Season 2 of Londongrad: Iran's Hit Squads.Award-winning investigative reporter Paul Caruana Galizia returns to report the story of the foiled assassination attempts on British soil of Iranian nationals. Since January 2022, there has been an attempted assassination or kidnap at least once a month – all ordered by the Iranian government. In this four-part series, Paul will delve into how these attempts unfolded, why they have become so prevalent and who is behind them. It's a story about Iran, about freedom of the press, but most of all, it’s about Britain – who the country chooses to protect and why.For the premium Tortoise listening experience, curated by our journalists, download the free Tortoise audio app.For early and ad-free access, subscribe to Tortoise+ on Apple Podcasts.If you’d like to further support slow journalism and help us build a different kind of newsroom, do consider donating to Tortoise at tortoisemedia.com/support-us. Your contributions allow us to investigate, campaign and explore, and to build a newsroom that is responsible and sustainable. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
https://shows.acast.com/londongrad
Gesamtlänge aller Episoden: 6 hours 14 minutes
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episode 1: Londongrad episode 1: The advance party
Britain prides itself on being impregnable; a country which hasn’t been invaded for 1000 years and can’t be bought. The Lebedevs give the lie to all that. They spent a lot, but not a fortune, buying their way into British public life.
episode 2: Londongrad episode 2: The Royal Borough of Kensington and Moscow
The oligarchs who made their way to London in the early 2000s presented themselves as embodiments of the new Russia; beneficiaries of Vladimir Putin’s new order, not slaves to it. Those were the terms on which Britain let them in, but it was mugged.
episode 3: Londongrad episode 3: Project Venus
There comes a moment in any successful invasion of a country when you can no longer hide, your plans have to become obvious. It’s a moment of jeopardy, but if you can get through it then the scale of your ambitions can shift dramatically.
episode 4: Londongrad episode 4: Doubling down
Years of warnings about Russia’s intentions had gone unheeded; discounted as scaremongering. But then came the invasion of Crimea. In spite of it all, the Lebedevs' ascent in London continued, and so did the extraordinary parties.
episode 5: Londongrad episode 5: A blind eye
The Russia report. Boris Johnson saw it before his general election landslide in 2019. But his government went out of its way to make sure it didn’t see the light of day until long after the election had been fought and won.
episode 6: Making sense of Londongrad, with Paul Caruana-Galizia
We still have one more episode remaining in this Londongrad series, but I am excited to invite you to an event in the meantime. Visit the Tortoise website to purchase a ticket.
episode 6: Londongrad episode 6: Lord of the spies
It’s no secret that political patronage can get you a place in the House of Lords. But even people who understand the system well - even peers themselves - were appalled when Boris Johnson decided to extend his patronage to Evgeny Lebedev.
episode 7: Londongrad season 1 bonus episode: The Johnson affair
A former KGB officer, Britain’s foreign secretary – and a potential national security breach
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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