The Slow Newscast

Alexi sits down with the reporter of this week’s Slow Newscast, Francisco Garcia, to talk about one stop in particular on the road to Putin’s frontline, the Orthodox Church. How did a young man from Dunblane end up converting to this ancient form of Christianity? And why are so many young men converting to the Orthodox Church?

Producer: Ada Barumé
Executive Producer: Matt Russell
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Jay Fraser was born and raised in Dunblane. Then, after the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, he signed up to fight...for Russia, not Ukraine. Now he and others who have followed similar paths tell their story of how they ended up on the frontline for Putin.

Reporter: Francisco Garcia
Producers: Gary Marshall and Matt Russell
Artwork: Lucy Stevenson
Sound design: Dominic Delargy
Editor: Jasper Corbett

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Stephen Miller is the United States Homeland Security Advisor. But the vague sounding title belies his immense influence with Donald Trump behind the scenes. He’s better understood as the architect of some of the US’s most audacious recent policies - the capturing of Venezuelan President Maduro, the rollout of ICE enforcement through communities, and a threat to capture Greenland. So what can he tell us about what America will do next?

Credits:
Reporter: Stephen Armstrong
Reporter/Producers: Madeleine Parr, Poppy Bullard, Jonathan Lewis
Sound design: Dominic Delargy
Artwork: Lucy Stevenson
Editors: Matt Russell & Jasper Corbett

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The Epstein Files are wreaking havoc across British institutions; first the Royal family and now, the government. Peter Mandelson was sacked as US Ambassador in September over his links to the billionaire paedophile, but the latest tranche of documents show the pair were closer than anyone previously knew. What did their relationship look like? And did it give Jeffrey Epstein access to the heart of the British government?

Reporters: Ada Barume and Poppy Bullard

Producer: Poppy Bullard

Sound design: Dominic Delargy

Editor: Jasper Corbett

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The dating app Bumble built its identity on a promise: women make the first move. In this episode, The Observer uncovers a legal campaign by men’s rights activists that helped dismantle that premise.

Correction: A previous version of this episode stated that the Los Angeles Angels baseball case settled for $500,000. That case did not settle and was dismissed in court. It was a separate case involving the Oakland Athletics baseball team that settled for $500,000. This episode has been updated.

Reporter: Patricia Clarke
Producer: Jonathan Lewis
Sound design: Dominic Delargy
Artwork: Blythe Walker Sibthorp
Editor: Jasper Corbett

Subscribe to The Observer today: https://observer.co.uk/subscribe

And get access to:

Our podcasts before anyone else
A daily edition, curated by our editors 7 days a week
Puzzles from the inventors of the cryptic crossword
Recipes for every occasion
Free tickets to join Observer events in our newsroom or online
Click here to subscribe today for just £1 for your first month.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.