Shows / The Slow Newscast
The Slow Newscast
The Slow Newscast from The Observer takes the news slowly. We investigate, and every week we focus on stories that really matter in the UK and around the world. From wars in Ukraine and Gaza through to true crime and injustice and real life mysteries, The Slow Newscast team is devoted to narrative investigations covering some of the biggest topics of the day.
Who are the people biohacking themselves in a quest for immortality? Or the man taking on an entire nation in the high seas to protect…
Episodes
The Slow NewscastCrispin Odey: The Octopus’s world
Crispin Odey was one of the most powerful hedge funders in London. He’s been dismissed from his own company which is being wound up after he was accused of…
- The Slow Newscast
Into The Dirt
Rob Moore had a successful career in television until one day he ran out of ideas. After a stint as a gardener, a more enticing door was opened for him. He was…
- The Slow Newscast
Gender GP: inside the world of private trans healthcare
Last year journalist Polly Curtis spent months trying to understand what went wrong at the Tavistock’s Gender Identity Development Service for young people…
- The Slow Newscast
Epstein's moneymen episode 4: the prey
Bill Gates was the golden philanthropist at the top of the billionaire's league - he was also Epstein's way back into society For the premium Tortoise…
- The Slow Newscast
Epstein's moneymen episode 3: master of the universe
Leon Black was the aggressive private equity billionaire at the top of New York society - he also bankrolled Epstein For the premium Tortoise listening…
- The Slow Newscast
Epstein's moneymen episode 2: eyes wide open
After Epstein was dropped by JP Morgan, another bank stepped in to help his sex trafficking empire keep rolling For the premium Tortoise listening experience…
- The Slow Newscast
Epstein's moneymen episode 1: the man in the hot tub
Introducing our new four part series: Epstein's moneymen. A new wave of lawsuits is building against the banks and bankers who are alleged to have enabled…
- The Slow Newscast
Boris Johnson: The Dishonours List
Boris Johnson is not a man who has much care for institutions or conventions. So what does his forthcoming resignations honours list mean for the future of the…
- The Slow Newscast
The 31: Ukraine’s stolen children
Why is the Kremlin forcibly deporting tens of thousands of children to Russia? Tortoise is a newsroom devoted to slow journalism. For early access and ad-free…
- The Slow Newscast
Beastly: The stories of David Walliams
In February this year, the Telegraph newspaper revealed that Roald Dahl's publisher had “updated” some of his stories for young readers and modern audiences…
- The Slow Newscast
Children locked away: Britain's modern bedlam
A new Tortoise investigation into how the country’s most distressed and vulnerable children are being abandoned by the state. Tortoise is a newsroom devoted to…
- The Slow Newscast
Blackout: Coal, corruption and cyanide
South Africa was once a symbol of hope. Now the country experiences regular blackouts. This is the story of how the lights went out in Mandela’s country – and…
- The Slow Newscast
Londongrad: Iran’s Hit Squads
Towards the end of last year the Director General of MI5, Ken McCallum, warned that the security services knew of at least ten attempts to kidnap or kill…
- The Slow Newscast
Rogue Lawyer: Power, money and a scandal at a London law firm
In 2014, a Jordanian man was imprisoned in a prison in Ras Al Khaimah, the northernmost Emirate in the UAE. He alleges he has been illegally detained and…
- The Slow Newscast
Yesterday's Men: The Brexit hardliners' last stand
The European Research Group was once the most consequential faction in the Conservative party, playing a central role in bringing down former prime minister…
- The Slow Newscast
Ignition: The quest for nuclear fusion
In the early hours of the morning of the 5 December 2022, a shot – a pulse – was fired that could save the world. It was a shot that achieved what fusion…
- The Slow Newscast
Safe country: A death, and a deal, in Rwanda
John Williams Ntwali, one of the last critical journalists in Rwanda, died in suspicious circumstances just before Suella Braverman, the British home…
- The Slow Newscast
Boris Johnson: The six million pound man episode 4
Boris Johnson seems incapable of living within his means – but talented beyond measure at finding people to help him live beyond them. So just who is funding…
- The Slow Newscast
Boris Johnson: The six million pound man episode 3
Boris Johnson seems incapable of living within his means – but talented beyond measure at finding people to help him live beyond them. So just who is funding…
- The Slow Newscast
Boris Johnson: The six million pound man episode 2
This is the story of a politician incapable of living within his means but talented beyond measure at finding people to help him live beyond them. It’s the…
- The Slow Newscast
Boris Johnson: The six million pound man episode 1
This is the story of a politician incapable of living within his means but talented beyond measure at finding people to help him live beyond them. It’s the…
- The Slow Newscast
Peltz-Beckham: A super-wedding gone wrong
Eight months after his daughter’s wedding to Brooklyn Beckham, billionaire Nelson Peltz filed a lawsuit against two wedding planners demanding a refund. So…
- The Slow Newscast
Detained in Modi’s India: A British citizen’s story
For five years a British citizen has been locked up in an Indian prison, and the British state hasn’t been willing – or not strong enough – to stand up for him…
- The Slow Newscast
Rupert Murdoch: News vs the truth
What happened inside Fox News in those critical weeks following Donald Trump’s election defeat in 2020? Tortoise is a news start-up devoted to slow journalism…
- The Slow Newscast
After the Fall – A death on the Lansdowne Estate
Warning: This episode describes domestic abuse and a death by falling. When a woman falls out of a window, on an estate that’s been abandoned by the council…
- The Slow Newscast
Wagner’s war: A year in Ukraine and beyond
First they were known as the “little green men”, an anonymous private Russian force appearing first in Crimea, then Syria, then in central Africa. Now, they…
- The Slow Newscast
The prince against the press
The Harry show – the bestselling memoir, the Netflix documentary, the rounds of television interviews – isn’t over. In fact, it’s only just begun: the prince’s…
- The Slow Newscast
Wronged: a murder and a miscarriage of justice
Following a brutal killing in north London in 2016, two innocent men, Patryk and Grzegorz, who had just arrived from Poland, were handed a life sentence for a…
- The Slow Newscast
Snatched: A mother's quest to find her children
What do you do when your children are taken away by your ex-partner? Who do you call for help? And how do you get them back? Tortoise is a news start-up…
- The Slow Newscast
God on your side: Christians, courts and culture wars
The Christian Legal Centre is behind some of the most tragic cases in the British courts helping parents fight against hospitals in life support cases. Who are…
- The Slow Newscast
Real Money - episode 1 of our new investigative series
Introducing: 'Real Money: The hunt for Tether's billions'. To listen to episode two of the series, click this link. The dream of cryptocurrencies is in danger…
- The Slow Newscast
Introducing: The News Meeting
Introducing...The News Meeting from Podimo and Tortoise. In every newsroom around the world there’s a daily meeting to decide what leads the news, what follows…
- The Slow Newscast
The Westminster Accounts
Over £183 million of outside funds has flowed into this parliament alone, with no way of fully understanding who’s getting what, from whom, and why. Until now…
The Slow NewscastDamn and blast off: how not to go back to the moon
Nasa wants to put people back on the moon, half a century after Apollo 11. Its Artemis moon mission is over-budget, overhyped and underpowered – it might even…
- The Slow Newscast
2022 picks - The Darwin job: the mystery of the vanishing notebooks
One sleuth, two notebooks – and a 20-year puzzle Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
- The Slow Newscast
2022 picks - Lebedev: Lord of Siberia
Door after door in Britain has been opened for Evgeny Lebedev, all the way to the House of Lords. Who has opened them, and why? To listen to the 'Londongrad'…
- The Slow Newscast
Musking it: Inside Elon’s Twitter takeover
The inside story of a troubled company that was bought by the world’s richest man. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
- The Slow Newscast
Octopus: the allegations against Crispin Odey
One of Britain’s richest and most powerful men was cleared of sexual assault last year. Four more women have now come forward with similar allegations that…
- The Slow Newscast
The Tavistock: inside the gender clinic
Introducing – The Tavistock: inside the gender clinic. In a few months, the Tavistock – the only NHS clinic in England and Wales which treats children…
- The Slow Newscast
Inside Unite
One of Britain’s biggest trade unions has built a hotel in Birmingham at vast cost. Following the threads which explain why it became so wildly expensive leads…
- The Slow Newscast
The Alzheimer's casino
Big money and bad science: what happens when science and medical research meet Wall Street? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
- The Slow Newscast
Egypt's bad cop
The story of one man, fighting to his last breath, to reveal the darkness that lies behind this year’s UN Climate Change Conference. Hosted on Acast. See…
- The Slow Newscast
Mutiny: The undoing of Liz Truss
The inside story of how the shortest premiership in British history came to an end Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
- The Slow Newscast
The missing male pill
More than 60 years after the development of the contraceptive pill for women, we still don’t have an equivalent for men. Why? Hosted on Acast. See…
- The Slow Newscast
Pig Iron
Introducing Pig Iron: five years after his death on a distant frontline in South Sudan, the truth about what happened to Christopher Allen is still a mystery…
- The Slow Newscast
Britannia unhinged
What happened in the 17 days between Kwasi Kwarteng becoming chancellor, sacking the Treasury’s top civil servant, and his fiscal event which crashed the…
- The Slow Newscast
Toxic: The making of Andrew Tate
What happened when social media platforms banned Andrew Tate, whose misogyny netted him a fortune and millions of online followers? Hosted on Acast. See…
- The Slow Newscast
Paradise Bust: Scandal in the British Virgin Islands
When the premier of the British Virgin Islands was arrested in a drugs sting in Miami, what did British government officials know about the operation? Hosted…
- The Slow Newscast
A crime in the making
No war crime is ever inevitable, but it’s possible to make one likely. Russia did exactly that before 53 prisoners of war burned to death at Olenivka. Hosted…
- The Slow Newscast
The Second Elizabethan Age: the constitution
Richard Lambert talks to one of the UK’s foremost constitutional experts about the state of the monarchy. If you'd like to read and listen to more of…
- The Slow Newscast
The Second Elizabethan Age: rule Britannia
Richard Lambert examines how the Queen navigated the world of international politics as head of state and head of the Commonwealth. If you'd like to read and…
- The Slow Newscast
The Second Elizabethan Age: head of state
Richard Lambert charts the evolving relationship between the Queen, politicians and her Prime Ministers during her reign. Hosted on Acast. See…
- The Slow Newscast
The Second Elizabethan Age: speak to us ma'am
When the Queen came to the throne the media was deferential to the 27-year-old monarch and her family. But in the 1960s that began to change. Richard Lambert…
- The Slow Newscast
The Second Elizabethan Age: strong as a yak
Richard Lambert assesses the Queen's strengths and weaknesses as a monarch. If you'd like to read and listen to more of Tortoise's reporting on the Queen…
- The Slow Newscast
The Second Elizabethan Age: the coronation
Richard Lambert recalls the excitement at the start of the second Elizabethan age. In 1953 Britain was a deferential society and adulation of the Queen was the…
- The Slow Newscast
The Fix
Desiree Fixler was a high-flyer in the world of finance until she raised questions about whether sustainable investing is living up to its promise. Her…
- The Slow Newscast
Thank the Lord
Peter Cruddas is a self-made billionaire, a Conservative party donor and now, a Lord. His rise reveals a lot about Boris Johnson’s battle with parliament…
- The Slow Newscast
Myanmar: the forgotten coup
More than a year after Myanmar fell to a military coup, Ali Fowle investigates the growing resistance movement. Is there hope of a different future? Hosted on…
- The Slow Newscast
Hostile environment
The making of the modern Home Office Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
- The Slow Newscast
Hunt for the porn king: a reckoning
Last year, as women accused Pornhub of profiting from their abuse, we tracked down its intensely secretive owner. This week, we’re looking back to find out…