Electrified monks and scared frogs

Chris Brain, the leader of a Church of England ‘sex cult’ known s the Nine O'Clock Service, has been found guilty of 17 charges of indecent assault, three decades after its collapse. Why did the Church fail to learn lessons from the scandal?This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support of readers of The Times and The Sunday Times. Subscribe today: http://thetimes.com/thestoryGuest: Sean O'Neill, Senior Writer, The Times.Host: Manveen Rana.Producer: Edward Drummond.Read more: Chris Brain: ‘charismatic priest’ behind the Nine O’Clock ServiceClips: BBC.Photo: Getty Images.Get in touch: [email protected]      Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Pro-democracy campaigner, media mogul and British citizen Jimmy Lai has been imprisoned in China for five years and on trial for two. As the closing statements are made, what will happen to one of China’s most prominent critics? And can the UK government - or Donald Trump - step in to free him?This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support of readers of The Times and The Sunday Times. Subscribe today: http://thetimes.com/thestoryGuest: Cindy Yu, Columnist and Contributing Editor, The Times and The Sunday Times. Host: Manveen Rana.Producer: Olivia Case.Clips: BBC, Hoover Institute / YouTube, Sky, The Guardian, CNN, FOX, AP, Max Media, Asia, The Hong Konger: Jimmy Lai's Extraordinary Struggle for Freedom / Ron Holwerda / Acton Institute. Photo: Getty Images. Get in touch: [email protected] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Nvidia's the first company to be worth more than $4trilllion, developers are being offered salaries in the billions, and companies that don’t even have a product are securing investments beyond their wildest dreams. Yet there were reports this week that Meta could downsize its AI division. Our resident silicon valley watcher says there's an AI bubble, and looks back to the dot com boom and bust, for answers on what happens when it bursts.This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support of readers of The Times and The Sunday Times. Subscribe today: http://thetimes.com/thestoryGuest: Danny Fortson, US West Coast correspondent, The Sunday Times.Host: Luke Jones.Producer: Olivia Case.Read more: Silicon Valley’s AI-fuelled madness has echoes of the dotcom crashListen to Danny every week on The Times Tech PodcastClips: First Post, YouTube / @InvestDive, Bloomberg, YouTube / Meet McKay, CNBC, YouTube / 100xEngineers, BBC, YouTube / Budding, Pets.com, MSNBC, YouTube / @scalacodeIN, Stanford eCorner, CNET, YouTube / @fortune.Photo: Getty Images.Get in touch: [email protected] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Times can reveal the English Defence League founder is charging around £28 a minute for videos giving practical advice to supporters on migrant hotel protests and anti-Islam activism. The private consultations raise concerns about the potential for radicalisation at a time of heightened tensions surrounding immigration issues. This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support of readers of The Times and The Sunday Times. Subscribe today: http://thetimes.com/thestoryGuest: Shanti Das, Senior Investigations Reporter, The Times.Host: Calum MacDonald.Producer: Shabnam Grewal.Read more: Tommy Robinson charging £28 a minute as personal coach to far rightClips: Minnect, The Express, The Telegraph.Photo: Times illustration/Getty Images. Get in touch: [email protected]   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Zelensky landed in Washington DC, accompanied by European leaders, to try and stem the fallout from the Alaska summit between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin. Will Ukraine be forced to cede territory to secure peace? And how is that going down in Kyiv?This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support of readers of The Times and The Sunday Times. Subscribe today: http://thetimes.com/thestoryGuests:Professor Mark Galeotti, Historian, Times Contributor, Director of Mayak Intelligence and Author of We Need to Talk about Putin.Anthony Loyd, Special Correspondent, The Times.Host: Manveen Rana.Producers: Taryn Siegel and Edith Rousselot.Read more: The ball is in Zelensky’s court but he is in an impossible positionClips: Fox News, Bloomberg TV, Associated Press, The Guardian.Photo: Getty Images.Get in touch: [email protected]   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As the Oasis reunion supernova leaves the UK to conquer the rest of the world, the success is beyond anyone's dreams -- including Oasis. How did this happen? Will Hodgkinson tells us about his many chats with the Gallagher brothers over the years, and his theories on how they finally reunited -- and what happened with the dynamic pricing debacle.This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support of readers of The Times and The Sunday Times. Subscribe today: http://thetimes.com/thestoryGuest: Will Hodgkinson, Chief Rock and Pop Critic, The Times.Host: Luke Jones.Producer: Taryn Siegel.Read more: Oasis in Cardiff review — still mad for it after all these years.Clips: BluntMag, THEMattPope, Oasis, OasisOfficialMusic, Matt Ridsdill-smith, MTV, milesth944.Photo: Getty Images.Get in touch: [email protected]   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Alex Slater and his US partner created Quittr, which helps men resist sexually explicit material. It’s making them millions.This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support of readers of The Times and The Sunday Times. Subscribe today: http://thetimes.com/thestoryWritten and read by: Damian Whitworth.Producer: Taryn Siegel.Read more: Bonnie Blue: 1,000 men and the worrying normalisation of pornPhoto: Ava Pellor for The Free Press.Get in touch: [email protected]. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For this week's Times podcast we thought you might enjoy hearing from a regular guest on the Story; Tom Whipple. In his new podcast, Tom explores the stories behind great scientific discoveries. We've brought two of them together, one of electric current and a second on the capacity of muscles for a helping of double science. If you'd like to hear more of Tom's series - all ten episodes are available in the Making Science feed. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The US vice-president JD Vance is holidaying with his family in the Cotswold village of Dean. But on the side, he's meeting a phalanx of British politicians. Who's on the roll-call? And what does this tell us about where Trump's possible successor sees the future of British politics?This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support of readers of The Times and The Sunday Times. Subscribe today: http://thetimes.com/thestoryGuest: Josh Glancy, Associate Editor, The Sunday Times.Host: Luke Jones.Producer: Olivia Case.Read more: JD Vance holds court with top Tories in Cotswolds thanks to George OsborneClips: The Guardian, CNBC, The Jaipur Dialogues, TikTok / iamtomskinner, Sky.Photo: Getty Images.Get in touch: [email protected] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Over 500 Palestine Action supporters arrested at last weekend's protests are now being processed by the courts. So who is behind the direct action protest group and is the government right to have proscribed them as terrorists?This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support of readers of The Times and The Sunday Times. Subscribe today: http://thetimes.com/thestoryGuest: Tom Witherow, News Reporter, The TimesHost: Luke JonesProducer: Rosie StopherRead more: A history of Palestine Action: from birth to banClips: PA, Sky News, The Guardian.Photo: Getty images.Get in touch: [email protected]      Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.