The Story

Scion of the Kennedy dynasty, Robert Kennedy Jr has ditched the Democrats and declared his candidacy in the 2024 US Presidential race, running as an Independent. But in a Biden-Trump run-off, who does Kennedy hurt most? 

This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support of readers of The Times and The Sunday Times. Subscribe today: thetimes.co.uk/storiesofourtimes. 

Guest: David Charter, US Editor, The Times.

Host: Luke Jones.

Clips: PBS, CNN, Reuters, ABC News, Fox News, News Nation, AP, Yahoo! Finance.

This podcast was brought to you thanks to subscribers of The Times and The Sunday Times. To enjoy unlimited digital access to all our journalism subscribe here.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Captain Sir Tom Moore’s daughter has come under scrutiny after the Charity Commission opened an investigation into links between her family and the charity set up in his name, the Captain Tom Foundation. They are also facing questions over Captain Tom’s book deal, and over an unauthorised spa. 

This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support of readers of The Times and The Sunday Times. Subscribe today: thetimes.co.uk/storiesofourtimes. 

Guest: James Beal, Social Affairs Editor, The Times. 

Host: Manveen Rana.

Clips: TalkTV, Times Radio, BBC News, ITV News, 5 News, You’ll Never Walk Alone/Captain Tom Moore, Michael Ball, and The NHS Voices of Care Choir/UMG. 

This podcast was brought to you thanks to subscribers of The Times and The Sunday Times. To enjoy unlimited digital access to all our journalism subscribe here.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As the parties prepare to do battle at the polls, The Times launches a new podcast, 'How to Win an Election', in which we bring together three of the most experienced political strategists of the past four decades: legendary architect of New Labour, Peter Mandelson; Daniel Finkelstein, who has worked alongside Tory leaders and prime ministers from John Major onwards as they fought to modernise the party; and Polly Mackenzie, a policy expert who helped negotiate the Liberal Democrat-Conservative coalition and spent five years working alongside deputy prime minister Nick Clegg in Downing Street.

Today, we're sharing the first episode with listeners of Stories of our times: How to decide when to call an election.

With Rishi Sunak still behind in the polls, will he wait a full year before calling a general election? And at a time when many voters feel pessimistic about the future, can either Sunak or Keir Starmer generate a sense of hope and change? Our three electoral masterminds join Matt Chorley for your insider's guide to the twists and turns of the next year in politics.

This podcast was brought to you thanks to subscribers of The Times and The Sunday Times. To enjoy unlimited digital access to all our journalism subscribe here.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Last night Israel's military said its forces had "advanced another significant stage in the war" and encircled Gaza City, the most built-up area of the Gaza Strip and the heart of the Hamas tunnel network.

Israel's government says the purpose of the war is to eliminate Hamas, but is that an objective that can be achieved? We speak to a former major-general who was once the UK's most senior commander in Iraq, tasked with eliminating Isis.

This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support of readers of The Times and The Sunday Times. Subscribe today: thetimes.co.uk/storiesofourtimes. 

Guest: Major-General Rupert Jones (ret’d).

Host: Manveen Rana.

Get in touch: [email protected]

Clips: Global News, Channel 4 News, BBC News, CNN, PBS NewsHour, Sky News Australia.

This podcast was brought to you thanks to subscribers of The Times and The Sunday Times. To enjoy unlimited digital access to all our journalism subscribe here.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

German shoemakers Birkenstock began trading on the New York Stock Exchange at a valuation of more than $8 billion last month, and the sandals are top of John Lewis’ must-have Christmas list this year. So how did this nearly 250-year-old company go from orthopaedic footwear to a cameo in the Barbie film? And how did the shoe woo the fashion industry?

This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support of readers of The Times and The Sunday Times. Subscribe today: thetimes.co.uk/storiesofourtimes. 

Guest: Anna Murphy, Fashion Director, The Times.

Host: Manveen Rana. 

Get in touch: [email protected]

Read more:

• Why fashion editors love Birkenstocks: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/why-fashion-editors-love-birkenstocks-times-luxury-n9tlpg9q7
• How ‘ugly’ Birkenstocks became an $8 billion brand: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/how-ugly-birkenstocks-became-an-8billion-brand-czr6050j8

Clips: Birkenstock, DW News, Barbie/Warner Bros., MTV’s House of Style, New York Stock Exchange, CNBC, These Boots Are Made For Walkin’/Nancy Sinatra/Light in the Attic. 

This podcast was brought to you thanks to subscribers of The Times and The Sunday Times. To enjoy unlimited digital access to all our journalism subscribe here.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

During a 34-hour communications blackout that began on Friday evening, Israel launched its ground invasion into Gaza. With thousands of Palestinians killed and conditions in the territory deteriorating, the UN secretary general has repeated his call for a ceasefire to allow humanitarian access. Israel has rejected this saying “calls for a ceasefire are calls for Israel to surrender to Hamas” and that it is committed to getting all its hostages back home. So, now that the IDF's troops have entered the densely populated strip -- what is the plan?

This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support of readers of The Times and The Sunday Times. Subscribe today: thetimes.co.uk/storiesofourtimes. 

Guest: Richard Spencer, foreign correspondent, The Times.

Host: Manveen Rana.

Get in touch: [email protected] 

Clips: Sky News, Channel 4 News, Associated Press, Times Radio.

This podcast was brought to you thanks to subscribers of The Times and The Sunday Times. To enjoy unlimited digital access to all our journalism subscribe here.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dominic Cummings gives evidence to the UK’s Covid inquiry today – the latest in a string of senior advisors to Boris Johnson to do so. The published evidence, including private WhatsApp conversations, is bringing to light internecine grudges between those in charge. We catch up on what’s been revealed so far.

This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support of readers of The Times and The Sunday Times. Subscribe today: thetimes.co.uk/storiesofourtimes. 

Guest: Tom Whipple, Science Editor, The Times.

Host: Luke Jones.

Get in touch: [email protected] 

Clips: UK Covid Inquiry.

This podcast was brought to you thanks to subscribers of The Times and The Sunday Times. To enjoy unlimited digital access to all our journalism subscribe here.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week world leaders and AI companies will gather for a summit at Bletchley Park, the Second World War code-breaking centre. It’s the most important attempt yet to formulate a shared view on what artificial intelligence might be capable of and how it should be regulated.

But with elections taking place in both the US and the UK in the next year or so, could the threat posed by AI deepfakes to democracy be much more immediate, as the head of MI5 has warned?

This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support of readers of The Times and The Sunday Times. Subscribe today: thetimes.co.uk/storiesofourtimes. 

Guest: Henry Ajder, Visiting Senior Research Associate, Jesus College, Cambridge.

Host: Manveen Rana.

Get in touch: [email protected]

Clips: Zach Silberberg on Twitter, Telegram, CNN, ABC News, MSNBC, WUSA9, BBC Radio 4.

This podcast was brought to you thanks to subscribers of The Times and The Sunday Times. To enjoy unlimited digital access to all our journalism subscribe here.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Friday was a big day for Taylor Swift. She released the reimagined version of her 2014 album 1989, and was declared a billionaire by business news outlet Bloomberg. So this weekend we're listening back to our conversation with The Sunday Times' resident Swiftie, Charlotte Ivers.

What is it about the pop princess that has the power to influence an entire generation and their politics?

This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support of readers of The Times and The Sunday Times. Subscribe today: thetimes.co.uk/storiesofourtimes.

Guest: Charlotte Ivers, Sunday Times columnist and Times Radio political correspondent.

Host: Manveen Rana.

Clips: NBC, PBS, BBC, ABC, Billboard, Fox, ET, SVT, CNBC, TikTok.

Music excerpts:

Love Story/Better Than Revenge - Taylor Swift, Big Machine Records, LLC. 

Blank Space/New Romantics - Max Martin, Taylor Swift, Shellback, Big Machine Records, LLC. 

Outta the Woods - Jack Antonoff, Taylor Swift, Big Machine Records, LLC. 

Betty/Delicate/Man/You Need to Calm Down/Only the Young - Taylor Swift, Universal Music Group. 

This podcast was brought to you thanks to subscribers of The Times and The Sunday Times. To enjoy unlimited digital access to all our journalism subscribe here.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week Britney Spears released her new memoir, and is the latest celebrity to open up about the trauma of being a young famous woman in the 2000s. Post-MeToo and the Russell Brand allegations, there has been a collective re-evaluation of how stars like Spears, Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan were treated. So why did we want to see them humiliated? And why did so many of us think it was normal? 

This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support of readers of The Times and The Sunday Times. Subscribe today: thetimes.co.uk/storiesofourtimes. 

Toxic: Women, Fame and the Noughties by Sarah Ditum (Fleet £22). Buy at timesbookshop.co.uk. Discount for Times+ members

Guest: Sarah Ditum, writer for The Sunday Times, and author of Toxic: Women, Fame and the Noughties. 

Host: Manveen Rana.

Book extract: Being Britney Spears: inside the teen dream that turned toxic: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/britney-spears-book-the-woman-in-me-justin-timberlake-jhnhgcxd6

Stories of our times episodes:

• Russell Brand accused of rape: https://pod.fo/e/1eeeb0 
• Russell Brand investigation: What happened next:https://pod.fo/e/1f03f7 

Clips: BBC Woman’s Hour, CBS, MTV VMAs, 60 Minutes/9Now, Channel 4 News, I am Paris, CBS News, …Baby One More Time/Britney Spears/SME, Blurred Lines/Robin Thicke, T.I., Pharrell/UMG, CNN, KRON4, BBC News, Pop Idol/ITV, The Simple Life/Fox, Saturday Night Live/NBC, This is Paris/YouTube. 

This podcast was brought to you thanks to subscribers of The Times and The Sunday Times. To enjoy unlimited digital access to all our journalism subscribe here.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.