logo
episode-header-image
Aug 2023
43m 5s

Best of 2023 … so far: Battle of the bot...

The Guardian
About this episode
Every Friday in August we will publish some of our favourite audio long reads of 2023, in case you missed them, with an introduction from the editorial team to explain why we’ve chosen it. This week, from February: When a US businessman took over a beloved garden a decade ago, he decided on a radical new approach, all in the name of sustainability. But angry critics claim it’s just plain neglect. By Mark O’Connell. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod
Up next
Aug 18
Starmer v Starmer: why is the former human rights lawyer so cautious about defending human rights?
Many of his supporters hoped the prime minister would restore the UK’s commitment to international law. Yet Labour’s record over the past year has been curiously mixed By Daniel Trilling. Read by Simon Darwen. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod 
46m 39s
Aug 15
Best of 2025 … so far: The savage suburbia of Helen Garner: ‘I wanted to dong Martin Amis with a bat’
Every Wednesday and Friday in August we will publish some of our favourite audio long reads of 2025, in case you missed them, with an introduction from the editorial team to explain why we’ve chosen it. This week, from March: over 50 years, she has become one of the most revered ... Show More
41 m
Aug 13
Best of 2025 … so far: ‘I am not who you think I am’: how a deep-cover KGB spy recruited his own son
Every Wednesday and Friday in August we will publish some of our favourite audio long reads of 2025, in case you missed them, with an introduction from the editorial team to explain why we’ve chosen it. This week, from May: for the first time, the man the KGB codenamed ‘the Inher ... Show More
51m 52s
Recommended Episodes
Apr 2022
Cancel culture: Did Dostoyevsky predict the culture wars?
Whether you like it or not, these days everyone seems to be enlisted in the culture wars. But why does the debate seem so angry and intolerant? Can we find some answers in novels written 150 years ago?This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support of readers of The Times a ... Show More
26m 25s
Sep 2019
Is freedom of speech a 'toxic myth'? Plus the top 100 books since 2000 – books podcast
Journalist Nesrine Malik talks about her book We Need New Stories and we discuss the Guardian’s top 100 books of the 21st century. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/bookspod 
38m 22s
Apr 2021
The case for climate optimism | Today, Explained in 10
In 2019, David Wallace-Wells wrote a book called The Uninhabitable Earth. Just two years later, he’s feeling hopeful — thanks to the world’s biggest polluters. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices 
15m 2s
Apr 2023
Victory Gardens Produced Nearly Half of America’s Fresh Produce in WW2. With Today's Supply-Chain Meltdowns, Are They Ready for a Comeback?
Victory gardens are perhaps the U.S. government’s most successful and long-lasting propaganda campaign. It began during World War One, when the War Garden Commission offered free handbooks for garden tips and published stories in newspapers to encourage citizens to plant food cro ... Show More
40m 12s
Sep 2023
244. Stop Carrying Other People’s Pain with Chloé Cooper Jones
Where do you go to escape the pain of reality? Today, author Chloé Cooper Jones shares:  The survival strategy many of us use to retreat from our lives and how to become more present;  How she grapples with the world dehumanizing her disabled body;  Why desire and disgust are so ... Show More
58m 3s
Jul 2022
Editor’s Picks: July 4th 2022
A selection of three essential articles read aloud from the latest issue of The Economist. This week, how to win the long war in Ukraine, why the Supreme Court’s judicial activism will deepen cracks in America (10:20), and beach reads for business people (17:55). Please subscribe ... Show More
22m 36s
Jun 2018
Hearst vs Pulitzer - Days of Atonement | 6
By 1900, the days of yellow journalism were already fading, and both William Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer were searching for a new direction even as their newspapers diverged.Hearst tries for a political career, but finds himself defeated and dragging back to a lagging paper by the ... Show More
24m 5s
Dec 2020
The Books That Got Away
Listen, a lot has happened this year, and it's no shock that some things may have slipped under the radar. So our resident book expert, Karen Grigsby Bates, took a virtual trip around the country to talk to independent book store owners about their favorite underappreciated reads ... Show More
21m 7s
Jun 2018
Hearst vs Pulitzer | The Headless Torso | 2
If you lived in an American city at the turn of the century, you got all of your news from a single source: the daily newspapers. No where was that more true than New York City; in the City, two papers ruled them all. You had the World and the Journal. And then men behind them we ... Show More
38m 30s