The Story

Revealed: The hidden crime of sibling sexual abuse

18 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Warning: This episode contains graphic descriptions of sexual abuse. The family member most likely to sexually abuse a child is their brother or ...

What Wagner did next - the rebranding of Putin’s secret weapon

15 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

With Russia going to the polls this weekend, and President Putin’s grip on power tighter than ever, any semblance of meaningful opposition has been ...

How street gangs led Haiti’s descent into anarchy

14 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Haiti’s acting prime minster has resigned, bending to pressure from the US. The move leaves a power vacuum into which has apparently stepped Jimmy ‘...

Who owns the moon? AC Grayling on the question that could start war on Earth

13 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

When the Odysseus lander touched down on the lunar surface last month, it became the first US presence on the moon in more than fifty years. But unlik...

Kate, that photo, and a PR nightmare

12 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

A new photo of the Princess of Wales released after months of social media speculation about her health has further fuelled conspiracy theories. ...

Stories of our times is becoming The Story

11 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

From Tuesday 19th March, Stories of our times will become The Story. Manveen Rana and Luke Jones will be joined on the podcast by Times...

What Liz Truss did next

11 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

After she resigned in 2022, everyone thought Liz Truss would disappear. Not a bit of it. She’s earned more than £300,000 from speeches, has a new b...

Prescription Nation: Britain's hidden drug dependency

08 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

One in four drugs that are prescribed to adults in England are dependency-forming drugs. And while prescriptions for opioids have fallen following the...

Confessions of a millionaire: Should the super-rich pay more tax?

07 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Tax burdens are at the highest level in living memory, yet public services are falling apart. That's why the rich should pay more tax, says our guest:...

What if there’s no ceasefire? Manveen Rana reports from Jerusalem

06 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

We report from Israel during a critical week which might mark a tipping point in the Gaza war. If there isn't a ceasefire by the start of Ramadan this...

The Rise of Reform UK - the party the Tories fear

05 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Reform UK - a fringe political party founded by Nigel Farage - is unlikely to win many seats, it has little money and its leader has a low profile. Bu...

Stakeknife: How Britain’s IRA mole got away with murder

04 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

On Friday, Operation Kenova, a long running investigation into a man known as Stakeknife, the British Army’s top spy within the IRA, will finally be...

Cartoons and controversies with Times cartoonist Peter Brookes

01 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

He's been skewering those in power with his drawings for The Times since 1992. In an age where finding the balance between satire and offence can be a...

Why won't Nikki Haley quit in the race against Trump?

29 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

With his nomination as the Republican presidential candidate now looking all but certain, Donald Trump's grip on his party seems to get stronger with ...

Aid in Gaza: A month on, did the ICJ make any difference?

28 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Hamas has been sent a proposal for a new pause in military operations in Gaza, including the release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners. Me...

A by-election circus in Rochdale

27 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

This Thursday, Rochdale voters will be asked to cast their vote in a by-election following the death last month of MP Sir Tony Loyd. There is technica...

Why young women are falling out of love with the pill

26 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

When the contraceptive pill was introduced in the 1960s, many considered it to be one of the most significant inventions of the 20th Century. Sixty ye...

Her daughter was murdered. Why will the killer be released so soon?

23 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

If you murder someone, you get a life sentence. But what does a life sentence actually mean in practice? We speak to a bereaved parent fighting to end...

Is there any hope for Generation Rent?

22 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

With ever-increasing house prices across the country far outstripping the rate at which earnings are rising, millions of young people are now being fo...

Keir Starmer's Gaza problem

21 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

While an SNP motion calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza will be debated in the House of Commons today, all eyes are on Labour. The party has ti...

What Navalny’s death means for Putin's Russia

20 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Alexei Navalny, Russia's opposition leader, is dead. His wife says that President Putin killed her husband while the Russian state denies any involvem...

Is ADHD being over-diagnosed?

19 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

An overwhelming demand for ADHD diagnoses has left the NHS struggling to keep up. What’s behind the rise?Content warning: This episode contains ment...

A conversation with director Christopher Nolan

16 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Christopher Nolan has become a franchise unto himself; one of the few directors who can walk into a studio with an original idea and walk out with the...

How Biden could be replaced

15 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

A special counsel report in the US has again raised questions about Joe Biden’s mental faculties, describing the President as "a well-meaning, elder...

‘Russian spy in MI6’: the Afghan connection

14 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

An alleged Russian spy was an Afghan refugee who had worked his way into the British Foreign Office. According to court documents, he had met two Prim...

Rotten to the core: What’s at the root of Britain’s dental crisis?

13 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

With millions of people across the UK struggling to access NHS dental care, and many being forced to go private or even treat themselves at home, how ...

AI, drones, and smartphones: How Ukraine changed warfare

12 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Cheap drones, robots and AI have all shaped the conduct of the war in Ukraine. Ahead of its second anniversary on 24th February, Manveen talks to emin...

What the King’s cancer means for Harry, William, Charles and the monarchy

10 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

How King Charles’s cancer diagnosis will affect the monarchy and those in it, personally and professionally.This podcast was brought to you thanks t...

Taylor Swift and the ‘Super Bowl plot’ to swing the election

09 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

It’s Super Bowl Sunday in America this weekend. But whispers from some corners of the internet suggest there’s a bigger game afoot. So just how di...

Women watch porn too - so why can’t we talk about it?

08 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

A quarter of people watching pornography are women, but why do we find it hard to comprehend? We speak to the author of a new book who has interviewed...

How the Israeli hostage crisis could topple Netanyahu

07 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Israel’s prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu is increasingly embattled, amid protests by the families of hostages calling for him to go. Could this cr...

The Ukrainians desperate to avoid the draft

06 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In an interview over the weekend, President Zelensky announced a major shake up in the Ukrainian army. It comes after a week-long battle between Zelen...

Why are Gen Z stalking their partners?

05 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

We hear the story of one woman who was stalked by her ex-boyfriend, as domestic abuse charities warn that young people are becoming accustomed&nb...

A diary of war: Three months in Gaza

02 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Palestinian journalist Amal Helles has been reporting for The Times and The Sunday Times from Gaza since the Hamas attacks on Israel, and the beginnin...

Inside the Tory plot to oust Rishi Sunak

01 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

A former adviser to the prime minister is working with a secretive group of Tories to remove him from office before the general election. MPs have bee...

Three US soldiers dead: Has Iran miscalculated?

31 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

On Sunday, three American troops were killed in a drone strike on a US base in Jordan. At least 34 were wounded. The group responsible for the attack ...

Cash for places: The backdoor for overseas students into Britain's top universities

30 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

While UK students need straight As to get onto prestigious Russell Group degree courses, their international classmates can buy their way in through s...

Inside California's ‘orgasm commune’

29 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

OneTaste, the organisation behind the practice 'orgasmic meditation', was hailed as visionary at its peak. Since then, its leader, Nicole Daedone, has...

Why the super-rich are paying less tax

26 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

A Russian-born trader and a billionaire who admitted to fraud have topped this year’s Sunday Times Tax List, but more than two-thirds of the 100 ind...

Keir Starmer’s Blairite playbook

25 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Sir Keir Starmer is on the pre-campaign trail this week, promoting his five missions that Labour are pledging to achieve if they win the upcoming elec...

Why measles cases are surging

24 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

UK health chiefs have declared a national incident following a surge in measles cases in the Midlands and London, and the World Health Organisation wa...

Battles, beauty salons and lost friends: Eight years in the Middle East

23 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Louise Callaghan has spent most of the last decade reporting from the Middle East. During that time she witnessed a coup attempt in Turkey, the battle...

Sathnam Sanghera's Empireworld: How British imperialism shaped the globe

22 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Following his seminal book Empireland, Times writer Sathnam Sanghera now looks at the legacy of colonialism for the billions of people Britain once ru...

Death row execution: Alabama's first suffocation

19 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

After trying - and failing - to kill him via lethal injection, Alabama is planning to execute death row inmate Kenneth Smith next week using an untest...

South Africa’s genocide case against Israel

18 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Three months into the war in Gaza, the conflict has reached a courtroom: the International Court of Justice in the Hague. South Africa says we are wit...

How Mean Girls made ‘fetch’ happen

17 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Twenty years after Mean Girls introduced Regina George and her pink-clad Plastics to cinema screens, the high-school Queen Bee is back in a new musica...

Who are the Houthis and will the airstrikes stop them?

16 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthis began firing missiles into Israel shortly after the invasion of Gaza. But when the rebels started targeting commercia...

Presidents, princes and sex tapes: What's in the Epstein files?

15 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

This month, thousands of court documents about Jeffrey Epstein were released, unredacted, for the first time. They include new names and allegations a...

Could Taiwan’s election start a war?

12 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Tomorrow, Taiwan heads to the polls. It’s the first election of a historic year, where more than half of the world’s population will vote. It coul...

The Post Office scandal: How a TV drama delivered justice

11 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The Prime Minister has announced new legislation to quash the convictions of wrongly accused subpostmasters. It comes after a groundswell of interest ...

If the economy’s doing better, why are the ‘vibes’ still off?

10 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The American economy appears to be making a miraculous recovery from inflation and the pandemic. So why the bad economic vibes? Consumer sentiment is ...

Why we ate our friends: The story of a plane crash

09 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In 1972 a small plane with 45 souls on board crashed in the Andes mountains. Stranded for ten weeks in minus 30C, the survivors were eventually forced...

An unsolved murder, the Troubles, and the British state

08 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In 1991, 26 year old Margaret Perry was murdered. A year later, the three men suspected of being responsible were themselves killed. All four deaths c...

An assassination in Beirut: Will the Middle East war spread?

05 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The killing of a senior Hamas official in Lebanon has further stoked tensions in the Middle East. Hezbollah’s supreme leader, Hassan Nasrallah, has ...

What to expect from President Trump 2.0

04 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Despite being banned from the ballot paper in two states (so far) and multiple legal hurdles, Donald Trump is the clear favourite to return as the Rep...

Stopped and searched: Our crime correspondent’s story

03 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

David Woode was 16 when he was first stopped and searched by police. As a black man, he is six times more likely to be stopped than white counterparts...

How to get a good night’s sleep in 2024

02 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Struggling to drift off? If your goal in the new year is to sleep better, neurologist and sleep expert Prof Guy Leschziner unlocks the mysteries of sl...

Best of 2023: How Putin might fall: A lesson from 1991

31 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In the week between Christmas and New Year, we’re listening back to some of our favourite episodes of 2023.Vladimir Putin may have averted an armed ...

Best of 2023: The seven lives of the £2 million fraudster

30 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In the week between Christmas and New Year, we’re listening back to some of our favourite episodes of 2023.Jody Oliver deceived his wife, children a...

Best of 2023: How giant pandas became China’s furry diplomats

29 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In the week between Christmas and New Year, we’re listening back to some of our favourite episodes of 2023.The giant panda has become one of China’...

Best of 2023: Cocaine Britain: Traffickers v the police

28 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In the week between Christmas and New Year, we’re listening back to some of our favourite episodes of 2023.The UK is now Europe’s biggest consumer...

Best of 2023: Why British Gas has been breaking into customers’ homes

27 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In the week between Christmas and New Year, we’re listening back to some of our favourite episodes of 2023.A Times journalist went undercover to sho...

The Archbishop of Canterbury in conversation

23 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Christmas is a time to pause and reflect. So today we take the opportunity to speak with the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, about his own mem...

“Your wheels are your legs”: The charity changing children’s lives

22 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Not all wheelchairs are created equal… whether it’s colour, size, weight or power, wheelchairs can be built to fit the user’s needs. Which is wh...

Does Gen Z have a problem with Israel?

21 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Gen Z voters are ramping up the pressure on President Biden to tone down his support for Israel in its conflict with Hamas. According to a recent New ...

2023's best books: Victorian sex, apocalypse and Prince Harry

20 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Our literary editors give us the lowdown on what they’ve been reading this last year - from steamy sex to the end of the world - and what should be ...

Sex work in Sierra Leone: A street child’s story

19 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Two weeks after yet another attempted coup, veteran Times war correspondent Anthony Loyd returns to Sierra Leone, the West African country he first vi...

How Italy’s hard-right claimed JRR Tolkien

18 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

This weekend, Rishi Sunak was in Rome meeting Italy's prime minister Giorgia Meloni. As well as being a fan of the British PM, she's also a devotee&nb...

Investigation: How the tobacco industry has secretly bankrolled vaping

15 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

A Times investigation has found that tobacco companies have been engaged in a secret lobbying campaign to try and boost their e cigarette sales. They'...

What happened to the boy who killed James Bulger

14 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Jon Venables was ten years old when he and another boy tortured and killed two year old James Bulger. He’s now been refused parole on his imprisonme...

Criminal or artist? The trial of the rapper Young Thug

13 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

He's one of the most popular rappers in America: Young Thug is facing up to 120 years in prison for allegedly being the head of a violent criminal gan...

Rishi in the dock: Covid and Rwanda

12 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

With no fewer than five separate Tory factions meeting to discuss whether or not to back the government on its revised Rwanda policy, Rishi Sunak find...

China’s deadly role in America’s fentanyl epidemic

11 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

America’s opioid crisis is now in its third decade and has killed more people than the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Vietnam combined. Fentanyl, the...

Covid Inquiry: Boris on trial

08 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Over the past two days, Boris Johnson faced a grilling at the Covid Inquiry. His appearance came after weeks of testimony from senior offici...

Does the government’s plan to cut immigration add up?

07 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Net migration to the UK hit a record high in 2022 – 745,000 more people arrived in the country than emigrated. After 13 years of promising to cut im...

Meet Geert Wilders, the Dutch Trump

06 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The victory of Geert Wilders in Holland’s recent election has raised the spectre of a European Donald Trump. Now scrabbling to put together a coalit...

'All I know is they want me dead': Iran's web of terror

05 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Iran has built an intricate network of gangs, private investigators and assassins to target enemies of the regime around the world. An investigation b...

Israel-Gaza: When does war become illegal?

04 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

On Friday, the ceasefire between Israel and Gaza came to an end. But as hostilities resume, are war crimes being committed? We hear from a war lawyer....

Who should keep the Elgin Marbles?

02 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

A diplomatic row has broken out between Rishi Sunak and his Greek counterpart Kyriakos Mitsotakis over the Elgin Marbles. Today, we’re revisiting an...

Nigel Farage in the jungle: What’s his game plan?

01 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The former Ukip and Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage is being paid £1.5 million to take part in ITV’s I’m a Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here! and...

Israel/Gaza: What happens when the ceasefire eventually ends?

30 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Negotiations to extend the ceasefire continue. But what could happen when the pause in fighting eventually ends? We bring you the view from both sides...

Confessions of a (former) royal correspondent

29 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

As the royals hit the headlines again with the release of another “tell-all” book, what’s it like reporting on ‘The Firm’? Valentine Low, Th...

The climate summit hosted by an oil executive

28 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

This week, COP28 starts in Dubai. The conference will be chaired by Sultan Ahmed al-Jaber, who happens to be the head of the United Arab Emirates’ s...

Inside the Kinahan crime cartel and their €1 billion empire

27 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Christy Kinahan is the former Dublin taxi driver who heads the world’s most wanted international gang. John Mooney, who has been pursuing Christy an...

Play on: How football returned to Ukraine

25 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

This weekend we're bringing you a documentary special from Times Radio's sister station, talkSPORT. British-Ukrainian journalist and reporter Andrew T...

Five days of chaos at ChatGPT HQ: The Sam Altman saga

24 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Last week, Sam Altman the CEO of OpenAI - the makers of ChatGPT - was sacked by his board. After a dramatic few days, he is back at the company along ...

The Israel-Hamas hostage deal, explained

23 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

It’s been nearly seven weeks since 240 Israeli hostages were seized in a terrorist attack by Hamas. The attack was followed by intense retaliatory b...

Battle of the blockbusters: Napoleon declares war on Marvel

22 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

British director Sir Ridley Scott's new epic, Napoleon, is released in cinemas today. It comes as Marvel’s latest film suffered its lowest box offic...

How the Tory budget could be a headache for Labour

21 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Tomorrow, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt will present his Autumn Statement to the Commons. For a government down in the polls, it may offer the opportunity fo...

Should Joe Biden step aside?

20 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Polling ahead of next year’s election shows a majority of Americans think Biden is too old to be president. Rambling speeches, stumbles, and his adv...

Philippa Gregory's Normal Women

19 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

This Sunday we're bringing you a bonus episode from a new podcast: Normal Women, from celebrated novelist and historian Philippa Gregory.Normal Women ...

VAR: Is technology ruining football?

17 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Seven years ago, Fifa introduced the VAR system: the video assistant referee. It was meant to help make quicker, more accurate decisions about on-fiel...

The end of The Crown: What did we really learn?

16 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The final season of the hit Netflix series The Crown comes out today. The show has reanimated events lost to history, and put our fascination with the...

Why the West Bank is about to erupt

15 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

As Israel focuses on fighting Hamas in Gaza, tensions are rising in the other Palestinian territory, the occupied West Bank. Since October 7, violence...

Cameron in, Braverman out: Rishi Sunak’s reshuffle

14 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Former prime minister David Cameron is back in the government after Rishi Sunak’s cabinet reshuffle. Pressure had been mounting on Sunak to sack Sue...

Should Zelensky negotiate with Putin?

13 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The head of Ukraine’s military says the war is at a stalemate. Meanwhile, Western attention is shifting to the Israel-Gaza conflict. So is a militar...

The world according to Nadine Dorries

11 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

“This really is the single weirdest book I have ever read, and anyone who does not reach the same conclusion after reading it should be sectioned.”...

The culture war comes to the National Trust

10 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Tomorrow is the Annual General Meeting of the National Trust - and battle lines are being drawn. Over the past two years, a protest faction called 'Re...

Gaza protests: The new split in British politics?

09 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Suella Braverman has accused the Metropolitan Police of “playing favourites” with protesters as she clashed with Britain’s most senior officer o...

The new Great Power Bloc: How China, Russia and Iran are rallying against the West

08 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken wrapped up a whistle stop tour of the Middle East earlier this week, as part of a frantic diplomatic effort to de...