The Story

As students all around the country return to school we explore the issues facing pupils, teachers and parents. Guests:  Sian Griffiths, Sunday Times Education and Families editor. Host: Manveen Rana.  Clips used: BBC, The Sun. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As Britain went into lockdown fears about health infection rates and the catastrophic impact on the economy set in, but something else was taking hold. We've been speaking to the anti-racism charity, The Monitoring Group, and they've noticed an alarming trend: a rise in racist hate crime.  Guests: Suresh Grover, The Monitoring Group. Dorothea Jones, The Monitoring Group. Host: Manveen Ra...

Steve Bannon, Trump’s former campaign chief, appeared in Manhattan federal court via video last week. He was arrested and charged for allegedly siphoning money from a fundraising campaign to build the president’s controversial border wall with Mexico. He pleaded not guilty. Today we take a look into his past to separate the man from the myth.  Guests: Josh Glancy, Washington Bureau Chief...

The US is nearing the finish line of a much anticipated election campaign, and the conventions made headlines this week. It's Trump v Biden for the soul of America, but what about their running mates? We put Mike Pence and Kamala Harris under the spotlight. What do we really know about who they are and what they want?  Guests:  Henry Zeffman, Washington correspondent for The Times....

Two weeks ago, Alexander Lukashenko claimed to win a sixth term as president of the Republic of Belarus. But after his 26 year rule, many in Belarus have had enough. Since the August 9th election, the country has seen widespread protests which have been met with mass arrests and repression. We follow four young Belarusians caught up in history. Host: Manveen Rana. Guests:  Aliaksandra Yu...

Last week Dido Harding, the former amateur jockey and TalkTalk boss who since May has been the head of the ramshackle NHS Test and Trace programme, was put in charge of England’s new pandemic response agency. Sunday Times business reporter Sabah Meddings traces Harding’s rise to the top of one of the most important organisations in the country. Host: Manveen Rana. Guest: Sabah Meddings, pharma, co...

A confidential report has identified a string of murder-suicides that could in fact be the work of a serial killer who attacks vulnerable elderly couples with extreme violence. Could this killer still be at large? And could a pattern of behaviour truly have been missed for 15 years? Guests:  David Collins, Northern correspondent, The Sunday Times.  Jonathan Calver, Insight Editor, T...

Sales of camping gear have jumped as more Britons opt to holiday within the UK this summer due to coronavirus. Today we take you under canvas in the great British outdoors. Guest: Ben Machell is a feature writer for The Times. Host: David Aaronovitch. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the past week the Education Secretary has defended the use of an algorithm to produce A-level grades, categorically ruled out a U-turn and then completed said U-turn. But what if this is just the most high-profile example of algorithms creeping into our everyday lives? Guests:  Steven Swinford, deputy political editor, The Times. Timandra Harkness, author of Big Data, Does Size Matter? Hos...

The Afghan war could finally be limping to an end, and a peace deal with the Taliban could now be on the horizon. But will some of the most dangerous Taliban fighters have to be released back into society? Guest:  President of Afghanistan, Ashraf Ghani. Host:  Manveen Rana.  Clips:  BBC, Channel 4, CSPAN. Additional Music: Jordan Powell, Nihilore (licensed under Creative Common...

As the eyes of British news crews are trained on migrants crossing the Channel in boats, Lampedusa on Europe’s southern border is seeing far greater numbers of migrants coming from a new country of origin: Tunisia. What brings these families to Italy? Guest: Tom Kington, the Times Italy correspondent. Host: David Aaronovitch. Clips used: Euronews, Tele Studio 98, TRIS, La Republica, BBC News, Home...

An MP has been accused of rape - and questions are again being asked about the role of whips in protecting parliamentary staff. Historically, the whips have a reputation as the shadowy brokers of backroom deals and the keepers of secrets. But is the notorious office where the real power in Westminster truly lies? Guests Esther Webber, Red Box reporter. Anne Milton, former MP and deputy chief whip....

The NRA is one of America's most powerful lobby groups. Now it has become the target of a lawsuit brought by New York's attorney-general. The organisation stands accused of "years of self-dealing and illegal conduct" by its top executives. The lawsuit could spell the end of the NRA, but could it change minds about the role of guns in American society?   Guests:  Henry...

It's official: the UK economy is back in recession. This week we've heard of record-high job losses and a sharp economic downturn - but the worst could still be to come. Guest: Gurpreet Narwan, economics correspondent, The Times.   Host: Manveen Rana.   Clips: BBC, ITV, Sky News. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

President Trump has ordered firms to stop doing business with social media giant TikTok over security concerns. Microsoft was the front-runner to buy the company, but now Twitter has emerged as a possible suitor. What has made the app so popular and so controversial? Guests:  Danny Fortson Sunday Times west coast correspondent. Host: Manveen Rana. Clips used: NBC, Tik Tok, ABC Australian, Bit...

In one heart-stopping moment last Tuesday, Beirut, a city that’s seen its share of wars, was rocked by the biggest blast in its history. Now that international donors have pledged a quarter of a billion euros in aid for Lebanon, can the country begin to rebuild? Guest  Richard Spencer, the Middle East correspondent for The Times. Ghadi Sary, Middle East consultant and journalist.  Meliss...

At the eastern end of the Sunset Strip is a hotel called Chateau Marmont. For many years it's been the favourite hang-out spot of movie stars and writers; but now the Chateau’s owner has announced the hotel is about to become a private members club. What does the change mean for the future of the iconic venue? Guests: Shawn Levy, author of The Castle on Sunset: Life, Death, Love, Art, an...

75 years ago this week, a devastating atomic bomb changed world history. What can we learn from these events?  Guest: Koko Kondo, Hiroshima bomb survivor and peace campaigner. Host: Manveen Rana.  Clips used: NBC, Imperial War Museum, US Army. You can hear more first-hand memories of the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the end of the Second World War...

Stories about the persecution of China’s Muslim Uighur minority have been in the news in recent weeks. We hear the story of one man living in Turkey: Abdurehim Parac, a Uighur poet in exile. Guests:  Hannah Lucinda Smith, Times Istanbul correspondent. Host: Manveen Rana.  Clips used: France 24, Sky News Australia, BBC, Channel 4 News, South China Morning Post, Al, Jazeera, PBS, CNBC...

A High Court case been brought by a young man whose family were shot dead by a rogue SAS unit in Afghanistan. The trial has led to the release of documents which suggest a horrifying pattern of night-raid killings, cover-ups and ‘collective amnesia’ by soldiers in a crack army special forces unit. Guests: Jonathan Calvert, Insight Editor, The Sunday Times. George Arbuthnott, Deputy Insight Editor,...

Why did the Duke and Duchess of Sussex really quit royal life? A new book purports to take readers into their inner sanctum.  Guests: Valentine Low, Times Royal correspondent.  Andrew Billen, Features writer. Host: Manveen Rana. Clips used: CNBC, ABC, NBC, Euronews, ITV. Additional music: Meydan (licensed under Creative Commons). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/pr...

Wiley - rapper, producer and godfather of grime - has been dropped by his management following an antisemitic Twitter tirade. In the wider conversation that followed, were Black British Jews left out?   Guests: Nadine Batchelor-Hunt, journalist and podcaster.  Will Hodgkinson, chief rock and pop critic for The Times.   Host: Manveen Rana. Clips used: Sky News int...

13 year old Christopher Kapessa died in July last year after he was pushed from a bridge over the Cynon river in Rhondda Cynon Taf, south Wales. The Crown Prosecution Service concluded that it was a “foolish prank”. Did racism play a role in his death and the subsequent police investigation? Guests:  Alina Joseph, mother of Christopher Kapessa. Hilary Brown, lawyer for Alina Joseph. Sure...

How do you pick a potential vice president of the USA? With less than a hundred days to go until the American elections, the Democrats still have one major decision to make: Joe Biden’s running mate. Stories of our Times presenter Manveen Rana speaks to The Times' US Editor David Charter about who might get the nod and what their choice might say about Biden's campaign. Guests:  David Charter...

At the start of the pandemic, two million of the most vulnerable people in England were told to 'shield' in order to remain safe. This week, the national shielding programme is being put on pause. With hundreds of new coronavirus cases being reported every day, is it too soon? And what will happen to the people most at risk? Guests:  Sean O'Neill, chief reporter, The Times Charlotte Augst, ch...