The Audio Long Read

Writers are being bombarded daily with invitations from fake book groups and offers to publicise their work. For the scamming industry, aspiring authors can be a soft touch By Snigdha Poonam. Read by Maya Saroya. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

We are raiding the Guardian long read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors This week, from 2023: Computer scientist Joseph Weizenbaum was there at the dawn of artificial intelligence – but he was also adamant that we must never confuse computers with humans By Ben Tarnoff. Read by Sam Peter Jackson. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

On Monday 26 October, the busiest shopping street in Europe was closed to traffic. The hope is that an unloved and polluted thoroughfare will turn into somewhere that people actually want to spend time By Dan Hancox. Read by Troy Glasgow. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

Today’s political conversation is dominated by one topic above all: race. The Guardian columnist Nesrine Malik has been way ahead of the pack in diagnosing how immigrants, their children and grandchildren are reshaping not just politics but western societies. On the latest episode of Radical Thinking with Aditya Chakrabortty, Nesrine talks about where never-ending culture wars and real wars in the Middle East have left people of colour. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

Over the past decade, Hungary has been a beacon for the ‘postliberal’ right, with pro-Trump thinkers making regular pilgrimages to Budapest. Now Orbán is gone, how will the movement adapt? By Brian Goodman. Read by Christopher Ragland A longer version of this article first appeared in The Drift. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod