Flashing is a serious sexual offence: treat it as such
There is still a deep cultural assumption that indecent exposure is pathetic, or even funny – paying no heed to its traumatising impact upon women
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
Really, Vladimir?
6 december 2021
GILES WHITTELL
- Aung San Suu Kyi, the elected leader of Myanmar ousted in a coup last year, was sentenced to four years in jail (more below).
- A French climber who found a box of jewels lost on Mt Blanc since a 1966 plane crash has been allowed to keep half of them.
- Bob Dole, the war hero and former Republican senator who ran for president three times, has died aged 98.
What does Putin want to do with the 175,000 troops he’s assembled on Ukraine’s eastern border? Why has he sent so many tanks, planes, field hospitals and naval assets to the region to support them?
Slow Views
If “levelling up” means anything, it means saving a child like Arthur from hell
Yet another inquiry into the failure of child protection services will achieve nothing without ministerial commitment, policy imagination and true accountability
Covid and disabled people: A missed opportunity
The pandemic presented a chance to improve disabled people’s lives. Instead, they’ve yet again been left behind
Campaign
We need to get the world vaccinated as fast as possible. We’re in an arms race: vaccines vs variants. That’s why we’ve launched our Vaccine Tracker along with a campaign to vaccinate the world by the end of next year.
The Slow Newscast
Our biggest stories given voice
The super divorce: The Akhmedovs and a game of hide and seek
6 December 2021
40 minutes
When a High Court Judge awarded Tatiana Akhmedova a record £450m divorce payout, it was only the beginning of a case that went on to become the most expensive family feud in history…
A place for Elliott
This is a story about Covid vaccinations and how hard it is for some people – profoundly disabled people – to get them. But it’s about much more than that. It’s a story about family, joy and resilience. And a boy called Elliott who is trapped in time
Retreat from Kabul: 11 days in August – Part 2
In Kabul, the Taliban’s takeover was assured. In London, an ignominious retreat, and the betrayal of former comrades in the Afghan army, was more than a group of ex-soldiers, now MPs, could stomach
Retreat from Kabul: 11 days in August – Part 1
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
Who is REvil?
Who are the people behind a spate of multi-million dollar ransomware attacks on financial institutions, schools, hospitals and critical infrastructure? When Nicky Woolf began to investigate the highest-profile ransomware outfit, REvil, it was almost completely hidden from view. But then the cyber-police started to uncover its secrets
Newsletter
Net Zero Sensemaker
Your weekly update on how we can build an agenda for climate action following Cop26.
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More of our stories from 2021
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.
Some of our biggest 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.
Accelerating 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.
How Buckley and Vidal invented today’s culture wars
A new play by master dramatist James Graham shows how the legendary debates of 1968 between the two US polemicists changed politics forever
Fashion victims
Ridley Scott’s House of Gucci is an irresistible fusion of true crime, in-your-face couture and dynastic feuding
KITE takes flight
Time to book your tickets for our new festival of ideas and music in June 2022
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.
