Talk Cocktail

America once built highways and reached the moon. Now we can’t even fix a bridge. The reason? The reforms meant to improve government have paralyzed it. In this recent WhoWhatWhy podcast I talk with Marc Dunkelman, whose recent book, Why Nothing Works: Who Killed Progress — and How to Bring It Back, uncovers the real r

In this WhoWhatWhy podcast, I talk with China expert Dinny McMahon who explains how Beijing is desperately racing to innovate its way out of demographic disaster — replacing construction-led growth with advanced manufacturing and automation. But as the collapsing property market exposes mountains of municipal debt, and

David Denby, long time New York Magazine film critic and acclaimed New Yorker writer, joins me to discuss his captivating new book "Eminent Jews." He examines how Leonard Bernstein, Mel Brooks, Betty Friedan, and Norman Mailer—all born within eight years of each other—wielded their Jewish heritage as a creative weapon

In this recentWhoWhatWhy podcast, I talk with John Lechner, author of Death Is Our Business. He details how private armies increasingly blur the lines between state power and mercenary force. The prospect of billionaires and politicians commanding their own military forces is no longer just a dystopian idea. John Lechn

Americans see Canada as that friendly neighbor up north. Canadians now see America as their greatest threat. How did we get here, and what does it mean for both nations? Joining me on this week’s WhoWhatWhy podcast is veteran political analyst and Globe and Mail columnist Andrew Coyne. Trump’s talk of annexation and pu

For over two centuries, the American experiment has weathered crises that would have toppled lesser democracies — a resilience celebrated as uniquely American. But what if this story of perpetual reinvention through adaptation has reached its limits, our Constitution stretched too thin by the democratic achievements we