The Audio Long Read
by The Guardian
Latest episode
Everyone hates Oxford Street. Will pedestrianisation save it?
Everyone hates Oxford Street. Will pedestrianisation save it?
About this podcast
Three times a week, The Audio Long Read podcast brings you the Guardian’s exceptional longform journalism in audio form. Covering topics from politics and culture to philosophy and sport, as well as investigations and current affairs.
Episodes
The newest 50 of 300 episodes
- Everyone hates Oxford Street. Will pedestrianisation save it? · 35 minOn Monday 26 October, the busiest shopping street in Europe was closed to traffic. The hope is that an unloved and polluted thoroughfare will turn into somewhere that people…
- Why Woke 2.0 is taking on Trump and establishment politics | Nesrine Malik | Radical Thinking · 1 h 3 minToday’s political conversation is dominated by one topic above all: race. The Guardian columnist Nesrine Malik has been way ahead of the pack in diagnosing how immigrants, their…
- ‘The last bastion is gone’: the US right idolised Orbán’s Hungary. Can they recover now he has fallen? · 46 minOver the past decade, Hungary has been a beacon for the ‘postliberal’ right, with pro-Trump thinkers making regular pilgrimages to Budapest. Now Orbán is gone, how will the…
- From the archive: The trials of Robert Habeck: is the world’s most powerful green politician doomed to fail? · 49 minWe are raiding the Guardian long read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors This week, from 2023: A year ago…
- A perfect storm: how the super El Niño is devastating the fishing industry · 32 minPeru’s anchoveta have made up about a 10th of the entire global commercial fishing catch since 1970, more than any other fish. A combination of warming seas and decades-long…
- ‘It could knock a whole street down’: the art of defusing a second world war bomb · 44 minOn 14 January this year, army and navy squads faced an unprecedented challenge: one bomb on a Plymouth building site, another floating on a dredger in Exmouth. That afternoon…
- From the archive: The disabled villain: why sensitivity reading can’t kill off this ugly trope · 33 minWe are raiding the Guardian long read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors This week, from 2023: For centuries…
- Fixer, financier, spymaster: how the UAE’s Sheikh Tahnoon is setting his sights on AI dominance · 51 minThe Emirati royal is increasingly influential on the world stage. Some see him as a visionary. Others compare him to a Bond villain. Who is he? By Jack Shenker. Read by Selva…
- “Culture is stagnant, so politics is stuck” – playwright James Graham | Radical Thinking · 47 minAre we doomscrolling our way into a democratic crisis? That’s what the playwright James Graham fears may be happening, as he suggests that our algorithms have led us into ‘a…
- Why am I obsessed with China’s ancient golden age? I took my daughter on a trip to find out · 36 minI felt a duty to write about the Tang dynasty and its incredible social and cultural sophistication – but also to connect my Chinese past with my child By Xiaolu Guo. Read by…
- The Netanyahu doctrine: how Israel’s longest-serving leader reshaped the country in his image · 43 minWe are raiding the Guardian long read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors This week, from 2023: he first became…
- A tale of two trap houses: being cuckooed ruined my friend’s life – but did it then help save him? · 41 minDrug gangs have moved off Britain’s streets and into vulnerable people’s homes. Addicts like my friend are easy targets, but the reality can be more complicated than it seems By…
- ‘Austerity is inevitably painful’. How Michael Gove justifies his politics | Radical Thinking with Aditya Chakrabortty · 58 minFor more than three decades, Michael Gove has been a leading figure in British Conservatism. As a journalist, government minister and now editor of the Tory bible the Spectator…
- ‘A completely unique opportunity’: the secretive process that will decide the BBC’s future · 40 minEvery decade, the BBC’s continued existence must be secured through an elaborate multi-year negotiation with the government. But what does charter renewal actually involve – and…
- From the archive: ‘Voters are unhappier with the NHS than they’ve been for 30 years. As a GP, I feel the same’ · 36 minWe are raiding the Guardian long read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors This week, from 2023: Even those at the…
- ‘A crisis of authenticity’: the truth about food influencers · 36 minInstagrammers have upended the British restaurant scene and amassed followings in the millions. But has their moment already passed? By Stephen Buranyi. Read by Josh Berry. Help…
- Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor | Radical Thinking with Aditya Chakrabortty · 50 minAre we really living through ‘end times fascism’? Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor think so. In a new series from the Guardian, the pair speak to Radical Thinking with Aditya…
- Labour’s last chance? The people shaping Andy Burnham’s grand plans for Britain · 39 minThe new prime minister has declared he wants to end 40 years of neoliberalism. But is he really prepared to be that radical? By Hettie O’Brien. Read by Philip Whitchurch. Help…
- From the archive – No place like home: my bitter return to Palestine · 35 minWe are raiding the Guardian long read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors This week, from 2022: All my life, my…
- ‘This is dangerous’: slime moulds and the bitter debate over the nature of intelligence · 44 minScientists are battling over whether supposedly simple organisms should be considered ‘intelligent’. The outcome could reshape our understanding of the natural world – and our…
- Introducing Radical Thinking with Aditya Chakrabortty · 53 minWho is really in charge – the people or the markets? In the first episode of Radical Thinking, a new series from the Guardian, senior economics commentator Aditya Chakrabortty…
- The end times fascists are plotting their escape from our world. Our mission is clear · 36 minAn unholy alliance is working toward an apocalyptic future from which only a chosen few will emerge unscathed. It’s becoming clear how we stop them By Naomi Klein and Astra…
- From the archive: How Facebook and Instagram became marketplaces for child sex trafficking · 47 minWe are raiding the Guardian long read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week, from 2023: Our two-year…
- The flat-pack skyscraper: how wood can shape the cities of the future · 28 minOur buildings are monuments to extraction and extreme emissions. But what if we turned from destructive concrete to timber? By James Crawford. Read by David Carlyle. Help support…
- The other Post Office scandal: how organised crime launders money on the high street · 28 minHundreds of millions of pounds of dirty money are being deposited at post offices every year. So why are the police reluctant to investigate the scale of the problem? By Oliver…
- From the archive: ‘I know where the bodies are buried’: one woman’s mission to change how the police investigate rape · 55 minWe are raiding the Guardian long read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week, from 2023: For the past two…
- A bungled bomb plot in Poland exposed a spy – but whose spy was he? · 52 minWhen exiled Russian opposition campaigner Igor Rogov was accused of working for the Kremlin, his friends were shocked. Could this young activist have really been an undercover…
- ‘If you build something vastly smarter than you, it better be on your side’: can we stop AI from deceiving us? · 29 minWe are used to the idea that our fellow humans might intentionally mislead or manipulate us, but the idea that machines can now do the same is deeply unsettling. Researchers are…
- From the archive: The rubbishscapes of Essex: why our buried trash is back to haunt us · 28 minWe are raiding the Guardian long read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week, from 2023: Landfill sites…
- Democracy v the machine: the birth of the digital age and the warnings that were ignored · 46 minMany hoped that the march of technology would usher in an egalitarian utopia – but some foresaw the threat it would pose to liberal society. Why did nobody listen? By Jill…
- The long shadow of Argentina’s dictatorship: she wasn’t who she thought she was. Neither was her father · 43 minA young activist thought her father’s disapproval of her leftwing views was purely political. Then one evening, a kiss goodbye sent her on a remarkable journey that continues…
- From the archive: Sudan’s outsider: how a paramilitary leader fell out with the army and plunged the country into war · 43 minWe are raiding the Guardian long read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week, from 2023: The civilians of…
- The great silence: why haven’t we found any aliens yet? · 39 minGiven the size and age of the universe, it should be full of species with technology far more advanced than our own. So where are they? By Adam Kirsch. Read by James Sobol Kelly…
- Introducing Black Box: The Chatbots · 40 minAcross the world, hundreds of people have come to believe they have made extraordinary scientific discoveries with AI chatbots such as ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini. Others say…
- The body snatchers: how a young Nigerian man was lured to London in an organ-trafficking plot · 36 minDaniel was working at a market in Lagos when he was given the chance to start anew in the UK. He had no idea what was expected of him in return By Alexis Okeowo. Read by Nneka…
- From the archive: ‘Drought is on the verge of becoming the next pandemic’ · 37 minWe are raiding the Guardian long read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week, from 2023: While the world…
- ‘I can sense Sinatra enter my body and exit my lungs’: aboard the celebrity impersonators’ cruise · 35 minI joined Marilyn Monroe, Walter White, Ozzy Osbourne and other tribute artists on a cruise where imitation is its own art form By Mina Tavakoli. Read by Norma Butikofer. Help…
- Best of 2026…so far: ‘Any other child would have died’: the miraculous survival of Nada Itrab · 52 minEvery Wednesday and Friday in August we will publish some of our favourite audio long reads of 2026, in case you missed them, with an introduction from the editorial team to…
- Best of 2026…so far: Apocalypse no: how almost everything we thought we knew about the Maya is wrong · 40 minEvery Wednesday and Friday in August we will publish some of our favourite audio long reads of 2026, in case you missed them, with an introduction from the editorial team to…
- ‘The war leaked into every lesson’: learning Ukrainian in a country under siege · 40 minSoon after my first visit to Ukraine four years ago, I began language lessons. It taught me more than I ever expected Written and read by Charlotte Higgins On Wednesday 30…
- Best of 2026 … so far: Where Duolingo falls down: how I learned to speak Welsh with my mother · 51 minEvery Wednesday and Friday in August we will publish some of our favourite audio long reads of 2026, in case you missed them, with an introduction from the editorial team to…
- Best of 2026 … so far: Asian mothers, bad feelings: notes on an all-conquering stereotype · 35 minEvery Wednesday and Friday in August we will publish some of our favourite audio long reads of 2026, in case you missed them, with an introduction from the editorial team to…
- Iraq’s impossible predicament: why the country is trapped between Iran and the US · 26 minWith the outbreak of this year’s war, Iraq’s balancing act between the two antagonists has collapsed, exposing a perilously fragile state By Ghaith Abdul-Ahad. Read by Mo Ayoub…
- Best of 2026…so far: Endo dreams of sushi: a trip around Japan with one of the world’s greatest chefs · 46 minEvery Wednesday and Friday in August we will publish some of our favourite audio long reads of 2026, in case you missed them, with an introduction from the editorial team to…
- Best of 2026…so far: 35,000 pints of stolen Guinness, 950 wheels of pilfered cheese: can the UK’s cargo theft crisis be stopped? · 42 minEvery Wednesday and Friday in August we will publish some of our favourite audio long reads of 2026, in case you missed them, with an introduction from the editorial team to…
- The Dacre dynasty: how Britain’s rightwing press was radicalised · 46 minAt the Daily Mail, Paul Dacre broke new ground in selling readers an angry rightwing perspective. Today, most of Fleet Street is run by his disciples By Andy Beckett. Read by…
- Best of 2026…so far: ‘I see it as trafficking’: the brutal reality of life as a foreign student in the UK · 34 minEvery Wednesday and Friday in August we will publish some of our favourite audio long reads of 2026, in case you missed them, with an introduction from the editorial team to…
- Best of 2026…so far: My maddening battle with chronic fatigue syndrome: ‘On my worst days, it feels almost demonic’ · 35 minEvery Wednesday and Friday in August we will publish some of our favourite audio long reads of 2026, in case you missed them, with an introduction from the editorial team to…
- ‘This process has turned into a form of torture’: inside the trial of Erdoğan’s challenger · 28 minHe was elected mayor of Istanbul in 2019, and had announced his candidacy for the 2028 presidential elections. But Ekrem İmamoğlu is now behind bars, and his trial, on charges…
- ‘It makes your heart sing’: can a pioneering project show that rewilding really works? · 50 minIntensive farming has all but destroyed England’s ancient woodlands and freshwater wetlands. On a farm in Lincolnshire a radical aristocrat hopes to show there’s money in…
