The Story

The city of Ranya– a small town in Northern Iraq– is more than 2,500 miles from Calais and Dunkirk. But it has a near monopoly on the people smuggling gangs that traffic migrants across the English Channel. The Times visited Ranya to meet the kingpins and ask: how did one village become responsible for Britain’s small boats crisis?

This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support of readers of The Times and The Sunday Times. Subscribe today: http://thetimes.com/thestory

Guest: Shayma Bakht, reporter, The Times.
Host: Luke Jones.
Producer: Micaela Arneson.
We want to hear from you - email: [email protected]

Read more: I met the smuggling kingpins behind the deadly Channel crossings
Further listening: ‘Repugnant’ or necessary? The new asylum rules
Clips: Getty Images, DRM News.
Photo: Times Media Ltd.
This podcast was brought to you thanks to subscribers of The Times and The Sunday Times. To enjoy unlimited digital access to all our journalism subscribe here.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this special two part podcast, Whitehall editor at The Sunday Times, Gabriel Pogrund, is joined by the preeminent investigative journalist and author Patrick Radden Keefe.

On a cold November night in 2019, 19 year old Zac Brettler jumped to his death from the balcony of a luxury London apartment. Police concluded it was suicide, however, under Radden Keefe's forensic microscope together with Gabriel's own Sunday Times investigation, serious questions are raised about what really happened that night, and whether it was suicide after all. It's a tale rooted in London's criminal underground, and now the subject of Radden Keefe's latest book, London Falling.

In episode 2: What really happened on the night Zac died? Gabriel gets hold of some crucial new evidence which calls into question the Met Police's investigation.

This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support of readers of The Times and The Sunday Times. Subscribe today: http://thetimes.com/thestory

Host: Gabriel Pogrund - Whitehall editor at The Sunday Times.
Guest: Patrick Radden Keefe.
Producer: Dave Creasey.
Executive Producer: Kate Ford
We want to hear from you - email: [email protected]
Read more: The dead teenager, the lying suspect and the black box that proves it
Photo: The Times, design by Cecilia Tombesi.
Click here to buy London Falling at the times bookshop.
This podcast was brought to you thanks to subscribers of The Times and The Sunday Times. To enjoy unlimited digital access to all our journalism subscribe here.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this special two part podcast, Whitehall editor at The Sunday Times, Gabriel Pogrund, is joined by the preeminent investigative journalist and author Patrick Radden Keefe.

On a cold November night in 2019, 19 year old Zac Brettler jumped to his death from the balcony of a luxury London apartment. Police concluded it was suicide, however, under Radden Keefe's forensic microscope together with Gabriel's own Sunday Times investigation, serious questions are raised about what really happened that night, and whether it was suicide after all. It's a tale rooted in London's criminal underground, and now the subject of Radden Keefe's latest book, London Falling.

In this episode we hear about how a young man, born into a wealthy family, become embroiled with a notorious London gangster.

This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support of readers of The Times and The Sunday Times. Subscribe today: http://thetimes.com/thestory

Host: Gabriel Pogrund - Whitehall editor at The Sunday Times
Guest: Patrick Radden Keefe
Producer: Dave Creasey.
Executive Producer: Kate Ford
We want to hear from you - email: [email protected]
Read more: The dead teenager, the lying suspect and the black box that proves it
Photo: The Times, design by Cecilia Tombesi.
Click here to buy London Falling at the times bookshop.
This podcast was brought to you thanks to subscribers of The Times and The Sunday Times. To enjoy unlimited digital access to all our journalism subscribe here.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For decades UK sofas have contained chemicals linked to cancer, birth defects and infertility because of uniquely strict fire rules. Up to a fifth of their foam consists of a chemical not used in any other country’s sofas, but is now classed “probably carcinogenic to humans” by the World Health Organisation. So how deadly is your sofa, why is the UK an outlier and are things set to improve?

This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support of readers of The Times and The Sunday Times. Subscribe today: http://thetimes.com/thestory

Guest: Martina Lees, senior property reporter, The Sunday Times.
Host: Manveen Rana.
Producer: Edward Drummond
We want to hear from you - email: [email protected]

Read more: Sitting comfortably? Your sofa is among the most toxic on Earth
This podcast was brought to you thanks to subscribers of The Times and The Sunday Times. To enjoy unlimited digital access to all our journalism subscribe here.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After mounting hostilities and Trump’s threats that ‘a whole civilization will die’ unless Iran backs down, Tehran and Washington have agreed to a two week ceasefire. Now, they’re discussing a ten-point plan to permanently end the war. But is this the end of the fighting or just a pause? What’s in the peace plan? And has this conflict taught Iran that it can hold the world to ransom?
This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support of readers of The Times and The Sunday Times. Subscribe today: http://thetimes.com/thestory

Guest: Catherine Philp, World Affairs Editor, The Times.
Host: Manveen Rana.
Producers: Olivia Case and Sophie McNulty.

We want to hear from you - email: [email protected]
Read more: What’s in Iran’s ten-point ceasefire plan? Trump’s stumbling blocks examined
Further listening: The West Bank land grab no one’s watching
Clips: BBC, CNN, AP, CSPAN, NDTV, The Mary Trump Podcast.
Photo: Getty Images.

This podcast was brought to you thanks to subscribers of The Times and The Sunday Times. To enjoy unlimited digital access to all our journalism subscribe here.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.