Today in Focus

40 Episodes
Subscribe

By: The Guardian

Hosted by Nosheen Iqbal and Helen Pidd, Today in Focus brings you closer to Guardian journalism. Combining storytelling with insightful analysis and personal testimonies, the podcast takes you behind the headlines for a deeper understanding of the news, every weekday. Today in Focus is unmatched in both scope and depth, delivering analysis and storytelling from right across the planet. With a global network of over 900 journalists and five dedicated editions covering news in the US, UK, Australia, Europe, and beyond, the Guardian offers comprehensive reporting across every continent. Most recently we have introduced new correspondents in the Caribbean, South America...

Rupert Murdoch picks a son in the real-life succession battle
Last Monday at 2:00 AM

Who is Lachlan Murdoch and how will he build on his father’s legacy? Emily Bell reports. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/infocus


The lucrative secrets of Boris Johnson
Last Friday at 2:00 AM

An investigation based on leaked data from Johnson’s private office has unearthed a trove of information. Has he broken the rules again? Henry Dyer reports. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/infocus


The sacking of Peter Mandelson – Today in Focus extra
Last Thursday at 4:28 PM

Just days before a state visit by Donald Trump, Keir Starmer has had to sack the British ambassador to the US. Kiran Stacey reports. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/infocus


Flags and fury: why the St George’s cross is everywhere
Last Thursday at 2:00 AM

Esther Addley on why the union jack and St George’s flags are appearing on lamp-posts, bridges and roundabouts in England. Gary Younge explains why not everyone is happy. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/infocus


Macron’s government collapses … again
09/10/2025

For the third time in a year a French prime minister has resigned and the president has had to swiftly choose a replacement. What’s behind the chaos? Angelique Chrisafis reports. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/infocus


A resignation, a reshuffle and a roaring headache for Keir Starmer
09/09/2025

Guardian columnist Rafael Behr discusses the government’s reshuffle after Angela Rayner’s resignation as deputy prime minister, and asks whether Labour can recover from here. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/infocus


Behind the scenes of the Guardian’s libel battle with Noel Clarke
09/08/2025

The actor claimed accusations against him by more than 20 women were false and part of a conspiracy. The Guardian’s editor-in-chief, Katharine Viner, and journalists Sirin Kale and Lucy Osborne on why the news organisation risked millions to defend its reporting. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/infocus


Angela Rayner resigns – Today in Focus Extra
09/05/2025

Guardian columnist Gaby Hinsliff talks through the tax row that brought down the now former deputy prime minister. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/infocus


Would you have your legs broken to be taller?
09/05/2025

Alongside dental work, hair transplants and nose jobs, people from around the world are travelling to Turkey to get leg-lengthening surgery. Ruth Michaelson reports. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/infocus


Strongmen assemble: Putin, Kim and Xi in Beijing
09/04/2025

Senior China correspondent Amy Hawkins discusses a historic week in China – including a 20-plus country summit and an unprecedented military parade – and analyses what it tells us about the country’s attempt to remake the world. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/infocus


Can the Green party’s new leader galvanise the left?
09/03/2025

How does Zack Polanski plan to get people talking about the Green party? Peter Walker reports. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/infocus


A North Korean defector on why Kim Jong Un has sent troops to Ukraine
09/02/2025

What does North Korea’s involvement in Ukraine mean for Kim Jong-un’s geopolitical ambitions? With Jean Lee. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/infocus


Spy cameras: are you being watched?
09/01/2025

With tiny cameras disguised as everyday objects freely available, Anna Moore looks at the sinister ways they can be used – and the worrying rise in voyeurism cases in the UK. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/infocus


Missing in the Amazon: the frontline – episode six
08/30/2025

Revisited: According to Beto Marubo, if Dom and Bruno did the same expedition in 2025, they would face the same levels of danger. The Guardian’s Latin America correspondent, Tom Phillips, returns to the Javari valley and meets those risking their lives daily basis to fight the threats from organised crime. Is it possible to save the Amazon?

For all links mentioned at the end of this episode, visit Missing in the Amazon at the Guardian. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/infocus


Missing in the Amazon: the fightback – episode five
08/29/2025

Revisited: Funerals are held for Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira and there is hope that the election of President Lula will mean new protections for the Amazon – and that the killers of Dom and Bruno will face justice. But organised crime is widespread and deep-rooted. The investigative journalist Sônia Bridi tells the Guardian’s Latin America correspondent, Tom Phillips, about a man who allegedly not only may have helped plan the killings but may have ordered them. A man whose name strikes fear across the region. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/infocus


Missing in the Amazon: the ambush – episode four
08/28/2025

Revisited: The Guardian’s Latin America correspondent, Tom Phillips, recalls the moment he and others on the search team found Dom and Bruno’s belongings in a hidden area of flooded forest. The team finally discover what has happened to the men. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/infocus


Missing in the Amazon: the protector and the poacher – episode three
08/27/2025

Revisited: Bruno Pereira was considered one of the great Indigenous protectors of his generation. And this made him an enemy of a man called Amarildo da Costa de Oliveira, also known as Pelado. The Guardian’s Latin America correspondent, Tom Phillips, reports on the story of the two men and what happened when their paths collided. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/infocus


Missing in the Amazon: the journalist and the president – episode two
08/26/2025

Revisited: What took the British journalist Dom Phillips from the club nights of the UK dance scene as editor of Mixmag to one of the most remote and dangerous corners of the Amazon rainforest? In 2022, Dom set off on a reporting trip with Bruno Pereira, a Brazilian expert on uncontacted tribes, into the Javari valley to investigate the criminal gangs threatening the region. And then they vanished. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/infocus


Missing in the Amazon: the disappearance – episode one
08/25/2025

Revisited: Three years ago, the British journalist Dom Phillips and the Brazilian Indigenous defender Bruno Pereira vanished while on a reporting trip near Brazil’s remote Javari valley. In the first episode of a six-part investigative podcast series, the Guardian’s Latin America correspondent, Tom Phillips, investigates what happened. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/infocus


Noel Clarke loses his libel case against the Guardian – Today in Focus Extra
08/22/2025

Investigations editor Paul Lewis talks through the Guardian’s successful defence against a libel action brought by the actor. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/infocus


Cringe! Why millennials became so uncool
08/22/2025

An intergenerational war has broken out with Gen Z mercilessly mocking millennials as embarrassing and out of touch. Chloë Hamilton reports. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/infocus


Sun, sea and struggle: growing up in England’s coastal towns
08/21/2025

Helen Pidd grew up in Morecambe, and life in seaside towns has only got harder since she was a teenager. She went back to find out why. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/infocus


What price will Ukraine have to pay for peace?
08/20/2025

After a week of historic summits on the future of Ukraine, will the president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, have to trade land for peace? Diplomatic editor Patrick Wintour reports. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/infocus


How far-right rhetoric on migration went mainstream
08/19/2025

Academic and author Dr Maya Goodfellow discusses how UK politicians have adopted far-right language on asylum and immigration. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/infocus


Can Europe’s leaders drag Trump’s Ukraine policy back on track? – Today in Focus Extra podcast
08/18/2025

The Guardian’s senior international correspondent Julian Borger on why a ‘dream team’ of Europe’s leaders will flank Zelenskyy today as he travels to Washington. Can they convince Trump to listen to the Ukrainian president?. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/infocus


Stephen Miller, Trump’s immigration mastermind
08/18/2025

What is driving the architect of Donald Trump’s immigration policy? With Jean Guerrero. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/infocus


Ghosting, breadcrumbing, one-night stands: are we done with dating apps?
08/15/2025

More than a million people in the UK left dating apps last year. The Guardian matchmaker Kitty Drake explains why. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/infocus


How Israel used Microsoft technology to spy on Palestinians
08/14/2025

Harry Davies on how Microsoft’s cloud was used to facilitate mass surveillance of Palestinians. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/infocus


The secrets of the world’s richest company
08/13/2025

Nvidia is the world’s first $4tn company – and it just made an astonishing deal with Trump. But who is the company’s founder, Jensen Huang, and what is behind its success? Tae Kim explains. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/infocus


The Trump-Putin summit
08/12/2025

The Guardian journalist Shaun Walker and the former British ambassador to Russia Laurie Bristow talk through Friday’s impending summit between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in Alaska and discuss where it will leave the war in Ukraine. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/infocus


How the University of Edinburgh helped create scientific racism
08/11/2025

Will the University of Edinburgh confront its dark past? Severin Carrell reports. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/infocus


Inside China’s fast-fashion factories as a US trade war looms
08/08/2025

The Guardian’s senior China correspondent, Amy Hawkins, visits factories threatened by US tariffs in Guangzhou, south China, as the deadline for a US-China trade agreement approaches with no deal yet in sight. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/infocus


Has the digital nomad dream turned sour?
08/07/2025

Alex Holder loves her new life in Lisbon but has become increasingly uneasy that people like her might be damaging the cities they love. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/infocus


Is this the summer the British left comes back?
08/06/2025

Guardian columnist Owen Jones and political correspondent Aletha Adu explore the prospects of the new leftwing party founded by Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/infocus


How the Trump administration made a sewage crisis ‘woke’
08/05/2025

How did the Trump administration upend a landmark civil rights victory for environmental justice? Nina Lakhani reports. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/infocus


The Tesla whistleblower and the cost of taking on Elon Musk
08/04/2025

Investigative journalist Sönke Iwersen describes his years-long investigation into Tesla, aided by a whistleblower, exposing serious safety concerns over the company’s cars. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/infocus


Did lead poisoning help create a generation of serial killers?
08/01/2025

Pulitzer prize-winning author Caroline Fraser on the link between air pollution in the US and male violence. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/infocus


How will the UK’s recognition of Palestine help those starving in Gaza?
07/31/2025

Surgeon Nick Maynard describes the unfolding famine he witnessed during his volunteering in Gaza, while our chief Middle East correspondent, Emma Graham-Harrison, analyses whether the UK’s proposed recognition of Palestine will alleviate the suffering there at all. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/infocus


Can people still protest about Palestine in the UK?
07/30/2025

What has been the impact of Palestine Action’s proscription as a terrorist organisation? Haroon Siddique reports. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/infocus


Protests against Zelenskyy as drones torment Ukraine
07/29/2025

Luke Harding talks to people in Kyiv protesting against the Ukrainian president’s recent changes to the country’s anti-corruption bodies, and analyses where the war against Russia is heading next. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/infocus