats pulled off a surprise win in the Chesham and Amersham by-election yesterday. The Tories had held the seat since its creation in 1974.
Our Sensemaker on an unprecedented leak from the Internal Revenue Service, American myth, elicited a number of emails from readers. It was smart and well-informed feedback that, broadly, made two points:
our big five
wealth
new things
our planet
Drought
In case one crisis isn’t enough for the world, here’s another: drought…
100-year life
Belonging
Jailed children
The British government announced the removal of all children from a privately-run youth jail because of safety concerns…
sensemaker daily | catchup
the pandemic
Everything you need to know about Covid-19
For a year now, one story has dominated the news cycle above all others. We’ve aimed to take the long-view of Covid-19: we’ve investigated the catastrophe of the test and trace system, the crisis in care homes, and the extended after-effects of the disease.
tHINKIN WITH JAMES HARDING
The Battle for Truth
“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.”
James Harding
Rhodes Must Fall and the battle for truth
Cancel culture and the battle for truth
Grenfell Tower and the battle for truth
Dominic Cummings, Barnard Castle and the battle for truth
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?
This week
The missing note
14 June 2021
33 minutes
In little more than a year, the year of the pandemic, Anand Menon lost his mother, father, brother and sister. Here, he speaks to James Harding about the burden of grief…
Our recent stories
Pornhub
The hunt for the man behind one of the world’s biggest porn sites
A death at Lancaster Lodge
Sophie Bennett took her own life in a care facility that was crumbling around her. Paul Caruana Galizia and Chris Cook investigate what went wrong at a charity led by a famous mental health pioneer
Shukri Abdi
The death of Shukri Abdi in 2019 has become a cause for campaigners who believe that something unlawful happened. But is that the truth?
Nail house
In the East German city of Chemnitz, there’s a house the German far right call home
Lost at sea
In September 2020 Gulf Livestock 1, a ship carrying nearly 43 crew and 6,000 cows from New Zealand to China, sank in the Pacific. Nearly 100 ships a year encounter the same fate – we wanted to find out why.
White gold rush
The story of a dying lake, a forgotten community and the hunt for a green future
a four-part podcast series
Hidden homicides
How many women are killed – but not counted?
The vaccine
We took a closer look at our way out of the pandemic.
Immigration & asylum
As the post-Brexit era begins, what does Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s vision of “global Britain” mean?
More of our stories from 2020
Trans Rights
Earlier this year, JK Rowling stepped into one of the fiercest debates of our time – gender and trans rights. Why?
Campus justice
We have spent months examining the handling of rape and sexual assault cases on campus at UK universities.
Tech States: Amazon
The tech giants have as much money and influence as nation states. What if we reported on these companies like countries?
Feminism Inc.
The Wing was the perfect haven for professional women – until it wasn’t. Here’s what happens when corporate feminism turns sour
Meet the editor
“In my recent journalism, I’ve been digging into the dysfunction at the heart of the UK government. Here’s an example, along with some other recent Tortoise articles I’ve enjoyed.”
Matt d’Ancona
Our members like
Photo essays
Our friends in the North
Xiomara Bender
29 June 2019
Bitter harvest
Mariano Silletti
16 November 2019
The wee muckers
Toby Binder
12 October 2019
Circus Love
Stephanie Gengotti
02 August 2019
Line in the sand
Pascal Maitre
7 February 2020
Life at the top
Kadir van Lohuizen and Yuri Kozyrev
27 April 2019
No agua, no vida
John Trotter
30 November 2019
Isolated from the world
Jordi Ruiz Cirera
10 March 2019
Europe’s last pastoral
Rena Effendi
16 March 2019
Crunching the numbers
Discovering stories in big datasets.
Responsibility 100 Index
A ranking of the FTSE 100 companies on their contribution towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals, measuring their commitment to key social, environmental and ethical objectives such as carbon reduction, gender equality and good business practices.
The Global AI Index
Which countries are winning the race for the future?
Coronashock
The pandemic didn’t affect all of Britain equally.
Net zero
Tortoise members have been working on how to get to net zero carbon emissions by 2030.
Fighting for justice
Hidden Homicides
How many women are killed – but not counted? In the UK, we’re told that two women a week are killed by a current or former partner. But these are just the killings we know about…
My mother’s murder
In October 2017, Daphne Caruana Galizia was murdered by a car bomb in Malta where she lived and worked. She was a prolific reporter, juggling dozens of stories at the same time.
Happy the elephant
A judge will decide whether Happy is unlawfully detained and can leave her zoo for an elephant sanctuary. It is a milestone case – not least for our relationship with animals.
Campus justice
We have spent months examining the handling of rape and sexual assault cases on campus at UK universities.
The reckoning
As Britain begins to reopen, there is a need for a reckoning: what has happened during this pandemic; how have decisions been taken; and what must be done differently?
Arts and culture
Slow Reviews
Our new series focuses on the cultural artefacts – books, movies, albums – that really made their mark
Trans Rights
Earlier this year, JK Rowling stepped into one of the fiercest debates of our time – gender and trans rights. Why?
Policing black music
How Drill – the sound of Chicago’s streets – rewrote the rules of the music business
The Future of History
What should history look like today – as a subject of study, but also an area of action and protest?
Creative Sensemaker
Our weekly guide to all that’s best in culture and the arts – movies, streaming, books, music, galleries and much else.
You’re better off dancing
Lin-Manuel Miranda’s In the Heights is a glorious movie, and one that everyone should go and see. Almost inevitably, there has been a social media row over its content. But why not just enjoy its cinematic magic?
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…
The man inside
In Time, Jimmy McGovern’s outstanding new BBC prison drama, Stephen Graham shows, yet again, that he is one of Britain’s truly great actors
Edith
Big five
The forces changing our world
The 100 year life
health. education. living. public policy.
Our planet
environment. natural resources. geopolitics.
New things
technology. science. engineering.
Belonging
society. identity. countries. beliefs. arts.
Wealth
investment. fairness. prosperity.
