Sensemaker

What are Serious Violence Reduction Orders, and why are they controversial? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It isn't just parties at Downing St where the Prime Minister broke his own rules. He did it over his second home as well.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Who orchestrated the killing of the country's president? Suspicion is now falling on the country's prime minister. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When Dominic Cummings was driven out of Number 10 at the end of 2020, many thought the days of the “Westminster protagonist” were over. Then came partygate.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Zolgensma is a life-saving drug but it costs more than a million and a half pounds per patient. Who decides if the NHS can afford it? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Indian businessmen, the Gupta brothers, became enormously influential in South Africa. A new report says they effectively captured the country.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lewisham in south east London is considering a softer approach to young people caught with drugs. Is the rest of the UK ready to endorse it? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

An anti-government movement is growing in Kazakhstan. So why are Russian soldiers the ones crushing it?   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Incels - men who are 'involuntarily celibate' and blame women - are growing in numbers and getting angrier and more misogynistic. A man who goes by the name Alexander Ash is promoting their rise. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Can Prince Andrew strike out a case against him by a woman who accuses him of abusing her when she was a minor? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Omicron variant of Covid is surging across the UK, but the government seems determined not to go beyond its famous "Plan B" - the restrictions we're living with now.   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today, we're doing something a little different. We're going to kick off the year by predicting a few big things we think will happen in 2022. Sign up to our ThinkIn "2022 Predictions: What's coming next?" https://www.tortoisemedia.com/thinkin/2022-predictions-whats-coming-next/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In May, Belarus forced a plane to land because it had an exiled journalist on board. It created an international diplomatic crisis.  Listen to Pariah: https://podfollow.com/1564715288 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Some people said COP26, the global climate conference, was doomed because China’s president didn't show up. Then along came an unusually capable civil servant known as ‘the panda’. Sign up to our Sensemaker newsletter: https://www.tortoisemedia.com/sensemaker/  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Thanks to revelations from one former Facebook insider, 2021 was a year of reckoning for the tech giant. Subscribe to the Sensemaker podcast: https://podfollow.com/1548929040 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Cressida Dick is in charge of the Metropolitan Police. But having a woman at the top hasn’t shielded the force from accusations that it’s still a deeply sexist institution.    Listen to Wrong turn: murder, miscarriage and justice: pod.fo/e/eae38 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The day after the Taliban took Kabul, a young man fell to his death from a US airplane. The tragedy revealed a lot about America’s withdrawal from Afghanistan. Listen to the Slow Newscast: https://podfollow.com/1487320403 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Britney Spears has rarely been out of the headlines this year. What does her story tell us about pop culture in 2021?Listen to Popbitch: https://torto.se/326f3lC Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When Simone Biles put her mental health before more medals, and pulled out of the Tokyo Olympics, the world was amazed.  Subscribe to the Sensemaker podcast: https://podfollow.com/1548929040 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How a Russian actress, not a joyriding billionaire, is the best person to show us where space travel is going.Sign up to our daily Sensemaker newsletter: www.tortoisemedia.com/sensemaker/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Squid Game's director Hwang Dong-hyuk originally had the idea for this year's runaway TV hit in 2009. His story is a 12-year lesson in endurance. Listen to the Playmaker podcasts: https://podfollow.com/1579093092 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Conservative leaders have traditionally been in favour of low taxes and spending - but not Boris Johnson. How will he and his Chancellor Rishi Sunak sort out their differences? Listen to ThinkIn with James Harding: https://podfollow.com/1562163623 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Three dads came together this year in the saddest of circumstances; they all had daughters who'd taken their own lives. They turned their tragedies into a story of love and hope. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week Malta became the first European country to legalise the cultivation and possession of cannabis for personal use. Will this be a trend across the rest of Europe? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Omicron variant is causing a rapid rise in Covid-19 infections. Is the UK government making the right call by not clamping down on unvaccinated people? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"Killer robots" are already being developed and used by lots of countries. But if these machines are really autonomous, who do we blame if things go wrong? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Gambling firms could be forced to ask punters for their payslips in a move to help prevent unaffordable losses. Why's it taken until now? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's the story which refuses to leave at the end of the night: the saga of the Downing Street Christmas party. But how much of a hangover could it cause Boris Johnson? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Politicians are promising that this Christmas will be better than the last one. And one man, and his supermarket, are securing shoppers their turkeys... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Even though it's more transmissible, there's a chance the new Covid variant might be weaker than others. And that might be because, as the virus mutates, it loses its "fitness"... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Russia is building up troops near its border with Ukraine. Moscow claims there is a growing threat on its western border. It all feels like a return to 2014... why the renewed tensions? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In Scotland, the SNP is committed to trying again for a referendum on independence. But timing is everything. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Oscar Pistorius, South Africa's most famous athlete, was jailed in 2013 for the murder of Reeva Steenkamp. He could soon be released on parole. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Both Labour and the Conservatives agree the country needs to level up. How we get there is where the parties split. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For almost 50 years, women in the United States have had the right to have an abortion. But a Supreme Court case could put those rights in jeopardy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Scientists think the new mutation of Covid-19 could be linked to HIV. How? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How can Britain and France stop the lucrative, and deadly, trade in human lives in small boats across the English Channel? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tony Hickmott has autism and learning difficulties. For more than 20 years he's been held in a specialist hospital, hours away from his family. His local council blame a lack of other options - how can this be justified?   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Kate Bingham is one of many public figures to accuse the government, civil service, and the media of being a "blob" resistant to reform. Is it really a problem? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Austria brought in its fourth national lockdown and said Covid vaccines will become a legal requirement from early next year. It’s been met with large protests and threats of strike action. Will the UK follow a similar path? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A top Chinese woman tennis player alleged that a senior politician had sexually abused her - then she disappeared. Now Peng Shuai has resurfaced, but is she safe? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Bosnia has been held together by a complicated peace deal since its civil war 25 years ago. Is it about to fall apart? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Some days, more than 1000 migrants cross the English Channel in small boats. Could the UK and France stop them if they wanted? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Alex Jones is one of the United States' great sources of misinformation and he's made a lot of money from it. This week a court has found him liable by default of defamation. But will it stop him spreading lies in future? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sickle cell disease is a condition which affects Black people, and people from other ethnic minorities. Too many are dying needlessly from it. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Trapped between Polish guards on one side and Belarusian guards on the other, migrants trapped on Europe's frontier find themselves caught in a lethal geopolitical game. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

At the start of COP, Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley delivered a stark warning on the effects of a rise in global temperature. But did anyone listen? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Chinese Communist Party has just passed a landmark new resolution under Xi Jinping. But what's really motivating him? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Since 2016, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been held hostage in Iran. And to understand why, you need to know about a long-forgotten tank deal, and a debt Britain is refusing to pay... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The culture wars over vaccinating kids against Covid in the US have got so fierce that a Sesame Street character has been dragged into the fight. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.