The Sunday Magazine for December 8, 2024
This week on The Sunday Magazine with guest host David Common:
Syria's government falls after rebel offensive
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime collapsed early Sunday, following a rapid offensive by opposition forces, culminating in the seizure of Damascus and reports that Assad has resigned and fled the country. Common speaks with The Economist Middle East correspondent Gregg Carlstrom about the latest developments in this fast-moving story, and what the future of Syria could look like after more than a decade of civil war.
Calls grow for national inquiry into First Nations police-related deaths
This past week, The Assembly of First Nations called for a national inquiry into systemic racism in policing after 10 First Nations people died following interactions with officers since August. Common speaks with University of Toronto law professor Kent Roach about what an inquiry might achieve, the key issues he thinks need to be addressed, and what meaningful action could look like.
Inside the effort to restore Notre-Dame Cathedral after fire ravaged the iconic church
On Sunday in Paris, mass will be held inside the Notre-Dame Cathedral for the first time in five-and-a-half years. Michel Picaud, president of the Friends of Notre-Dame de Paris charity, recalls the night in 2019 when he was called to the scene to witness the famed, 860-year old church engulfed in flames. He joins Common to walk through the swift and massive effort it's taken to restore the iconic monument, and the great joy he and others feel this weekend as worshippers gather there once more.
What's lost in a bad translation – and what it takes to craft a great one
Whether your holiday book wish list includes classics like The Nutcracker or works by contemporary authors like Jon Fosse and Elena Ferrante... if you want to read them in English, then you'll have to thank a translator. But Damion Searls says that the work of translating is more complicated than simply converting words from one language to another. In the latest instalment of Word Processing – our ongoing look at language – Common speaks with the noted author and translator about his book The Philosophy of Translation, the nuance needed to make a faithful translation and what gets lost when the work is outsourced to technology.
Fran Lebowitz is offline, and she wants to stay there
For decades, Fran Lebowitz has earned fans and fuelled ire for sharing her opinion on... well, just about everything. The writer, humourist and public speaker joins Piya Chattopadhyay to share what's on her mind lately, from the advice she gives young fans, to why she doesn't suffer FOMO [fear of missing out] as someone who's got no time for the internet, and why she'd make a great mayor of her beloved New York.