The Guardian Long Read

Jan 30/2024

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  Strangely eventless, yet swelling with high drama, The Archers is the longest-running series in the world. But has this rural soap been teaching Middle England about itself, or inventing it from scratch? By Charlotte Higgins. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod
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  We are raiding the Audio Long Reads archives and bringing you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors This week, from 2016: All of our efforts to be more productive backfire – and only make us feel even busier and more stressed. By Oliver Burkeman. Help support our independent journalism[...]
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  Jake Haendel spent months trapped in his body, silent and unmoving but fully conscious. Most people never emerge from ‘locked-in syndrome’, but as a doctor told him, everything about his case is bizarre by Josh Wilbur. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod
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  We are raiding the Audio Long Reads archives and bringing you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week: The ability of statistics to accurately represent the world is declining. In its wake, a new age of big data controlled by private companies is taking over – and putting[...]

The Guardian Long Read – audio versions of our regular long reads published online and in the newspaper Monday through Friday. The long reads are long form articles on a wide variety of topics from global politics to the big cultural debates of our time. For the print version go to – http://www.theguardian.com/news/series/the-long-read