The Slow Newscast

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.

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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
Invisible
The helping hands
The revolving door 

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The Labour Party in the UK is choosing a new leader. Few people care - after a crushing election defeat, the party has got work to do to make itself interesting again. It's a gloomy picture for Labour, but a surprise candidate is shining through. Could Lisa Nandy be Labour's bright new face?

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Tom Crowther is a young ecologist who asked a simple question: how many trees are there on planet earth? The answer has changed our understanding of the world, but Crowther's work has provoked a firestorm.

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For months, Tortoise has been investigating big tech companies as if they were countries: holding them to the same standards that we apply to nation states; caring about what they think; understanding what they're planning to do; figuring out who's in charge now, and who might be next.

It's been a huge reporting project. In this week's podcast, Basia Cummings talks to two of the Tortoise editors behind it, Alexi Mostrous and James Harding.

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Since the general election was called, one of Britain's foremost political journalists has been tracking the Labour campaign for Tortoise. Here's his story of tension and bad choices inside the party machine.

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To find out more about Tortoise go to tortoisemedia.com/friend and use the code POD50 to become a member for just £1 a week, half our normal price.

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The murder of the investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia denied Malta its best hope of beating endemic corruption and bribery. Her family have fought ever since for her legacy and for justice. This week events have taken dramatic turns, with arrests and the resignation of government ministers. Daphne’s son Paul, a reporter at Tortoise, has been at the heart of it all.

Join Tortoise for only £50. Use code POD50 at tortoisemedia.com/friend

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It’s easy to conclude that Prince Andrew shouldn't have agreed to give an interview to the BBC, but it’s more interesting to ask why he thought it was a good idea.

Three Tortoise editors – James Harding, Basia Cummings and Ceri Thomas – have spent this week asking that question, talking to people in and around Buckingham Palace, and re-examining the Jeffrey Epstein case.

In this week’s Tortoise podcast: how fears about a slimmed-down monarchy and financial independence led to a terrible misjudgement.

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In this election, the Conservatives are betting on youth to win the social media campaign. The kids running their digital strategy don’t know what a 30th birthday is like but they’re aggressively in charge. And, for better or worse, they’re changing the game.

Tortoise editors Basia Cummings and Ceri Thomas get inside the digital campaign with help from fellow editors Alexi Mostrous, Polly Curtis and Matt D’Ancona.

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