Episodes

  • From the archive: The Blackstone rebellion: how one country took on the world’s biggest commercial landlord

    From the archive: The Blackstone rebellion: how one country took on the world’s biggest commercial landlord
    Oct 8 2025
    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: the giant asset management firm used to target places where people worked and shopped. Then it started buying up people’s homes. In one country, the backlash was ferocious By Hettie O’Brien. Read by Evelyn Miller. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod
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    45 mins
  • ‘We’ve done it before’: how not to lose hope in the fight against ecological disaster

    ‘We’ve done it before’: how not to lose hope in the fight against ecological disaster
    Oct 6 2025
    Some days it can feel as if climate catastrophe is inevitable. But history is full of cases – such as the banning of whaling and CFCs – that show humanity can come together to avert disaster By Kate Marvel. Read by Norma Butikofer. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod
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    30 mins
  • From bank robber to scholar: the Knoxville dropout fighting to change how we see addiction

    From bank robber to scholar: the Knoxville dropout fighting to change how we see addiction
    Oct 3 2025
    Kirsten Smith was 19 when she first tried heroin; within a few years she was in prison. She says she willingly made bad choices and wants society to stop treating addiction as a disease By Xi Chen. Read by Katherine Fenton. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod
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    32 mins
  • From the archive: Divine comedy: the standup double act who turned to the priesthood

    From the archive: Divine comedy: the standup double act who turned to the priesthood
    Oct 1 2025
    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: Josh and Jack used to interrogate life via absurdist jokes and sketches. But the questions they had just kept getting bigger – and led them both to embark upon a profound transformation By Lamorna Ash. Read by Katie Lyons. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod
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    45 mins
  • ‘A climate of unparalleled malevolence’: are we on our way to the sixth major mass extinction?

    ‘A climate of unparalleled malevolence’: are we on our way to the sixth major mass extinction?
    Sep 29 2025
    Churning quantities of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere at the rate we are going could lead the planet to another Great Dying By Peter Brannen. Read by Lincoln Conway. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod
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    31 mins
  • Bland, easy to follow, for fans of everything: what has the Netflix algorithm done to our films?

    Bland, easy to follow, for fans of everything: what has the Netflix algorithm done to our films?
    Sep 26 2025
    When the streaming giant began making films guided by data that aimed to please a vast audience, the results were often generic, forgettable, artless affairs. But is there a happy ending? By Phil Hoad. Read by Adam Sims. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod
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    41 mins
  • From the archive: Forgetting the apocalypse: why our nuclear fears faded – and why that’s dangerous

    From the archive: Forgetting the apocalypse: why our nuclear fears faded – and why that’s dangerous
    Sep 24 2025
    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: The horrors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki made the whole world afraid of the atomic bomb – even those who might launch one. Today that fear has mostly passed out of living memory, and with it we may have lost a crucial safeguard By Daniel Immerwahr. Read by Christopher Ragland. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod
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    45 mins
  • ‘The forest had gone’: the storm that moved a mountain

    ‘The forest had gone’: the storm that moved a mountain
    Sep 22 2025
    On a small ledge in the Swiss mountains, 200 people were enjoying a summer football tournament. As night fell, they had no idea what was coming By Jonah Goodman. Read by Evelyn Miller. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod
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    46 mins