Is Viktor Orban about to lose power? Why are stalking offences on the rise? And would you choose to be dissolved after death?

Olly Mann and The Week delve behind the headlines and debate what really matters from the past seven days.

A podcast for curious, open-minded people, The Week Unwrapped delivers fresh perspectives on politics, culture, technology and business. It makes for a lively, enlightening discussion, ranging from the serious to the offbeat. Previous topics have included whether solar engineering could refreeze the Arctic, why funerals are going out of fashion, and what kind of art you can use to pay your tax bill.

You can subscribe to The Week Unwrapped wherever you get your podcasts:

• Spotify
• Apple Podcasts
• Global Player

Why is Asia joining Eurovision? How did London become a target for deepfakes? And what’s behind Japan’s shift on joint custody?

Olly Mann and The Week delve behind the headlines and debate what really matters from the past seven days.

A podcast for curious, open-minded people, The Week Unwrapped delivers fresh perspectives on politics, culture, technology and business. It makes for a lively, enlightening discussion, ranging from the serious to the offbeat. Previous topics have included whether solar engineering could refreeze the Arctic, why funerals are going out of fashion, and what kind of art you can use to pay your tax bill.

You can subscribe to The Week Unwrapped wherever you get your podcasts:

• Spotify
• Apple Podcasts
• Global Player

This winter may have been rough, but as it finally comes to a close it’s the perfect time to look back at some of the podcasts that kept us company indoors. True crime remained a tried-and-true genre for podcast fans, along with more thrilling shows that include a deep dive into an uncomfortable era of American history.

Forged (CBC and ABC Australia)

In this Australian six-part series, host Adrian Stimson, a painter, tells the story of legendary Anishinaabe artist Norval Morrisseau and how criminal fraudsters copied his work. The scheme turned out to be one of the largest art fraud cases in the world.

Known as the “Picasso of the North,” Morrisseau is one of the most “celebrated Indigenous artists in the world,” said CBC. But when a rock star gets a tip about the authenticity of his Morrisseau painting, he finds a “sinister underworld with thousands of forged paintings, millions of dollars in profits, multiple fraud rings and even a suspected murder.” Forged is “instantly gripping and easy to devour,” said Podcast Review. (CBC Listen, Spotify, Apple Podcasts)

History for the Reckoning (Independent)

Fans of history podcasts will likely enjoy this new show about “uncomfortable history,” though it “will be controversial for some,” said Podcast Review. History for the Reckoning digs into moments in history that have been misremembered, “whether by accident or through deliberate censure.”

The episodes feature interviews with “historians, scholars, artists and people who lived the history firsthand.” The debut season focuses on the “forced removal and incarceration of more than 120,000 Japanese Americans following Executive Order 9066,” said Podcasting Today. The first guest on the show is actor, writer and activist George Takei, best known for portraying Lieutenant Sulu in the Star Trek franchise. (Spotify, Apple Podcasts)

Killer in the Code: Solving the Black Dahlia & Zodiac Cases (Independent)

Bestselling author Michael Connelly investigates the claims of cold-case consultant Alex Baber, who says he used modern technology to solve two of the most infamous unsolved crimes: the Black Dahlia and Zodiac Killer cases. The podcast follows his two-year journey using cryptology, genealogy and AI to identify a suspect.

The new evidence that Baber uncovered all points to one man as the possible killer in both cases. Listeners of the true crime podcast can visit the Killer in the Code companion website to view additional case materials and decrypted evidence. (Spotify, Apple Podcasts)

Safe to Drink (New Hampshire Public Radio)

This four-part series chronicles the struggles of a New Hampshire town that discovers its water is contaminated with forever chemicals, known as PFAs. The chemicals have been linked to various health conditions and diseases, but officials insisted the water was safe. When a local man has the water tested, the result “sets off this chain reaction that leads to the United States Environmental Protection Agency stepping in” and “telling the town not to drink the water,” host Mara Hoplamazian said to NPR. (NHPR, Spotify, Apple Podcasts)

Something About Cari (NBC News)

Keith Morrison of “Dateline,” with the case of Cari Farver, leads this examination of a disappearance in America’s heartland. The midwestern single mom goes missing weeks into a new relationship.

What follows is a “series of strange and terrifying events,” including taunting texts and threatening emails to Farver’s boyfriend and his ex that “escalate to stalking, arson and murder,” said NBC News. As the show followed the story, it “became clear this was no ordinary case,” Morrison said, per Deadline. The nightmare of her disappearance led to a “chain of events so unexpected that it challenged every assumption about what had really happened.” (NBC News, Spotify, Apple Podcasts)

What does France’s nuclear policy shift mean for Europe? Why is the dinosaur market booming? And can North Korea regain its place at the top of women’s football?

Olly Mann and The Week delve behind the headlines and debate what really matters from the past seven days.

A podcast for curious, open-minded people, The Week Unwrapped delivers fresh perspectives on politics, culture, technology and business. It makes for a lively, enlightening discussion, ranging from the serious to the offbeat. Previous topics have included whether solar engineering could refreeze the Arctic, why funerals are going out of fashion, and what kind of art you can use to pay your tax bill.

You can subscribe to The Week Unwrapped wherever you get your podcasts:

• Spotify
• Apple Podcasts
• Global Player

Have televised confessions quelled protests in Iran? Why has Elon Musk turned from Mars to the Moon? And will the BBC prove to be a puzzles champ?

Olly Mann and The Week delve behind the headlines and debate what really matters from the past seven days.

A podcast for curious, open-minded people, The Week Unwrapped delivers fresh perspectives on politics, culture, technology and business. It makes for a lively, enlightening discussion, ranging from the serious to the offbeat. Previous topics have included whether solar engineering could refreeze the Arctic, why funerals are going out of fashion, and what kind of art you can use to pay your tax bill.

You can subscribe to The Week Unwrapped wherever you get your podcasts:

• Spotify
• Apple Podcasts
• Global Player

The decision to choose Sean Bean as the new host for the latest series of “Get Birding” was met with “a raised eyebrow or two”, said Gerard O’Donovan in The Telegraph. But the “Game of Thrones” star has been a “keen birder” since he was a teenager, and “he’s a natural”, bringing “pulling power” and passion to a hobby that’s “not normally associated with charisma”.

“Get Birding” began in 2021 during lockdown as twitching exploded in popularity. Now, the podcast is back for its fourth series, and, as always, its aim is to demystify birdwatching and nature, making it more accessible for everyone to enjoy.

“It’s a hugely listenable RSPB podcast”, said Alexi Duggins in The Guardian. Bean is “warm and honest”, sharing his “lifelong love of birding” with listeners, and revealing how he has squeezed in birdwatching between his acting jobs. In the first episode, he chats with musician (and “fellow ornithology lover”) Guy Garvey about “spotting different species while working abroad, recognising birdsong and the meditative joy of watching the feathered creatures”.

The new series “sprinkles celebrity birdwatchers among ornithological experts” including RSPB president Dr Amir Khan and 23-year-old environmental activist Mya-Rose Craig (also known as Birdgirl), who previously hosted the show, said Lucy White in the Irish Independent. Guests share how they fell in love with birdwatching; Craig, for example, came from a “twitching family”, and recalls getting up at the crack of dawn for excursions around the country from Somerset to Scotland.

Bean makes for a “genial host”. The “rugged actor” is “so Yorkshire he’s wearing a flat cap in the video version”. When he’s not pottering around his “three acres of rewilded land”, he chats with his “fellow bird-fanciers” about the joys of connecting with nature. “Birdwatching really settles your mind,” he says. “I guess it’s like playing a musical instrument, you can’t be thinking of anything else when you’re in the garden, everything else floats away, all your troubles. It keeps you sane.”

“Seemingly, everyone has a podcast now,” said USA Today. “So it’s about time that major awards shows caught up, right?”

The Golden Globes waded into “previously uncharted territory” last night, handing out its very first podcast of the year award to Amy Poehler for her show “Good Hang with Amy Poehler”. But like any significant change to the category line-up, the news has provoked a backlash.

‘Celebrity-heavy’ focus

Following various scandals over allegations of bribery and membership non-diversity, the Golden Globes “returned from the brink”, said Glenn Whipp in the Los Angeles Times. But the show’s ethical practices appear to be “worse than ever”.

The shortlist of 25 podcasts was whittled down by audio analytics company Luminate, which, like the Golden Globes itself, is, “surprise”, owned by Penske Media. It soon became clear that the “real motivation” behind the new category was “money”. Penske-owned trade publication Variety “had its sales team pitch nominated podcasts an array of paid marketing partnerships”, including a “$75,000 deal for the podcaster to be given the Variety Creative Impact Award in Podcasting”.

Conservative podcast host Ben Shapiro mounted an “aggressive” campaign after making the initial shortlist, said Vanity Fair. “But it was all for naught.” None of the right-wing political podcasts that qualified – including those from Joe Rogan and Tucker Carlson – made the cut. Instead, the final nominations were dominated by “down-the-middle, entertainment-focused shows”, said USA Today.

The “celebrity-heavy” focus of the final list suggests the category is “at least in part, a way to lure more big names to a ceremony that’s always relied on star power to justify its existence”, said Abbie Ruzicka, co-founder of podcast producer Arcana Audio, in The New York Times. It appears more like a “bid for relevance” from the Golden Globes than a genuine “sudden appreciation for the medium”.

While the inclusion of the podcast category in this year’s show makes sense, “the category, as it exists, does not”. It remains unclear how works that “differ so dramatically in their form and intent” can be fairly evaluated against each other. “Mashing together” celebrity chats with news shows and “self-help monologues” while omitting narrative podcasts entirely reveals a “lack of understanding about what podcasts are and why they matter. Podcasting isn’t a genre; it’s an industry.”

A ‘satisfying’ win

Poehler’s victory “might just have been the most satisfying win of the night – and not just because she beat her ex-husband Will Arnett”, said Glamour. “There’s something even sweeter.”

For the “umpteenth” year in a row, Joe Rogan’s podcast was the most listened to on Spotify, while seven of the top 10 spots were shows hosted by men. Although “not everything is a battle of the sexes”, it does “make a difference how much of the idle chit chat” we consume while driving or cooking is “being uttered by a man or a woman”. In a world filled with “toxic masculinity”, what a “breath of fresh air it is” to see Poehler succeed in the field with her “thoughtful and kind conversations, and feminism couched in humour. She is also, as ever, funny as hell.”

Poehler has a “goofy warmth and ability to riff” that is perfectly suited to podcasts, said USA Today. Crucially, she also has a “genuine curiosity and sensitivity” that encourages her celebrity guests to “open up in ways they rarely do in interviews”, while knowing exactly when to “sit back and listen to her subjects”.

If the new category is to “endure” at the Golden Globes, the “fix may be simple”, said Ruzicka. Podcasts should be treated the same way as Hollywood movies and TV shows, with categories spanning everything from chat shows to scripted fiction. As a “rare visible stage” for podcasts, it’s vital the ceremony gets this right. “Having opened the door, now comes the harder part: listening.”

Contrary to speculation, the podcast industry is alive and brimming with thought-provoking content, as proven by this year’s new and returning releases. Here are some of the best entries of 2025, including some therapeutic sit-downs, thrilling biographies and a new scammer to obsess over.

Bad Therapist (Independent)

Therapyspeak has become so embedded in everyday language that it is nearly a cultural relic and has lost some of its professional nuance. The Bad Therapist podcast is a response to that shift, joining the ranks of other shows in the “classic conversational podcast format pegged to a specific line of deconstructive inquiry,” said Vulture. Hosted by psychotherapist Ash Compton and journalist Rachel Monroe, each episode sees the pair “interrogate different expressions of therapy gone wrong,” including “scammers, self-proclaimed gurus and conversion therapy.” (Apple Podcasts, Spotify)

Camp Swamp Road (The Wall Street Journal)

One of this year’s best crime podcasts put an interesting twist on the genre. The mystery behind Camp Swamp Road is “far from a whodunnit,” as the shooter admits to the killing and was even on the phone with a 911 dispatcher when he did it, said The New Yorker.

Instead, the show interrogates whether the fatal road-rage shooting of a man named Scott Spivey was justifiable under South Carolina’s Stand Your Ground law. The answer may seem straightforward, but “thanks to a trove of damning audio that details police corruption, the killer’s intent, and more, it turns out to be anything but.” (The Wall Street Journal, Apple Podcasts, Spotify)

Fela Kuti: Fear No Man (Higher Ground)

In the fall, Jad Abumrad, the creator of Radiolab and Dolly Parton’s America, released a biographical podcast about legendary Nigerian musician and Afrobeat pioneer, Fela Kuti. During the three years it took to make the show, Abumrad interviewed Kuti’s loved ones and admirers, such as former President Barack Obama and musician Flea, “digging up context about Nigerian art, politics and social history,” said The New Yorker.

The resulting show is “bursting with life, humor, pain, interesting ideas,” and laced with “sharp, catchy, hypnotic music.” One of the year’s standout podcasts that ended up being “both danceable and, by its end, profoundly heartbreaking.” (Apple Podcasts)

Final Thoughts: Jerry Springer (Audible)

Before his name became synonymous with an era of trash television. Jerry Springer began his career as an ambitious politician and was elected mayor of Cincinnati before setting his sights on the state of Ohio. In this nine-part series, Slow Burn’s Leon Neyfakh goes all the way back to Springer’s beginnings, “marrying excellent journalism with some unbelievable source material — not least when it comes to Springer’s 1970s sex scandal,” said The Guardian.

With his “usual knack for good storytelling and brilliantly constructed audio clips,” Neyfakh traces the history of the talk show genre alongside the “history of Springer’s own professional choices,” said The New Yorker. Listeners will come away “wondering what might have been, had Springer better deployed his gifts.” (Audible)

Heavyweight (Pushkin Industries)

This year marked the welcome return of Jonathan Goldstein’s Heavyweight, a podcast that has all the hallmarks of an older podcasting era. The show is “particularly noteworthy” because it embodies the “kind of risk largely absent from the medium these days,” especially as video chat shows continue to rise in popularity, said AV Club.

On his show, Goldstein helps guests resolve past issues, sometimes with unpredictable conclusions. A few of the standout stories are “those entirely without quick answers or easy resolutions.” The show is “distinctly audio-first” and proves the “notion that investing in podcast production as an artistic medium will always be more spiritually rewarding than that of mere content creation.” (Pushkin Industries, Apple Podcasts, Spotify)

Our Ancestors Were Messy (Coco Hill Productions)

This podcast spotlights Black history and puts a comical twist on headline-making gossip, scandals and pop culture from pre-Civil Rights Era America. Host Nichole Hill tells juicy true stories, including a “Victorian-era love triangle that hit D.C. elites” and a “mystery concerning a tabloid sensation in Harlem,” placing listeners “inside of a vintage scandal” while “fleshing out the characters involved with the skill of a novelist,” said Lifehacker. The host’s storytelling is “descriptive, funny, conversational and crisp,” and she uses “amazing sound production that pumps it all into life.” (Apple Podcasts, Spotify)

Suspicious Minds (Agoric Media)

As AI chatbots have become more sophisticated, the fears attached to the technology have evolved. Brothers Joel and Ian Gold, coauthors of the book “Suspicious Minds: How Culture Shapes Madness,” have created this documentary series that “tackles issues around AI-fueled delusions,” aiming to understand “where they fit into humanity’s history of delusional thinking in general,” said Lifehacker. Cohost Sean King O’Grady uses “real patients’ riveting stories,” plunging listeners “deep into their disturbed mental states” and following their “journeys toward managing the illness.” (Apple Podcasts, Spotify)

Unicorn Girl (Seven Hills Productions)

There is something deeply fascinating about people who can pull off a long con, which is likely why stories of scammers have become a constant fixture in podcasting. Unicorn Girl, from the creators of Scamanda, tells the tale of another scam artist and the web of deception she weaved.

The podcast uncovers how Candace Rivera, a Utah mom with a vivacious online personality, embezzled millions of dollars from friends and a nonprofit organization she cofounded to rescue human trafficking victims. Rarely has there been a more “vivid podcasting example of there being so much more to someone than on their social media,” said Podcast Review. (Apple Podcasts)

The 2025 podcast season is wrapping up, and listeners have plenty to choose from, including the return of some popular podcasts long anticipated by fans. This fall’s offerings include a couple of true crime immersions, a twist on the typical talk show and a show featuring deep dives from a BookTok celebrity.

Heavyweight (Pushkin Industries)

After a brief hiatus, host Jonathan Goldstein and his team return with Heavyweight, a show “devoted to a form of podcasting that’s drifted precariously out of the spotlight,” said Vulture. The award-winning narrative podcast features episodes in which Goldstein helps people confront and resolve lifelong regrets and lingering questions, playing the role of a “kind of time-traveling therapy unit.” After being cancelled in 2023, the latest batch of episodes proves the show remains a “patient, empathetic exploration of ordinary lives, crafted with emotional precision and Goldstein’s sublimely droll sensibility.” (Pushkin Industries, Spotify, Apple Podcasts)

The Adam Friedland Show (Independent)

This interview show is “at once a parody of talk shows and an earnest attempt to reinvent them,” Vulture said. Comedian Adam Friedland puts an ironic and “occasionally sincere” spin on the genre. The irony is part gimmick and also a “tool that disarms both guest and listener in the service of producing moments with genuine, unscripted feeling.”

The show has featured a slew of fascinating guests, including David Hogg, a survivor of the 2018 Parkland High School shooting turned gun-control activist and Representative Ritchie Torres, “one of the Democratic Party’s staunchest defenders of Israel,” said Vulture. It feels like “archetypally new media,” neither “pure comedy nor conventional journalism” but a “hybrid form that thrives in the fractured media environment by making friction and unpredictability itself the point.” (Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube)

In the Dark: Blood Relatives (The New Yorker)

For the sixth season of the Pulitzer Prize-winning podcast In the Dark, New Yorker journalist Heidi Blake investigates the 1985 Whitehouse Farm murders in England, one of the most infamous mass murders in recent British history. The series expands on her article from last year, “exploring various angles that seem to have been overlooked,” said Podcast Review. Finding the case details questionable, Blake discovers new evidence that casts doubt on Jeremy Bamber’s conviction. (The New Yorker, Spotify, Apple Podcasts)

Camp Swamp Road (The Wall Street Journal)

This new true crime podcast focuses on the murder of a man, killed in a shootout on the country road of the same name on September 9, 2023, in rural South Carolina. Police claimed it was a clear case of self-defense under the state's Stand Your Ground law, but when “secret recordings tell a different story, the case begins to unravel,” said Podcast Review.

Wall Street Journal reporter Valerie Bauerlein leads the investigation into the shooting, which “could have gone unnoticed if the victim’s sister had not committed to uncovering the truth.” Based on “hours of secretly recorded phone calls, hundreds of pages of police records and months of reporting,” the series exposes how the “initial investigation may have been shaped by police misconduct and overlooked evidence,” said the Journal. (The Wall Street Journal, Spotify, Apple Podcasts)

Inklings Book Club (Independent)

Jack Edwards’ book club podcast stands out among the genre. Booktok connoisseurs may already be familiar with Edwards’ “chipper, honest and nuanced reviews of contemporary and classic literature,” said Podcast Review. Inklings “goes beyond a traditional book club format”, offering its audience “weekly author interviews and a spotlight monthly book club chat,” where Edwards asks authors about “their writing process, inspiration and future projects.” (Spotify, Apple Podcasts)

What are the ethics of freezing your late partner? And will US Catholics rebel against the Pope?

Olly Mann and The Week delve behind the headlines and debate what really matters from the past seven days.

A podcast for curious, open-minded people, The Week Unwrapped delivers fresh perspectives on politics, culture, technology and business. It makes for a lively, enlightening discussion, ranging from the serious to the offbeat. Previous topics have included whether solar engineering could refreeze the Arctic, why funerals are going out of fashion, and what kind of art you can use to pay your tax bill.

You can subscribe to The Week Unwrapped wherever you get your podcasts:

• Spotify
• Apple Podcasts
• Global Player

For as much as President Donald Trump seems the alpha and omega of Republican politics at the moment, a growing number of savvy conservatives are already eyeing a post-Trump world. Some are even starting to make moves accordingly. For Texas Sen. Ted Cruz (R), those moves include high-profile media feuds, conspicuous rhetorical pivots, and sending signs to potential donors that he may soon be running for the White House again. As Cruz plays coy with his plans, many political observers think he’s getting ready for something big.

‘Staking out turf’

Cruz has “positioned himself” for a second presidential run following his unsuccessful 2016 bid by framing himself as an “alternative to the more domestically focused wing of the GOP,” said Fox News. Questions surrounding the “issue of interventionism” have “divided figures in the GOP for months,” with Cruz having “gone against swaths of the party who have advocated for a retreat from international involvement.”

In particular, Cruz is “laying the groundwork” for a 2028 run, “staking out turf as a traditional, pro-interventionist Republican” by “leaning into his feud with Tucker Carlson,” said Axios. But while Carlson may be the immediate recipient of Cruz’s opprobrium for his relationship with antisemitic white nationalist Nick Fuentes, the senator is actually “putting himself on a collision course” with Carlson ally and fellow potential 2028 GOP frontrunner, Vice President JD Vance. And thanks to his “top-ranked” podcast and other broadcasting projects, Cruz has established a “formidable network for soliciting small-dollar contributors.” At the same time, Cruz’s pushback against Carlson and Fuentes is “endearing himself to powerful pro-Israel donors.” It’s “definitely getting noticed,” said Republican Jewish Coalition President Matt Brooks to Axios.

As host of “Verdict with Ted Cruz,” the senator also sits atop the “most popular podcast by far of any sitting politician in the United States,” said Politico. Given both the ongoing struggles of traditional media and the trend of social media influencers who “increasingly have parasocial relationships with their fanbases,” Cruz’s podcast affords him a “much bigger platform than the average politician” that could serve as a “potential head start for a future presidential run.”

Playing coy for now

As the “last GOP candidate standing” against Trump in 2016, Cruz has signaled that he “expects to run again for president someday,” The Hill said, even as he “sidestepped” questions to that effect during a Monday interview on Fox News’ “The Faulkner Focus.”

“You know, reporters are going to write headlines that get clicks and get eyeballs,” Cruz said when asked by host Harris Faulkner about 2028 rumors. “I got a job,” Cruz continued. “It’s representing 31 million Texans, and it’s fighting every day for 31 million Texans.” Without “denying the reporting,” Cruz then “highlighted his own contribution to Trump’s signature, sweeping tax and spending bill,” USA Today said.

Demure pivots aside, Cruz’s potential 2028 plans have earned plaudits, of sorts, from the epicenter of Republican politics today: Trump. It’s a “little early” to speculate about 2028, Trump said to a reporter who asked about Cruz’s potential plans this week. “It’s three-and-a-quarter years. That’s a long time.” But Cruz is a “very good guy. He is a very good friend of mine.”

Who were the “human hunters” of the Bosnian war? Why has a rap song become an anti-Putin anthem in Russia? And what should happen to captive penguins?

Olly Mann and The Week delve behind the headlines and debate what really matters from the past seven days.

A podcast for curious, open-minded people, The Week Unwrapped delivers fresh perspectives on politics, culture, technology and business. It makes for a lively, enlightening discussion, ranging from the serious to the offbeat. Previous topics have included whether solar engineering could refreeze the Arctic, why funerals are going out of fashion, and what kind of art you can use to pay your tax bill.

You can subscribe to The Week Unwrapped wherever you get your podcasts:

• Spotify
• Apple Podcasts
• Global Player

Fela Kuti: Fear No Man

(Higher Ground)

Fela Kuti was a pioneering musician and complex man, and this new 12-part series “leaves no stone unturned” in bringing his story to life, said Fiona Sturges in the Financial Times. The so-called godfather of Afrobeat was considered so dangerous to Nigeria’s authoritarian regime that his compound was regularly raided, and his courage as an activist and achievements as an artist get their full due. But so, too, do the 27 singers and dancers he married in a self-glorifying 1978 ceremony.

Fear No Man is hosted by Radiolab creator Jad Abumrad and produced by Barack and Michelle Obama’s Higher Ground, and “you can hear the love and money that have been poured into it.” It can be shocking to learn “just how much brutality Fela endured,” said Michel Martin in NPR.org. For standing up to oppression, he was arrested more than 200 times and frequently beaten, and in a 1977 raid on his compound, his activist mother was thrown from a second-­story window and suffered injuries she eventually died from. Those events forever changed him.

David Bowie: Changeling

(Zinc Audio)

“There is so much joy to be found here,” said Miranda Sawyer in The Observer (U.K.). This eight-part British series on David Bowie’s early years is presented by model Kate Moss, a friend of the late rock legend, and she does “a pretty good job” of reading her scripts. Still, “she’s not why you should listen.” Listen instead for the fun details and “excellent” interviews, including quite a lot that provide Bowie himself talking and laughing about the persona swaps that sometimes confounded his fans.

The series takes us from Bowie’s school days to his journeyman stints in groups like the Hype through to his umpteenth reinvention, when he remade himself into a soul crooner, on a 1974 tour, to promote Young Americans. “Moss as presenter is both stunt casting and a legitimate call,” said Patricia Nicol in The Times (U.K.). Moss and Bowie were friendly enough that he nicknamed her “Smasher” and asked her to accept his 2014 Brit Award for lifetime achievement. She agreed, but only if he would lend her an iconic Ziggy Stardust outfit. “It fit me,” she recalls, “like a glove.”

The Adam Friedland Show

(Independently produced)

The Adam Friedland Show “feels archetypally new media,” said Nicholas Quah in NYMag.com. Friedland, a comedian who began his podcast career as a co-host of Cum Town, a more ribald interview show, has fashioned a spin-off that’s “at once a parody of talk shows and an earnest attempt to reinvent them.” He performs a spoof of a host while also pushing for candor from his guests, producing unscripted moments that often go viral. His interviews with real news makers including Democratic congressman Ritchie Torres, a staunch supporter of Israel, “pierced the machinery of political and cultural performance.”

Relaunched early this year, the show has matured from the “scatological, bro-centric hangout” it once was to “a somewhat serious comedy exploit,” said Brady Brickner-Wood in The New Yorker. While mainstream celebrities still make appearances, Friedland shows his worth as a political voice with his offbeat questions. “Why are politicians so ugly?” he might ask of a politician. Or better: “Why are members of Congress allowed to trade stock?”

What does Bake Off tell us about a channel in decline? Why are Scottish drug deaths so stubbornly high? And are women in their 30s too anxious about their eggs?

Olly Mann and The Week delve behind the headlines and debate what really matters from the past seven days.

A podcast for curious, open-minded people, The Week Unwrapped delivers fresh perspectives on politics, culture, technology and business. It makes for a lively, enlightening discussion, ranging from the serious to the offbeat. Previous topics have included whether solar engineering could refreeze the Arctic, why funerals are going out of fashion, and what kind of art you can use to pay your tax bill.

You can subscribe to The Week Unwrapped wherever you get your podcasts:

• Spotify
• Apple Podcasts
• Global Player

With summer coming to an end, you might be looking for that perfect podcast just in time for sweater weather. There are plenty of options you probably haven't had a chance to hear yet, including some chart-toppers.

'Criminally Listed' (self-produced)

"Criminally Listed" is certainly not the only true crime podcast on the web. But unlike many others, this podcast strives to "bring you the most interesting true crime stories and unsolved mysteries that you've never heard of before," said the podcast's page. Each episode of "Criminally Listed" is also accompanied by a video. For fans of the flagship podcast, there is a spinoff show, "Criminally Listed Presents: Into the Killing," which focuses on a variety of cold cases. Listeners are clamoring for true crime, as this podcast is one of the top choices on Spotify right now. (Spotify)

'The Rest is History' (Goalhanger)

If you like history, this is for you. "The Rest is History" is a British-made podcast that explores history's highs and lows. This includes a variety of topics, such as the "rise and fall of the Roman Empire, the Nazi conquest of Europe and Hitler's evil plan for world domination, to the French Revolution, the sinking of the Titanic, or the Norman conquest of England," said the podcast's page. The podcast is hosted by a pair of popular historians, Dominic Sandbrook and Tom Holland. Listeners want history "brought to life by people who are genuine enthusiasts and love the past," Sandbrook told The Telegraph of the project. (Spotify, Apple Podcasts)

'Unwind to Ocean Science' (Telos Media, Naturalworldfacts)

"Unwind to Ocean Science" is a show that provides "relaxing and immersive documentaries for those who want to learn about our oceans in scientific detail," said Podchaser. It describes oceanography from the Mariana Trench to marine gigantism, and is hosted by a pair of experts: Steve Taylor from the educational YouTube channel Kurzgesagt and marine biologist Leo Richards from the YouTube channel Natural World Facts. The podcast also includes a series of educational short films. (Spotify)

'Doctor's Orders' (Sony Entertainment, The Binge)

True crime podcasts have helped shine a light on doctors gone bad, and "Doctor's Orders" is a spine-chilling tale of fraud and death. The podcast focuses on Dr. Munir Uwaydah, who "allegedly built an empire of fraud to the tune of a quarter-billion dollars and was thought by some to be involved in a murder case, though he was never accused or charged," said Sony. The podcast delves into the murder of Juliana Redding and describes what an investigation into Uwaydah's practice finds. "Doctor's Orders" is the "enigmatic orthopedic surgeon who, prosecutors say, is the 'mastermind of fraud,'" said the podcast's press release. (Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Audible)

'Unicorn Girl' (Seven Hills Productions)

There are few podcasts more popular than ones about white-collar crime, and "Unicorn Girl" fits the description. Hosted by Charlie Webster, the journalist behind the hit podcast "Scamanda," this new series follows Candace Rivera, who "built a flawless online brand as a divorced single mother, nurse and CEO of multimillion-dollar companies," said The Guardian. But the question remains: Was any of it real? Candace was described as a "real-life unicorn," but "one manic summer, the illusion shattered," said Apple, devolving into a "mind-bending story where nothing is quite as it seems." (Apple Podcasts)

Why is the pope getting flatmates? Can a map change the way we see the world? And why are seagull 'muggings' on the rise?

Olly Mann and The Week delve behind the headlines and debate what really matters from the past seven days.

A podcast for curious, open-minded people, The Week Unwrapped delivers fresh perspectives on politics, culture, technology and business. It makes for a lively, enlightening discussion, ranging from the serious to the offbeat. Previous topics have included whether solar engineering could refreeze the Arctic, why funerals are going out of fashion, and what kind of art you can use to pay your tax bill.

You can subscribe to The Week Unwrapped wherever you get your podcasts:

• Spotify
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Will bringing peace to Armenia and Azerbaijan win Donald Trump a Nobel Peace Prize? What does the use of North Korean and Indian labour tell us about the Russian war economy? And why have we all gone crazy for pickles?

Olly Mann and The Week delve behind the headlines and debate what really matters from the past seven days.

A podcast for curious, open-minded people, The Week Unwrapped delivers fresh perspectives on politics, culture, technology and business. It makes for a lively, enlightening discussion, ranging from the serious to the offbeat. Previous topics have included whether solar engineering could refreeze the Arctic, why funerals are going out of fashion, and what kind of art you can use to pay your tax bill.

You can subscribe to The Week Unwrapped wherever you get your podcasts:

• Spotify
• Apple Podcasts
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The first instalment of "The Retrievals" was a "tough listen", said Miranda Sawyer in The Observer. It explored a scandal at the Yale Fertility Center where a nurse with an addiction had been stealing drugs, leaving women to have medical operations with no pain relief. "They said that they were in agony, but no one believed them."

Season two takes the central issue of women's pain being ignored and "discovers it somewhere else: childbirth". Susan Burton ("careful, calm") is back for the second instalment. This time, the reporter tells the story of Clara Hochhauser, a birth nurse at the University of Illinois Hospital who is pregnant with twins. When she goes in to have her babies, she ends up undergoing an emergency caesarean. But the anaesthetist failed to administer the proper painkillers and, despite her screams of pain, she was forced to feel everything.

Burton tells the tale with Clara "as if we were watching a medical drama", introducing the doctors and nurses that work at the hospital as characters and "describing the camera moving in and out" of various rooms. Towards the end of the first episode, she "drops the bombshell": each year in the US, 100,000 women experience significant pain during a C-section.

At first, the decision to present the story as if it's a medical procedural on television feels "peculiar" and "distracting", said Nicholas Quah in Vulture. But the "detached" style starts to pay off when we reach Clara's C-section, giving listeners "just enough distance to stay close to the unbearable".

What Clara went through was an "aberration", but Burton delves into how "cultural norms" around pregnancy prevented her from being able to convey her experience successfully and get the help she needed. Even when something goes "terribly" wrong, childbirth can be "shrouded" by the assumption that significant pain is "all part of the deal".

"Not everything about the season lands." It would have been good to get further insight into daily routines and "institutional cultures that shape" obstetrics. But the hard-hitting podcast remains a "rare narrative" doubling as a reason for why the "format should exist". The gap left by the "missing image" pulls you in, forcing you to "actively try to channel that experience".

The rest of the series dives into potential solutions to this "appallingly common injustice", said The Observer's Sawyer. "'The Retrievals' is, again, essential listening."

Should call-up rules be gender neutral? Are digital ID cards inevitable? And why do women get more ACL injuries?

Olly Mann and The Week delve behind the headlines and debate what really matters from the past seven days.

A podcast for curious, open-minded people, The Week Unwrapped delivers fresh perspectives on politics, culture, technology and business. It makes for a lively, enlightening discussion, ranging from the serious to the offbeat. Previous topics have included whether solar engineering could refreeze the Arctic, why funerals are going out of fashion, and what kind of art you can use to pay your tax bill.

You can subscribe to The Week Unwrapped wherever you get your podcasts:

• Spotify
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How do you turn plastics into paracetamol? What is the Wagner Group doing now? And why is it so hard to find a job after university?

Olly Mann and The Week delve behind the headlines and debate what really matters from the past seven days.

A podcast for curious, open-minded people, The Week Unwrapped delivers fresh perspectives on politics, culture, technology and business. It makes for a lively, enlightening discussion, ranging from the serious to the offbeat. Previous topics have included whether solar engineering could refreeze the Arctic, why funerals are going out of fashion, and what kind of art you can use to pay your tax bill.

You can subscribe to The Week Unwrapped wherever you get your podcasts:

• Spotify
• Apple Podcasts
• Global Player

"Do we really need another story of a scammer?" said Fiona Sturges in the Financial Times. We're "overloaded" with "tawdry tales" of con artists pulling off ever more elaborate schemes on their unsuspecting victims.

But Apple's first original scripted podcast doesn't take "any pleasure in the gullibility" of Charles Ponzi's doomed investors. Nor is it a "straightforward" story about the "dangers of fraudsters". At its heart, "Easy Money" is a compelling "character study" of an Italian immigrant who travelled to America in the early 20th century with a simple goal: "to make his fortune".

When he found himself "on his uppers", with a new wife to support and no job, Ponzi "spied an opportunity". After spotting that he could buy international postal reply coupons in one country and then redeem them in another with a better rate of exchange, he started to recruit investors, promising high return with low risk.

Over a nine-month period, he swindled thousands of investors out of millions of dollars, using new investments to pay off the old, while pocketing money for himself and splashing out on a lavish lifestyle. "He had created what became known as a Ponzi scheme."

It's an "enlightening and entertaining" podcast series, said Rick Kogan in the Chicago Tribune. "Deeply researched and stylishly written" by Matt Hickey and Kevin Hynes, and "hosted with considerable charm" by former Los Angeles Times investigative reporter Maya Lau, it's filled with "fascinating" details.

The "polished" production features dramatized sections, with a cast including US comedian and actor Sebastian Maniscalco as Ponzi. While it centres on a "colourful, wide-reaching criminal", the series also draws on a collection of recently discovered letters to delve into the con artist's "touching" relationship with his wife Rose. By the end, I even started to feel a "grudging respect" for him.

Mixing documentary with drama "often falls flat", said the FT's Sturges. But "Easy Money" is "effective in getting under the skin of its protagonist", portraying him "less as an out-and-out villain" than a "charismatic man" who made "one bad decision after another and quickly got out of his depth".

Could the Greens ape Reform UK? Are more people opting out of public services?

Olly Mann and The Week delve behind the headlines and debate what really matters from the past seven days.

A podcast for curious, open-minded people, The Week Unwrapped delivers fresh perspectives on politics, culture, technology and business. It makes for a lively, enlightening discussion, ranging from the serious to the offbeat. Previous topics have included whether solar engineering could refreeze the Arctic, why funerals are going out of fashion, and what kind of art you can use to pay your tax bill.

You can subscribe to The Week Unwrapped wherever you get your podcasts:

• Spotify
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"Welcome to the era of the book club podcast," said Emily Watkins in The i Paper. The formula is straightforward: the host chooses a book to talk about and audiences "tune in at their leisure" to listen. "It's an undeniable hit," especially for those who "shudder at the thought of talking to strangers".

With Gen Z increasingly turning to physical books, in part fuelled by the rise of #booktok and vocal celebrity readers like Dua Lipa, it seems book clubs – both on and offline – are "more popular than ever". The nature of podcasts means audiences can either read the title before listening or "dip into an episode" about a book they haven't read. Here are some of the best.

NPR's Book of the Day

This snappy 15-minute podcast is "great for discovering new books to add to your reading list", said Town & Country. The daily show is filled with all the latest news about the most exciting releases and has fascinating interviews with a diverse array of writers.

The Book Club Review

This "no-nonsense" podcast "takes reading seriously – in a good way", said Watkins. Hosts Laura Potter and Kate Slotover (who both worked in publishing) discuss – and occasionally "rip to shreds" – one of the latest reads from their in-person club. The episodes are also peppered with author interviews and interesting recommendations. "Expect heartfelt criticism, insightful analysis and rousing debate."

The Bookshelf with Ryan Tubridy

Broadcaster Ryan Tubridy is a "household name" in Ireland and his podcast is "quite Celtic accented, but given the strength of Irish writing, so are many bookshelves", said Patricia Nicol in The Sunday Times. Each episode, guests are asked to share one book from their childhood, one that made them cry and one that changed their life. It makes for a great listen, partly because of the "clear format" and partly because Tubridy is such a "capably amiable presenter".

Overdue

Andrew Cunningham and Craig Getting host this "podcast about the books you've been meaning to read", said Amber Gwynne, a writing lecturer at the University of Queensland, on The Conversation. While certain to add some "dog-eared classics to your to-be-read pile", like "Madame Bovary", there's also some newer reads like Gabrielle Zevin's 2022 gaming novel, "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow".

Sara & Cariad's Weirdos Book Club

Those who "like their literature with a side of laughter" will enjoy this hilarious show, said Watkins. In each episode, comedians Sara Pascoe and Cariad Lloyd invite celebrity guests to discuss the book they're reading, making it "more giggly chat than hardcore review". Akin to a "classic panel show but with none of the attendant blokey humour", it's laugh-out-loud funny – "I snorted more than once at the 'Bridget Jones's Diary' episode".

Backlisted

John Mitchinson and Andy Miller host this "much-loved and long-running" literary podcast, said Nicol in The Times. Every fortnight a new guest shares a "favourite old book" that's worth reading. Recent episodes include the poet Emily Berry on Anne Sexton's "All My Pretty Ones" and the thriller writer Alex Michaelides on Ford Madox Ford's "The Good Soldier".

The Ex Files

(Global)

"The Ex Files is built on an odd premise," said Miranda Sawyer in The Observer (U.K.). It's a global affairs show in which Christiane Amanpour, CNN's "vastly experienced" international anchor, discusses current events with her ex-husband, Jamie Rubin. "But once I listened, I quite understood why Rubin is there." He was a top State Department official in both the Clinton and Biden administrations and adds valuable experience of his own, including his having helped almost broker a cease-fire last year between Israel and Hamas. "Both Rubin and Amanpour are so impressive," and from their debut episode, "I learned more than I have from innumerable reports on Gaza."

The Ex Files is "a brilliant listen," said Kerri-Ann Roper in The Independent (U.K.). In the second episode, as Amanpour and Rubin discuss what it might take to end the war in Ukraine, Amanpour draws upon lessons learned while making a CNN documentary on Vladimir Putin. She's special. "There isn't anyone better placed to be guiding listeners through the tangled web of today's world politics."

Titanic: Ship of Dreams

(Noiser)

People never tire of the story of the Titanic, and the latest podcast about the 1912 disaster "makes it sweaty, complex, horrifying, and real," said Chloe Walker in Podcast Review. "Although Ship of Dreams is dense with information, much of it very technical, the priority is on conjuring images for the audience through beautifully chosen words." So Belfast's shipyard, the Titanic's boiler room, and the bioluminescence of the arctic sea all feel "thrillingly tangible" as host Paul McGann illuminates a "mind-boggling" number of ways that the tragedy could have been averted.

As familiar as the story is, "there is enough detail that listeners may discover something new," said Fiona Sturges in the Financial Times. There was far more debate over the design of the ship's carpets, for example, than its lifeboats. McGann, an actor whose great-uncle survived the disaster, "overdoes the portent, much of the time sounding as if he's reading from the Book of Revelation." Still, the series succeeds in sustaining suspense, its core mission, "by focusing less on what happened than why."

How did Japan become a space superpower? Will buy-now-pay-later cause a new financial crisis? And why on earth are Labubu dolls so popular?

Olly Mann and The Week delve behind the headlines and debate what really matters from the past seven days.

A podcast for curious, open-minded people, The Week Unwrapped delivers fresh perspectives on politics, culture, technology and business. It makes for a lively, enlightening discussion, ranging from the serious to the offbeat. Previous topics have included whether solar engineering could refreeze the Arctic, why funerals are going out of fashion, and what kind of art you can use to pay your tax bill.

You can subscribe to The Week Unwrapped wherever you get your podcasts:

• Spotify
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• Global Player

We're nearly halfway through the year, and podcast fans should have a decent lineup of new shows to listen to heading into the latter half of 2025. They include a deep cultural dive into the life of the late Jerry Springer and a show that unpacks the way we spend money.

'Final Thoughts: Jerry Springer' (Audible)

In this nine-part series, Leon Neyfakh, best known for "Fiasco" and the early seasons of "Slow Burn," provides an in-depth history of "The Jerry Springer Show," that "garish, syndicated daytime talk show infamous for its sensationalism and exploitative treatment of marginalized groups," Vulture said. Neyfakh presents a "compelling case for Springer's cultural significance, weaving it into a biographical portrait of the man himself, who died in 2023." Neyfakh seems "particularly interested in Springer's contradictions."

Despite being known as the godfather of "trash TV," Springer was also "intelligent, politically engaged and deeply curious about what resonates with the public," Vulture added. There is plenty to process in this "meaty portrait of a complicated figure," but beneath it all is a "deeper tension that still defines our cultural moment: the clash of taste, class and elitism." (Audible)

'Good Hang With Amy Poehler' (The Ringer)

Celebrity podcasts are pretty common, but Amy Poehler's new show stands out. "Good Hang With Amy Poehler" features weekly guests like Tina Fey, Rashida Jones and Jack Black, and "her interviewing style is both thoughtful and fun," said Cosmopolitan. Each episode is "like a little bottle filled with comedy and joy that you want to get the very last drop out of."

Unlike other celebrity podcasters, Poehler doesn't seem "interested in that great obsession of modern culture, self-improvement," said The New Statesman. Instead, she promises a "low-stakes, high-comedy hour with other comedians and friends, with absolutely nothing instructive smuggled in." The conversations with her guests "aren't particularly deep or self-congratulatory: They are breezy, funny and light." (The Ringer, Apple Podcasts and Spotify)

'Our Ancestors Were Messy' (Coco Hill Productions)

If you're into gossip and Black history, then Nichole Hill's "Our Ancestors Were Messy" will be your gift of the moment. Hill covers the "gossip, scandals and pop culture that made headlines in historical Black newspapers across America," Lauren Passell, the author of Podcast the Newsletter, said at Lifehacker. Hill tells true stories, such as a "Victorian-era love triangle that hit DC elites, a mystery concerning a tabloid sensation in Harlem," with input from guests that places you inside a "vintage scandal." Hill's storytelling style is "descriptive, funny, conversational and crisp," and she "uses amazing sound production that pumps it all into life." (Coco Hill Productions, Apple Podcasts and Spotify)

'What We Spend' (Audacy)

Financial anxieties are at the forefront during this era, and "What We Spend" gives you a peek into the spending habits of other people. A combination of "spot interviews and audio diaries," said Vulture, the show might "initially resemble a polished equivalent of a personal-finance blog," but host Courtney Harrell has created a product that is a "thoughtful, revealing and illuminating series of windows into the inner lives of others as refracted through their expense sheets." Despite being relatively new, the podcast shows "signs of greatness in the simplicity of its approach; an example of how asking the most basic of questions" can hold the "deepest punch of human experiences." You will walk away from it "wondering how we ever make it out of modern society alive." (Audacy, Apple Podcasts and Spotify)

'Scamfluencers' (Wondery)

For crime podcast fans looking for a listen that is lighter than a murder mystery, "Scamfluencers" could be a smart fit. Hosted by Scaachi Koul and Sarah Hagi, each week's episode features a new scammer, "perhaps ones you know, like real housewife Jen Shah or former congressman George Santos, or ones you maybe don't, like a shady national ballet school or a maple-syrup-stealing ring in Quebec," said Cosmopolitan. Each episode is well-researched, and the hosts are "so fun to listen to, telling you the full story of how each scammer came to become, well, a scammer." (Wondery, Apple Podcasts and Spotify)

Will Europe beat China and India to the North Pole? Is the man who designed the iPhone going to kill his own creation? And what's going on at the equalities watchdog?

Olly Mann and The Week delve behind the headlines and debate what really matters from the past seven days.

A podcast for curious, open-minded people, The Week Unwrapped delivers fresh perspectives on politics, culture, technology and business. It makes for a lively, enlightening discussion, ranging from the serious to the offbeat. Previous topics have included whether solar engineering could refreeze the Arctic, why funerals are going out of fashion, and what kind of art you can use to pay your tax bill.

You can subscribe to The Week Unwrapped wherever you get your podcasts:

• Spotify
• Apple Podcasts
• Global Player

Will the Enhanced Games change the image of drugs in sport? How will autonomous weapons change warfare? And are Reform supporters more datable than Tories?

Olly Mann and The Week delve behind the headlines and debate what really matters from the past seven days.

A podcast for curious, open-minded people, The Week Unwrapped delivers fresh perspectives on politics, culture, technology and business. It makes for a lively, enlightening discussion, ranging from the serious to the offbeat. Previous topics have included whether solar engineering could refreeze the Arctic, why funerals are going out of fashion, and what kind of art you can use to pay your tax bill.

You can subscribe to The Week Unwrapped wherever you get your podcasts:

• Spotify
• Apple Podcasts
• Global Player

One of the most persistent narratives to come out of the 2024 election cycle is the effect the vast right-wing digital media ecosystem had on the national electorate, with figures like Theo Von and Joe Rogan assuming an outsized influence in the conservative space. As Democrats plot a return from the electoral wilderness, a growing chorus of party figures has begun to push for a liberal-leaning alternative to the right's digital dominance. But while many Democrats agree that they've been thus far outmaneuvered online, not everyone is on board with what they should do about it.

Serious plan, or 'shiny new object'?

Many Democrats "take it as gospel " that Trump's 2024 victory came not only from friendly outlets like Fox News and OAN but through an "ecosystem of supporters on YouTube, TikTok and podcasts," said The New York Times. That belief has led to party mega-donors being "inundated with overtures" to open their wallets for the development of an "army of left-leaning online influencers." At the same time, liberal critics argue the pitches to the party's financiers are simply efforts to "meet donors' demand for a shiny new object" rather than something that will actively help electorally.

The notion that victory is possible if they "spend enough billionaire money" to create a Rogan equivalent "speaking in Democratic talking points" is "laughable," said Emily Jashinsky at UnHerd. Trump and his ilk succeeded in winning over figures like Rogan by being "critics of their own party." Do Democratic operatives and donors who are mulling their media weaknesses want to "spend money paying influencers to talk trash about the party?" Rogan, in particular, was "not created by conservative philanthropists," said Vox's Eric Levitz on Bluesky. Moreover, the type of content that has been shown to give Democrats real traction online and electorally "seems pretty different."

While journalism is the "practice of telling the public about stuff that is happening," said columnist Hamilton Nolan on Substack, what "most wealthy political donors want" is something else: propaganda that "seeks to produce a specific outcome." Accordingly, Democrats find themselves in a complicated position, said the Columbia Journalism Review. Existing progressive outlets that do "engage in rampant spin" are "typically tethered to the realm of basic fact" — something that "no longer constrains many right-wing commentators."

'Virtually impossible' struggle against elitism

For some Democrats, the challenge is ultimately a question of scope. "There needs to be a recognition that we need to go beyond the political sphere," said political consultant Jared Leopold at Campaigns & Elections. Enter Hasan Piker, the progressive streamer frequently compared to Rogan for his focus on not only political content, but fitness and gaming as well. But Piker doesn't see himself as a liberal Rogan, focusing instead on "directly countering Rogan, as he spreads misinformation," he said to The Independent. Piker also reserves most of his ire for the Democratic party, which is "trying to repackage" its "smug" and "elitist" identity to appeal to voters. But "because they're so elitist, I think it's virtually impossible," Piker said.

As liberals and progressives debate the merits of their digital tactics, the volume of pitches to left-leaning donors grows. One political operative "described compiling a spreadsheet of 26 active projects related to creators," said the Times, even as few have "ties to major donors" who could "give them liftoff." For now, there are simply "more ideas than hard, committed money."

Final Thoughts: Jerry Springer

(audible)

Jerry Springer's life story "still has the capacity to surprise," said Fiona Sturges in the Financial Times. Two years after the death of the divisive TV host, this "thoughtful and compelling" podcast series retraces Springer's rise from little-known Cincinnati mayor to broadcasting phenomenon. Leon Neyfakh, creator of Slow Burn and Fiasco, weaves into his account interviews with dozens of people "who knew, worked with, or were guests of Springer."

The star of The Jerry Springer Show apparently never gave up his dream of returning to Democratic politics, even as he surpassed Oprah Winfrey in the late 1990s by goading guests into fistfights over personal matters. I'm one of the Ohio journalists Neyfakh talked to, said John Kiesewetter in WVXU.org, and while I haven't heard the series' nine episodes, Final Thoughts "appears to be the most comprehensive documentary about Springer's five decades in public life." Unlike the recent Netflix docuseries, it devotes significant attention to Springer's 1970s and '80s political career and also his flirtations with statewide Ohio campaigns as recently as 2018.

Scam Inc.

(Economist Podcasts)

This year, multiple media outlets have released exposés about the recent proliferation in Southeast Asia of so-called scam compounds, said Nicholas Quah in NYMag.com. "Of these, Scam Inc., from The Economist, struck me as the most effective," because of its "sweeping scope" and ability to access various nodes in the network of fraudsters who are using texts, emails, and other digital messages to cheat innocent victims out of their money. The compounds are prison-like complexes where workers who've essentially been kidnapped are compelled to mislead strangers into fake online romances and then milk them for cash. When host Sue-Lin Wong states early on that these "pig-butchering" scams are as numerous as stars in the sky, the claim seems suspect, said James Marriott in The Times (U.K.). "It turns out she's not exaggerating." Stick with Scam Inc. through its slow opening and you will soon be marveling at these corrupt constellations that exploit vulnerable marks. "A whole parasitic third-world criminal economy" has been built on the loneliness of affluent Westerners. It's "an extraordinary story."

Will weight-loss drugs cut cancer rates? What's behind a rise in 'sextortion' cases? And why is cheese so bad for the environment?

Olly Mann and The Week delve behind the headlines and debate what really matters from the past seven days.

A podcast for curious, open-minded people, The Week Unwrapped delivers fresh perspectives on politics, culture, technology and business. It makes for a lively, enlightening discussion, ranging from the serious to the offbeat. Previous topics have included whether solar engineering could refreeze the Arctic, why funerals are going out of fashion, and what kind of art you can use to pay your tax bill.

You can subscribe to The Week Unwrapped wherever you get your podcasts:

• Spotify
• Apple Podcasts
• Global Player

How is professional sport dealing with dementia? Is fossil-fuel advertising on borrowed time? And do male authors need more support?

Olly Mann and The Week delve behind the headlines and debate what really matters from the past seven days.

A podcast for curious, open-minded people, The Week Unwrapped delivers fresh perspectives on politics, culture, technology and business. It makes for a lively, enlightening discussion, ranging from the serious to the offbeat. Previous topics have included whether solar engineering could refreeze the Arctic, why funerals are going out of fashion, and what kind of art you can use to pay your tax bill.

You can subscribe to The Week Unwrapped wherever you get your podcasts:

• Spotify
• Apple Podcasts
• Global Player

Why was Latin America's first Pope so divisive in his homeland? Could marriage increase your risk of dementia? And what is the true cost of that viral pistachio chocolate?

Olly Mann and The Week delve behind the headlines and debate what really matters from the past seven days.

A podcast for curious, open-minded people, The Week Unwrapped delivers fresh perspectives on politics, culture, technology and business. It makes for a lively, enlightening discussion, ranging from the serious to the offbeat. Previous topics have included whether solar engineering could refreeze the Arctic, why funerals are going out of fashion, and what kind of art you can use to pay your tax bill.

You can subscribe to The Week Unwrapped wherever you get your podcasts:

• Spotify
• Apple Podcasts
• Global Player

Will womb transplants transform fertility? What should we make of 'de-extinction' claims? And why are prices falling in the art market? Olly Mann and The Week delve behind the headlines and debate what really matters from the past seven days.

A podcast for curious, open-minded people, The Week Unwrapped delivers fresh perspectives on politics, culture, technology and business.

It makes for a lively, enlightening discussion, ranging from the serious to the offbeat. Previous topics have included whether solar engineering could refreeze the Arctic, why funerals are going out of fashion, and what kind of art you can use to pay your tax bill.

You can subscribe to The Week Unwrapped wherever you get your podcasts:

• Spotify
• Apple Podcasts
• Global Player

Could young people lead a religious revival? What has Facebook done to anger writers? And why would studios block the release of their own movies? Olly Mann and The Week delve behind the headlines and debate what really matters from the past seven days.

A podcast for curious, open-minded people, The Week Unwrapped delivers fresh perspectives on politics, culture, technology and business.

It makes for a lively, enlightening discussion, ranging from the serious to the offbeat. Previous topics have included whether solar engineering could refreeze the Arctic, why funerals are going out of fashion, and what kind of art you can use to pay your tax bill.

You can subscribe to The Week Unwrapped wherever you get your podcasts:

• Spotify
• Apple Podcasts
• Global Player

Why is Donald Trump sending people to jail in El Salvador? Should councils reverse their bans on playing in streets? And can a Peruvian farmer defeat an energy giant? Olly Mann and The Week delve behind the headlines and debate what really matters from the past seven days.

A podcast for curious, open-minded people, The Week Unwrapped delivers fresh perspectives on politics, culture, technology and business.

It makes for a lively, enlightening discussion, ranging from the serious to the offbeat. Previous topics have included whether solar engineering could refreeze the Arctic, why funerals are going out of fashion, and what kind of art you can use to pay your tax bill.

You can subscribe to The Week Unwrapped wherever you get your podcasts:

• Spotify
• Apple Podcasts
• Global Player

Last month, after years of being refused exit from Romania, where he stands accused of sex trafficking and rape, social media influencer Andrew Tate set foot once again on American soil. It was a surprise Florida homecoming for this leading figure in the far-right "manosphere" of internet personalities whose Romanian arrest and detention once seemed the final act of his unapologetically misogynist enterprise.

While his return to the United States might imply a second act for the controversial podcaster — particularly given initial allegations that his being allowed to leave Romania was the result of political pressure from the Trump administration — it took mere days for Tate's legal troubles to overshadow his startling repatriation. Claiming to have made a "thorough review of the evidence," Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said on X that he had begun a "now-active criminal investigation" into Tate's human trafficking and assault allegations. "Florida is not a place where you are welcome with that type of conduct," said Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), whose administration is steeped in much of the same far-right milieu as Tate, at the news of the latter's arrival in his state. Florida has "no involvement" in Tate's return, DeSantis stressed.

Serious criminal allegations aside, Tate has long been a controversial figure for his embrace of — and proselytizing for — an overtly sexist worldview in which women exist largely for the pleasure of men. Below is how Andrew Tate sees half the world's population, in his own words.

On women in general

"Intrinsically lazy" [Jan 2021]

"I'm not saying they're property. I am saying they are given to the man and belong to the man" [July 2022]

"You cannot be responsible for a dog if it doesn't obey you, or a child if it doesn't obey you, or a woman that doesn't obey you" [July 2022]

"Women are born with innate power. But every time someone f--ks them they give some away. He takes it. And that's why the most powerful men have slept with endless women, and why the least magical women have slept with endless men" [July 2023]

"Women shouldn't vote because they don't care about issues outside of how THEY feel" [Sept 2024]

"Feminism is a lie and women have zero power without men" [Dec 2024]

"Fact. Women are sex workers. Their primary job now is to find one customer, called a boyfriend, to pay for their entire lives in return for pussy. If they fail at this they do only fans or porn, the same game with more than one customer. If they're ugly, they work a job (badly) and are miserable" [Dec 2024]

"Bitter old hoes always mad the hot young girls get the money men" [Feb 2025]

"Cities are for women to be their worst selves and look for perma entertainment which men pay for" [March 2025]

On his personal treatment of women

"If you put yourself in a position to be raped, you must bare [sic] some responsibility" [Oct 2017]

"(I am) absolutely a misogynist" [Jan 2021]

"I'm a realist, and when you're a realist, you're sexist. There's no way you can be rooted in reality and not be sexist" [Jan 2021]

"My job was to meet a girl, go on a few dates, sleep with her, test if she's quality, get her to fall in love with me to where she'd do anything I say, and then get her on webcam so we could become rich together" [personal website, deleted in 2022]

"If you want a woman who's perfect for you, you must build her to be perfect for you. A woman who is understanding and kind and who respects you does not exist unless you force her to be that way" [Tate "PhD" course, 2024]

"I don't give a s--t about having sex with beautiful women. I f--k them so they listen to me" [date unknown]

"I'm all over the place, so I end up with all these chicks just stuck in the house, sitting there, bored, completely in love with me. And of course they don't go out. They're not allowed out" [date unknown, cited by Business Insider]

[If accused of cheating by a woman] "It's bang out the machete, boom in her face and grip her up by the neck" [date unknown, cited by The New York Times]

"I have nothing to talk to women about beside either sleeping with them or… wait, that's it" [date unknown]

"You can't get the girl to work for you if you haven't f----- her before" [date unknown, cited by ABC News]

On former Vice President Kamala Harris

"She's largely incompetent. I don't think I've ever heard her put a compendious coherent sentence together" [July 2023]

On Taylor Swift

I could easily f--k Taylor Swift and end her feminism shit real G dick moves but she's ancient. Pyramids were brand new when she was born. THIRTY-FOUR!? If you're a girl, why even live past 30 unless you have kids? [June 2024]

On Ariana Grande

"You're too skinny and i would no longer f--k you" [Feb 2025]

On environmentalist Greta Thunberg

"Please provide your email address so I can send a complete list of my car collection and their respective enormous emissions" [Dec 2022]

On his sister

"I have a sister. My sister and I, we don't really talk. We don't talk because she goes to feminist rallies and believes Trump's a racist. I know: How can Andrew Tate have a low-IQ sister?" [date unknown]

On his mother

"Very much subservient to my father, which was a good thing" [Sept 2022]

Can Canadian consumers take on Trump? Does Nepal want its king back? And could eating fish make you kinder? Olly Mann and The Week delve behind the headlines and debate what really matters from the past seven days.

A podcast for curious, open-minded people, The Week Unwrapped delivers fresh perspectives on politics, culture, technology and business.

It makes for a lively, enlightening discussion, ranging from the serious to the offbeat. Previous topics have included whether solar engineering could refreeze the Arctic, why funerals are going out of fashion, and what kind of art you can use to pay your tax bill.

You can subscribe to The Week Unwrapped wherever you get your podcasts:

• Spotify
• Apple Podcasts
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The MeidasTouch Podcast

(MeidasTouch Network)

The Joe Rogan Experience has met its match, said Julia Ornedo in The Daily Beast. While Rogan and other Trump-friendly hosts still hold most of the top slots on Spotify’s daily podcast chart, brothers Ben, Brett, and Jordan Meiselas—all progressive warriors—have shot to the No. 1 position in Podscribe’s monthly ranking and now vie regularly for the daily crown. The brothers’ MeidasTouch podcast more than doubled its reach in the weeks following Trump’s inauguration, while Rogan’s audience was declining by 32 percent. But progressives shouldn’t get too excited about MeidasTouch’s surge, said Dustin Rowles in Pajiba. The Meiselases are media professionals who for several years have been flooding social media platforms with political content funded by their own Super PAC. “They’re basically a rapid-response team for the DNC, if the DNC were run entirely by clickbait merchants.” Looked at another way, “they’re podcast equivalent of that liberal aunt who posts on Facebook every half hour. In person, she’s great! Online, she needs to chill out.”

The Magnificent Others With Billy Corgan

(Club Random Studios)

Besides fronting The Smashing Pumpkins, ’90s rock hero Billy Corgan is now also a wrestling promoter, café owner, and video podcast host, said Dean Fields in American Songwriter. With The Magnificent Others, he’s out to celebrate overlooked or misunderstood artists, relying on shared professional experiences to coax unique insights and stories from guests such as Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello and Gene Simmons of Kiss. “I would like to think that my interview with Gene, which is 90 minutes, is going to be a far different interview than any interview you’d see with Gene,” Corgan has said. It has proved “inspiring” to hear Corgan handle these long interviews and create a conversation he thinks is worthwhile, said Anagricel Duran in NME. In upcoming episodes, he’ll present one of the last interviews with recently deceased soul legend Sam Moore, as well as Mark Laita, host of the YouTube channel Soft White Underbelly. Keep an ear peeled for his chat with singer Dale Bozzio of Missing Persons, which Corgan says generated the show’s craziest story so far.

YouTube is the new kingmaker for podcasts, said Ashley Carman in Bloomberg. The 20-year-old video-streaming service, owned by Google, said last week that “more than 1 billion people a month are now viewing podcast content” on its platform. That means that more people watch podcasts now than are listening to them on Spotify or Apple. YouTube is fueling the transition by “offering as much as $300,000 to podcasters to entice them to create video versions of their shows.” The interview-oriented, talk show–style content that has come to dominate in podcasting lends itself easily to video, said Angela Yang in NBC News.com. And people are increasingly watching YouTube not on their phones, but on their televisions. In effect, “people sitting in front of a TV today might be more likely to flick on a podcast than a prime-time talk show.”

The pivot to video began during the pandemic, said Ben Cohen in The Wall Street Journal. Hosts “started recording their Zoom conversations,” and listeners had such a craving for human interaction “that they actually watched them.” Creators quickly realized “they could make real money turning their audio podcasts into videos, since YouTube pays them a share of advertising revenue from their content.” And audiences seem to love it. Young people, especially, report “feeling more connected to their favorite hosts because they can see them.”

The YouTube format has opened the door to minimal-production shows in which podcasters flip on a camera and talk, said Davey Alba in Bloomberg. It’s a format that’s worked magic for right-wing hosts such as Joe Rogan, Theo Von, and Logan Paul, who don’t “style themselves as political pundits,” yet have frequently opined on politics and “described men as victims of a Democratic campaign to strip them of their power.” All of this is “sandwiched between free-wheeling discussions of sports, masculinity, internet culture, gambling, and pranks,” which has made their shows catnip “to a voting bloc that helped propel Donald Trump back to the White House.”

The risk is that YouTube reduces podcasts to a stream of sound bites, said Dan Granger in Variety. The podcast medium gave hosts “the ability to have long-form, complex conversations,” and listeners, to this point, have proven willing to be deeply engrossed for 60-plus minute episodes. This new YouTube format, however, means “catering to younger, clip-loving audiences across social media, relying on sound bites to garner attention.” All sorts of biases also get introduced when video enters the equation, said Nicholas Quah in New York magazine. A former print journalist who now makes audio-only narrative projects said of female podcasters: “If we wanted to be in TV, we would’ve gone into broadcast journalism.”

Between wrapping up last year and kicking off this one, winter debuted several podcasts to help listeners get through the colder months. From a look at Elon Musk's history with espionage to an in-depth dive at how psychiatry could go awry, here are a few podcasts you might have missed.

'Cement City' (Audacy)

This 10-part documentary podcast made a splash last year. In an attempt to discover what is "ailing small towns in America's one-time manufacturing hubs," host-journalist Jeanne Marie Laskas and producer Erin Anderson picked one and moved there, said The New York Times. After three years of living in and reporting from Donora, Pennsylvania, the pair produced this "extraordinarily immersive portrait of day-to-day life in a troubled but irreducibly vibrant community." (Audacy, Apple Podcasts or Spotify)

'Elon's Spies' (Tortoise Media)

Sometimes, the best shows are short and sweet, a la "Elon's Spies" from the British company Tortoise Media. In a mere three episodes, the show delivers "a wealth of detailed investigation" about the czar of government efficiency, "all of it involving Elon Musk's use of private investigators to help him harass his perceived enemies," said The New Yorker. With Musk dominating the news cycle, now is fine time to revisit this gem, where host Alexi Mostrous illuminates some of Musk's stalkerish antics. They include the "pedo guy" saga, in which "Musk publicly insulted a diver who rescued a youth soccer team from an underwater cave," and an "apparent public-humiliation gambit targeting Musk's former girlfriend Amber Heard." (Tortoise Media, Apple Podcasts or Spotify)

'Embedded: Alternate Realities' (NPR)

The latest season of NPR's "Embedded" focuses on the relationship between radio producer Zach Mack and his aging father who believes in "conspiracy theories like terrorist immigrants, electromagnetic pulses, societal collapse, etc.," said Vulture. Sometime last year, Mack bet his father $10,000 that none of his " doomsday predictions" would occur by the year's end. The bet is both a "playful put-up-or-shut-up proposal" and a "quietly desperate piece of outreach from a son trying his best to see if his father can be retrieved from a kind of madness that's all too familiar today."

The resulting three-part series is "as gorgeous as it is painful," and what emerges is "both a gripping portrait of a family in crisis and a meditation on what it means to exist in a world where we truly aren't able to live with each other." (NPR, Apple Podcasts or Spotify)

'Bad Therapist' (Independent)

At a time when therapy speak has spilled from clinical settings to the mainstream, "Bad Therapist" reminds us that not all therapists are created equal. Hosted by psychotherapist Ash Compton and journalist Rachel Monroe, this show delves into centuries of bad actors infiltrating the world of psychotherapy. Operating as a "response to the contemporary rise of therapy and therapy-speak as a cultural aesthetic as opposed to a scientifically driven discipline," each episode sees the pair "interrogate different expressions of therapy gone wrong: scammers, self-proclaimed gurus and conversion therapy," said Vulture. (Apple Podcasts or Spotify)

'Scam Inc.' (The Economist)

This new podcast series is a "shocking look at transnational organised crime," The Economist said, which is "nearly as big as the illegal-drug trade and far more sophisticated than you might think." "Scam Inc" is hosted by Sue-Lin Wong, The Economist's Southeast Asia correspondent and host of "The Prince", an award-winning series about China's leader, Xi Jinping. The new series explores the sophisticated billion-dollar industry of online scams. Wong traces the story from the collapse of a bank in rural Kansas to networks of scam compounds in Southeast Asia where people are subject to inhumane conditions. Of all the coverage on the subject, The Economist series stands out for its "more sweeping scope and its ability to illustrate a network of depraved systems with greater accessibility," said Vulture. (The Economist, Apple Podcasts or Spotify)

For the debut episode of his "This is Gavin Newsom" podcast, which premiered March 6, California Governor Gavin Newsom sat down with Turning Point USA co-founder and far-right conspiracy theorist Charlie Kirk for what the show's official description called a "debate without demeaning or dehumanizing one other." But the convivial conversation has nevertheless angered many on the left, who consider Newsom's support for Kirk's stance against transgender athletes — and his friendly embrace of the controversial culture warrior in general — a red flag for any future political ambitions.

For some time now, Newsom has been discussed among certain wings of the Democratic party as a potential and potentially potent national candidate in some future presidential race. Having worked his way up California's local and statewide political ladders, Newsom is financially well-connected, comparatively young and offers — at least on paper — a compelling profile to a party struggling to find its footing in the face of President Donald Trump's ongoing deconstruction of the federal government. Still, a compelling profile does not a successful candidate make. While Newsom may still have the attention, if not the outright support, of many in the party, his latest project has begun to garner enough scrutiny and criticism to call into question his prospects as a national figure.

An 'exceedingly' friendly conversation

The podcast episode presented Newsom in an "opposite light" compared to his "stumping as a surrogate" for Democrats in the last presidential election and "sparring with ideological foes" like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Sean Hannity, said Politico. Newsom's "stunning remarks" suggesting Democrats "were in the wrong" on the issue of transgender athletes were made during a conversation in which the governor also "distanced himself from the use of pronouns," lamented cancel culture and criticized leadership of the Black Lives Matter movement. Newsom ultimately veered into "exceedingly" friendly territory with Kirk, a "campus culture warrior" and "close ally" of the president and Donald Trump Jr. At one point during the "frank" and "wide-ranging" episode, Newsom even appealed to Kirk to "give us some advice," Fox News said.

By suggesting that the participation of transgender athletes in women's sports was "deeply unfair," Newsom — despite having "backed LGBTQ causes for decades" — showcased a "newly defensive position on transgender rights among many in his party," The New York Times said. While "hardly the first" Democrat to "lament" his party's stance on transgender athletes, Newsom has become "the most prominent official" to do so.

An effort to 'court the right'?

That Newsom would embrace Kirk's position on barring transgender athletes from participating in women's sports "seems to be part of his effort to court the right," said Orion Rummler, a reporter for the gender-focused publication The 19th, on Bluesky. Newsom's "chasing" what he thinks is "public opinion" only means that he "will have made a bunch of statements and taken a bunch of stances" he will eventually have to disavow should public sentiment move elsewhere, said the Times opinion columnist Jamelle Bouie on Bluesky. Newsom did not "debate" Kirk, or "challenge his far right views," journalist Kat Tenbarge added on Bluesky.

Given Kirk's documented anti-transgender rhetoric — including having once described trans people as a "throbbing middle finger to god" — Newsom's decision to platform him is not "fostering a 'discussion' on transgender people in sports," said journalist Erin Reed on Substack. Instead, the governor is "handing a known hate monger a microphone to denigrate an already vulnerable community" and "recalibrating his political stance to make targeting transgender people seem palatable" for his base.

What can be done about firefighting forever chemicals? Can we avoid another heating bill hike? And will a new test tell us how quickly our organs are ageing? Olly Mann and The Week delve behind the headlines and debate what really matters from the past seven days.

A podcast for curious, open-minded people, The Week Unwrapped delivers fresh perspectives on politics, culture, technology and business.

It makes for a lively, enlightening discussion, ranging from the serious to the offbeat. Previous topics have included whether solar engineering could refreeze the Arctic, why funerals are going out of fashion, and what kind of art you can use to pay your tax bill.

You can subscribe to The Week Unwrapped wherever you get your podcasts:

• Spotify
• Apple Podcasts
• Global Player

Why are sinkholes becoming more common? Will Saudi investment help create the "Netflix of sport"? And why has New Zealand's new tourism campaign met with a savage reception? Olly Mann and The Week delve behind the headlines and debate what really matters from the past seven days.

A podcast for curious, open-minded people, The Week Unwrapped delivers fresh perspectives on politics, culture, technology and business.

It makes for a lively, enlightening discussion, ranging from the serious to the offbeat. Previous topics have included whether solar engineering could refreeze the Arctic, why funerals are going out of fashion, and what kind of art you can use to pay your tax bill.

You can subscribe to The Week Unwrapped wherever you get your podcasts:

• Spotify
• Apple Podcasts
• Global Player

Why is Trump calling time on the penny? What does the Chagos Islands deal mean for the island's inhabitants? And do personality tests discriminate against neurodivergent job applicants? Olly Mann and The Week delve behind the headlines and debate what really matters from the past seven days.

A podcast for curious, open-minded people, The Week Unwrapped delivers fresh perspectives on politics, culture, technology and business.

It makes for a lively, enlightening discussion, ranging from the serious to the offbeat. Previous topics have included whether solar engineering could refreeze the Arctic, why funerals are going out of fashion, and what kind of art you can use to pay your tax bill.

You can subscribe to The Week Unwrapped wherever you get your podcasts:

• Spotify
• Apple Podcasts
• Global Player

What can we learn from the Afghan women's cricket team? Can AI understand religion? And are we losing the war against rats? Olly Mann and The Week delve behind the headlines and debate what really matters from the past seven days.

A podcast for curious, open-minded people, The Week Unwrapped delivers fresh perspectives on politics, culture, technology and business.

It makes for a lively, enlightening discussion, ranging from the serious to the offbeat. Previous topics have included whether solar engineering could refreeze the Arctic, why funerals are going out of fashion, and what kind of art you can use to pay your tax bill.

You can subscribe to The Week Unwrapped wherever you get your podcasts:

• Spotify
• Apple Podcasts
• Global Player

What's behind a spate of hate crimes in Australia? Are our phones fuelling a Congolese militia? And why is carbon monoxide the new 'drug' of choice for cyclists? Olly Mann and The Week delve behind the headlines and debate what really matters from the past seven days.

A podcast for curious, open-minded people, The Week Unwrapped delivers fresh perspectives on politics, culture, technology and business.

It makes for a lively, enlightening discussion, ranging from the serious to the offbeat. Previous topics have included whether solar engineering could refreeze the Arctic, why funerals are going out of fashion, and what kind of art you can use to pay your tax bill.

You can subscribe to The Week Unwrapped wherever you get your podcasts:

• Spotify
• Apple Podcasts
• Global Player

Is biomedical engineering the next frontier? Should we ditch paper passports? And will AI undermine the Oscars? Olly Mann and The Week delve behind the headlines and debate what really matters from the past seven days.

A podcast for curious, open-minded people, The Week Unwrapped delivers fresh perspectives on politics, culture, technology and business.

It makes for a lively, enlightening discussion, ranging from the serious to the offbeat. Previous topics have included whether solar engineering could refreeze the Arctic, why funerals are going out of fashion, and what kind of art you can use to pay your tax bill.

You can subscribe to The Week Unwrapped wherever you get your podcasts:

• Spotify
• Apple Podcasts
• Global Player

Why are women deserting the pill? Are ultraprocessed foods changing the shape of our faces? And are TikTok's days numbered? Olly Mann and The Week delve behind the headlines and debate what really matters from the past seven days.

A podcast for curious, open-minded people, The Week Unwrapped delivers fresh perspectives on politics, culture, technology and business.

It makes for a lively, enlightening discussion, ranging from the serious to the offbeat. Previous topics have included whether solar engineering could refreeze the Arctic, why funerals are going out of fashion, and what kind of art you can use to pay your tax bill.

You can subscribe to The Week Unwrapped wherever you get your podcasts:

• Spotify
• Apple Podcasts
• Global Player

Is the US finally closing Guantanamo? Are public toilets an endangered species? And what should we feed our pets? Olly Mann and The Week delve behind the headlines and debate what really matters from the past seven days.

A podcast for curious, open-minded people, The Week Unwrapped delivers fresh perspectives on politics, culture, technology and business.

It makes for a lively, enlightening discussion, ranging from the serious to the offbeat. Previous topics have included whether solar engineering could refreeze the Arctic, why funerals are going out of fashion, and what kind of art you can use to pay your tax bill.

You can subscribe to The Week Unwrapped wherever you get your podcasts:

• Spotify
• Apple Podcasts
• Global Player