The Slow Newscast
The Observer
The Slow Newscast from The Observer takes the news slowly. We investigate, and every week we focus on stories that really matter in the UK and around the world. From wars in Ukraine and Gaza through to true crime and injustice and real life mysteries, The Slow Newscast team is devoted to narrative investigations covering some of the biggest topics of the day.Who are the people biohacking themselves in a quest for immortality? Or the man taking on an entire nation in the high seas to protect whales? And what happened when humanity's most distant messenger fell silent? From a newsroom with a different approach to journalism these are the stories we tell.To find out more about The Observer:Subscribe to TheObserver+ on Apple Podcasts for early access and ad-free contentHead to our website observer.co.uk Download the Tortoise app – for a listening experience curated by our journalistsIf you want to get in touch with us directly about a story, or tell us more about the stories you want to hear about contact hello@tortoisemedia.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Mar 12, 2020 • 25min
The rules: can we fix our broken politics?
UK politics has torn itself apart over Brexit. Parliament, the prime minister, 'the people' and the courts have been at each others' throats, and old conventions governing the way the system works have been ripped up. Tortoise has set out to answer an old and important question: instead of celebrating the fact that Britain is one of the few countries in the world without a written constitution, is it time for us to draft one? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Mar 5, 2020 • 33min
A college with secrets
Trinity Hall is a small Cambridge college - one of the 30+ which make up the university. After an investigation over several months, Tortoise has brought to light a number of allegations of sexual impropriety and assault. In each case, there's evidence that the college may have put its own interests ahead of the victims'. The question has been asked: is this the #MeToo moment for British universities? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Feb 27, 2020 • 33min
My mother's murder - episode 4: The last domino
Daphne Caruana Galizia was Malta's pre-eminent investigative journalist. She exposed corruption at the highest levels of politics and business in the country until, in October 2017, she was murdered by a car bomb. Since her death, her family has fought tirelessly for justice in the face of overwhelming odds. In this four-part series, Daphne's son Paul Caruana Galizia returns to Malta to uncover an assassination plot which extends into the highest reaches of the Maltese government. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Feb 20, 2020 • 33min
My mother's murder - episode 3: Truth to power
Daphne Caruana Galizia was Malta's pre-eminent investigative journalist. She exposed corruption at the highest levels of politics and business in the country until, in October 2017, she was murdered by a car bomb. Since her death, her family has fought tirelessly for justice in the face of overwhelming odds. In this four-part series, Daphne's son Paul Caruana Galizia returns to Malta to uncover an assassination plot which extends into the highest reaches of the Maltese government. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Feb 13, 2020 • 39min
My mother's murder - episode 2: An assassination foretold
Daphne Caruana Galizia was Malta's pre-eminent investigative journalist. She exposed corruption at the highest levels of politics and business in the country until, in October 2017, she was murdered by a car bomb. Since her death, her family has fought tirelessly for justice in the face of overwhelming odds. In this four-part series, Daphne's son Paul Caruana Galizia returns to Malta to uncover an assassination plot which extends into the highest reaches of the Maltese government. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Feb 10, 2020 • 32min
My mother's murder - episode 1
Daphne Caruana Galizia was Malta's pre-eminent investigative journalist. She exposed corruption at the highest levels of politics and business in the country until, in October 2017, she was murdered by a car bomb. Since her death, her family has fought tirelessly for justice in the face of overwhelming odds. In this four-part series, Daphne's son Paul Caruana Galizia returns to Malta to uncover an assassination plot which extends into the highest reaches of the Maltese government. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Feb 6, 2020 • 33min
Trump in Bethlehem
This week we're in Pennsylvania, where Trump won in 2016. Can he win here again? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Feb 1, 2020 • 29min
The world inside
The new frontier of medical science is closer than you think – much closer. It lies within us, in the bacteria and viruses of the gut, and in the mysterious efficacy of faecal transplants.There’s so much hype in health journalism. But the study of the gut microbiome – the universe of bacteria living in our intestine – really is opening up a new age in our understanding of the human body that promises to unlock revolutions in drugs and healthcare, food and nutrition, wellbeing and even happiness.James Harding, editor and co-founder of Tortoise, spoke to James Kinross, a researcher and consultant colorectal surgeon - one of our leading gut scientists Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Jan 30, 2020 • 25min
Coronavirus: is this the one?
One day, the next catastrophic global epidemic will strike. Scientists already know a few things about it: it will probably have crossed the species barrier from animal to human; it’s likely to originate in Asia; it will travel easily from person to person.The coronavirus has all those characteristics but we may be fortunate. The early signs are that it’s not as fatal as some of the viruses responsible for previous pandemics, and the lessons we learned from those outbreaks may help to contain it.In this week’s Tortoise podcast, Basia Cummings looks back at SARS, the last virus which seemed to carry a global threat, and how one doctor’s actions saved countless lives in a country. Her guest is Jeremy Farrar, director of the medical research charity, the Wellcome Trust. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Jan 27, 2020 • 53min
Three women, homeless
We'd like you to meet Toni, Sharon and Nicky. You may have passed them on the street - somebody who listens to this podcast almost certainly will have done. But you won't have met them, any more than most of us really meet women who are homeless and sleeping rough in subways, stations and shop doorways.Audrey Gillan has spent time with all three women, hearing their stories; how they came to be where they are, and what their lives are like. The number of homeless women in the UK has shot up in recent years. The stories that Toni, Sharon and Nicky tell help explain why.You can read more on the Tortoise app, in our multi-part investigation:Three women, homeless InvisibleThe helping handsThe revolving door Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
