Stories of our times

By The Times

News & Politics

What's Stories of our times about?

Coming soon - the best journalism from Britain’s most trusted newspaper, now as a podcast. Taking you to the heart of the story, with exclusive access and gripping reporting. A daily show, published first thing for the start of your working day. Stories of our times is hosted by Manveen Rana and David Aaronovitch.

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Update on Shamima Begum: Br...

02.27.2021

The Supreme Court has ruled that Shamima Begum will not be allowed to return to the UK to fight her citizenship case. Begum, who was a teenager when she left Britain to join ISIS, has been fighting a legal battle ...

Stories of our times episodes:

02.27.2021 Update on Shamima Begum: Bring Me Home The Supreme Court has ruled that Shamima Begum will not be allowed to return to the UK to fight her citizenship case. Begum, who was a teenager when she left Britain to join ISIS, has been fighting a legal battle ...
02.26.2021 The Jessie Earl story: The family pain of an unsolved murder Features writer for The Sunday Times Rosie Kinchen examines what it's like to live through the ordeal of losing your daughter and never getting the recognition of what exactly happened. This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support ...
02.25.2021 Investigation: One bruise and they took the baby away If one day, you saw your newborn baby with a little bruise you couldn't explain, what would you do? Many people like Holly Kobayashi would ask a professional for advice and reassurance. Instead Holly set in motion a process which ...
02.24.2021 Guns, skis and corruption: Biathlon Three years ago, a dramatic raid at the headquarters of a popular winter sports blew open a scandal at the International Biathlon Union. The former president, Anders Besseberg, has been accused of receiving gifts in return for favours. These are ...
02.23.2021 From conspiracy theories to Congress: The Marjorie Taylor Greene story Who is the Congresswoman who has split the Republican party with her toxic views? 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 ...
02.22.2021 How China uses LinkedIn to steal state secrets The Times has uncovered that spies are creating fake business profiles on the professional networking site so that they can identify targets and obtain classified information. Under fake profiles, agents offer money and lucrative business opportunities in exchange for sensitive ...
02.21.2021 Past Imperfect: Nadiya Hussain In this special bonus edition we are bringing you an episode from another Times podcast - Past Imperfect. Nadiya Hussain MBE rose to fame after winning The Great British Bake Off back in 2015. She talks to Rachel Sylvester and ...
02.19.2021 It's a Sin: Should gay roles be reserved for gay actors? Before Channel 4's hit series It's Sin was broadcast, writer Russell T Davies made headlines for his comments on how the show was cast. Should LGBTQ+ roles only be played by those with a lived experience? Or is that in ...
02.18.2021 How Russia's vaccine disinformation war backfired In October, a Stories of our times investigation blew the lid off a Russian disinformation campaign, which had aimed to stoke fears about the Oxford vaccine. Now Russia has its own vaccine, Sputnik, which is highly effective but still isn't ...
02.17.2021 A lockdown exit strategy: Lessons from Israel and Australia On Monday the prime minister will unveil a roadmap for how we exit lockdown. Today we look to two countries which might show us a glimpse of the future: Australia and Israel. This podcast was brought to you thanks to ...
02.16.2021 Post-Brexit Britain 2021: Who do we think we are? It's been over a year since the UK officially left the EU on the 31st of January 2020 in a vote which was fuelled by decades of British Euroscepticism. With terms like 'remainer' and 'Brexiteer' now holding less significance, what ...
02.15.2021 Afghanistan's road to peace: Murder in Kabul Last month, a team of assassins shot and killed two of Afghanistan’s most eminent women. The murder of the two Supreme Court judges is part of an assassination campaign targeting Kabul’s intellectual and social elite. Yet even as violence surges ...
02.12.2021 The strange case of the spy in the bag: Is it time for a review? A decade after an MI6 agent was found dead in a North Face holdall, the detective who led the inquiry wants a forensic case review. This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support of readers of The Times ...
02.11.2021 Inside Porton Down: Britain’s top secret laboratory What goes on inside one of the most secure, secretive and at times controversial British institutions? The Times is the first newspaper to be allowed into some of the most secure laboratories at Porton Down. Plus: an exclusive interview with ...
02.10.2021 Civil disobedience and the future of Myanmar's democracy Protesters in Myanmar are demanding the release of elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi who was arrested when the military seized power. How did this country become unstable so quickly and what's next for Myanmar's pro-democracy movement? This podcast was ...
02.09.2021 The second impeachment: Trump on trial again Today the Senate trial begins: Donald Trump is charged with ‘incitement of insurrection’ over the Capitol riot. After four controversial years in power, the former President's ability to hold office again now hangs in the balance. What should we expect ...
02.08.2021 GameStop: A very modern fable The inside story of how the WallStreetBets forum on Reddit took on Wall Street, sending shares in the struggling retailer GameStop skyrocketing… until they crashed back to earth. Content warning: strong language and mentions of suicide. This podcast was brought ...
02.06.2021 Brain trauma: The issue rugby can no longer ignore As the annual Six Nations tournament gets underway this weekend, recent high profile lawsuits filed against rugby union’s governing bodies from ex-professionals have cast a shadow over the game. Is the sport facing a criss that could see parents stop ...
02.05.2021 How Brussels bungled the vaccine Two weeks ago AstraZeneca shocked the EU by cutting its vaccine delivery by 60%. What went wrong, and why? And could the high drama that followed have a lasting political impact? This podcast was brought to you thanks to the ...
02.04.2021 India: The farmers v the government For months, protesters have been camping out on the outskirts of Delhi, demanding the repeal of a set of agricultural laws. Last week, as India tried to celebrate its Republic Day, violence erupted between the protesting farmers and police. At ...
02.03.2021 What's behind the movement to #FreeBritney? Britney Spears’s private life has been on show ever since she emerged on the music scene back in the late ’90s. In recent years she's been hitting headlines for other reasons, with new questions arising about her conservatorship which she's ...
02.02.2021 Love and lockdown: The spike in divorces and breakups The coronavirus pandemic is keeping us all at home and many of us have been taking a long, hard look at our closest and most intimate relationships - and deciding to call it quits. What's causing all the break ups? ...
02.01.2021 Universal Credit, Free School Meals and a history of Tory welfare As the government wrestles with how best to help those in need during the pandemic, it's brought to the surface many of the historical divisions within the Conservative party. After years of austerity and cuts, they're now the party offering ...
01.31.2021 When Decca Met... Jordan Peterson Jordan Peterson, a clinical psychologist, is a conservative superstar of the culture wars. Known for his confidence in debates, Decca Aitkenhead meets him a changed man. Worshipped by many for his self-help scriptures, Peterson has spent the past year battling ...
01.29.2021 A TikTok conspiracy theory: Helen Keller is a fraud? A bizarre conspiracy theory on the social media platform TikTok is uncovered after a Twitter thread goes viral. What does this say about how misinformation spreads online? What are the unintended consequences? And are generations further apart than ever before? ...
01.28.2021 Empireland: How imperialism shaped modern Britain In his latest book, Empireland, Times writer Sathnam Sanghera attempts to expose what he sees as a blind spot in our understanding of history: the details and impact of the British Empire. Is there a reason Britain has struggled to ...
01.27.2021 Amanda Knox: Is our obsession with true crime unhealthy? In a special series for the Sunday Times, writer Rosie Kinchen examines what's behind our true crime obsession. Kinchen makes contact with Amanda Knox - someone affected by this - and finds out Knox recently campaigned for the release of ...
01.26.2021 Is this the end of QAnon? Conspiracies spread fast on anonymous platforms like 4chan. QAnon's evolution on the site is fuelled by unfounded theories which suggest that President Trump is waging a secret war against Satan-worshipping paedophiles who hold some of the highest positions in the ...
01.25.2021 The Arab Spring ten years on: Egypt For Egypt, the Arab Spring was just the start. Ten years ago, protests erupted in Tahrir Square that would force the president from power and kick off a decade of political transformation. We speak to the editor of the country's ...
01.22.2021 The mysterious disappearance of Chinese billionaire Jack Ma Alibaba Group founder and billionaire Jack Ma has emerged into the public for the first time since disappearing in October last year. Growing scrutiny of his business plans has fuelled speculation that his absence is part of a broader crackdown ...
01.21.2021 Inauguration Day: Two presidents, two speeches, and an uncivil war Some 25,000 troops stood guard during the inauguration of President Joe Biden. The high levels of security was just one sign that the country is facing great challenges domestically. What does the mood in Washington tell us about the future ...
01.20.2021 The Vaccine: What if the virus mutates again? Some scientists worry that a new vaccine-resistant strain of the virus could emerge. We speak to virologists about concerns that the UK's vaccine strategy could make an 'escape mutant' more likely. This podcast was brought to you thanks to the ...
01.19.2021 Alaska and Trump: Drilling for oil in a wildlife refuge While attention was pointed towards the storming of the Capitol, over four thousand miles away in north-eastern Alaska, an auction was held to sell the right to drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Alaska sits above billions ...
01.18.2021 Impeachment: Lessons from the past Last week, the House of Representatives voted to impeach Donald Trump for inciting a mob that stormed the capitol building - making him the first president in US history to be impeached twice. With a Senate trial looming, and inauguration ...
01.15.2021 The Vaccine: When will we all get it? One of the GPs on the frontline of the UK's vaccination efforts, and the Times science correspondent, on the bottlenecks and obstacles that are holding things up. This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support of readers of ...
01.14.2021 The Arab Spring ten years on: Tunisia In late 2010, Tunisian street vendor Mohamed Bouazizi doused himself in gasoline and set himself on fire, sparking waves of anti-government protests. Within weeks, the Tunisian president had fled the country, and protests rippled across the Middle East leading to ...
01.13.2021 Intersex surgeries: Consent, shame and a lifetime of secrets Should surgery to alter the reproductive organs of children who are born intersex be stopped? 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 ...
01.12.2021 Could the NHS be overwhelmed in two weeks? Is the NHS just weeks from the toughest moment in its history? Chief medical officer Chris Whitty has said the next few weeks will be the worst of the pandemic, and the mayor of London declared a major incident in ...
01.11.2021 Brex and the City After a turbulent year, Prime Minister Boris Johnson finally reached a post-Brexit Trade Deal with Brussels. But the UK's exit from the EU customs Union and single market has left financial sector businesses working out what it all means for ...
01.08.2021 Capitol riot: The violent death throes of the Trump presidency They were scenes that shocked the world: hundreds of supporters of the outgoing president storming into the country's seat of power. On the day expected to be dominated by political shenanigans, it was the actions of the mob that took ...
01.07.2021 Facial recognition technology: A privacy nightmare? Facial recognition technology is in the spotlight as the surveillance watchdog raises privacy concerns over its use by police forces. Are these new technologies making the country safer, or creating a new privacy nightmare? This podcast was brought to you ...
01.06.2021 Concussion in sport: Why is boxing still allowed? With safety protocols in elite sport back under the spotlight due to recent high profile cases in rugby and football, the Times' Chief Sports Writer, Matt Dickinson, did some soul searching around one of the most brutal of all sports ...
01.05.2021 The psychological effects of a world without touch The British are not known as tactile people, a firm handshake will do while our continental neighbours embrace with hugs and kisses, but is that really the whole picture? And what has the lockdown induced separation done for our sense ...
01.04.2021 The truth behind Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe's imprisonment in Iran Could an unpaid British debt be the reason Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been held by Iran for the past five years? This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support of readers of The Times and The Sunday Times. Subscribe ...
12.31.2020 Times cartoonist Peter Brookes: A life in ink Cartoonist Peter Brookes looks back on some of the more memorable images of his almost 30 years at The Times, and walks us through his creative process. Click here to see the cartoons discussed in this episode. Guest: Peter Brookes, ...
12.30.2020 2020: An extraordinary year in Westminster All this week we look back at the biggest stories of the last twelve months. Today: We ask Matt Chorley and Esther Webber to assess the standout moments from the most eventful political year in living memory. This podcast was ...
12.29.2020 2020: The year that changed everything in the USA 2020 has been quite the year for all of us, but it has been especially tumultuous in the United States. From the coronavirus pandemic to the Black Lives Matter movement to the election, the year has been full of emotionally ...
12.28.2020 2020: Lessons from a global pandemic and a mutating virus All this week we look back at the biggest stories of the year. Today: Coronavirus. How should we separate the science from the conspiracy theories? What have we actually learnt about the virus? And is there now light at the ...
12.24.2020 In a Covid year, why sport matters Former table tennis player, Matthew Syed, visits a club in Brighton which gets funding from Sported, one of the charities the Times and Sunday Times is raising money for in its Christmas Appeal. This episode is in support of Sported, ...
12.23.2020 Wrapped up in books: What to read this Christmas David Aaronovitch sits down with Times Radio breakfast show host Stig Abell to share some of their most cherished festive page turners. This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support of readers of The Times and The Sunday ...

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