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 mystery of the nameless girl found dead in a Spanish border town
On a summer morning in 1990, the body of a young woman appeared in a small town close to the frontier. For those who saw her, finding her identity became an obsession that would last 30 years By Giles Tremlett. Read by Luis Soto. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod
Expires in 41 hours
Published Friday
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From acid house to ancient rites: Jeremy Deller’s enormous, collaborative, unsellable art
The artist Jeremy Deller can’t really draw or paint. Instead of making things, he makes things happen. And later this year, he is planning to unleash a bacchanalian festival that will be his most daring public artwork yet By Charlotte Higgins. Read by Richard Coyle. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod
Published Monday
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What happens when the US declares war on your parents? The Black Panther Cubs know
The Black Panthers shook America awake before the party was eviscerated by the US government. Their children paid a steep price, but also emerged with unassailable pride and burning lessons for today By Ed Pilkington. Read by Chiké Okonkwo. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod
Published 05/02
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From the archive: The last phone boxes: broken glass, cider cans and – amazingly – a dial tone
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, from 2022: Five million payphone calls are still made each year in the UK. Who is making them – and why? By Sophie Elmhirst. Read by Emma Powell. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod
Published 04/30
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Many life-saving drugs fail for lack of funding. But there’s a solution: desperate rich people
Each year, hundreds of potentially world-changing treatments are discarded because scientists run out of cash. But where big pharma or altruists fear to tread, my friend and I have a solution. It’s repugnant, but it will work By Alexander Masters. Read by Tom Andrews. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod
Published 04/28
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In search of the South Pacific fugitive who crowned himself king
Noah Musingku made a fortune with a Ponzi scheme and then retreated to a remote armed compound in the jungle, where he still commands the loyalty of his Bougainville subjects By Sean Williams. Read by Simon Darwen. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod
Published 04/25
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From the archive: ‘I pleaded for help. No one wrote back’: the pain of watching my country fall to the Taliban
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, from 2021: As the fighters advanced on Kabul, it was civilians who mobilised to help with the evacuation. In the absence of a plan, the hardest decisions fell on inexperienced volunteers, and the stress began to tell By Zarlasht Halaimzai. Read by Serena Manteghi. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod
Published 04/23
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The real Scandi noir: how a filmmaker and a crooked lawyer shattered Denmark’s self-image
The Black Swan follows a repentant master criminal as she sets up corrupt clients in front of hidden cameras. But is she really reformed – and is the director up to his own tricks? By Samanth Subramanian. Read by David Bateson. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod
Published 04/21
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From the archive: The great betrayal: how the Hillsborough families were failed by the justice system
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, from 2021: After 32 years of establishment lies, media smears, inquests, trials and retrials, the families of the Hillsborough dead have yet to see anyone held accountable By David Conn. Read by Gavin Skelhorn. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod
Published 04/15
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My mother, the racist
She spent her life in northern France doing exhausting, back-breaking work – and yet she turned her anger against people who had done no wrongs to her. But as much as I couldn’t stand her rants, I was forced to accept her as she was By Didier Eribon. Read by Mark Noble. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod
Published 04/14
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From the archive: ‘The treeline is out of control’: how the climate crisis is turning the Arctic green
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, from 2022: In northern Norway, trees are rapidly taking over the tundra and threatening an ancient way of life that depends on snow and ice By Ben Rawlence. Read by Christien Anholt. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod
Published 04/02
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The savage suburbia of Helen Garner: ‘I wanted to dong Martin Amis with a bat’
Over 50 years, she has become one of the most revered writers in Australia. Is she finally going to get worldwide recognition? By Sophie Elmhirst. Read by Nicolette Chin. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod
