The Audio Long Read

From razor-wire fences and crumbling cells to no windows and overcrowding, conditions in most jails mean rehabilitation is a nonstarter. Here’s how we can create better spaces for prisoners. By Yvonne Jewkes. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

As leader of the AfD’s most radical faction, he is infamous in Germany and his critics have long accused him of using language that echoes the Nazis. This year, a court put that question to the test. By Alex Dziadosz. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

As the Long Read turns 10 we are raiding the archives to bring you a favourite piece from each year since 2014, with new introductions from the authors. This week from 2017: The world-beating British sandwich industry is worth £8bn a year. It transformed the way we eat lunch, then did the same for breakfast – and now it’s coming for dinner. By Sam Knight. Help support our independent journalism at...

I spoke to dozens of people – from ‘donors’ to brokers – to find out how this exploitative trade thrives on chaos and desperation. By Seán Columb. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

It began as a routine investigation into a multinational called ENRC. It became a decade-long saga that has rocked the UK’s financial crime agency. Now new documents illuminate a case that has rewritten UK law and is set to end with a huge bill handed to taxpayers. By Tom Burgis. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

As the Long Read turns 10 we are raiding the archives to bring you a favourite piece from each year since 2014, with new introductions from the authors. This week from 2016: Rats spread disease, decimate crops and very occasionally eat people alive. For centuries, we have struggled to find an effective way of controlling their numbers. Until now… By Jordan Kisner. Help support our independent jour...

Our twins spent two years at primary school in Chengdu. Their lessons featured alarming cautionary tales and stories of Chinese superiority, but there was fun and irreverence, too. By Peter Hessler. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

She’s been called a neo-fascist and a danger to Italy. But she has won over many heads of Europe, including the UK prime minister. Should we be worried? By Alexander Stille. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

As the Long Read turns 10 we are raiding the archives to bring you a favourite piece from each year since 2014, with new introductions from the authors. This week from 2015: After 12 years in the US, Gary Younge is preparing to depart – as the country’s racial frictions seem certain to spark another summer of conflict. By Gary Younge. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/long...

The Colombian drug lord’s exotic menagerie fell apart after his death, and now wild hippos are breeding out of control. By Joshua Hammer. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

My commitment to breastfeeding exclusively was related to shame. If I couldn’t do it, I felt I would be letting the baby down. By Niamh Campbell. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

As the Long Read turns 10 we are raiding the archives to bring you a favourite piece from each year since 2014, with new introductions from the authors. This week from 2014: A shared history of 300 years could be washed away if Scotland votes for independence. What was the complex identity the United Kingdom created – and should we mourn its loss? by Ian Jack. Help support our independent journali...

To celebrate 10 years of The Long Read we gathered together the team who launched it to take you behind the scenes. Helen Pidd is joined by editor David Wolf, deputy editor Clare Longrigg, and former editor and founder of the Long Read Jonathan Shainin.. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

Without plankton, the modern ocean ecosystem – the very idea of the ocean as we understand it – would collapse. Earth would have no complex life of any kind. By Ferris Jabr. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

The rise of artificial intelligence has sparked a panic about computers gaining power over humankind. But the real threat comes from falling for the hype. By Navneet Alang. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

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 2021: In 2018, Indian police claimed to have uncovered a shocking plan to bring down the government. But there is mounting evidence that the initial conspiracy was a fiction – and the accused are victims of an elaborate plot. By Siddhartha Deb. H...

I took a cruise with thousands of fellow lunatics to find out how this much-mocked rock band became so beloved. By Luke Winkie. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

Perhaps a foreigner knows more about their adopted land than the locals, because a foreigner feels more acutely the particularities of a new environment. By Xiaolu Guo. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

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 2021: Before the 17th century, people did not think of themselves as belonging to something called the white race. But once the idea was invented, it quickly began to reshape the modern world. By Robert P Baird. Help support our independent journ...

When Putin invaded, a historian in Kyiv saw that Ukraine’s cultural heritage was in danger. So he set out to save as much of it as he could. By Charlotte Higgins. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

This summer, one of my lectures was protested by far-right students. Their rhetoric brought to mind some of the darkest moments of 20th-century history – and overlapped with mainstream Israeli views to a shocking degree. By Omer Bartov. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

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 2019: Countries around the world are making it easier to choose the time and manner of your death. But doctors in the world’s euthanasia capital are starting to worry about the consequences. By Christopher de Bellaigue. Help support our independe...

For children with ADHD, getting the help they need depends on being correctly diagnosed. As a doctor, I have seen how tricky and frustrating a process that can be. By Jack Goulder. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

We are raiding the Guardian Long Read archives to bring you some notable pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week, from 2022: Five years after the fire that killed 72, the inquiry is nearing a close. Over 300 days of evidence, what have we learned about the failings that led to disaster? By Robert Booth. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/l...

In the 1970s, David Duke was grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. In the 80s, he was elected to Louisiana’s house of representatives – and the kinds of ideas he stood for have not gone away. By John Ganz. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod