Episodes
The war in Iran has had some visible consequences, like skyrocketing energy costs and higher gas prices, but the effects of this war are often far less obvious and much more serious for the world’s most vulnerable people.
Today, Peter S. Goodman tells us what he learned on a recent trip to Somalia, and why the system of global aid is no longer in a position to help.
Guest: Peter S. Goodman covers the global economy for The New York Times.
Background reading: Catastrophe is emerging in the world’s most vulnerable places as the war in Iran causes soaring costs for food, fuel and fertilizer.
P...
On Tuesday, Maine will vote in a high-stakes primary contest for a Senate seat that Democrats think they can win back from Republicans for the first time in decades. Democrats are pinning their hopes on Graham Platner, a progressive who has faced a string of scandals.
Today, Lisa Lerer and Katie Glueck discuss what this race means for Maine and for the prospects of the Democratic Party.
Guest:
Lisa Lerer, a national political correspondent for The New York Times.
Katie Glueck, a political reporter at The New York Times.
Background reading:
Several women who dated Mr. Platner recall ...
From the war in Iran to his plan to use taxpayer money to pay his allies, the Republican-controlled Congress has begun rebelling against President Trump.
Today, Julie Hirschfeld Davis, a congressional editor at The New York Times, discusses whether this rebellion is a preview of a new dynamic in Washington, or a temporary show of independence that will vanish just as quickly as it arrived.
Guest: Julie Hirschfield Davis, congressional editor at The New York Times.
Background reading: Mr. Trump says he never promised no new wars and defends the compensation fund.
Photo: Haiyun Jiang/The New ...
An exclusive sit-down with the now-former CBS News correspondent.
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The 2026 World Cup is about to descend on North America — spread across three countries, with 48 teams, and 104 games, and with billions of fans across the globe tuning in to watch the biggest sporting event on the planet.
Today, Tariq Panja, global soccer correspondent for The New York Times, breaks down everything you need to know about this year’s tournament — the arrival of historic first-timers, like Curaçao, the aging legends like Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, who are making their final appearances, and the eye-watering ticket prices that are driving fans to financial extremes j...
Olivia Rodrigo sat down with Joe and Jon for her first in-depth conversation about her new album, “you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love,” out June 12. She discussed the many ways her creative process intersects with the extracurricular noise of pop superstardom, whether its managing relationship drama; being targeted for the way she dresses, accusations of pilfering songwriting gestures from Taylor Swift, her onetime idol, or her willingness to speak up about political and social causes in a way many of her peers won’t.
Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and S...
Andy Isaacson is a writer and photographer. His work for The Times has taken him to every corner of the world, and he has transmitted what he’s experienced through his images.
But recently, Isaacson took a trip unlike any he’d taken before. Not because of where he traveled, but because of how he traveled.
Paired with a set of unlikely travel companions, he put down his camera and experienced the word through touch, smell and sound.
On today’s episode of “The Sunday Daily,” Isaacson talks with Host Michael Barbaro about a trip that forever changed the way he travels.
On today's episode:
An...
For Mother’s Day, we asked you about your “Mom mantras”: the oft-repeated mottos or go-to expressions that your moms have said over the years. In partnership with the Well desk, we received thousands of submissions, full of sayings that ranged from wise to funny to profound.
In today’s episode of “The Sunday Daily,” we feature your “Mom mantras,” and the host Rachel Abrams calls her mother to ask about hers.
On Today’s Episode:
Readers of The New York Times
Background Reading:
The Wisdom of Our Mothers
Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also...
Roughly a year ago, a team at The New York Times Magazine set about tackling a nearly impossible task: creating a list of the greatest living American songwriters. But how to take the tens of thousands of songwriters working in this country and narrow them down to a digestible list? The answer involved thousands of voting ballots, hundreds of music industry insiders and a series of closed-door meetings among a small group of music experts. The result, The Times’s list of the 30 greatest living American songwriters, was published this week.
Today, Michael Barbaro talks with Sasha Weiss, a de...
With war, political wrangling and price hikes jockeying for headlines, it’s a rare thing to sit for an hour with a large group of strangers and focus on the small pleasures in life. But that’s what the show “Every Brilliant Thing” is all about.
Since 2013, Duncan Macmillan’s audience-participation-heavy play has been performed in dozens of languages in hundreds of locations across the globe. It revolves around a central character who writes a list of all the good things in life for a depressed parent. And while it tackles dark subject matter — including frequent mentions of a loved one’s su...
The reality show “Love on the Spectrum” — which just released its fourth season — has become a big hit; it’s currently one of the most watched shows on Netflix in the United States. The show follows autistic adults as they search for love.
“Love on the Spectrum” is unlike much of reality television — a genre known to subject its cast members to drama and humiliation for entertainment’s sake. Instead, the show captures a dating world that has more heartwarming moments than histrionics, and is sensitive and nuanced in its portrayal of neurodivergent people.
On today’s episode of “The Sunday D...
The first time Robert Draper heard about the psychedelic drug ibogaine, it was from an unlikely source: the retired U.S. senator Kyrsten Sinema. As a political reporter for The New York Times, Draper often talks to figures like Ms. Sinema. But on this occasion, he said, she wanted to tell him about how she had tried ibogaine, which is illegal in the United States. She’d become such a believer in the drug that she was pushing her home state of Arizona to fund clinical trials for veterans with combat-related trauma.
Draper found that Ms. Sinema wasn’t the only politician to take up the cause....
Lise Davidsen is one of the greatest opera singers of our time — a soprano with a voice so rare, critics reach back a century for comparison. This spring, she has been starring in a sold-out new production of Wagner’s “Tristan und Isolde” at the Metropolitan Opera. But she’s also at a crossroads: Her first performance as “Isolde” on the Met stage came just nine months after giving birth to twins.
Today on The Sunday Daily, Natalie Kitroeff talks with the Times writer Zachary Woolfe about his recent conversation with Davidsen, and the unexpected emotional weight she felt while returning to ...
“Love Story,” the FX limited series about John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette’s relationship, has taken audiences by storm. Its unstoppable wave of ’90s nostalgia has swept through the world of fashion, revitalized iconic New York landmarks and set off a yearning for simpler days before smartphones and dating apps. The series has also drawn significant backlash, with criticism ranging from bad reviews to accusations of inaccuracy and even harm.
Today, Rachel Abrams talks to Alexandra Jacobs, a critic for The New York Times Book Review, about why America can’t seem to look away from “Lo...
If you’ve spent any time on social media recently, you’ve probably come across a video of a young, square-jawed influencer calling himself Clavicular. He has become the face of an internet subculture called looksmaxxing, in which men do almost anything — like taking steroids and hormones or bashing their jaws with a hammer — to try to become more handsome.
In this episode, Natalie Kitroeff talks with reporter Joseph Bernstein about the world of looksmaxxing and how what might seem like a fringe phenomenon is actually the culmination of a digital culture that rewards physical perfection with...
For 12 years, Pete Wells had his dream job: working as the chief restaurant critic for The New York Times. The job’s journalistic mission required Wells to eat out most nights and taste nearly everything on any given restaurant’s menu. He didn’t realize it at the time, but the excessive eating had taken a toll on his body.
Then came a health crisis, followed by his doctor’s advice to “stop doing what you’re doing right now.”
In 2024, Wells gave up his post as restaurant critic and set out to remake his entire relationship with food.
On today’s episode, Michael Barbaro speaks with Wells abou...
Today on “The Sunday Daily,” The Times’s chief movie critic, Manohla Dargis, talks with the “Daily” host Michael Barbaro about this year’s batch of Oscar nominees, which — according to her — are uncommonly good.
They discuss the performances that Dargis believes deserve to win, the dark horses that might pull off upsets, and the ambitious films that give her hope for Hollywood’s future.
On Today’s Episode:
Manohla Dargis, Chief Film Critic for The New York Times.
Background Reading:
‘Hamnet’ | Anatomy of a Scene
Delroy Lindo on ‘Sinners,’ Speaking Up and the Power of Affirmation
Photo...
In 2012, Tinder revolutionized dating apps with its swipe feature. With the flick of a finger, singles could accept or reject a potential mate. While this innovation has worked for many, some have grown weary of the simple swipe, and long for a more nuanced way to find love.
Today on “The Sunday Daily,” Rachel Abrams examines two dating tends on the rise: in-person mixers that are far from old-fashioned, and emerging A.I. technology that promises singles a ‘soul’ match. Rachel speaks with The New York Times’s dating columnist Gina Cherelus; Luke Vander Ploeg, a producer on the “Daily”; and ...
In this episode of “The Sunday Daily,” the host Rachel Abrams is joined by her New York Times colleagues Motoko Rich, Shawna Richer and Juliet Macur, who are all covering this year’s Olympic Games. They discuss how the geopolitical climate may or may not be influencing the competition, and talk about some of the extraordinary athletes who are pushing the limits of physical achievements.On Today’s EpisodeMotoko Rich is the Rome bureau chief for The New York Times.Juliet Macur is a national reporter covering sports for The New York Times.Shawna Richer is an editor at The New York Times, worki...
At the Grammy Awards tonight, the Puerto Rican pop sensation Bad Bunny is the first Spanish-language artist to be nominated for album, record and song of the year simultaneously. For most artists, this would be the high point of their year, if not their career. For Bad Bunny, this is just an appetizer for what’s in store for him next week.Next Sunday, he will headline the Super Bowl halftime show. His performance comes in the middle of a nationwide crackdown on immigration — an issue he’s been vocal about — and follows a backlash against the N.F.L. for booking him in the first place.Jon Car...
Pop culture has not been kind to the Neanderthal. In books, movies and even TV commercials, the species is portrayed as rough and mindless, a brutish type that was rightly supplanted by our Homo sapiens ancestors.But even 40,000 years after the last Neanderthals walked the earth, we continue to make discoveries that challenge that portrayal. New research suggests Neanderthals might have been less primitive — and a lot more like modern humans — than we might have thought.The Times science reporters Carl Zimmer and Franz Lidz discuss recent discoveries about Neanderthals, and what those disco...
There’s a lot of anxiety about artificial intelligence invading Hollywood; the general mood there right now could be called “doom and gloom.” But speculation about a future where A.I. actors perform A.I. scripts in A.I.-generated movies often obscures the role A.I. is currently playing in the industry.In this episode, the host Michael Barbaro talks with the Hollywood reporter Brooks Barnes and the movie critic Alissa Wilkinson about the ways that A.I. is already showing up in our movies and television today, and how they see it contributing to — and complicating — the future. On Today’s Epi...
As 2025 comes to an end, The Sunday Special is looking back on the year in culture.This week, on our final episode of the podcast, we’re talking about movies. The potential acquisition of Warner Brothers by Netflix has dominated entertainment news in recent weeks, but the year in movies has been about a lot more than corporate mergers. Alissa Wilkinson, a movie critic for The New York Times, and Nicole Sperling, a culture reporter based in Los Angeles, join Gilbert Cruz to talk about what really matters: the movies we loved this year.Movies discussed in this episode include:“One Battle Afte...
In these final weeks of 2025, The Sunday Special is looking back at the year in culture.Today, we’re talking about the TV we watched this year — the best shows, the most popular ones and the ones that allowed us to just enjoyably veg out. Gilbert Cruz talks with the TV critic James Poniewozik and the culture reporter Alexis Soloski about the year in television.TV shows discussed in this episode:“Severance”“Common Side Effects”“Too Much”“Nobody Wants This”“Dying for Sex”“The Hunting Wives”“The White Lotus”“Dr. Odyssey”“Long Story Short”“Heated Rivalry”“Andor”“The Lowdown”“Platonic”“Pluribus”...
As 2025 comes to an end, The Sunday Special is looking back on the year in culture.This week, we’re listening to the songs and albums that defined the year, for better or worse. Gilbert Cruz is joined by Caryn Ganz and Lindsay Zoladz from The Times’s pop music desk to discuss some of the biggest and best releases of 2025.Albums and songs mentioned in this episode:Bad Bunny, “Debí Tirar Más Fotos”Lady Gaga, “Mayhem”Justin Bieber, “Daisies”Chappell Roan, “The Giver” and “The Subway”Sabrina Carpenter, “Manchild”Doechii, “Alligator Bites Never Heal”Taylor Swift, “The Life of a Showgirl”Morgan W...
The first week of December at The New York Times is known as “Cookie Week.” Every day, for seven days, our cooking team highlights a new holiday cookie recipe. This year’s batch features flavors that aren’t necessarily traditional holiday ones — or even, for that matter, flavors. Instead, they draw inspiration from family night at the movies, drinks like Vietnamese Coffee, and perhaps most surprisingly, an Italian deli meat.In this edition of the Sunday Special, Gilbert Cruz talks with Melissa Clark and Vaughn Vreeland from New York Times Cooking about this year’s cookies, and they answer q...
The holiday season is here, which means it’s the time to think of great gifts for everyone on your list. While it can feel like a daunting task to choose thoughtful, personalized presents, we’ve got a fix for you: books.On this edition of The Sunday Special, Gilbert is joined by Joumana Khatib and Sadie Stein, editors at the Book Review, for a conversation about the best books to give your family and friends. Joumana and Sadie will share what excited them most this year and also provide recommendations for giftees in very specific categories.Books mentioned in this episode:“The Colony,” Ann...
“Wicked” was one of the biggest movies of 2024. It was culturally ubiquitous, a box office smash and an Oscar nominee for Best Picture. Now, a year later, “Wicked: For Good” arrives in theaters to finish the tale of the complicated friendship between Glinda the Good Witch and Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West. Can “Wicked: For Good” be the sensation that its predecessor was? Will it inject new life into a movie business that has suffered a historically bad business year? Will it satisfy the legions of “Wicked” fans who have been waiting to see their favorite musical brought to the big s...
There was once a time when documentaries could be found only on public television or in art-house cinemas. But today, documentaries are more popular and accessible than ever, with streaming services serving up true crime, celebrity documentaries, music documentaries and so much more.On today’s Sunday Special, Gilbert is joined by The New York Times’s chief television critic, James Poniewozik, and Alissa Wilkinson, a Times film critic, to talk about the documentaries that are worth your viewing time. On Today’s Episode:James Poniewozik is the chief TV critic for The Times.Alissa Wilkinson is...
This year has been a banner year for video games, with an abundance of surprise releases and unexpected hits.On this week’s Sunday Special, Gilbert Cruz talks with two fellow gamers — Zachary Small, a culture reporter, and Jason Bailey, an editor on The Times’s culture desk — about the state of the industry, the biggest releases and the games they loved playing in 2025. They also share their predictions for Game of the Year.On Today’s EpisodeZachary Small is a culture reporter for The Times.Jason M. Bailey is an editor on the culture desk, and oversees The Times’s video game coverage.
Subsc...