The Story
Episodes
The Elizabethan Age
12 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Over the course of her reign, Queen Elizabeth II sustained Britain's monarchy for seven decades, between the eras of steam and Zoom. She departed poss...
Queen Elizabeth II: A country in mourning
09 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The country now enters a time of national mourning for a nation to pay its respects to Her Majesty the Queen. Years of planning and centuries of tradi...
The gangs and guns of Liverpool
08 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
On a Monday evening last month, 9-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel was shot dead in Liverpool by a stranger. It’s the latest in a spate of deadly gun an...
How close is a cure for long Covid?
07 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Six months ago, The Times’ Africa correspondent Jane Flanagan spoke to us about her search for the cause of her long Covid symptoms. We catch up wit...
Liz Truss: The people and the policies of the new PM
06 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Today, Liz Truss takes over as the new Conservative Prime Minister. So what do we know about her and how she will address the urgent challenges we fac...
How Boris Johnson changed Britain
05 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The new prime minister will be announced today, and Boris Johnson will exit Downing Street tomorrow after just over three years in the job. What legac...
How Britain fell behind in the microchip gold rush
02 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
They’re sitting in your hands, in your house and maybe even in your heart. But a global shortage of semiconductors means this tiny object has become...
Has Hollywood run out of ideas?
30 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The traditional summer blockbuster season is drawing to a close but in a world of prequels, sequels and remakes, independent films are finding it incr...
Everything Dolly Alderton knows about love
29 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
This August, we're revisiting some of our favourite episodes from the past year.Dolly Alderton - award-winning author, podcaster, screenwriter and Sun...
The barristers’ strike: Justice on hold
26 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
This week criminal barristers in England and Wales voted to go on an ongoing, uninterrupted strike arguing they’re not paid enough for legal aid cas...
The cult of crypto: How $2 trillion went up in flames
25 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
It promised a financial revolution - a liberation from money middlemen. But then the $3 trillion industry of cryptocurrency lost two thirds of its val...
Six months on: Is Putin's Ukraine war failing?
24 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In the early hours of the 24th February, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. As the country marks its Independence Day - and with little...
Sunak vs Truss: The people's verdict
23 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In two weeks, Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak will become prime minister - a decision that will be made by members of the Conservative Party. So how does the...
The Prussian prince, the MI6 spy and the plot to kill Hitler
22 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
This August, we're revisiting some of our favourite episodes from the past year.In the summer of 1944, some of Adolf Hitler's most trusted senior offi...
IVF, fraud, and 'unwanted' children
19 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
This August, we're revisiting some of our favourite episodes from the past year. What happens when one half of a couple becomes a parent against their...
The pensions scandal Britain forgot
18 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Failed by everyone supposed to protect them, steelworkers were misled into moving £2.8bn out of their final salary pensions. Five years on they are s...
The energy bosses drowning in black gold
17 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Energy prices have become a national crisis. But for the energy companies, things have never been better. Surely something has to give? This pod...
What happened after the fall of Kabul
16 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
It’s been a year since the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, during the chaotic withdrawal of western allied forces. Images of thousands of people de...
Xi Jinping: The man behind the myth
15 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
This August, we're revisiting some of our favourite episodes from the past year.Xi Jinping is consolidating his position as the all-powerful president...
Soham, 20 years on: The detective who solved the case
04 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
This episode contains discussions of violence and suicide.It's 20 years since the murder of 10-year-old schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Ch...
Sunak vs Truss: A whistlestop guide to the next PM
03 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss have got just five weeks left in the Conservative leadership contest. But with ballot papers already going out to party memb...
Wolverhampton: A day in the 'levelling up' capital
02 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Is levelling up over? Boris Johnson's big promise – to fix the country's regional inequalities – might have ended with his government. We visit Wo...
The dolphin trainer of Kharkiv
01 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In January, Sunday Times correspondent Louise Callaghan met 26-year-old dolphin trainer Vladyslav Litnievskyi while reporting in the Ukraini...
Revisited: Our award-winning interview on the threats facing Britain
30 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Last weekend, Stories of our times won the award for interview of the year at the British Podcast Awards. The judges said: "This standout interview wa...
How the case against Trump made for good TV
28 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In eight slick, highly produced sessions that played out like a Netflix series, the House Select Committee for investigating the Capitol riots of Janu...
London's Olympic legacy
27 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Ten years ago today, 900 million people watched London’s Olympic opening ceremony, marking the start of a games which, it was hoped, would help rege...
Why our man in Moscow had to leave
26 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
As the Ukraine war progressed, journalists, activists and critics were forced to flee the country. But as Putin’s grip on the media tightened, what ...
Lord Frost and the fight for the soul of the Conservative Party
25 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Tonight, the two contenders for prime minister take part in their first head-to-head TV debate. Meanwhile, unnoticed by the general public, one former...
China’s new spy army
21 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The heads of MI5 and the FBI recently warned about the growing threat from China’s efforts to spy on the world as it attempts to stay ahead of rival...
Who’s making a killing from the cost of living?
20 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Inflation has hit a new 40-year high – just living life is expensive at the moment, and it’s getting worse. But to fight rising prices, politician...
Heatwave: Why Britain is in meltdown
19 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The Met Office has issued a red extreme heat warning for the first time ever, as temperatures could hit a record-breaking 43C today. With train delays...
Flood and fire in Australia
18 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The east coast of Australia has been pummelled with disastrous flooding for the fourth time in less than 18 months. It's the first test for prime mini...
After Boris Johnson: Choosing the next prime minister
14 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Just six candidates are left in the race to be the next Conservative Party leader and prime minister. They're now battling to make it to the final two...
The assassination of Shinzo Abe
13 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In a country where violent crime is almost non-existent, it came as an unspeakable shock when Japan's longest-serving former Prime Minister, Shinzo Ab...
What happens when adoption fails?
12 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
For a small number of families, the difficulties caused to children by early trauma can lead to extreme challenges and the adoption breaks down. So wh...
‘Bongbong’ Marcos: How a dictator’s son swept to power
11 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The Marcos name became infamous around the world when the Filipino dictator and his flamboyant family were forced out of office in the 1980s. So when ...
Boris Johnson on the brink
07 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
After a bruising day in parliament for the prime minister – which saw more resignations than ever before in British political history, includin...
New rules for trans athletes: Fairness or exclusion?
06 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In recent weeks the governing bodies for a number of sports have have published new rules for transgender athletes participating at elite level. So wh...
Why the government wants to scrap the Human Rights Act
05 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
For more than decade, justice secretary and deputy prime minister Dominic Raab has wanted to ditch the Human Rights Act and replace it with a British ...
What next for a post-Roe America?
04 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
It's been just over a week since the US Supreme Court overruled Roe v Wade, overturning Americans' constitutional right to an abortion. And America ha...
Hong Kong's 25 year slide from democracy
30 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
This week marks 25 years since the UK handover of Hong Kong to China, with the promise of ‘one country, two systems’. Then, the former British col...
Remembering Dame Deborah James
29 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Dame Deborah James, campaigner and podcast host, whose chronicling of her incurable bowel cancer inspired the nation and raised millions for charity, ...
Can an AI bot convince you that it's sentient?
28 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Google engineer Blake Lemoine brought an unusual concern to his company earlier this month: he feared the AI language program he was working with had ...
Winning at all costs: The toxic culture of British gymnastics
27 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
From starving athletes hiding cereal bars in socks to fat-shaming and gaslighting – the findings of the watershed Whyte Review make for grim reading...
The fight for the Amazon: The long, bloody history to save the forest
23 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
When journalist Dom Phillips and indigenous expert Bruno Perreira were murdered while on a fact finding trip in the Amazon, it highlighted the threats...
The beginning of the end for Ireland's billionaire crime family?
22 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
For almost two decades the Kinahans have operated one of the most powerful criminal organisations in the world. Now, they’ve been named as some of A...
Is the Pope planning to quit?
21 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The ailing pontiff has prompted speculation that he will resign with a planned visit to the tomb of a 13th-century pope who quit after five months.Mea...
One-way ticket to Rwanda: How the government’s asylum plan was put on ice
20 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The government’s flagship immigration policy has been put on pause, following an intervention from the European Court of Human Rights. How was the f...
The biggest rail strike in 30 years
17 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Next week, much of the country's rail system will grind to a halt, as more than 40,000 rail workers join a national walkout. It's the biggest rail str...
Monkeypox: What you need to know
16 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Monkeypox cases in the UK are now in the hundreds, and 1,600 cases have been reported around the world in recent weeks. What do we know about it and h...
What's wrong with our schools and how to reinvent them
15 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Parents, teachers, students and experts alike say that the UK’s education system desperately needs reform. The Times Education Commission has spent ...
The Grenfell fire, five years on (Pt 2): The cladding scandal
14 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
When a fire broke out at Grenfell Tower in west London in 2017, it led to the deaths of 72 people – and a search for answers. Five years on, what ha...
The Grenfell fire, five years on (Pt 1): Stories from the tower
13 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
When a fire broke out at Grenfell Tower in west London in 2017, it led to the deaths of 72 people – and a search for answers. Five years on, we revi...
Ukraine: The fight for the Donbas
10 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The fight for Ukraine has become a Battle for the Donbas, as Putin's army concentrates its forces in the southeast. The fiercest fighting is being wag...
The aftermath of the Texas school shooting
09 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Two weeks on from the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, where 19 children and two teachers died, America is still reeling. We look at how the day unfo...
The wounded victor: What next for Boris Johnson?
08 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The prime minister's narrow win in a confidence vote on Monday night has left his political authority dented and his party even more deeply divided. C...
Putin’s purge: Why Russian spies are being jailed in Moscow
07 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Russia has been making territorial gains in the east and south of Ukraine in the last few weeks, but this isn’t where Vladimir Putin expected to be ...
Everything Dolly Alderton knows about love
06 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Dolly Alderton - award-winning author, podcaster, screenwriter and Sunday Times Style's resident agony aunt - on love, friendship, sex, and being comf...
Past Imperfect: Justin Webb on a life saved by radio
03 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Today's episode comes courtesy of our sister podcast: Past Imperfect.Justin Webb is a broadcaster who has spent almost four decades at the BBC, from N...
Wine Times: Comedian Tom Allen raises a glass for the Jubilee
02 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Today's episode comes courtesy of our sister podcast: Wine Times. Sloshing along with Suzi Ruffell and Will Lyons is the comedian, writer and broadcas...
The Queen's Platinum Jubilee: From our royal correspondents
01 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
As the country prepares for a bank holiday weekend which will see many celebrate the Queen's record-breaking platinum jubilee, The Times and The Sunda...
The Hunt for the Silver Killer (Pt 2): New blood
31 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
This episode contains graphic descriptions of violence and references to suicide.The second of our two-part special, The Hunt for the Silver Killer. I...
The Hunt for the Silver Killer (Pt 1): Murder-suicides
30 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
This episode contains graphic descriptions of violence and references to suicide.In 1996 in the small town of Wilmslow in Cheshire, an elderly couple ...
Weekend listen: Is the Red Wall a red herring?
28 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Today's weekend listen comes courtesy of our sister podcast, Red Box.While everyone else was waiting for Sue Gray, on Tuesday two of Britain's country...
Investigation: How children's homes became a goldmine for unlikely owners
27 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In the week that the government announced a major review into England's council-run children's services, a Times investigation has found scores of ine...
What the Sue Gray report means for Boris Johnson
26 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
As the long-awaited report into lockdown-breaking parties at Downing Street is published, we dissect the key points.This podcast was brought to you th...
Everything you (don’t) need to know about the Wagatha Christie trial
25 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
What happened when, after two years of mudslinging, Rebekah Vardy and Coleen Rooney, the wives of two top footballers, met in court over allegations o...
From cow to cup: The price of a pint of milk
24 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
A forty year high level of inflation and soaring household bills over the last few months have quickly led to a cost of living crisis. UK businesses a...
NATO: Why is Turkey blocking Sweden and Finland?
23 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Sweden and Finland are putting decades of military non-alignment and neutrality behind them to join NATO but one member of the alliance isn’t prepar...
The Northern Ireland protocol explained
20 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
More than two years after Britain and the EU signed the Brexit withdrawal agreement, one of its stickiest points is suddenly back in the headlines aga...
Have we been living on the cheap?
19 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
On Wednesday inflation in the UK hit 9% - the highest since the early 1980s.A few weeks before in Brussels, Diederik Samsom, the Head of Cabinet ...
Is Scottish independence back on the agenda?
18 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Nicola Sturgeon, leader of the SNP, has been pushing for Scottish independence since she was elected First Minister seven and a half years ago. The UK...
Keir Starmer's big gamble
17 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
For 12 days, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer tried to play down claims he’d broken lockdown rules when he’d had a curry and beer with staff. But wh...
Depp vs Heard: Celebrities, their fans, and a toxic trial
16 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Johnny Depp’s personal life has been splashed across the headlines thanks to high-profile defamation cases against his ex-wife Amber Heard. Now, the...
Weekend listen: Elon Musk's (paused) Twitter takeover
14 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Today's weekend listen comes courtesy of our sister podcast, Danny In The Valley.Yesterday, Elon Musk put his $44 billion takeover of Twitter on pause...
What are cryptocurrency millionaires doing in Puerto Rico?
13 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
As markets across the globe react to the latest cryptocurrency meltdown, which some warn may go beyond the usual boom-and-bust cycle - today we look a...
The British broadcasting revolution
12 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In the year the BBC celebrates its centenary, and Channel 4 its 40th birthday, the government has announced plans for funding models that fundamentall...
Is this the end of Roe v Wade?
11 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
A draft Supreme Court opinion on the law defining a woman’s right to have an abortion in America was leaked last week, causing uproar - and celebrat...
Investigation: What happened to all the Covid loan money?
10 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
From people nabbed fleeing the country with suitcases full of bank notes to a former pub landlord accused of cashing his loan and sending it to the te...
‘Victory Day’: Taking stock of Russia’s war
09 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
It's Victory Day in Russia, the annual celebration of victory in the Second World War. But as Putin's tanks parade the Moscow streets, how is his war ...
Porn in Parliament
06 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The Palace of Westminster has, once again, been rocked by a series of sexual misconduct scandals -- culminating in the revelation that an MP was caugh...
How three British PMs failed to contain Putin
05 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Former ministers have broken ranks to describe how successive prime ministers, including Boris Johnson, withheld arms from Ukraine until just weeks be...
The MP who tried to gag the press
04 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In 2018, the Sunday Times broke the story that then-serving Conservative MP Charlie Elphicke had been accused of rape by a former aide. Elphicke denie...
How the new Sinn Fein could reshape Irish politics
03 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
As Northern Ireland goes to the polls on Thursday, we could be about to witness a political earthquake. Today: what it might mean on both sides of the...
IVF, fraud, and 'unwanted' children
29 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
What happens when one half of a couple becomes a parent against their will?This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support o...
Bellingcat: The internet sleuths exposing Putin's war crimes
28 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
With potential war crimes in Ukraine unfolding over social media, internet whizzes around the world are using Bellingcat's open source toolkit to find...
Why Shanghai is back in lockdown
27 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
As Shanghai enters the fourth week of the world’s strictest Covid lockdown, residents are running out of food, medicine and patience – and there’...
Gendarme: How a notorious French serial killer was unmasked
26 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Nicknamed Le Grêlé, or ‘the pockmarked man’, a French serial killer evaded police for decades, until he claimed one last life – his own.This p...
One Ukrainian family's journey to London
25 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
It's been six weeks since the British government opened a new immigration route to help Ukrainian refugees come to the UK - 'Homes for Ukraine'. Among...
Macron versus Le Pen: The fight to be the French president
22 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
On Sunday voters will go to the polls in France in a repeat of 2017’s run off between Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen. So what issues are coming u...
Boris, Rishi and the party line
21 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Today, MPs will vote on whether to hold an investigation to look into the Prime Minister's alleged misleading of the Commons during the Partygate saga...
Investigation: A scandal worse than thalidomide
20 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Doctors knew in 1973 that the epilepsy drug sodium valproate posed a risk to unborn children – and ordered that warnings be removed from packets. Al...
Why does Elon Musk want to buy Twitter?
19 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In an audacious hostile takeover bid, Elon Musk is holding Twitter to ransom. Either they let him run the whole company, or he'll pull the plug, selli...
Cancel culture: Did Dostoyevsky predict the culture wars?
14 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Whether you like it or not, these days everyone seems to be enlisted in the culture wars. But why does the debate seem so angry and intolerant? Can we...
The weapon of war we don't want to talk about
13 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Since the first case in Ukraine was reported to The Times, many more have emerged. But why is this particular weapon so hard to talk about?This podcas...
Dementia: Could lessons from Covid help find a cure?
12 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Just before the pandemic, the government promised a 'dementia moonshot' to blast us towards a dementia cure. What happened to it?Today: former prime m...
From Stalin to Putin: A brief history of Russian autocrats
11 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The Russian military has suffered an unexpected battering, but Putin shows no sign of backing down. What can history teach us about what might happen ...
A lost brother (Pt 2) - Seeking answers
08 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In the second of this two-part podcast, we find out what effect Mouayed Bashir's death has had on his family in Newport, South Wales - as the inq...
A lost brother (Pt 1) - A death in South Wales
07 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
On the 17th February last year, in Newport, the family of Mouayed Bashir called 999. According to his parents he'd been suffering a mental health epis...
How the war looks from space
06 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Rule No 1 in space is 'don't rock the boat' - and certainly don't talk about politics. But Putin’s bombs are visible from the International Space St...