The Decibel

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Context is everything. Join us Monday to Friday for a Canadian daily news podcast from The Globe and Mail. Explore a story shaping our world, in conversation with reporters, experts, and the people at the centre of the news.

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The fandom of Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift starts the second week of her Eras tour in Toronto today. And since the record-breaking tour landed in the city, it’s been the site of Swiftie pandemonium. Tens of thousands have travelled for the concerts, and even a number of out-of-town Swifties without tickets took the trip. The kind of dedication Taylor Swift attracts is rare, even as pop-star fandoms become more fervent. So what’s so special about Taylor Swift? And what sets her fandom apart from others? Niko Stratis is a freelance culture writer based in Toronto who writes the newsletter Anxiety Shark. Her debut book, The Dad Rock That Made Me a Woman, will be out May, 2025. Niko joins us to explain the sensation of Taylor Swift, why being a fan has become more intense, and how it changed the relationships between artists and their fans.

25 min
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Canada’s role in working towards a two-state solution

In the midst of the Israel-Hamas war, the idea of lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians seems farther away than it has been in a long time. But there are still people working to create the conditions for a two-state solution; among those are Canadian troops, working in the West Bank in a mission called Operation Proteus. Claire Porter Robbins is a freelance journalist and former aid worker. She’s on the show to talk about what Canadian soldiers are doing in the West Bank, how the operation has changed since October 7, and what it means for the prospects of a two-state solution.

20 min
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The Newfoundland town that seized its own church

In the small Newfoundland community of Portugal Cove south, the town church is considered its lifeblood, a community hub and historical touchstone, all rolled into one. But at the end of August, parishioners were told their church would be sold off to help the Roman Catholic Church pay a $104 million settlement. And when locals learned they couldn’t stop the sale, they took matters into their own hands. Today, the Globe’s Atlantic reporter, Lindsay Jones joins the podcast to tell the story of a small Newfoundland town seizing their own church, the historic court case it’s connected to, and how this standoff between one tiny town and the Roman Catholic Church, could end.

17 min
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How remote work changed our grooming habits

When the pandemic hit, nearly 40 per cent of Canada’s workforce went remote. More than four years later, that number has dropped by more than half. In a moment when bosses push for a return to the office – and workers cling to hybrid schedules – we’re learning just how much remote work has changed our habits, routines … and personal hygiene. Globe reporter Zosia Bielski recently turned her focus to examining our relationship with time: time use at work, unpaid labour and our hours off the clock. She joins the podcast to explain what researchers have learned about productivity in Canada and abroad, and how the fight over remote work is about how we use our time and what power our employers have over it.

22 min
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The Decibel presents: Lately

The Decibel presents ‘Lately’, a Globe and Mail podcast taking on shifts in business, tech and economy with newsmakers and thinkers. In this episode, award-winning journalist Luc Rinaldi takes us behind the curtain of Big Tobacco’s machinations to report on how an industry built on addiction is looking to reinvent itself for the wellness age. His cover story on the topic appears in this month’s edition of the Globe and Mail’s Report on Business Magazine. New episodes of ‘Lately’ hosted by Vass Bednar are available every Friday.

32 min
14 NOV.

Toronto’s Taylor Swift Era

After nearly two years of touring across five continents, Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour is coming to Canada. Thursday is the first of six dates in Toronto, and the tour will wrap up with three dates in Vancouver in December. When the Eras Tour rolls through town, money tends to follow; fans and concert-goers spend on merch, hotels, restaurants… and of course, tickets. Tickets make for attractive auction items, and people fundraising for charitable causes have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars. For some people, thousands of Swifties descending upon downtown Toronto can be more like a ‘nightmare dressed like a daydream.’ Public transit systems, like Metrolinx and the TTC, say they’re ‘ready for it,’ but that amount of people will no doubt make getting around the city a challenge. Even couples planning their weddings were warned against booking dates while Swift is in town. Josh O’Kane is here to break down how businesses are getting in on the fun, and how to make the most of the Eras Tour weekends, whether or not you’re a Swiftie. The Globe has created Taylor Swift playlists for every type of listener: for people who want to rock out to her greatest hits, to the elder millennials who loved her since high school, to the songs to put your kids to sleep, to the ones who are soundtracking their walk to the stadium with swagger, to the sneaky covers to convert the non-Swifties and ending with the classic, lyrical ballads to make you shed a tear. https://open.spotify.com/user/kswfenu8tkbjszl0ebou72cgq/playlists Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

24 min
13 NOV.

Alberta vs. Texas: how two oil giants are taking on clean energy

Alberta and Texas have a lot in common. Both have independent western cultures, great country music, and each lead their countries in oil production. And over the past decade, they’ve both been the unlikely hosts to the multibillion-dollar renewable energy boom – with swaths of the Texas and Alberta energy grids going green. But while Texas becomes a leader, Alberta is changing course. Jeffrey Jones, a Calgary-based reporter with The Globe’s Report on Business, took road trips through both vistas to learn how and why these oil-producing regions became hubs for clean energy, and what’s behind Texas’s green surge and Alberta’s slowdown.

24 min
12 NOV.

The complexities of gender in the U.S. election

Before Nov. 5, many pollsters predicted that there would be a huge gender gap in the U.S. election vote, with women overwhelmingly supporting Democratic candidate Kamala Harris and men voting for the Republican choice, Donald Trump. That didn’t quite happen. Fifty three per cent of female voters supported Harris, and 46 per cent voted for Trump. In 2020, 55 per cent of women supported Joe Biden, and Trump only got 43 per cent of the female vote. So what does this mean? Dr. S. Laurel Weldon is a distinguished professor of political science at Simon Fraser University and a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. She is on the show to share her thoughts on what to make of gender data from exit polls and where feminist movements go from here.

22 min

Tout afficher (600)

Menaka Raman-Wilms

Animation

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sur 5

29 notes

Huge fan

26/01/2022

NizkR

High quality stories with a Canadian perspective.
Finally! A Canadian perspective

15/10/2021

Danoftheforest

An outstanding podcast on both domestic issues and global affairs. Tamara Khandaker is an excellent host, and the level of analysis is second to none.
A considered perspective

06/06/2021

EmmaMollyMay

I’m a midwife in the US who has cared for many COVID+ patients this pandemic. I have to say that your episode on pregnant people in the ICU with COVID is one of the only times I’ve heard the voices of parents really highlighted in this pandemic. So many families have welcomed newborns after quarantine. It can be painful and scary and unnatural, even for asymptomatic parents. I appreciate the fact that you not only made parents feel safe enough to share concerns about bonding but that you also centered those concerns. Thank you for that.
Loved Episode 7 on Working from Home

19/05/2021

Antostler

I’ve been enjoying the new Decibel podcast and was delighted to hear Zabeen Hirji share so many great insights to help firms manage their team members working from home and for the eventual return to the office. A key message that resonated was the importance of ensuring employees get genuine breaks to recharge as work from home has a tendency to encroach upon evenings and weekends

Context is everything. Join us Monday to Friday for a Canadian daily news podcast from The Globe and Mail. Explore a story shaping our world, in conversation with reporters, experts, and the people at the centre of the news.