The Audio Long Read

The Guardian

The Audio Long Read podcast is a selection of the Guardian’s long reads, giving you the opportunity to get on with your day while listening to some of the finest longform journalism the Guardian has to offer, including in-depth writing from around the world on current affairs, climate change, global warming, immigration, crime, business, the arts and much more. The podcast explores a range of subjects and news across business, global politics (including Trump, Israel, Palestine and Gaza), money, philosophy, science, internet culture, modern life, war, climate change, current affairs, music and trends, and seeks to answer key questions around them through in depth interviews explainers, and analysis with quality Guardian reporting. Through first person accounts, narrative audio storytelling and investigative reporting, the Audio Long Read seeks to dive deep, debunk myths and uncover hidden histories. In previous episodes we have asked questions like: do we need a new theory of evolution? Whether Trump can win the US presidency or not? Why can't we stop quantifying our lives? Why have our nuclear fears faded? Why do so many bikes end up underwater? How did Germany get hooked on Russian energy? Are we all prisoners of geography? How was London's Olympic legacy sold out? Who owns Einstein? Is free will an illusion? What lies beghind the Arctic's Indigenous suicide crisis? What is the mystery of India's deadly exam scam? Who is the man who built his own cathedral? And, how did the world get hooked on palm oil? Other topics range from: history including empire to politics, conflict, Ukraine, Russia, Israel, Gaza, philosophy, science, psychology, health and finance. Audio Long Read journalists include Samira Shackle, Tom Lamont, Sophie Elmhirst, Samanth Subramanian, Imogen West-Knights, Sirin Kale, Daniel Trilling and Giles Tremlett.

  • 32 minutes 45 seconds
    Best of 2025: Don’t call it morning sickness: ‘At times in my pregnancy I wondered if this was death coming for me’
    Each week for the rest of December 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. From July: the Victorians called it ‘pernicious vomiting of pregnancy’, but modern medicine has offered no end to the torture of hyperemesis gravidarum – until now By Abi Stephenson. Read by Nicolette Chin. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod
    17 December 2025, 5:00 am
  • 33 minutes 27 seconds
    The snail farm don: is this the most brazen tax avoidance scheme of all time?
    Terry Ball – renowned shoe salesman, friend to former mafiosi – has vowed to spend his remaining years finding ways to cheat authorities he feels have cheated him. His greatest ruse? A tax-dodging snail empire By Jim Waterson. Read by Nicholas Camm. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod
    15 December 2025, 5:00 am
  • 36 minutes 59 seconds
    The Birth Keepers: I choose this – episode one
    The Free Birth Society was selling pregnant women a simple message. They could exit the medical system and take back their power. By free birthing. But Nicole Garrison believes FBS ideology nearly cost her her life. This is episode one of a year-long investigation by Guardian journalists Sirin Kale and Lucy Osborne Listen to the full series from The Guardian Investigates podcast. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod
    13 December 2025, 5:00 am
  • 32 minutes 45 seconds
    ‘DeepSeek is humane. Doctors are more like machines’: my mother’s worrying reliance on AI for health advice
    Tired of a two-day commute to see her overworked doctor, my mother turned to tech for help with her kidney disease. She bonded with the bot so much I was scared she would refuse to see a real medic By Viola Zhou. Read by Vivian Full This essay was originally published on Rest of world. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod
    12 December 2025, 5:00 am
  • 39 minutes 32 seconds
    From the archive: is the IMF fit for purpose?
    We 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: as the world faces the worst debt crisis in decades, the need for a global lender of last resort is clearer than ever. But many nations view the IMF as overbearing, or even neocolonial – and are now looking elsewhere for help By Jamie Martin. Read by Kelly Burke. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod
    10 December 2025, 5:00 am
  • 33 minutes 27 seconds
    ‘The police weren’t interested’: what’s driving the rise in private prosecutions?
    As the police and courts continue to struggle with the legacy of austerity, many people are seeking alternative routes to justice – but it could be making matters worse By Hettie O’Brien. Read by Rebecca Trehearn. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod
    8 December 2025, 5:00 am
  • 31 minutes 29 seconds
    When I met Craig he was 13 and homeless. I still thought his life might turn around. I was tragically wrong
    I knew he was running away from something. It wasn’t until many years later that I discovered the truth Written and read by Pamela Gordon. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod
    5 December 2025, 5:00 am
  • 31 minutes 48 seconds
    Money talks: the deep ties between Twitter and Saudi Arabia
    Saudi Arabia’s investment in Twitter increased its influence in Silicon Valley while being used at home to shut down critics of the regime By Jacob Silverman.. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod
    4 December 2025, 1:33 pm
  • 47 minutes 46 seconds
    From the archive: A day in the life of (almost) every vending machine in the world
    We 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: what’s behind the indestructible appeal of the robotic snack? By Tom Lamont. Read by Andrew McGregor. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod
    3 December 2025, 5:00 am
  • 41 minutes 29 seconds
    ‘They take the money and go’: why not everyone is mourning the end of USAID
    When Donald Trump set about dismantling USAID, many around the world were shocked. But on the ground in Sierra Leone, the latest betrayal was not unexpected By Mara Kardas-Nelson. Read by Lanna Joffrey. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod
    1 December 2025, 5:00 am
  • 28 minutes 20 seconds
    ‘I knew in my head we were dying’: the last voyage of the Scandies Rose
    When a fishing boat left port in Alaska in December 2019 with an experienced crew, an icy storm was brewing. What happened to them shows why deep sea fishing is one of the most dangerous professions in the world By Rose George. Read by Rosalie Craig. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod
    28 November 2025, 5:00 am
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