The Story

Since 2016, a mysterious illness has affected US diplomatic and security staff working abroad. The symptoms include headaches, fatigue and problems with balance and memory, but are they victims of attacks with sonic weapons or is there another explanation?This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support of readers of The Times and The Sunday Times. Subscribe today and get one month free at: thetimes.co.uk/storiesofourtimes.Host: David AaronovitchGuest: Warren Strobel, National Security Reporter for the Wall Street Journal.Dr. Suzanne O'Sullivan, consultant neurologist.Clips: BBC, CBC, CBS, CNBC, CNN, Global News, NBC, ReutersThis podcast was brought to you thanks to subscribers of The Times and The Sunday Times. To enjoy unlimited digital access to all our journalism subscribe here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A year on from the US presidential election, America's most conservative citizens are relocating en masse to a remote region in the Pacific Northwest. Times filmmaker Alastair Good takes us into the American Redoubt, where talk of secession and civil war is routine.This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support of readers of The Times and The Sunday Times. Subscribe today and get one month free at: thetimes.co.uk/storiesofourtimes. Guest: Alastair Good, deputy head of video and audio, The Times and The Sunday Times. You can watch Alastair's full film here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qy6RQJQ6J5wHost: Manveen Rana.Producer: Arlie Adlington.Executive producer: James Shield.Clips: CBS, ABC, BBC, C-SPAN, Radio Free Redoubt.This podcast was brought to you thanks to subscribers of The Times and The Sunday Times. To enjoy unlimited digital access to all our journalism subscribe here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lebanon is in economic crisis with shortages of food, medicine and electricity on the ground. Today, how did the country, whose capital was once described as the Paris of the Middle East, get here? And is there hope for the future?This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support of readers of The Times and The Sunday Times. Subscribe today and get one month free at: thetimes.co.uk/storiesofourtimes. Host: Manveen Rana.Guest: Richard Spencer, middle east correspondent, The Times.Clips: The Baim Collection: Soundtrack from 1961 film ‘This is Lebanon’, BBC, UPTIN, CNBC, Thames TV, Al Jazeera, Channel 4, RT.This podcast was brought to you thanks to subscribers of The Times and The Sunday Times. To enjoy unlimited digital access to all our journalism subscribe here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As delegates from almost two hundred nations gather in Glasgow for the COP26 climate conference, the stakes couldn't be higher. But can the conference succeed if the leaders of some of the world's biggest polluting nations haven't even turned up?This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support of readers of The Times and The Sunday Times. Subscribe today and get one month free at: thetimes.co.uk/storiesofourtimes. Host: Manveen Rana.Guest: Ben Spencer, science editor, The Sunday Times.Clips: Al Jazeera, BBC, France 24, ITV, CNBC.This podcast was brought to you thanks to subscribers of The Times and The Sunday Times. To enjoy unlimited digital access to all our journalism subscribe here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Will this winter be good, bad, or somewhere in between? Today we take stock of the pandemic, and science editor Tom Whipple helps us imagine what might be just around the corner.This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support of readers of The Times and The Sunday Times. Subscribe today and get one month free at: thetimes.co.uk/storiesofourtimes. Host: David Aaronovitch.Guest: Tom Whipple, science editor, The Times.Clips: BBC, CNBC, CBC, CBS.This podcast was brought to you thanks to subscribers of The Times and The Sunday Times. To enjoy unlimited digital access to all our journalism subscribe here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Perez Hilton was the original celebrity gossip blogger, who spared no one with his spiky, often malicious posts – and Britney Spears became a favourite target. As his actions come under fresh scrutiny, Sunday Times freelance writer Sarah Ditum assesses the impact he had on celebrity culture, and asks: how complicit were the rest of us?This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support of readers of The Times and The Sunday Times. Subscribe today and get one month free at: thetimes.co.uk/storiesofourtimes. Host: Manveen Rana.Guest: Sarah Ditum, freelance writer.This podcast was brought to you thanks to subscribers of The Times and The Sunday Times. To enjoy unlimited digital access to all our journalism subscribe here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ahead of the chancellor's budget and spending review tomorrow, we look for lessons from the past. Plus, The Times speaks with Rishi Sunak.This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support of readers of The Times and The Sunday Times. Subscribe today and get one month free at: thetimes.co.uk/storiesofourtimes. Host: Manveen Rana.Guests: - David Smith, economics editor, The Sunday Times.- Oliver Wright, policy editor, The Times.Clips: Parliament TV, NBC, Thames Television, Global News, ITV News, Channel 4 News, Sky News.This podcast was brought to you thanks to subscribers of The Times and The Sunday Times. To enjoy unlimited digital access to all our journalism subscribe here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The desire to live forever is as old as life itself. Now some of the world's richest people are investing heavily in the science of immortality. Could we get to a point where dying becomes optional?This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support of readers of The Times and The Sunday Times. Subscribe today and get one month free at: thetimes.co.uk/storiesofourtimes.Host: Manveen Rana.Guests: -Tom Whipple, science editor, The Times.-Danny Fortson, West Coast correspondent, The Sunday Times.This podcast was brought to you thanks to subscribers of The Times and The Sunday Times. To enjoy unlimited digital access to all our journalism subscribe here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In Westminster, the shock was palpable. How could this have happened again? While MPs' safety is being re-examined following the killing of Sir David Amess, a new bill has been proposed to end online anonymity. It's being called David's Law – but how much does this proposal have to do with what actually happened to Sir David?This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support of readers of The Times and The Sunday Times. Subscribe today and get one month free at: thetimes.co.uk/storiesofourtimes.Host: Manveen Rana.Guest: Rosamund Urwin, media and technology correspondent, The Sunday Times.Clips: Times Radio, BBC, Sky News.This podcast was brought to you thanks to subscribers of The Times and The Sunday Times. To enjoy unlimited digital access to all our journalism subscribe here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As politicians in France vie to be the challenger in next year's French presidential election an outsider looks to be a contender. Who is Eric Zemmour, the right-wing journalist and author and what does he believe in?This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support of readers of The Times and The Sunday Times. Subscribe today and get one month free at: thetimes.co.uk/storiesofourtimes.Guest: Adam Sage, Paris correspondent, The Times.Host: David Aaronovitch.Clips: Al Jazeera, C A vous, France 24, Front Populaire, RMC.This podcast was brought to you thanks to subscribers of The Times and The Sunday Times. To enjoy unlimited digital access to all our journalism subscribe here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.