The Audio Long Read podcast

The Audio Long Read

The Audio Long Read podcast is a selection of the Guardian’s long reads, giving you the opportunity to get on with your day while listening to some of the finest longform journalism the Guardian has to offer, including in-depth writing from around the world on current affairs, climate change, global warming, immigration, crime, business, the arts and much more. The podcast explores a range of subjects and news across business, global politics (including Trump, Israel, Palestine and Gaza), money, philosophy, science, internet culture, modern life, war, climate change, current affairs, music and trends, and seeks to answer key questions around them through in depth interviews explainers, and analysis with quality Guardian reporting. Through first person accounts, narrative audio storytelling and investigative reporting, the Audio Long Read seeks to dive deep, debunk myths and uncover hidden histories. In previous episodes we have asked questions like: do we need a new theory of evolution? Whether Trump can win the US presidency or not? Why can't we stop quantifying our lives? Why have our nuclear fears faded? Why do so many bikes end up underwater? How did Germany get hooked on Russian energy? Are we all prisoners of geography? How was London's Olympic legacy sold out? Who owns Einstein? Is free will an illusion? What lies beghind the Arctic's Indigenous suicide crisis? What is the mystery of India's deadly exam scam? Who is the man who built his own cathedral? And, how did the world get hooked on palm oil? Other topics range from: history including empire to politics, conflict, Ukraine, Russia, Israel, Gaza, philosophy, science, psychology, health and finance. Audio Long Read journalists include Samira Shackle, Tom Lamont, Sophie Elmhirst, Samanth Subramanian, Imogen West-Knights, Sirin Kale, Daniel Trilling and Giles Tremlett.

The Audio Long Read podcast is a selection of the Guardian’s long reads, giving you the opportunity to get on with your day while listening to some of the finest longform journalism the Guardian has to offer, including in-depth writing from around the world on current affairs, climate change, global warming, immigration, crime, business, the arts and much more. The podcast explores a range of subjects and news across business, global politics (including Trump, Israel, Palestine and Gaza), money, philosophy, science, internet culture, modern life, war, climate change, current affairs, music and trends, and seeks to answer key questions around them through in depth interviews explainers, and analysis with quality Guardian reporting. Through first person accounts, narrative audio storytelling and investigative reporting, the Audio Long Read seeks to dive deep, debunk myths and uncover hidden histories. In previous episodes we have asked questions like: do we need a new theory of evolution? Whether Trump can win the US presidency or not? Why can't we stop quantifying our lives? Why have our nuclear fears faded? Why do so many bikes end up underwater? How did Germany get hooked on Russian energy? Are we all prisoners of geography? How was London's Olympic legacy sold out? Who owns Einstein? Is free will an illusion? What lies beghind the Arctic's Indigenous suicide crisis? What is the mystery of India's deadly exam scam? Who is the man who built his own cathedral? And, how did the world get hooked on palm oil? Other topics range from: history including empire to politics, conflict, Ukraine, Russia, Israel, Gaza, philosophy, science, psychology, health and finance. Audio Long Read journalists include Samira Shackle, Tom Lamont, Sophie Elmhirst, Samanth Subramanian, Imogen West-Knights, Sirin Kale, Daniel Trilling and Giles Tremlett.

 

#300

Signature moves: are we losing the ability to write by hand?

We are far more likely to use our hands to type or swipe than pick up a pen. But in the pr... more

Yesterday

30 MINS

30:22

Yesterday


#299

‘Here lives the monster’s brain’: the man who exposed Switzerland’s dirty secrets

Inspired by Che Guevara, Jean Ziegler has spent the past 60 years exposing how Switzerland... more

07 Mar 2025

31 MINS

31:34

07 Mar 2025


#298

From the archive: ‘In my 30 years as a GP, the profession has been horribly eroded’

We are raiding the Guardian Long Read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years... more

05 Mar 2025

25 MINS

25:07

05 Mar 2025


#297

Massacre in the jungle: how an Indigenous man was made the public face of an atrocity

In 2004, 29 people were killed by members of the Cinta Larga tribe in Brazil’s Amazon basi... more

03 Mar 2025

32 MINS

32:31

03 Mar 2025


#296

Israel and the delusions of Germany’s ‘memory culture’

Germany embraced Israel to atone for its wartime guilt. But was this in part a way to avoi... more

28 Feb 2025

34 MINS

34:03

28 Feb 2025


#295

From the archive: One drug dealer, two corrupt cops and a risky FBI sting

We are raiding the Guardian Long Read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years... more

26 Feb 2025

41 MINS

41:22

26 Feb 2025


#294

Innit innit boys and Super Eagles: how Nigerian Londoners found their identity through football

For the children of the Nigerian diaspora, displaced by war and split between two worlds, ... more

24 Feb 2025

26 MINS

26:46

24 Feb 2025


#293

The mysterious novelist who foresaw Putin’s Russia – and then came to symbolise its moral decay

Victor Pelevin made his name in 90s Russia with scathing satires of authoritarianism. But ... more

21 Feb 2025

34 MINS

34:30

21 Feb 2025


#292

From the archive: Was it inevitable? A short history of Russia’s war on Ukraine

We are raiding the Guardian Long Read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years... more

19 Feb 2025

46 MINS

46:12

19 Feb 2025


#291

The loudest megaphone: how Trump mastered our new attention age

The old model of political debate is over, and spectacle beats argument every time. How di... more

17 Feb 2025

33 MINS

33:18

17 Feb 2025


#290

How a young Dutch woman’s life began when she was allowed to die

At the last minute, Zoë decided to call off her euthanasia. But how do you start over afte... more

14 Feb 2025

38 MINS

38:32

14 Feb 2025


#289

From the archive: The knackerman: the toughest job in British farming

We are raiding the Guardian Long Read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years... more

12 Feb 2025

33 MINS

33:22

12 Feb 2025


#288

‘Bring me my tariffs’: how Trump’s China plan was 40 years in the making

Both Xi Jinping and Donald Trump’s political careers were shaped by their formative experi... more

10 Feb 2025

31 MINS

31:35

10 Feb 2025


#287

Tokyo drift: what happens when a city stops being the future?

Tokyo remains, in the world’s imagination, a place of sophistication and wealth. But with ... more

07 Feb 2025

32 MINS

32:31

07 Feb 2025


#286

From the archive: The false positives scandal: how thousands of innocent Colombians were killed so s...

We are raiding the Guardian Long Read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years... more

05 Feb 2025

40 MINS

40:57

05 Feb 2025


#285

The great abandonment: what happens to the natural world when people disappear?

Across the globe, vast swathes of land are being left to be reclaimed by nature. To see wh... more

03 Feb 2025

34 MINS

34:12

03 Feb 2025


#284

Endless work, little money, occasional UFOs: my father’s five decades driving Brazil’s roads

As a sociologist, my career couldn’t be further from that of my father, who spent his life... more

31 Jan 2025

30 MINS

30:31

31 Jan 2025


#283

From the archive: How one man spent 34 years in prison after setting fire to a pair of curtains

We are raiding the Guardian Long Read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years... more

29 Jan 2025

35 MINS

35:56

29 Jan 2025


#282

The man making a business out of China’s burnout generation

Li Jianxiong was a highflying marketing executive in Beijing until a breakdown sent him to... more

27 Jan 2025

32 MINS

32:45

27 Jan 2025


#281

Humphrey’s world: how the Samuel Smith beer baron built Britain’s strangest pub chain

Since the 1970s, Humphrey Smith has acquired scores of pubs and historic properties around... more

24 Jan 2025

43 MINS

43:54

24 Jan 2025