The Slow Newscast
Episodes
After the Fall – A death on the Lansdowne Estate
28 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Wagner’s war: A year in Ukraine and beyond
21 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
First they were known as the “little green men”, an anonymous private Russian force appearing first in Crimea, then Syria, then in central Africa....
The prince against the press
14 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The Harry show – the bestselling memoir, the Netflix documentary, the rounds of television interviews – isn’t over. In fact, it’s only just be...
Wronged: a murder and a miscarriage of justice
07 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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 senten...
Snatched: A mother's quest to find her children
31 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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-u...
God on your side: Christians, courts and culture wars
24 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Real Money - episode 1 of our new investigative series
17 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Introducing: The News Meeting
13 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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, w...
The Westminster Accounts
09 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Damn and blast off: how not to go back to the moon
03 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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 –&nbs...
2022 picks - The Darwin job: the mystery of the vanishing notebooks
29 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
One sleuth, two notebooks – and a 20-year puzzle Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
2022 picks - Lebedev: Lord of Siberia
22 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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 'Londo...
Musking it: Inside Elon’s Twitter takeover
15 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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.
Octopus: the allegations against Crispin Odey
05 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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 allegatio...
The Tavistock: inside the gender clinic
01 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Introducing – The Tavistock: inside the gender clinic. In a few months, the Tavistock – the only NHS clinic in England and Wales which treats chil...
Inside Unite
24 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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 expe...
The Alzheimer's casino
17 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Big money and bad science: what happens when science and medical research meet Wall Street? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more informatio...
Egypt's bad cop
10 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Mutiny: The undoing of Liz Truss
03 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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 missing male pill
27 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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 a...
Pig Iron
20 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Britannia unhinged
13 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
What happened in the 17 days between Kwasi Kwarteng becoming chancellor, sacking the Treasury’s top civil servant, and his fiscal event which crashe...
Toxic: The making of Andrew Tate
06 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
What happened when social media platforms banned Andrew Tate, whose misogyny netted him a fortune and millions of online followers? Hosted on Acast. S...
Paradise Bust: Scandal in the British Virgin Islands
29 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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?...
A crime in the making
22 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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 Olenivk...
The Second Elizabethan Age: the constitution
16 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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 Second Elizabethan Age: rule Britannia
15 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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 re...
The Second Elizabethan Age: head of state
14 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Richard Lambert charts the evolving relationship between the Queen, politicians and her Prime Ministers during her reign. Hosted on Acast. See acast.c...
The Second Elizabethan Age: speak to us ma'am
13 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
The Second Elizabethan Age: strong as a yak
12 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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 t...
The Second Elizabethan Age: the coronation
09 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Richard Lambert recalls the excitement at the start of the second Elizabethan age. In 1953 Britain was a deferential society and adulation of the Quee...
The Fix
08 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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. He...
Thank the Lord
31 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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 parli...
Myanmar: the forgotten coup
25 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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? H...
Hostile environment
18 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The making of the modern Home Office Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Hunt for the porn king: a reckoning
11 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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 f...
Chained woman
04 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
When a video of a woman chained to a wall went viral in China, it ignited a battle for the truth between the people and the state. Hosted on Acast. Se...
America at the crossroads: abortion in South Bend
28 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The fallout from the Supreme Court’s decision to reverse abortion rights is reverberating across America. Arguably nowhere more so than in South Ben...
Left to die: Return to the Amarula
21 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Last summer our three-part podcast Left To Die told the harrowing story of 200 civilians trapped in a hotel in Mozambique under siege by violent extre...
Londongrad: The Johnson Affair
14 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
A former KGB officer, Britain’s foreign secretary – and a potential national security breach. Listen to Londongrad, Paul Caruana Galizia's 6-part ...
The Darwin job: the vanishing, reappearing notebooks
07 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
One sleuth, two notebooks – and a 20-year mystery.Listen to Life, Changing, a new series from Tortoise and the Nuffield Foundation: https://pod...
A coup at Claridge’s: Qatar’s quiet move on London
30 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
A tiny Gulf state has bought up some of Britain’s prized assets. But at what cost? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Hollywood’s cultural revolution
23 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
When China opened up to the West, Hollywood saw a massive opportunity. But China had its own dreams. Now the movie studios are beginning to realise wh...
Visit Rwanda: Britain’s harsh welcome for refugees
16 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Britain’s harsh welcome for refugees – and what happened when the plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda was tried before Hosted on Acast. See acas...
The Rules: democracy in Britain
09 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Every day more cracks emerge in the political system that guarantees the freedoms Britons hold dear. How do we stop it shattering? Hosted on Acast. Se...
Introducing: Londongrad
03 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
How the Lebedevs partied their way to power is a 6 part series investigating two men - who are at the heart of the story of Britain opening its doors ...
Stripped. Searched. Traumatised. Children and the police
02 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
How many more Child Qs are there? How many children are strip-searched by the police and who are they? Patricia Clarke and Claudia Williams investigat...
Odesa
26 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The Ukrainian port normally feeds the world, but the Russian invasion means nothing is getting out. Can we reopen the port – or will millions starve...
Revealed: Stormy Daniels and her battle for truth
19 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Who is the real Stormy Daniels? Hattie Garlick meets arguably one of America’s most misunderstood and misrepresented women Hosted on Acast. See acas...
Downfall: twenty days that did for Rishi Sunak
12 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
How did Rishi Sunak go from one of the most popular members of the government to one of the least in a matter of days? Matthew d’Ancona pieces toget...
The Backstory
05 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Today we are sharing an episode of Tortoise's new podcast series: The Backstory with Andrew Neil. This week Andrew talks to Fiona Hill, former directo...
Mariupol
28 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Two atrocities in the port city of Mariupol epitomise Russia’s violence in Ukraine. This is the story of those atrocities and of Mariupol’s truthW...
The Lost Ark
21 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
What happens when a museum possesses a group of objects so sacred that they can never be seen in public or studied in private – and the original own...
Greg Barker: the lord's work
14 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The days of the Russian oligarch in London are numbered. What fate awaits the enablers – those well-connected people who worked for and provided ser...
Fallen women
07 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Twenty-seven women fell in suspicious circumstances. Seventeen died. Often, in the shadow of their fall, was a man. What if they didn’t fall. What i...
The trials of Alexei Navalny
31 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
What does the story of Alexei Navalny and wife Yulia Navalnaya tell us about Vladimir Putin’s Russia and the state of opposition?Tortoise is a news ...
Into the dark: The broken promise of a bionic eye
24 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Imagine being blind but thanks to the wonders of technology being able to see again. How would you then feel if that sight was taken away?Tortoise is ...
Shadow whipping: The men who saved Boris
17 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Political wisdom says the Russian invasion of Ukraine saved Boris Johnson’s skin. But the really successful operation to rescue the prime minister s...
Russian warship, go f**k yourself
10 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
We thought the Russians were masters of the information war; that they’d sweep Ukraine aside. It's not turning out that way. Hosted on Acast. See ac...
Lebedev: Lord of Siberia
03 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Door after door in Britain has been opened for Evgeny Lebedev, all the way to a seat in the House of Lords. Who has opened the doors, and why? Hosted ...
An injection of fear
24 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The ‘epidemic’ of spiking with needles in clubs and at parties in autumn 2021 revealed something important about women’s lives in Britain. But i...
Modi's warrior pose
17 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The brilliance of populist politicians often lies in creating subtle dividing lines on apparently innocuous issues. What could be more innocuous than ...
Inside Branch 251
10 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In a courtroom in west Germany, a man called Anwar Raslan stands accused of torturing Syrian civilians. He faces life in prison. But why does Germany ...
The Ministry of Untruths
03 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In March 2020 the prime minister told the country to stay at home. He then did the opposite and travelled to Chequers. This the story of one crucial f...
China’s missing tennis player
27 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In November, athlete Peng Shuai accused a senior Chinese politician of sexual assault. Then, she vanished. In this episode, we investigate her disappe...
Virginia
20 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Who is Virginia Roberts Giuffre? She was only 17 years old when she appeared in a now-famous photo, taken in Ghislaine Maxwell’s London mews house. ...
A finding of rape
13 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
How a former government minister used the secrecy of the family courts in an attempt to hide the truth. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for mor...
The promise of CoolSculpting
06 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Linda Evangelista’s beauty made her a super-brand in the 1990s. But then, she disappeared. Until September 2021, when she revealed on Instagram deta...
A year in stories
23 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
For our final episode of the year, we look back on our best stories of 2021. Basia is joined by Tortoise editor-in-chief James Harding, and colleague ...
School 49
16 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
China’s transformation into an economic powerhouse has come at a cost to its children, under enormous pressure to succeed. Now the country is wonder...
The super divorce
09 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
London's courts play host to some of the world's most high-profile divorces. In the sorry case of Akhmedov vs Akhmedova, a family feud turned into a c...
A place for Elliott
02 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This is a story about a boy called Elliott – trapped in time. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Retreat from Kabul – Part 2
25 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
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 th...
Retreat from Kabul – Part 1
25 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Over a handful of chaotic days this summer, Western forces withdrew from Afghanistan. The legacy of the decision to leave after 20 years has been wret...
Who is REvil?
18 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Who are the people behind a spate of multi-million dollar ransomware attacks on financial institutions, schools and hospitals? When Nicky Woolf began ...
Nazanin: trapped in Whitehall
11 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Since 2016, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been held hostage in Iran. Ceri Thomas investigates how a long-forgotten debt could be the real reason behin...
Shamsa, the forgotten princess
04 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The reputation of Sheikh Mohammed of Dubai has been tarnished beyond repair by the way he treated his wife Haya and daughter Latifa. At least we know ...
Introducing: Sweet Bobby
28 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Sweet Bobby is a new series by Tortoise. Kirat is a successful local radio presenter. Online she’s contacted by a man she vaguely knows called Bobby...
True crime: the tragedy of Gabby Petito
21 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
When a young woman travelling across the US disappeared, an army of digital detectives and citizen journalists jumped on the case. When she was found ...
Havana Syndrome: the mystery illness spreading through America's embassies
14 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
It started with a high-pitched noise. Then, American diplomats started getting sick. Nausea, dizziness, confusion. Across the world, this strange synd...
From Russia with diamonds: part 2
07 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
More than 20 years after emptying the Russian state treasure of hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of diamonds and gold, Andrei Kozlenok breaks ...
From Russia with diamonds: part 1
07 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
When Communism collapsed, a young man was tasked with selling Russia’s diamonds to the highest bidder. Then, he went on the run with $600m. He was m...
Pfizer's war
30 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
It’s been said often enough: the pandemic has been like a war. Economically, on civil liberties and the deaths it has caused, it’s hard to find a ...
Wrong turn: murder and miscarriage of justice
23 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Plenty of people take wrong turns in their lives. But so too can justice systems. John Crilly and hundreds more have been the victims of the legal doc...
Beau and Biden: Constant companions
16 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Joe Biden’s life has been marked by grief, most recently at the death of his beloved son, Beau. And Beau Biden’s legacy isn’t only personal, it’...
Orphaned by America
09 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In Donald Trump's America, thousands of children who crossed the border from Mexico were separated from their parents. It's now clear that some of tho...
Smear: cartels and conspiracies in Oldham
02 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A year ago, journalist Joshi Herrmann got an anonymous tip. It sent him to a website claiming to have evidence of serious corruption, grooming gangs a...
Son of Afghanistan
26 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The remarkable story of Rohullah Yakobi, a daring escape, and a 20-year war. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Popbitch: the power of gossip
19 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Over 20 years, a simple email newsletter has reshaped celebrity culture. In a special edition of the Slow Newscast, Claudia Williams tells the story o...
Boycott! The lost Olympics
29 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
With human rights groups demanding a diplomatic boycott of next year’s Winter Olympics in Beijing, we look back to Moscow 1980, and ask what’s the...
The porn headmaster
22 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In the internet age, anyone with a camera can make and sell porn. But what happens when a shoot goes wrong? In the second episode in our Porn Planet s...
Genesis: The mystery of where Covid began
15 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The truth of an origin story has never mattered more: did Covid cross to humans from an animal, or did it escape from a laboratory? The arguments have...
The arms race
08 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
How the richest nations on the planet promised to vaccinate every adult, everywhere, against Covid. They failed. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privac...
DIY justice
30 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This is a story about one student, one case, and a serious sexual assault. It takes place at Cambridge University, but the case – of a botched ...
Left to die - episode 3
23 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In the final episode of Left to die: Nick Alexander tells the story of his torturous escape from the convoy – and the question left lying in the dus...
Left to die - episode 2
23 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Episode 2 of our series investigating what happened at the Amarula Hotel: the story of Wesley and his brother Adrian, who escape in a car and are ambu...
Left to die - episode 1
23 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In March, Islamist militants attacked the town of Palma, in northern Mozambique – the site of a $20bn gas project. They besieged a hotel, where more...
The missing note
17 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In little more than a year - the year of the pandemic - Anand Menon lost his mother, father, brother and sister, but not to Covid. Grief and loss have...
A death at Lancaster Lodge
10 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Sophie Bennett took her own life in a care facility that was crumbling around her. Paul Caruana Galizia and Chris Cook investigate what went wrong at ...
Inside Downing Street: the second couple
02 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
After Boris Johnson and Carrie Symonds’ wedding, there are now two powerful married couples in Number 10. Meet the other: Munira and Dougie... Hoste...