What is a ThinkIn?
ThinkIns are a chance for everyone to have their say. Catch up on our recent favourites below.
A ThinkIn is not just another panel discussion. It’s a real editorial meeting where your insight and experience can help shape our reporting.
How it works
You can either join us in our London newsroom or online, by booking an in-person or digital ticket.
We’ll invite guests with special expertise, but anyone can speak. Just raise your digital or physical hand.
A ThinkIn is one hour long. At the end, the editor will summarise what we’ve heard.
3 November 2022
Three Lions on a shirt: Mark Pougatch in conversation with Paul Hayward
Join top sportswriters Paul Hayward and broadcaster Mark Pougatch as they share their love of all things football, discussing everything from the history of the England team, to the 2022 World Cup!
What our members are watching
The Tortoise interview: Maria Ressa
Join us for a special Tortoise Interview with Maria Ressa, where she explains what she has sacrificed for the truth, and urges us to pay attention to dark forces in the online world, before it is too late.
Battle for the soul of America: making sense of the midterms
Join us to digest the results and their impact on the US and the world.
Plastic: can Africa avoid making the West’s mistakes?
This ThinkIn will explore whether African businesses and consumers can benefit from plastics, while shielding themselves from the damaging side-effects.
Undoctored: Adam Kay in conversation with Kit de Waal
What happens when the doctor becomes the patient?
Tortoise Lates
Three Lions on a shirt: Mark Pougatch in conversation with Paul Hayward
Join top sportswriters Paul Hayward and broadcaster Mark Pougatch as they share their love of all things football, discussing everything from the history of the England team, to the 2022 World Cup!
We heart football: the modern football fan
Football means so much to so many, but who are the modern fans and why, after all the trials and tribulations are they still so dedicated? Sapphire McIntosh and Charlie Eccleshare unpack in this session of Tortoise Lates.
Once upon a time… live spooky storytime for grown ups
A very special closing scene of our Fright Night programme, a live horror Story told by Vanessa Woolf. Followed by a discussion on the science behind why we get scared.
What’s the scariest horror movie ever made?
With our expert panel of film critics, authors and horror fans – we decide once and for all: what’s the scariest movie of all time
A Nightmare on Downing Street: will anyone survive?
The real life fears our government face today from the cost of living crisis and the crash of the economy, to the changes in our society.
In conversation with Alastair Campbell
One-on-one with Tortoise editor-in-chief James Harding, Alastair will unpick how Westminster’s class of 2022 speaks to the electorate, and the world. Where are they going wrong, what are they getting right, and what should we watch out for in future Government communications
Inside the Big Interview
Sam gives us a backstage pass and a ringside seat to some of the most unforgettable TV moments of our times, with her stories of mind-blowing secrets, outlandish requests, crazy riders and near-misses
The Art of Speechcraft
Phil Collins takes us inside his process to reveal the message inside the rhetoric, telling stories of great speeches, what makes a great soundbite, and how to say something without actually saying it
Warrior queens and quiet revolutionaries
A joyous storytelling odyssey about trailblazing women; the unsung heroes of the past that we tend to forget but need celebrating.
Nostalgia and lies: how much of British history is actually true?
How to we identify what parts of our collective history are truths or lies, and how those stories we tell ourselves shape our lives today.
A history of the British Isles in Just a Minute
Join us for a romp through British history with a series of 60-second stories.
Recent ThinkIns
The Tortoise Interview: Nick Hornby
On the genius of Charles Dickens and Prince
The Tortoise interview: Maria Ressa
Join us for a special Tortoise Interview with Maria Ressa, where she explains what she has sacrificed for the truth, and urges us to pay attention to dark forces in the online world, before it is too late.
Battle for the soul of America: making sense of the midterms
Join us to digest the results and their impact on the US and the world.
Living in a heating world: lessons from the global South
Taking place during the Cop27 climate talks in Egypt and centring African voices, this ThinkIn will ask: what lessons can be learned from adaptation and transition in the global South?
Plastic: can Africa avoid making the West’s mistakes?
This ThinkIn will explore whether African businesses and consumers can benefit from plastics, while shielding themselves from the damaging side-effects.
The £1billion Greensill swindle: how did it happen?
Join us for this ThinkIn which reveals how the grubby world of shadow banking really operates.
The dairy dilemma: what needs to change and why?
This ThinkIn explores the relationship between social norms, business innovation and government action on meat and dairy, and asks how we can mend a broken food system.
Reporting family courts: what’s the state of play?
Join our panel and audience of journalists, editors and lawyers who have battled to shine a line on the inner workings of the family courts, to discuss what next for greater transparency – how will the reporting pilot work and does it go far enough?
The forgotten 500,000: why is the UK government blocking Evusheld?
Join us for a special ThinkIn where we try to understand why Evusheld is being blocked in the same country that makes it, and the impact this decision is having on the people who just want their lives back.
Undoctored: Adam Kay in conversation with Kit de Waal
What happens when the doctor becomes the patient?
Baldness: the science and the stress
Join us for a special ThinkIn where we talk candidly about baldness and its relationship to masculinity, status and society.
Paying for uni: do students loans work?
Join us for a ThinkIn where we try to make sense of the mess of student loans, and ask: what are the alternatives?
Ballooning panic: the truth about nitrous oxide
Join us for a digital ThinkIn where we’ll explore the rising use of nitrous
200 days of war: can Ukraine still count on global support?
A special ThinkIn where we take stock of the international perspective and geopolitical realities on the war in Ukraine
Public mourning, private grief: how do we cope with loss?
How can we, individually and as a nation, process the passing of the Queen.
On reflection: the death of the Queen
A reflection on the life and legacy of Queen Elizabeth II.
Don’t miss these upcoming ThinkIns
Wine tasting with The Uncommon winemakers
The Tortoise Interview: Michael Palin on Iraq
The Review
In conversation with…
What’s so funny about anxiety? In conversation with Georgia Pritchett
A frank and funny conversation with Georgia about learning to cope with anxiety – and hamsters, the Queen, budgies, questionable fashion choices and Jimmy Osman.
In conversation with Caitlin Moran
Caitlin joined us live for a glass of wine and a chinwag about feminism, music, celebrity culture, politics and more.
What do we owe each other now? A ThinkIn with Minouche Shafik
The director of the London School of Economics and author of What We Owe Each Other: A New Social Contract, on society, resources and collective responsibility.
In conversation with Michael Morpurgo
An hour in Michael’s company, talking about his life, the inspiration behind his new novel, and a special Tortoise poem.
Summits
Future of Cities Summit
Join us, the Globe and Mail, and those in the worlds of business, politics and civil society to share thoughts and actions on the future of work, housing, transport and culture in our global cities.
The Tortoise Responsible Business Summit
The Tortoise Cyber Summit
The Tortoise Education Summit
Schooling after the virus: can we build back better?
The Future of Work Summit
What does the future of work really look like?
The Tortoise Climate Summit: How can we accelerate net zero?
Join us to start writing a global to-do list before the world gathers in Glasgow to work out how to save itself.
The Future of Cars Summit
Join us and invited experts to discuss the big questions about the future of cars
The Future of Money Summit
Join us an invited experts to discuss the big questions about the future of money