The Guardian's Audio Long Reads

By The Guardian

Society & Culture

What's The Guardian's Audio Long Reads about?

The Guardian's Audio Long Reads podcasts are a selection of the Guardian’s long read articles which are published in the paper and online. It gives you the opportunity to get on with your day whilst listening to some of the finest journalism the Guardian has to offer: in-depth writing from around the world on immigration, crime, business, the arts and much more.

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Why do people hate vegans?

11.15.2019

It has left the beige-tinted margins and become social media’s most glamorous look. But why does veganism still provoke so much anger? By George Reynolds. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

The Guardian's Audio Long Reads episodes:

11.15.2019 Why do people hate vegans? It has left the beige-tinted margins and become social media’s most glamorous look. But why does veganism still provoke so much anger? By George Reynolds. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod
11.11.2019 'A body drifted past the window': surviving the Ladbroke Grove train crash On 5 October 1999, two trains collided at speed in west London, killing both drivers and 29 passengers. Barrister Greg Treverton-Jones, who survived the crash and worked on the harrowing inquiry, pieced together what went wrong. Help support our independent ...
11.08.2019 The real David Attenborough He is the most beloved figure in Britain, and, at 93, a global superstar. His films long shied away from discussing humanity’s impact on the planet. Now they are sounding the alarm – but is it too late? By Patrick ...
11.04.2019 Collision course: why are cars killing more and more pedestrians? For drivers, roads are safer than ever – but for people on foot, they are getting deadlier. Car companies and Silicon Valley claim that they have the solution. But is that too good to be true? By Peter C Baker. ...
11.01.2019 Fifty shades of white: the long fight against racism in romance novels For decades, the world of romantic fiction has been divided by a heated debate about racism and diversity. Is there any hope of a happy ending? By Lois Beckett. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod
10.28.2019 Flour power: meet the bread heads baking a better loaf The days of the mass-produced pappy white British supermarket loaf may be numbered. Meet the bread heads revolutionising the way we eat. By Wendell Steavenson. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod
10.25.2019 ‘I’ve been here 50 years’: the EU citizens struggling for the right to stay in Britain If they don’t secure the correct status, most EU nationals living in the UK post-Brexit will be classified as illegal immigrants. And after the Windrush scandal, we know what that looks like. By Amelia Gentleman. Help support our independent journalism ...
10.21.2019 ‘The way universities are run is making us ill’: inside the student mental health crisis A surge in anxiety and stress is sweeping UK campuses. What is troubling students, and is it the universities’ job to fix it? By Samira Shackle. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod
10.18.2019 The girl in the box: the mysterious crime that shocked Germany On 15 September 1981, 10-year-old Ursula Herrmann headed home by bike from her cousin’s house. She never arrived. So began one of Germany’s most notorious postwar criminal cases, which remains contentious to this day. By Xan Rice. Help support our ...
10.14.2019 Ship of horrors: life and death on the lawless high seas From bullying and sexual assault to squalid living conditions and forced labour, working at sea can be a grim business – and one deep-sea fishing fleet is particularly notorious. By Ian Urbina. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod
10.11.2019 The myth of Eurabia: how a far-right conspiracy theory went mainstream Once an obscure idea confined to the darker corners of the internet, the anti-Islam ideology is now visible in the everyday politics of the west. How did this happen? By Andrew Brown. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod
10.07.2019 Why can’t we agree on what’s true any more? It’s not about foreign trolls, filter bubbles or fake news. Technology encourages us to believe we can all have first-hand access to the ‘real’ facts – and now we can’t stop fighting about it. By William Davies. Help support our ...
10.04.2019 Dark crystals: the brutal reality behind a booming wellness craze Demand for ‘healing’ crystals is soaring – but many are mined in deadly conditions in one of the world’s poorest countries. And there is little evidence that this billion-dollar industry is cleaning up its act. By Tess McClure. Help support ...
09.30.2019 The cult of Columbine: how an obsession with school shooters led to a murder plot How two lonely outsiders met online and discovered their passion – planning a massacre at a shopping mall. By Rachel Monroe. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod
09.27.2019 Inside the bizarre, bungled raid on North Korea's Madrid embassy In February, a gang of armed men took a North Korean official hostage and demanded that he defect. When he refused, their plan fell apart, and they fled. Who were they, and why did they risk everything on this wild ...
09.23.2019 Athleisure, barre and kale: the tyranny of the ideal woman How we became suckers for the hard labor of self-optimization. By Jia Tolentino. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod
09.20.2019 The race to create a perfect lie detector, and the dangers of succeeding AI and brain-scanning technology could soon make it possible to reliably detect when people are lying. But do we really want to know? By Amit Katwala. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod
09.16.2019 The machine always wins: what drives our addiction to social media Social media was supposed to liberate us, but for many people it has proved addictive, punishing and toxic. What keeps us hooked? By Richard Seymour. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod
09.13.2019 Why it’s time to stop worrying about the decline of the English language People often complain that English is deteriorating under the influence of new technology, adolescent fads and loose grammar. Why does this nonsensical belief persist? By David Shariatmadari. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod
09.09.2019 Justin Trudeau: the rise and fall of a political brand Thanks to his clever use of social media, he was dubbed the first prime minister of the Instagram age – but after four years in power, cracks in his image have started to show. By Ashifa Kassam. Help support our ...
09.06.2019 The air conditioning trap: how cold air is heating the world The warmer it gets, the more we use air conditioning. The more we use air conditioning, the warmer it gets. Is there any way out of this trap? By Stephen Buranyi. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod
09.02.2019 Is fair trade finished? Fairtrade changed the way we shop. But major companies have started to abandon it and set up their own in-house imitations – threatening the very idea of fair trade. By Samanth Subramanian. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod
08.30.2019 ‘Loud, obsessive, tribal’: the radicalisation of remain They hate Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn. They no longer trust the BBC. They love civil servants, legal experts and James O’Brien. And now, consumed by the battle against Brexit, hardcore remainers are no longer the moderates. By Daniel Cohen. ...
08.26.2019 How the media contributed to the migrant crisis Disaster reporting plays to set ideas about people from ‘over there’. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod
08.23.2019 Speed kills: are police chases out of control? The public expects cops to pursue the bad guys. But a shocking tally of deaths has exposed how often these chases put the public at risk. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod
08.19.2019 From ball pits to water slides: the designer who changed children’s playgrounds for ever Eric McMillan revolutionised playground design in the 1970s. Why has the spirit of experimental play that he championed been lost?. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod
08.16.2019 Dying the Christian Science way: the horror of my father’s last days The anti-medical dogma of Christian Science led my father to an agonising death. Now the church itself is in decline – and it can’t happen fast enough. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod
08.12.2019 Enslaved on a British cannabis farm: ‘The plants were more valuable than my life’ Minh was 16 when he was kidnapped, raped and trafficked to the UK, and then locked up and forced to grow cannabis. But when the police found him, he was treated like a criminal rather than a victim. By Annie ...
08.09.2019 Boar wars: how wild hogs are trashing European cities They have become a menace in European cities. In Barcelona, where wild boar are jostling tourists and raiding rubbish bins, the fightback has begun. By Bernhard Warner. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod
08.05.2019 How Britain can help you get away with stealing millions: a five-step guide Dirty money needs laundering if it’s to be of any use – and the UK is the best place in the world to do it. By Oliver Bullough. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod
08.02.2019 ‘State capture’: the corruption investigation that has shaken South Africa Gavin Watson was a hero of the struggle against apartheid. But this once-powerful businessman is now caught up in a sweeping inquiry that goes to the heart of how a nation is run. By Mark Gevisser. Help support our independent ...
07.29.2019 The rise and fall of French cuisine French food was the envy of the world – before it became trapped by its own history. Can a new school of traditionalists revive its glories? By Wendell Steavenson. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod
07.26.2019 The new left economics: how a network of thinkers is transforming capitalism After decades of rightwing dominance, a transatlantic movement of leftwing economists is building a practical alternative to neoliberalism. By Andy Beckett. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod
07.19.2019 Are your tinned tomatoes picked by slave labour? How the Italian mafia makes millions by exploiting migrants. By Tobias Jones and Ayo Awokoya. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod
07.12.2019 The invention of Essex: how a county became a caricature From Loadsamoney and ‘Basildon man’ to Towie and Brexit – Essex has long been held up as both the authentic England and the crudest, stupidest symbol of Englishness. By Tim Burrows. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod
07.08.2019 The mindfulness conspiracy It is sold as a force that can help us cope with the ravages of capitalism, but with its inward focus, mindful meditation may be the enemy of activism • Read the text version here. Help support our independent journalism ...
07.05.2019 El Chapo: what the rise and fall of the kingpin reveals about the war on drugs As the capture and conviction of Mexico’s notorious drug lord has shown, taking down the boss doesn’t mean taking down the organisation • Read the text version here. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod
06.28.2019 Why parents are addicted to Calpol It is the one medicine we reach for whenever our babies are feverish or in pain. What’s the secret of its success? • Read the text version here. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod
06.21.2019 'I wouldn't be the refugee, I'd be the girl who kicked ass': how taekwondo made me When she arrived in the US as a 10-year-old refugee, Dina Nayeri found it hard to fit in. But that all changed when she hatched a plan to get into Harvard – by becoming a taekwondo champion • Read the ...
06.17.2019 The price of plenty: how beef changed America Exploitation and predatory pricing drove the transformation of the US beef industry – and created the model for modern agribusiness • Read the text version here. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod
06.14.2019 ‘Socialism for the rich’: the evils of bad economics The economic arguments adopted by Britain and the US in the 1980s led to vastly increased inequality – and gave the false impression that this outcome was not only inevitable, but good • Read the text version here. Help support ...
06.10.2019 The Anthropocene epoch: have we entered a new phase of planetary history? Human activity has transformed the Earth – but scientists are divided about whether this is really a turning point in geological history • Read the text version here. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod
06.07.2019 ‘A zombie party’: the deepening crisis of conservatism The traditional right is clinging on to power – but its ideas are dead in the water • Read the text version here. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod
06.03.2019 Building the Brexit party: how Nigel Farage copied Italy's digital populists The former Ukip leader forged an alliance with the Five Star Movement just as they bulldozed Italian politics using a tightly controlled digital operation. And now he’s putting their techniques to work in Britain • Read the text version here. ...
05.31.2019 From The Archers to HBO: how Sally Wainwright conquered TV She was fired by Emmerdale, injected some much-needed grit into Coronation Street and struck gold with Last Tango in Halifax and Happy Valley. Now Sally Wainwright is going international • Read the text version here. Help support our independent journalism ...
05.27.2019 Who killed the prime minister? The unsolved murder that still haunts Sweden Three decades ago, Olof Palme was assassinated on Stockholm’s busiest street. The killer has never been found. Could the discovery of new evidence finally close the case? • Read the text version here. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod
05.24.2019 Blow up: how half a tonne of cocaine transformed the life of an island In 2001, a smugglers’ yacht washed up in the Azores and disgorged its contents. The island of São Miguel was quickly flooded with high-grade cocaine – and nearly 20 years on, it is still feeling the effects • Read the ...
05.20.2019 How the news took over reality Is engagement with current affairs key to being a good citizen? Or could an endless torrent of notifications be harming democracy as well as our wellbeing? • Read the text version here. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod
05.17.2019 Into the pharaoh's chamber: how I fell in love with ancient Egypt Amid the convulsions in the years following the Arab Spring, Peter Hessler went to the ancient city of Amarna, site of another short-lived attempt to remake a nation • Read the text version here. Help support our independent journalism at ...
05.13.2019 Busting the myth that depression doesn't affect people in poor countries For decades, many psychiatrists believed depression was a uniquely western phenomenon. But in the last few years, a new movement has turned this thinking on its head • Warning: this article contains discussion of suicide • Read the text version ...

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