Maigret’s Room
This story covering Georges Simenon’s prolific career, and his most well-known creation Commissaire Maigret, serves as a helpful primer for writing compelling fiction.
Talking Politics
This new(ish) podcast from the makers of Talking Politics covers one big idea in each episode. Topics so far include Tocqueville on Democracy, Marx and Engels on Revolution, Gandhi on Self-Rule, and Weber on Leadership. The website also contains links to further reading on the topics discussed in the podcast.
Global Change Data Lab
An initiative set up to source, present, and analyse data that tells the story of global progress. Over 3,000 charts about a range of aspects of global development along with a trove of analysis, make this this site a valuable resource for any looking to understand the world better.
The peak
A powerful account of a night at London’s University College Hospital’s Intensive Care Unit, on the peak night to date for deaths in hospitals from covid-19 in the UK, from the perspective of one of the leading consultants working there.
Monzo wanted to conquer America, then along came coronavirus
The story of Monzo’s attempts to crack the US market, and it’s market position in the era of covid-19.
The Pillage of India
A study of two books about British military and commercial activities and eventual rule in India, by the historian William Dalrymple and the writer and serving politician Shashi Tharoor.
The Work-From-Home Trader Who Shook Global Markets
The story of the trader who’d made large sums trading from home in West London only to contribute to the 2010 “Flash Crash”, when a trillion dollars was wiped off the world’s stock markets in the course of a few minutes.
Since I Met Edward Snowden, I’ve Never Stopped Watching My Back
A journalist writes about the alarming degree of surveillance and suspected hacking he was subject to after working with Edward Snowden on a major story, and the paranoia it engendered.
OTL: Michael Jordan Has Not Left The Building
A 2013 profile of Michael Jordan as he turned 50 is a well-wrought study of one of the most high profile professional athletes of all time.
The haunting of Girlstown
The story of a strange outbreak at a Catholic school in Mexico in 2006. Girls reported pain in their legs, nausea, and fever. When the cases spread to hundreds of pupils, the government sent a psychiatrist specialised in adolescents experiencing psychosomatic illnesses to investigate. The story is currently being turned into a film.