The long read
In-depth reporting, essays and profiles
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From 2019: Calculating the patterns and cycles of the past could lead us to a better understanding of history. Could it also help us prevent a looming crisis?Podcast
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The long read: Malcolm Macarthur was the wealthy, bookish socialite who shocked Ireland with a brutal double killing in 1982, and caused a major political scandal. I tracked him down and heard, for the first time, the tale he told about himself
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For more than half a century, one organisation has been cataloguing all of life’s superlatives. But has it gone from being about the pursuit of knowledge to simply another big business?Podcast
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How a mind-altering, addictive substance was used as a weapon by one empire to subdue anotherPodcast
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The long read: While the world becomes drier, profit and pollution are draining our resources. We have to change our approach
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From 2019: South Dakota is known for being the home of Mount Rushmore – and not much else. But thanks to its relish for deregulation, the state is fast becoming the most profitable place for the mega-wealthy to park their billionsPodcast
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The long read: The Kenyan novelist’s life and work has intersected with many of the biggest events of the past century. At 85, he reflects on his long, uncompromising life in writing
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Landfill sites have swallowed many a beauty spot along the Thames estuary in the past 50 years. Now, as those dumps start to disgorge tonnes of mouldering detritus into the river, it truly feels like the Age of ConsequencesPodcast
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The Clipper round the world yacht race was created for amateurs seeking the ultimate challenge. But did they underestimate the risks?Podcast
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The long read: Her hit book Doughnut Economics laid out a path to a greener, more equal society. But can she turn her ideas into meaningful change?
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From 2020: Hong Kong used to be seen as cautious, pragmatic and materialistic. But protests have transformed the city. As Beijing tightens its grip, how much longer can the movement survive?Podcast
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The long read: When my father began to forget words, and then basic skills, I sensed his fear. After my own alcoholic blackouts, I understood what he was going through
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Once hailed as a ‘handsome’ import, this most rampant of plants has come to be seen as a sinister, ruinous enemy. Can it be stopped?Podcast
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Despite vows to tighten the rules after the 1999 quake, cronyism and complacency have undermined Turkish building regulations – at the cost of many thousands of livesPodcast
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More and more institutions are commissioning investigations into their historical links to slavery – but the fallout at one Cambridge college suggests these projects are meeting growing resistance
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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 2020:
When he was six, Paul Alexander contracted polio and was paralysed for life. Today he is 74, and one of the last people in the world still using an iron lung. But after surviving one deadly outbreak, he did not expect to find himself threatened by anotherPodcast
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The long read: A flood of new research is overturning old assumptions about what animal minds are and aren’t capable of – and changing how we think about our own species
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Bulgaria in the 1980s became known as the ‘virus factory’, where hundreds of malicious computer programs were unleashed to wreak havoc. But who was writing them, and why?Podcast
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Since being laid low with the virus more than a year ago, Catherine Heymans can only operate in half-hour bursts. But her work could still change the way we understand the universePodcast
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The long read: For more than half a century, one organisation has been certifying and cataloguing all of life’s superlatives. But has it gone from being about the pursuit of knowledge to simply another big business?