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From the archive: the impossible job: inside the world of Premier League referees

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: players, pundits and fans complain bitterly that referees are getting worse each season – but is that fair? By William Ralston. Read by Simon Darwen. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

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  ‘I had poked the bear right in the eye’: my fight to renounce my Russian c…

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  On the trail with the hunters who believe shooting big game can save Afric…

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  From the archive: Putin, Trump, Ukraine: how Timothy Snyder became the lea…

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  How to survive the information crisis: ‘We once talked about fake news – n…

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  Stateside with Kai and Carter: Stacey Abrams on why gutting of the US Voti…

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  ‘Lawrence is karma’: the gangster who became an icon of Modi’s India

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  From the archive: How western travel influencers got tangled up in Pakista…

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  The impossible promise: are we witnessing the return of fascism?

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  ‘I see it as trafficking’: the brutal reality of life as a foreign student…

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  From the archive: No cults, no politics, no ghouls: how China censors the …

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  Where Duolingo falls down: how I learned to speak Welsh with my mother

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  ‘Any other child would have died’: the miraculous survival of Nada Itrab

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  Inside China’s robotics revolution

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  Endo dreams of sushi: a trip around Japan with one of the world’s greatest…

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  From the archive: The high cost of living in a disabling world