The Audio Long Read
Episodes
From the archive: Can computers ever replace the classroom?
19 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We are raiding the Guardian Long Read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week, f...
The man who turned his home into a homeless shelter
17 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Stuart Potts is an unlikely do-gooder – a former crack addict who has hit rock bottom more than once. But since 2020, he has offered hundreds of hom...
From low-level drug dealer to human trafficker: are modern slavery laws catching the wrong people?
14 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
When I heard that a boy from my primary school had been convicted of trafficking, I had to find out what had happened to make him fall so far. By Fran...
From the archive: How globalisation has transformed the fight for LGBTQ+ rights
12 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We are raiding the Guardian Long Read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week, f...
‘Ryan Reynolds never had to deal with this’: the slow death and (possible) rebirth of Southend United
10 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In 20 years, this Essex club has tumbled down the leagues and seen its ground fall apart. Is a revival finally coming – or will hopes be dashed agai...
César Aira’s unreal magic: how the eccentric author took over Latin American literature
07 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
He has published more than 100 novels, gives his work away, and his surrealist books have a massive cult following. Now Argentina’s favourite rule-b...
From the archive: ‘The Silicon Valley of turf’: how the UK’s pursuit of the perfect pitch changed football
05 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We are raiding the Guardian Long Read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week, f...
Mother trees and socialist forests: is the ‘wood-wide web’ a fantasy?
03 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In the past 10 years the idea that trees communicate with and look after each other has gained widespread currency. But have these claims outstripped ...
‘I’ll stay an MP for as long as I can’: Diane Abbott’s tumultuous political journey
31 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Britain’s first black female MP faced hostility from the media and political establishment from the start. Nearly 40 years on, she is still not givi...
From the archive: The secret deportations: how Britain betrayed the Chinese men who served the country in the war
29 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We are raiding the Guardian Long Read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week, f...
‘He likes scaring people’: how Modi’s right-hand man, Amit Shah, runs India
27 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
For 40 years, Amit Shah has been at Narendra Modi’s side – his confidant, consigliere and enforcer. Today he is India’s second-most powerful man...
Guatemala’s baby brokers: how thousands of children were stolen for adoption
24 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
From the 1960s, baby brokers persuaded often Indigenous Mayan women to give up newborns while kidnappers ‘disappeared’ babies. Now, international ...
From the archive: Trump’s useful thugs: how the Republican party offered a home to the Proud Boys
22 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We are raiding the Guardian Long Read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week, f...
After I was assaulted, I posted a photo of my injuries. The reaction I craved was not pity, but anger
20 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Going public after I was attacked was hard, but it helped me overcome the shame that so many victims feel. By Rena Effendi. Help support our independe...
‘Super cute please like’: the unstoppable rise of Shein
17 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
It is taking fast fashion to ever faster and ever cheaper extremes, and making billions from it. Why is the whole world shopping at Shein? By Nicole L...
From the archive: The evolution of Steve Albini: ‘If the dumbest person is on your side, you’re on the wrong side’
15 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We are raiding the Guardian Long Read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week, f...
‘A new abyss’: Gaza and the hundred years’ war on Palestine
13 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
While much has changed since 7 October, the horrific events of the past six months are not unique, and do not stand outside history. By Rashid Khalidi...
The true cost of El Salvador’s new gold rush
10 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Seven years ago, El Salvador banned all mining for metals to protect its water supply. But now the government seems to be making moves to reverse the ...
From the archive: The age of perpetual crisis – how the 2010s disrupted everything but resolved nothing
08 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We are raiding the Guardian Long Read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week, f...
How child labour in India makes the paving stones beneath our feet
06 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Despite promises of reform, exploitation remains endemic in India’s sandstone industry, with children doing dangerous work for low pay – often to ...
Solar storms, ice cores and nuns’ teeth: the new science of history
03 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Advances in fields such as spectrometry and gene sequencing are unleashing torrents of new data about the ancient world – and could offer answers to...
From the archive: The battle over dyslexia
01 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We are raiding the Guardian Long Read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week, f...
The new science of death: ‘There’s something happening in the brain that makes no sense’
29 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
New research into the dying brain suggests the line between life and death may be less distinct than previously thought. By Alex Blasdel. Help support...
Solidarity and strategy: the forgotten lessons of truly effective protest
26 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Organising is a kind of alchemy: it turns alienation into connection, despair into dedication, and oppression into strength. By Astra Taylor and Leah ...
From the archive: How Hindu supremacists are tearing India apart
24 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We are raiding the Guardian Long Read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week, f...
What is the real Hamas?
22 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
How Israeli, Palestinian and US political actors understand Hamas is not merely a theoretical question – it will determine what kind of agreement ca...
A historic revolt, a forgotten hero, an empty plinth: is there a right way to remember slavery?
19 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
As the author of a book about a pivotal uprising in 18th-century Jamaica, Vincent Brown was enlisted in a campaign to make its leader a national hero....
From the archive: Did Brazil’s evangelical superstar have her husband killed?
17 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We are raiding the Guardian Long Read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week, f...
Rage, waste and corruption: how Covid changed politics
15 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Four years on from the start of the pandemic, the drama may have subsided but the lingering effects go on. Are we suffering from political long Covid?...
Disappearing tongues: the endangered language crisis
12 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Linguistic diversity on Earth is far more profound and fundamental than previously imagined. But it’s also crumbling fast. By Ross Perlin. Help supp...
From the archive: The mystery of the Gatwick drone
10 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We are raiding the Guardian Long Read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week, f...
‘What’s the worst that could happen?’: Love in the sickle cell capital of the world
08 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The prevalence of sickle cell disease is changing how Nigerians date, marry and plan their lives. And as genetic testing becomes more common, prospect...
Radioactive waste, baby bottles and Spam: the deep ocean has become a dumping ground
05 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The ocean’s depths are not some remote alien realm, but are in fact intimately entangled with every other part of the planet. We should treat them t...
From the archive – Out of thin air: the mystery of the man who fell from the sky
03 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We are raiding the Guardian Long Read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors This week, fr...
200 cats, 200 dogs, one lab: the secrets of the pet food industry
01 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Pet food is a £120bn industry, with vast resources spent on working out how best to nourish and delight our beloved charges. But how do we know if we...
Power grab: the hidden costs of Ireland’s datacentre boom
29 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Datacentres are part of Ireland’s vision of itself as a tech hub. There are now more than 80, using vast amounts of electricity. Have we entrusted o...
From the archive: ‘Is anybody in there?’ Life on the inside as a locked-in patient
27 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We are raiding the Guardian Long Read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week, f...
‘It was so wrong’: why were so many people imprisoned over one protest in Bristol?
25 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
More people have been imprisoned for rioting during a single day in Bristol in 2021 than in any other protest-related disorder since at least the 1980...
What we talk about when we talk about giving up
22 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We give things up when we believe we can change; we give up when we believe we can’t. By Adam Phillips. Help support our independent journalism at t...
From the archive – Operation Condor: the cold war conspiracy that terrorised South America
20 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We are raiding the Guardian Long Read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week, f...
The tyranny of the algorithm: why every coffee shop looks the same
18 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
From the generic hipster cafe to the ‘Instagram wall’, the internet has pushed us towards a kind of global ubiquity – and this phenomenon is onl...
Electric mountain: the power station that shows the beauty of infrastructure
15 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Utilitarian as they may be, some civic projects are so monumental they approach the sublime. And one of the most elegant is hidden inside a mountain i...
From the archive: How western travel influencers got tangled up in Pakistan’s politics
13 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We are raiding the Guardian Long Read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week, f...
‘Can I now send the funds?’: secrets of the Conservative money machine
11 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
To see how easy it is for the wealthy to buy political access and influence, consider the story of the Tory donor Mohamed Amersi. By Tom Burgis. Help ...
‘Good times and dances might last for ever’: the sound of London’s Black gay scene
08 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
For many Black gay men in 1980s and 90s Britain, nightlife was community, family and lifeline – but its history is in danger of disappearing. By Jas...
From the archive: ‘A chain of stupidity’: the Skripal case and the decline of Russia’s spy agencies
06 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We are raiding the Guardian Long Read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week, f...
What the unrest in Leicester revealed about Britain – and Modi’s India
04 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
A year and a half ago, Hindus and Muslims clashed in the streets of one of Britain’s most diverse cities. What lay behind the violence? By Yohann Ko...
The Guardian’s new podcast series about AI: Black Box – prologue
02 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We wanted to bring you this episode from our new series, Black Box. In it, Michael Safi explores seven stories and the thread that ties them together:...
Precipice of fear: the freerider who took skiing to its limits
01 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Jérémie Heitz has pushed freeriding to breathtaking, beautiful new extremes. But as the risks get bigger, the questions do, too. By Simon Akam. Help...
From the archive: How maverick rewilders are trying to turn back the tide of extinction
28 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We are raiding the Guardian Long Read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week, f...
‘Farming is a dirty word now’: the woman helping farmers navigate a grim, uncertain future
26 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In a moment of crisis for the industry, Heather Wildman tours the country helping farmers face up to the toughest of questions – not just about the ...
‘Ukraine fatigue’: why I’m fighting to stop the world forgetting us
23 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Everyone likes to support an underdog, especially if it’s winning. But it’s one thing to win a battle, it’s quite another to win the war. And Uk...
From the archive: Penthouses and poor doors: how Europe’s ‘biggest regeneration project’ fell flat
21 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We are raiding the Guardian Long Read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week, f...
‘Scars on every street’: the refugee camp where generations of Palestinians have lost their futures
19 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Ever since the displacement of 700,000 Palestinians in 1948, many have been living in dejection and squalor in camps like Shatila in Beirut. Is this t...
‘They were dying, and they’d not had their money’: Britain’s multibillion-pound equal pay scandal
16 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In 2005, Glasgow council offered to compensate women for historic pay inequality. But it sold them short again – and soon workers all over the UK st...
From the archive: The air conditioning trap: how cold air is heating the world
14 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We are raiding the Guardian Long Read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week, f...
Hippy, capitalist, guru, grocer: the forgotten genius who changed British food
12 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Nicholas Saunders was a counterculture pioneer with an endless stream of quixotic schemes and a yearning to spread knowledge – but his true legacy i...
‘I repeatedly failed to win any awards’: my doomed career as a North Korean novelist
09 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Before I fled south, I spent years as an aspiring fiction writer in the hermit kingdom. I worked hard – but literary glory kept eluding me. By Kim J...
From the archive: From Lagos to Winchester – how a divisive Nigerian pastor built a global following
07 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We are raiding the Guardian Long Read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week, f...
‘Weapons of mass migration’: how states exploit the failure of migration policies
05 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Just like the war on drugs and the war on terror, efforts at stopping population movement by force often just fuel the problem. But for many claiming ...
Sanctuary: I grew up during The Troubles and have been seeking a place of peace ever since
02 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The cost of growing up in a low-level police state. By Darran Anderson. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod
From the archive: The bells v the boutique hotel: the battle to save Britain’s oldest factory
31 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We are raiding the Guardian Long Read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week, f...
One Swedish zoo, seven escaped chimpanzees
29 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
When the great apes at Furuvik Zoo broke free from their enclosure last winter, the keepers faced a terrible choice. This is the story of the most dra...
Days of the Jackal: how Andrew Wylie turned serious literature into big business
26 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Andrew Wylie is agent to an extraordinary number of the planet’s biggest authors. His knack for making highbrow writers very rich helped to define a...
From the archive: ‘I just needed to find my family’: the scandal of Chile’s stolen children – podcast
24 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We are raiding the Guardian Long Read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week, f...
We have a tool to stop Israel’s war crimes: BDS
22 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In 2005, Palestinians called on the world to boycott Israel until it complied with international law. What if we had listened? By Naomi Klein. Help su...
The ghosts haunting China’s cities
19 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In the official telling, fears of malevolent spirits are a vestige of old, unenlightened village ways. But today urban China is rife with superstition...
From the archive: Inside the bizarre, bungled raid on North Korea’s Madrid embassy
17 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We are raiding the Guardian Long Read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week, f...
‘They treated me like an animal’: how Filipino domestic workers become trapped
15 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Migrants from the Philippines make up a huge percentage of domestic workers around the world. But when their employers are abusive, visa restrictions ...
America’s undying empire: why the decline of US power has been greatly exaggerated
12 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
For more than a decade, people have been saying that the era of US dominance is coming to an end. But in reality there are still no other global playe...
From the archive: How Nespresso’s coffee revolution got ground down
10 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We are raiding the Guardian Long Read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week, f...
Four bike rides, four years in the life of Black Britain: ‘On the road, we found ourselves again’
08 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In a time of death and isolation, a new tradition was born. As the UK struggled with Covid and a renewed fight for racial justice, I turned to two whe...
Too much stuff: can we solve our addiction to consumerism?
05 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Alarmed by the rising tide of waste we are all creating, my family and I decided to try to make do with much less. But while individual behaviour is i...
From the archive: Dark crystals: the brutal reality behind a booming wellness craze
03 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We are raiding the Guardian Long Read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week, f...
Last love: a romance in a care home
01 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Mary and Derek weren’t the first couple to get together at Easterlea Rest Home. But those other relationships had been more like friendships – and...
Best of 2023: The widow and the murderer: a friendship born of tragedy
29 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Every Monday and Friday for the rest of December we will publish some of our favourite audio long reads of 2023, in case you missed them, with an intr...
Best of 2023: No coach, no agent, no ego: the incredible story of the ‘Lionel Messi of cliff diving’
25 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Every Monday and Friday for the rest of December we will publish some of our favourite audio long reads of 2023, in case you missed them, with an intr...
Best of 2023: The strange survival of Guinness World Records
22 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Every Monday and Friday for the rest of December we will publish some of our favourite audio long reads of 2023, in case you missed them, with an intr...
Best of 2023: Dismantling Sellafield: the epic task of shutting down a nuclear site
18 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Every Monday and Friday for the rest of December we will publish some of our favourite audio long reads of 2023, in case you missed them, with an intr...
Best of 2023: Proust, ChatGPT and the case of the forgotten quote
15 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Every Monday and Friday for the rest of December we will publish some of our favourite audio long reads of 2023, in case you missed them, with an intr...