At just 22 years old, Chris travels to Ukraine for his spring break, keen to see war up close. For the first time, he experiences the thrill and horror of the frontline. He's hooked. Five years later, Basia, along with Chris's cousin, Jeremy, visit Chris's parents in America to piece together who he really was. There they learn a troubling new detail about Chris's time in Ukraine. Listen to the full series today. For the premium Tortoise listening experience, curated by our journalists, <a href="https://tortoisemedia.onelink.me/Cx9d/c770bd87" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">download the free Tortoise audio app</a>. For early and ad-free access to all our investigative series and daily and weekly shows, subscribe to Tortoise+ on Apple Podcasts. If you’d like to further support slow journalism and help us build a different kind of newsroom, do consider donating to Tortoise at <a href="http://tortoisemedia.com/support-us" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">tortoisemedia.com/support-us</a>. Your contributions allow us to investigate, campaign and explore, and to build a newsroom that is responsible and sustainable.<hr> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.

At just 22 years old, Chris travels to Ukraine for his spring break, keen to see war up close. For the first time, he experiences the thrill and horror of the frontline. He's hooked. Five years later, Basia, along with Chris's cousin, Jeremy, visit Chris's parents in America to piece together who he really was. There they learn a troubling new detail about Chris's time in Ukraine. Listen to the full series today. For the premium Tortoise listening experience, curated by our journalists, download the free Tortoise audio app. For early and ad-free access to all our investigative series and daily and weekly shows, subscribe to Tortoise+ on Apple Podcasts. If you’d like to further support slow journalism and help us build a different kind of newsroom, do consider donating to Tortoise at tortoisemedia.com/support-us. Your contributions allow us to investigate, campaign and explore, and to build a newsroom that is responsible and sustainable. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

At just 22 years old, Chris travels to Ukraine for his spring break, keen to see war up close. For the first time, he experiences the thrill and horror of the frontline. He's hooked. Five years later, Basia, along with Chris's cousin, Jeremy, visit Chris's parents in America to piece together who he really was. There they learn a troubling new detail about Chris's time in Ukraine. Listen to the full series today. For the&nbsp;premium Tortoise listening experience, curated by our journalists,&nbsp;<a href="https://tortoisemedia.onelink.me/Cx9d/c770bd87" rel="noopener noreferrer">download the free Tortoise audio app</a>. For early and ad-free&nbsp;access to all our investigative series and daily and weekly shows,&nbsp;subscribe&nbsp;to Tortoise+ on Apple&nbsp;Podcasts. If you’d like to further support slow journalism and help us build a different kind of newsroom, do consider donating to Tortoise at <a href="http://tortoisemedia.com/support-us" rel="noopener noreferrer">tortoisemedia.com/support-us</a>. Your contributions allow us to investigate, campaign and explore, and to build a newsroom that is responsible and sustainable. Hosted on Acast. See <a href="https://acast.com/privacy" rel="noopener noreferrer">acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.

Spring break | Pig Iron Ep 2

Three years ago travel writer Lydia Gard discovered freediving almost by accident. It’s an extreme and beautiful sport defined by one simple objective: to dive as deep as you can on one single breath.&nbsp;Record holders are now routinely diving to more than 120 metres, pushing the sport and their bodies to find out what’s humanly possible. Through her coach, Lydia was drawn into a small but fanatical community of competition athletes all united in their drive for depth, and that’s where she stumbled on a darker side of the sport. Rumours swirled that a group of top divers were doping to get deeper, faster.&nbsp; As the community began to turn on each other over the allegations, one prominent diver decided to take the law into his own hands. A secret sting operation was meant to put an end to the problem by bringing the alleged dopers out of the dark, and into the light. But the issue hasn't gone away. And now, a lot of people who’ve been too scared to speak up, are ready to talk.&nbsp; Episode 1 will be available to listen on Tuesday 18th November.Subscribe to Observer+ on Apple Podcasts and Spotify to binge listen to the entire series on Tuesday 18th November. To find out more about The Observer: Subscribe to TheObserver+ on Apple Podcasts for early access and ad-free contentHead to our website&nbsp;<a href="http://observer.co.uk/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">observer.co.uk</a>&nbsp;<hr> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.

Society & Culture

Documentary

True Crime

Three years ago travel writer Lydia Gard discovered freediving almost by accident. It’s an extreme and beautiful sport defined by one simple objective: to dive as deep as you can on one single breath. Record holders are now routinely diving to more than 120 metres, pushing the sport and their bodies to find out what’s humanly possible. Through her coach, Lydia was drawn into a small but fanatical community of competition athletes all united in their drive for depth, and that’s where she stumbled on a darker side of the sport. Rumours swirled that a group of top divers were doping to get deeper, faster.  As the community began to turn on each other over the allegations, one prominent diver decided to take the law into his own hands. A secret sting operation was meant to put an end to the problem by bringing the alleged dopers out of the dark, and into the light. But the issue hasn't gone away. And now, a lot of people who’ve been too scared to speak up, are ready to talk.  Episode 1 will be available to listen on Tuesday 18th November. Subscribe to Observer+ on Apple Podcasts and Spotify to binge listen to the entire series on Tuesday 18th November. To find out more about The Observer: Subscribe to TheObserver+ on Apple Podcasts for early access and ad-free content Head to our website observer.co.uk  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Three years ago travel writer Lydia Gard discovered freediving almost by accident. It’s an extreme and beautiful sport defined by one simple objective: to dive as deep as you can on one single breath.&nbsp;Record holders are now routinely diving to more than 120 metres, pushing the sport and their bodies to find out what’s humanly possible. Through her coach, Lydia was drawn into a small but fanatical community of competition athletes all united in their drive for depth, and that’s where she stumbled on a darker side of the sport. Rumours swirled that a group of top divers were doping to get deeper, faster.&nbsp; As the community began to turn on each other over the allegations, one prominent diver decided to take the law into his own hands. A secret sting operation was meant to put an end to the problem by bringing the alleged dopers out of the dark, and into the light. But the issue hasn't gone away. And now, a lot of people who’ve been too scared to speak up, are ready to talk.&nbsp; Episode 1 will be available to listen on Tuesday 18th November.Subscribe to Observer+ on Apple Podcasts and Spotify to binge listen to the entire series on Tuesday 18th November. To find out more about The Observer: Subscribe to TheObserver+ on Apple Podcasts for early access and ad-free contentHead to our website&nbsp;<a href="http://observer.co.uk/" rel="noopener noreferrer">observer.co.uk</a>&nbsp; Hosted on Acast. See <a href="https://acast.com/privacy" rel="noopener noreferrer">acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.

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Spring break | Pig Iron Ep 2

Spring break | Pig Iron Ep 2

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