Podcasts about audio long reads

Alexandra Morton-Hayward is using cutting-edge methods to crack the secrets of ancient brains – even as hers betrays her There are more Audio Long Reads here, or search Audio Long Read wherever you listen to your podcasts

Victor Pelevin made his name in 90s Russia with his scathing satires of authoritarianism. But while his literary peers have faced censorship and fled the country, he still sells millions. Has he become a Kremlin apologist? There are more Audio Long Reads here, or search Audio Long Read wherever you listen to your podcasts

Canonisation has long been a way for the Catholic church to shape its own image. As the Vatican prepares to anoint its first millennial saint, we ask how it decides who is worthy There are more Audio Long Reads here, or search Audio Long Read wherever you listen to podcasts

They no longer have a stranglehold on Oxbridge and would lose tax breaks under Labour. So what is elite education really selling?At the Labour Party conference in Liverpool in October, the Independent Schools Council hosted a forlorn drinks reception: not one of the more than 40 MPs showed up. ‘We are not the enemy,' one private school headmaster complained to a sympathetic Daily Mail. But if Labour does win the next general election, it has committed to removing tax breaks on business rates and 20% VAT on private school fees – raising £1.6bn to be invested in state schools. On top of this, Starmer's cabinet (as it stands) would be the most state-educated in history – with only 13% having attended private school (against Rishi Sunak's 63%). Can elite education survive – and cling on to its charitable status?In this week's audio long read – the last in this series – the New Statesman's features editor Melissa Denes attends three school open days to understand how these winds of change might affect them. She also follows the money, calculating that – allowing for tax breaks - the average taxpayer subsidises an Eton schoolboy at a far higher rate than a state school one. As the gaps in spending between the two sectors grow, and society strives to become more fair, will an expensive education evolve into a luxury service rather than a charitable concern?Written and read by Melissa Denes.This article originally appeared in the 10-16 November edition of the New Statesman; you can read the text version here.If you enjoyed listening to this article, you might also enjoy The decline of the British university by Adrian Pabst. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In May this year, an American woman sought the help of a chatbot on an eating disorders website. The bot, named Tessa and running on an evolving, generative AI, advised her to start counting calories. Perhaps she should get some calipers, it suggested, to measure her body fat. When it emerged that Tessa had given similarly dangerous advice to others, the bot was taken down. As countries around the world face a mental health crisis, exacerbated by the pandemic and a lack of human therapists, a new tech goldrush has begun. Can the latest self-help chatbots help meet a desperate need, delivering “microtherapy” sessions on demand? Do they have a place in disaster zones - or do people in crisis deserve human attention and support? In this week's audio long read, freelance reporter and author of Sex Robots and Vegan Meat Jenny Kleeman talks to the people behind the latest incarnations of AI therapy in the UK and the US, as well as the technology's critics. Written by Jenny Kleeman and read by Zoe Grunewald. This article originally appeared in the 13-19 October edition of the New Statesman. You can read the text version here. If you enjoyed this episode, you might also enjoy The psychiatrists who don't believe in mental illness by Sophie McBain--Want more Audio Long Reads? Follow our standalone feed here: https://podfollow.com/audio-long-reads-new-statesman Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For those who leave the ultra-conservative Christian sect, separation comes at great personal cost. The New Statesman's assistant editor Pippa Bailey had always been curious about the Plymouth Brethren, ever since discovering that her maternal grandparents had left the group in the 1960s. What might her life have been like if they stayed? Who were the cousins separated by a doctrine of isolation from non-Brethren ‘worldlies'? In this week's deeply reported and moving magazine cover story, Pippa tells the story of the breakaway group, from its origins in 1820s Ireland to its modern-day incarnation as a global church and effective lobbyist. She speaks to former members, many of whom mourn the loss of family and friends to an organisation they consider repressive. It's a fascinating journey, even if, as Pippa writes, her grandmother has no interest in resurfacing the past: “After all, she says, it's all part of the Lord's plan, and He does not test us more than we can bear.” This article originally appeared in the 25-31 August issue of the New Statesman; you can read the text version here. Written and read by Pippa Bailey. If you enjoyed this episode, you might also enjoy How to build a language: inside the Oxford English Dictionary, by Pippa Bailey, or our reported feature by Stuart McGurk, A year inside GB news. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What if the rush to war in 1914 had been averted? What if the Berlin Crisis of 1961 had led to nuclear war? What if the liberal revolution of 1848 had been successful? A new exhibition in Berlin considers a series of momentous what-ifs, an intriguing addition to the canon of counterfactual history. In this week's long read, the New Statesman's contributing writer Jeremy Cliffe assesses the value of such rival realities, as explored in fiction and, increasingly, on social media platforms and alt-fic online communities. In contemporary British politics, the tumult of the past decade has inspired a new cottage industry of counterfactual histories. Often derided as pure speculation, Cliffe makes the case for their usefulness and, from his home in Berlin, reflects on the city's many ghosts. “History is about facts,” he writes. “But those facts include intentions, imagined futures and visions that shape actual events even when – much more often than not – they never come to pass.”Written by Jeremy Cliffe and read by Chris Stone.This article originally appeared in the 28 July-17 August summer issue of the New Statesman. You can read the text version here.If you enjoyed listening to this episode, you might also enjoy Thomas Mann, German identity and the romantic allure of Russia, by Jeremy Cliffe.Listen to all our Audio Long Reads herehttps://podfollow.com/audio-long-reads-new-statesmanDownload the New Statesman app:iOS: https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/new-statesman-magazine/id610498525Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.progressivemediagroup.newstatesman&hl=en_GB&gl=USSubscribe to the New Statesman from £1 per week:https://newstatesman.com/podcastofferSign up to our weekly Saturday Read emailhttps://saturdayread.substack.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The novelist Ali Smith first came across the work of Simone de Beauvoir in an Inverness bookshop, aged 18 or 19, and was instantly compelled by her “tough, troubling” prose. In this week's long read, Smith reflects on De Beauvoir's 1964 memoir A Very Easy Death, a slight, visceral book about her estranged mother's death. What happens when an existentialist, bound ethically to a thinking life, confronts the end of life and thought? Why does a writer who prides herself on uncompromising truth tell her mother she is not dying of cancer, when she is?Smith blends the personal and the political in an essay that grapples with De Beauvoir's power to disturb and provoke, sixty years on. Written by Ali Smith and read by Anna Leszkiewicz. This article originally appeared in the 28 July-17 August 2023 New Statesman summer issue. You can read the text version here.If you enjoyed listening to this episode, you might also enjoy Karl Ove Knausgaard: a personal manifesto on the art of fiction.Listen to all our Audio Long Reads herehttps://podfollow.com/audio-long-reads-new-statesmanDownload the New Statesman app:iOS: https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/new-statesman-magazine/id610498525Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.progressivemediagroup.newstatesman&hl=en_GB&gl=USSubscribe to the New Statesman from £1 per week:https://newstatesman.com/podcastofferSign up to our weekly Saturday Read emailhttps://saturdayread.substack.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There is one question the environmental journalist and author George Monbiot is asked more than any other: how do you cope? When your job is to report on the climate crisis, where do you find hope? Monbiot's answer is a very personal one: he goes sea kayaking – alone, often far off the coast, with (if he's lucky) a pod of dolphins or a flock of shearwaters for company.In this evocative essay from the New Statesman's summer 2023 issue, Monbiot explores the sea off the island of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides, his former home in Cardigan Bay, and his new home in South Devon – a coastline “featuring cliffs and rocky coves, clefts and chasms, reefs and skerries, sandy and shingle beaches and several estuaries”. He relives the dangers and joys of battling the waves in a very small boat, most recently with an underwater camera fixed to the hull. There is no permanent escape from ecological distress, he writes, from the warming seas and the waste pumped into them, “but for hours at a time, I lose myself”.Written by George Monbiot and read by Chris Stone.This article originally appeared in the 28 July-17 August 2023 New Statesman summer issue. You can read the text version here.https://www.newstatesman.com/environment/2023/07/escpaing-climate-sea-kayaking-george-monbiotListen to all our Audio Long Reads herehttps://podfollow.com/audio-long-reads-new-statesmanIf you enjoyed this episode, you might also enjoy Rebecca Solnit on hope, despair and climate action.https://www.newstatesman.com/podcasts/audio-long-reads/2022/10/rebecca-solnit-on-hope-despair-and-climate-actionDownload the New Statesman app:iOS: https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/new-statesman-magazine/id610498525Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.progressivemediagroup.newstatesman&hl=en_GB&gl=USSubscribe to the New Statesman from £1 per week:https://newstatesman.com/podcastofferSign up to our weekly Saturday Read emailhttps://saturdayread.substack.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Three years ago the New Statesman published a cover story showing how successive British governments have emaciated standards in UK university degrees, creating a generation of graduates with devalued qualifications, while costing the taxpayer billions. Since then, the “great university con” has continued unabated. Grade inflation has only increased, despite various declarations from ministers that something should be done to counter it. In this deeply researched and wide-ranging article, the New Statesman's senior politics correspondent, Harry Lambert, wrote that the number of Firsts awarded at British universities has quadrupled since 1994. Now, three years on, that number has quintupled. In this Audio Long Reads episode, Lambert argues that the forces driving this disintegration of academic standards remain in place. That is no surprise. The current system is useful for too many of those involved for the sector to agitate for change. But Britain is being sold short by this “university miracle” – of ever more students going into higher education, and more and more of them emerging with higher grades. How did we reach this point? Why has the value of a British university degree become so diminished? This piece offers answers to the questions that successive waves of students and their parents have been asking for years. This article was first published on newstatesman.com on 21 August 2019. You can read the text version here. Written and read by Harry Lambert. You might also enjoy listening to “Operation Warm Welcome: the hotel that became home to 100 refugees” by Sophie McBain. Podcast listeners can get a subscription to the New Statesman for just £1 per week, for 12 weeks. Visit www.newstatesman.com/podcastoffer Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When the Taliban took control of Kabul in August 2021, the Koofi family were among 8,000 Afghans airlifted to safety in the UK, as part of the government's Operation Warm Welcome. The New Statesman's Sophie McBain met them in a hotel in the north of England soon afterwards, where they were waiting to be resettled. As the months passed, she followed their new life, as well as that of the hotel staff and its other residents: an uncertain limbo of bureaucracy and confinement. Written and read by Sophie McBain. Subscribe to Audio Long Reads, from the New Statesman here.Read the text version here. It was published on the New Statesman website and in the magazine on 10 December 2021. To receive all our long reads, subscribe to the New Statesman for just £1 a week for 12 weeks using our special podcast offer. Just visit www.newstatesman.com/podcastoffer. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

On the eve of the 2022 French presidential election, the New Statesman's writer-at-large Jeremy Cliffe caught a train from Courseulles-sur-Mer on the north coast of France to Marseille on the Mediterranean. Stopping in Caen, Paris and Vierzon along the way, he heard how contemporary France is reshaping itself in the long shadow of Charles de Gaulle – and against the backdrop of Europe's biggest war since 1945. What does the future hold for the Fifth Republic? Written by Jeremy Cliffe and read by Adrian Bradley.Subscribe to Audio Long Reads, from the New Statesman here. Read the text version here. It was first published on the New Statesman website on 12 March 2022, and in the magazine on 18 March 2022. To receive all our long reads, subscribe to the New Statesman for just £1 a week for 12 weeks using our special podcast offer. Just visit www.newstatesman.com/podcastoffer. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Audio Long Reads is a new podcast from the New Statesman, showcasing the best of our reported features and essays, read aloud. Ease into the weekend with stories and analysis from our authors – including Kate Mossman, Jeremy Cliffe and Sophie McBain – published every Saturday morning. Just search for Audio Long Reads from the New Statesman wherever you get your podcasts. For all our long reads, subscribe to the New Statesman for just £1 a week for 12 weeks using our special podcast offer. Just visit www.newstatesman.com/podcastoffer. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We are raiding the Audio Long Reads archives and bringing you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week, from 2017: More and more singers are cancelling big shows and turning to surgery to fix their damaged vocal cords. But is the problem actually down to the way they sing? By Bernhard Warner. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

We are raiding the Audio Long Reads archives and bringing you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week, from 2017: The red squirrel is under threat of extinction across Britain. Their supporters believe the only way to save them is to exterminate their enemy: the greys. But are they just prejudiced against non-native species? By Patrick Barkham. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

We are raiding the Audio Long Reads archives and bringing you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week, from 2015: Military strategist, classical scholar, cattle rancher – and an adviser to presidents, prime ministers, and the Dalai Lama. Just who is Edward Luttwak? And why do very powerful people pay vast sums for his advice?. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

We are raiding the Audio Long Reads archives and bringing you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week, from 2016: The discovery of Hawaii Sign Language in 2013 amazed linguists. But as the number of users dwindles, can it survive the twin threats of globalisation and a rift in the community? By Ross Perlin. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

We are raiding the Audio Long Reads archives and bringing you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week, from 2017: After arriving in Britain as a child, I fought hard to feel like I belonged. Now it feels that the status of migrants like me is permanently up for review by Ismail Einashe. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

We are raiding the Audio Long Reads archives and bringing you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week, from 2017: Scientists have identified 2 million species of living things. No one knows how many more are out there, and tens of thousands may be vanishing before we have even had a chance to encounter them. By Jacob Mikanowski. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

We are raiding the Audio Long Reads archives and bringing you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week, from 2017: Luxembourg has shown how far a tiny country can go by serving the needs of global capitalism. Now it has set its sights on outer space. By Atossa Araxia Abrahamian. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

We are raiding the Audio Long Reads archives and bringing you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week, from 2018: It's time to end a system that excludes the less privileged from the arts, media and politics. By Amalia Illgner. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

We are raiding the Audio Long Reads archives and bringing you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week, from 2016: For Syrians in exile, food is more than a means of sustenance. It is a reminder of the rich and diverse culture being destroyed by civil war. By Wendell Steavenson. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

We are raiding the Audio Long Reads archives and bringing you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week, from 2017: It used to be just a word – now it is a way of life. But is it time to get off the banter bus? By Archie Bland. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

Paul Bushnell reviews Fresh Air with Terry Gross and Audio Long Reads from the Guardian.

We are raiding the Audio Long Reads archives and bringing you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week, from 2016: How did a substance that falls from the air, springs from the earth and comes out of your tap become a hyperactive multibillion-dollar business? By Sophie Elmhirst. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

We are raiding the Audio Long Reads archives and bringing you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week, from 2018: How an extreme libertarian tract predicting the collapse of liberal democracies – written by Jacob Rees-Mogg's father – inspired the likes of Peter Thiel to buy up property across the Pacific. By Mark O'Connell. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

We are raiding the Audio Long Reads archives and bringing you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week: In a special tribute to Martin Woollacott, the Guardian's former foreign correspondent and foreign editor, who has died at the age of 81, Alan Rusbridger reflects on his fondest memories of Martin and how this ‘giant of journalism' should be remembered. From 2015: North Vietnamese troops who marched into the capital on 30 April 1975. It marked the most crushing defeat in US military history. Four decades after he reported on these events for the Guardian, Martin Woollacott reflects upon what it meant for the future of both nations. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

We are raiding the Audio Long Reads archives and bringing you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week, from 2017: In 2014, documents alleging a conspiracy to Islamise Birmingham schools were leaked to the media, sparking a national scandal. The papers were debunked – but the story remains as divisive as ever. What really happened? By Samira Shackle. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

We are raiding the Audio Long Reads archives and bringing you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week, from 2016: The Trident debate is not simply about submarines and missiles. It touches almost every anxiety about the identity of the United Kingdom, and could tell us what kind of country – or countries – we will become. By Ian Jack. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

We are raiding the Audio Long Reads archives and bringing you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week, from 2017: Months before she was due to give birth, disaster struck for Katherine Heiny. Doctors ordered her to lie on her side in bed and not move – and gave her a 1% chance of carrying her baby to term. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

We are raiding the Audio Long Reads archives and bringing you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week: since 1958, a small department of Germany's government has sought to bring members of the Third Reich to trial. A handful of prosecutors are still tracking down Nazis, but the world's biggest cold-case investigation will soon be shut down. By Linda Kinstler. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

We are raiding the Audio Long Reads archives and bringing you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week: Timothy Morton wants humanity to give up some of its core beliefs, from the fantasy that we can control the planet to the notion that we are ‘above' other beings. His ideas might sound weird, but they're catching on. By Alex Blasdel. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

We are raiding the Audio Long Reads archives and bringing you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week, from 2017: The $30bn sex tech industry is about to unveil its biggest blockbuster: a $15,000 robot companion that talks, learns, and never says no. By Jenny Kleeman. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

We are raiding the Audio Long Reads archives and bringing you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week, from 2017: Oxford University graduates in philosophy, politics and economics make up an astonishing proportion of Britain's elite. But has it produced an out-of-touch ruling class? By Andy Beckett. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

We are raiding the Audio Long Reads archives and bringing you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week, from 2017: These days, every place in the world wants to market its unique identity – and an industry has sprung up to help put them on the map. By Samanth Subramanian. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

We are raiding the Audio Long Reads archives and bringing you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week, from 2016: Asunta Fong Yang was adopted as a baby by a wealthy Spanish couple. Aged 12, she was found dead beside a country road. Not long after, her mother and father were arrested. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

We are raiding the Audio Long Reads archives and bringing you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week: Russia's role in Trump's election has led to a boom in Putinology. But do all these theories say more about us than Putin?. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

We are raiding the Audio Long Reads archives and bringing you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week: An extremely rare condition may transform our understanding of memory. By Linda Rodriguez McRobbie. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

We are raiding the Audio Long Reads archives and bringing you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week: The oh-so-Instagrammable food movement has been thoroughly debunked – but it shows no signs of going away. The real question is why we were so desperate to believe it. By Bee Wilson. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

Merry Christmas! We hope you're having a good one. We are taking a short break but will be back on 4th January 2021. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

We are raiding the Audio Long Reads archives and bringing you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week: Fifa belongs to a select group of titles familiar to people who have no interest in gaming – or even real football. What's the secret of its success? By Simon Parkin. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

We are raiding the Audio Long Reads archives and bringing you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors This week, from 2016: All of our efforts to be more productive backfire – and only make us feel even busier and more stressed. By Oliver Burkeman. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

We are raiding the Audio Long Reads archives and bringing you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week: The ability of statistics to accurately represent the world is declining. In its wake, a new age of big data controlled by private companies is taking over – and putting democracy in peril. By William Davies. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

We are raiding the Audio Long Reads archives and bringing you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week: The social network had a grand plan to connect millions of Indians to the internet. Here's how it all went wrong. By Rahul Bhatia. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

We are raiding the Audio Long Reads archives and bringing you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week: For 25 years, invoking this vague and ever-shifting nemesis has been a favourite tactic of the right – and Donald Trump's victory is its greatest triumph. By Moira Weigel. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

We are raiding the Audio Long Reads archives and bringing you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week: Using undercover agents, the DEA spent four years trying to bring down a cocaine trafficking gang in Liberia. Was the operation a triumph in the global war on drugs or a case of American overreach? By Yudhijit Bhattacharjee. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

We are raiding the Audio Long Reads archives and bringing you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week: This year's most overhyped trend is a wholesome Danish concept of cosiness, used to sell everything from fluffy socks to vegan shepherd's pie. But the version we're buying is a British invention – and the real thing is less cuddly than it seems. By Charlotte Higgins. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

We are raiding the Audio Long Reads archives and bringing you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week's article: Jersey bet its future on finance but since 2007 it has fallen on hard times and is heading for bankruptcy. Is the island's perilous present Britain's bleak future?. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

We are raiding the Audio Long Reads archives and bringing you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week: It has never been easy to win as an immigration lawyer – but now the government is trying to make it impossible. By Aida Edemariam. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

We are raiding the Audio Long Reads archives and bringing you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week, from 2015: Luzira was once the most notorious prison in Uganda. Now it's home to what is surely the world's most elaborate prison football league – and a model for the transformative power of the beautiful game. By David Goldblatt. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

We are raiding the Audio Long Reads archives and bringing you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week's article: The Garrick Club in London is preparing for a bitter struggle over whether to admit women members. How long can the British establishment fend off modernity? By Amelia Gentleman. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

We are raiding the Audio Long Reads archives and bringing you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week, from 2015: Judge Victoria Pratt looks defendants in the eye, asks them to write essays about their goals, and applauds them for complying – and she is getting results. By Tina Rosenberg. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

We are raiding the Audio Long Reads archives and bringing you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week, from 2015: In 1972, a British scientist sounded the alarm that sugar – and not fat – was the greatest danger to our health. But his findings were ridiculed and his reputation ruined. How did the world's top nutrition scientists get it so wrong for so long? By Ian Leslie. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

We are raiding the Audio Long Reads archives and bringing you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week's article: Britain's biggest pharmacy used to be a family business, dedicated to serving society. Now, many of the company's own staff believe that its relentless drive for profit is putting the public at risk. By Aditya Chakrabortty. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

We are raiding the Audio Long Reads archives and bringing you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week's article: Our fixation with the sexy powerplays of the Tudor court shows no signs of fading. What is it about this 16th-century dynasty that still obsesses us? By Charlotte Higgins. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

We are raiding the Audio Long Reads archives and bringing you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week: For centuries mystics have channelled the hopes and fears of Afghans. With the nation in turmoil, their services are as popular as ever. But can they survive the latest crackdown by religious hardliners?. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

We are raiding the Audio Long Reads archives and bringing you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week, from 2015: When a black South African student threw a bucket of excrement over a statue of Cecil Rhodes, it kicked off a protest movement that is shattering the way the country sees its past. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

We are raiding the Audio Long Reads archives and bringing you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week's article: Skip Lievsay has created audioscapes for Martin Scorsese and is the only sound man the Coen brothers go to. But the key to this work is more than clever effects, it is understanding the human mind. By Jordan Kisner. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

We are raiding the Audio Long Reads archives and bringing you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week, from 2015: When Ashraf Marwan fell to his death from the balcony of a London flat, he took his secrets with him. Was he working for Egypt or Israel? And did the revelation of his identity lead to his murder? By Simon Parkin. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

We are raiding the Audio Long Reads archives and bringing you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors.This week, from 2015: philosophers and scientists have been at war for decades over the question of what makes human beings more than complex robots. By Oliver Burkeman. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

We are raiding the Audio Long Reads archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week, from 2015: Romania's orphanages shocked the world when they were first exposed in 1989. But what happened to the children left behind? Vişinel Balan, now 27, tells his story. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

We are raiding the Audio Long Reads archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week, from 2015: Ota Benga was kidnapped from Congo in 1904 and taken to the US, where he was exhibited with monkeys. His appalling story reveals the roots of a racial prejudice that still haunts us. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

We are raiding the Audio Long Reads archives and bringing you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week, from 2015: Kevin Wheatcroft has quietly amassed the world's largest collection of Nazi memorabilia. Now he wants to share it with the world. What is behind this dark obsession?. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

We are raiding the Audio Long Reads archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week, from 2015: A series of experiments has produced incredible results by giving young blood to old mice. Now the findings are being tested on humans. Ian Sample meets the scientists whose research could transform our lives. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

We are raiding the Audio Long Reads archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week, from 2015: Amid the mayhem that has turned parts of Karachi into no-go zones, reporters risk their lives to make sense of a crime wave that is virtually an insurgency. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

We are raiding the Audio Long Reads archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week, from 2016: CBeebies isn't just a channel, it's a culture – and as a new parent you have little choice but to surrender to it. By Sophie Elmhirst. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

We are raiding the Audio Long Reads archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week, from 2015: Myles Jackman is on a mission to change Britain's obscenity laws. For him, it's more than a job – it's a moral calling. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

We are raiding the Audio Long Reads archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This time we revisit Felicity Lawrence's 2016 report on the exploitation of migrant labour in the UK: In the bleak flatlands of East Anglia, workers are controlled by criminal gangs, and some are forced to commit crimes to pay off their debts. This is what happens when cheap labour is our only priority. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

For the next few weeks we will be raiding the Audio Long Reads archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week's pick: In January 2014, an endangered plant was taken from Kew Gardens, only a few years after scientists saved it from extinction. Sam Knight investigates what happens when plant obsession turns criminal. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

For the next couple of months we will be raiding the Audio Long Reads archives and bringing you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week's article: In 2015, after 12 years living in the US, Gary Younge was preparing to depart, amid another eruption of the country's racial tensions. As we hear in Gary's new introduction - which was recorded in January 2020 - half a decade later, this piece remains as grimly relevant as ever.. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

For the next couple of months we will be raiding the Audio Long Reads archives and bringing you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. First up is Tom Lamont's 2015 account of one London pub's fight for survival: Across the country, pubs are being shuttered at an alarming rate – scooped up by developers and ransacked for profit – changing the face of neighbourhoods and turning our beloved locals into estate agents, betting shops, and luxury flats. This is the story of how one pub fought back. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

The Guardian has launched a brand new podcast series, Forgotten stories of football, which is something like a football version of Audio Long Reads – some of the best tales from the beautiful game that you might not have heard before, written by some of the world's leading sports journalists. In this episode, the second in the series: few had expected much from Galatasaray in the European Cup, but United were out of their depth on the pitch, amid terrifying hostility and harassment off it. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

Have we entered a new phase of planetary history? Human activity has transformed the Earth – but scientists are divided about whether this is really a turning point in geological history. By Nicola Davison. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

After her son was born prematurely, Tahmima Anam thought the worst was behind her. But when he was allowed to come home two months later, a new problem emerged: he refused to eat. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

For a century, the humble paper towel has dominated public toilets. But a new generation of hand dryers has sparked a war for loo supremacy. By Samanth Subramanian. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod