The Daily

Ben Ratliff, a music critic and avid runner, always ran in silence. Then he discovered how music opened up to him — while running. It changed his entire approach to criticism and listening. He calls it “running the song.”

Today, for the New York City Marathon, Ben talks with our host Rachel Abrams about how his listening sharpens when he runs to music.

Then, he goes through highlights from his five-hour New York City Marathon playlist, which is designed to complement a run through the five boroughs, featuring various styles of music connected to the places on the route.

On Today’s Episode

• Ben Ratliff, a former New York Times music critic, a music professor and the author of “Run the Song: Writing About Running About Listening.”

Background Listening

• Ben Ratliff’s New York City Marathon playlist

Photo: Karsten Moran for The New York Times

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The writer-director, known for his dark and bleak work, believes in film’s power to change our lives.

• Thoughts? Email us at [email protected]
• Watch our show on YouTube: youtube.com/@TheInterviewPodcast
• For transcripts and more, visit: nytimes.com/theinterview

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

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In the final stretch of the midterm election campaign, polls have found that voters are latching onto the perceived corruption of the Trump administration.

Kenneth P. Vogel, a New York Times investigative journalist, explores one major story line feeding that perception: how those around the president have turned the pardon process into a business.

Guest: Kenneth P. Vogel, an investigative journalist for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• The pardon industry offers rich offenders a path to President Trump.
• A billionaire wanted a pardon from Mr. Trump. His family gave Alina Habba a $50 million deal.

Photo: Tierney L. Cross/The New York Times

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

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An investigation from The New York Times has uncovered how two candidates named Dan Sullivan ended up on the ballot for U.S. Senate in Alaska and the secret role that Democrats played in making it happen.

Kellen Browning, a political reporter for The Times, takes us inside the political scheme and explains what it means for a race that could determine which party controls the Senate.

Guest: Kellen Browning, a political reporter for The New York Times in San Francisco.

Background reading: 

• Inside Democrats’ secret effort to stack Alaska’s ballot.
• After The Times’s article, the governor of Alaska ordered an investigation into Mary Peltola’s Senate campaign over its role in recruiting spoiler candidates.
• Previously, the Justice Department asked a federal court to block Alaska’s results if the Republican incumbent narrowly lost.

Photo: Haven Daley/Associated Press

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

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A look at candidates from President Trump’s party who are running on a platform of criticizing him. 

In next week’s midterm elections, a specific kind of Republican candidate is appealing to disillusioned voters of both parties: moderates willing to criticize President Trump.

Jess Bidgood explains how some Republicans are trying to bring back an older version of their party.

Guest: Jess Bidgood, a political journalist for The New York Times

Background reading: 

• A Trump backlash endangers Susan Collins, the only blue-state Republican senator.
• From Opinion: John E. Sununu is running a model campaign. He might still lose.

Photo: CJ Gunther/Getty Images; Sophie Park/Getty Images

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

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Americans are expected to spend a record $13.5 billion on Halloween this year, according to the National Retail Federation. That includes costumes, decorations and lots of candy.

In this episode of “The Sunday Daily,” our host Rachel Abrams talks about these three tent poles of the Halloween season with reporters from across the Times newsroom.

Kim Severson, who covers food, tells us about the sour, peelable and texture-confused candy edging out longtime chocolate favorites. Louis Lucero II, an editor for style coverage, predicts the most popular costumes of the year. And Callie Holtermann, a reporter who covers style and pop culture, discusses the enduring joy of “Skelly,” the 12-foot-tall Home Depot skeleton with a cult following.

On Today’s Episode:

Kim Severson covers all aspects of food culture for The New York Times.

Louis Lucero II, an editor for style coverage for The New York Times.

Callie Holtermann, a reporter who writes about style, pop culture and Gen Z for The New York Times.

Background Reading:

• Halloween Costume Ideas That Scream 2026
• Still the Biggest Skeleton In the Game?

Photo credit: The New York Times

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

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Gina Hinojosa, the Democratic nominee for governor, on her appeal to MAGA voters and her refusal to engage in the “culture wars.”

• Thoughts? Email us at [email protected]
• Watch our show on YouTube: youtube.com/@TheInterviewPodcast
• For transcripts and more, visit: nytimes.com/theinterview

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

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The comedian Nathan Fielder came to fame as the creator and host of the Comedy Central series “Nathan for You.” The show followed Fielder as he devised outrageous schemes, ostensibly with the aim of helping various small businesses. What became clear, though, was that Fielder was less interested in helping business owners generate profits than he was in understanding the people ensnared in his plots. His next project, the HBO series “The Rehearsal,” was a similar offbeat portrait of offbeat people. At the center of both projects is Fielder himself, a documentarian whose motives can sometimes be hard to parse.

This week, Fielder’s first feature-length documentary, “You Can See Everything,” hits theaters. Co-directed by Lance Oppenheim, the movie shows Fielder embedding himself into the life of the disgraced Theranos founder and felon Elizabeth Holmes in the days leading up to her imprisonment for fraud. The film caused a big splash when it debuted at the Telluride Film Festival, in part because it presents Holmes, a mysterious and compelling cultural figure, through the eyes of Fielder, a mysterious and compelling filmmaker.

This week, the Times movie critic Alissa Wilkinson and critic at large Jason Zinoman, who covers comedy, join Michael Barbaro for a spoiler-free discussion of Nathan Fielder, his career, and why he might be the perfect person to tell the story of Elizabeth Holmes.

On Today’s Episode

Alissa Wilkinson, a movie critic at The New York Times.

Jason Zinoman, a critic at large for the Culture section of The New York Times.

Background Reading

• ‘The Real World’ and Nathan Fielder can both thank this cult filmmaker.
• ‘You Can See Everything,’ if you could only secure a ticket.

Photo: A24, via Associated Press

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

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A dramatic pop music comeback story is underway: Celine Dion is performing again.

In 2022, Dion, the renowned Canadian singer, announced that she had stiff person syndrome, a rare and incurable neurological disorder that causes painful muscle spasms and affects roughly one in a million people. The announcement came as a shock to her fans, and in a raw and revealing documentary released in 2024, “I Am: Celine Dion," she shared her struggle to overcome her condition, and sing again. But Dion worked her way back to performing, and is now appearing in a run of sold out shows in Paris.

The culture reporter Elisabeth Vincentelli was there on opening night, and in this episode of “The Sunday Daily,” she talks with our host Natalie Kitroeff about the remarkable comeback of Celine Dion.

On Today’s Episode:

• Elisabeth Vincentelli, an arts, culture, and theater journalist.

Background Reading:

• Celine Dion Is Back Onstage. Naturally, She Chose Paris.
• Paris Really, Really Loves Celine Dion

Photo credit: Clementine Schneidermann for The New York Times.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

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If you dine out regularly, you might have noticed some changes in restaurants over the past few years. Perhaps you’ve found yourself ordering at a counter, scanning a QR code to see the menu, or eating … a lot more soft serve.

These changes aren’t just trends. Brett Anderson, a New York Times food reporter, says they are restaurant owners’ desperate attempts to stay afloat in an industry in crisis. According to a report from the National Restaurant Association, 42 percent of restaurant owners said they weren’t profitable in 2025. Many of them were at serious risk of closing.

In this episode of “The Sunday Daily,” Brett talks with our host Michael Barbaro about the economic realities that are forcing businesses to rethink the entire concept of a restaurant, including a radical experiment at one Minneapolis diner that stopped charging for food entirely.

On Today’s Episode:

• Brett Anderson, a reporter for the Food section of The New York Times.

Background Reading:

• This Restaurant Stopped Charging for Food. And Profits Are Up.

• The Restaurant List 2026

  Photo credit: Caroline Yang for The New York Times. 

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

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