Battles, beauty salons and lost friends: Eight years in the Middle East
The Story
The Times
3.9 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 23 January 2024
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Louise Callaghan has spent most of the last decade reporting from the Middle East. During that time she witnessed a coup attempt in Turkey, the battle to free Mosul, and was the first Western journalist to report on a gas attack in Syria in 2018. As she heads to the US to report on the election there, she reflects on the lessons she learned in the region.
This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support of readers of The Times and The Sunday Times. Subscribe today: thetimes.co.uk/storiesofourtimes.
Guest: Louise Callaghan, former Middle East Correspondent and current Senior US Correspondent, The Sunday Times.
Host: Luke Jones.
Clips: Euronews, TRT World, RTE, France 24, Al Jazeera.
Get in touch: storiesofourtimes@thetimes.co.uk
Find out more about our bonus series for Times subscribers: 'Inside the newsroom'
This podcast was brought to you thanks to subscribers of The Times and The Sunday Times. To enjoy unlimited digital access to all our journalism subscribe here.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | At three business, we think you should get more for less. |
| 0:04.0 | With our boundless business offer, the whole team gets unlimited calls, data, and texts. |
| 0:11.0 | And the more Sims you buy, the more you'll save. |
| 0:14.0 | All on the UK's fastest 5G network. |
| 0:18.0 | That's what we call big value. |
| 0:20.0 | Search three business or visit us in store. |
| 0:24.0 | Unlimited in the UK based on UCLA Speed Test Intelligence Data H1 2023. |
| 0:29.0 | C3.co. UK. |
| 0:30.0 | Dating is hard. Even harder for go-getters. |
| 0:33.3 | Welcome to The League. |
| 0:35.3 | The Dating app for singles looking for someone who shares their passion. |
| 0:39.4 | Amanda Bradford created The League with a less is more approach. Each day the League |
| 0:45.2 | introduces three carefully curated profiles because three quality matches are better |
| 0:50.7 | than 100 bad ones. |
| 0:53.0 | If you think high standards are important in life and in dating, |
| 0:57.0 | download the League. |
| 0:58.0 | Date intelligently. The In the past few years Sunday Times Middle East correspondent Louise Callahan has practically seen it all. She was there in Istanbul as a coup tried |
| 1:25.8 | and failed to overthrow the Turkish government. There were chaotic scenes late on |
| 1:30.1 | Friday both in the capital Ankara and Istanbul as pro-government supporters heeded |
| 1:35.4 | President Erdogan's call via a video on his smartphone and took to the streets. |
| 1:40.1 | I went up to Taksim Square and saw the whole thing unfolding and yeah as soon was like |
| 1:48.5 | gunfire going off I was like hiding my car next to Burger King. It's amazing to see history just unfolding in front of you. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Times, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of The Times and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.