The Sunday Read: ‘My Miserable Week in the “Happiest Country on Earth’’’
For eight years running, Finland has been rated the happiest country in the world by a peculiar United Nations-backed project called the World Happiness Report, started in 2012. Soon after Finland shot to the top of the list, its government set up a “happiness tourism” initiative, which now offers itineraries highlighting the cultural elements that ostensibly contribute to its status: foraging, fresh air, trees, lakes, sustainably produced meals and, perhaps above all else, saunas.Instead of adhering to one of these optimal itineraries or visiting Finland at the rosiest time of year (any time except the dead of winter), Molly Young arrived with few plans at all during one of the bleakest months. Would the happiest country on earth still be so mirthful at its gloomiest?
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29:45
'The Interview': Can Whitney Wolfe Herd Make Us Love Dating Apps Again?
The Bumble CEO has returned to run the struggling company she founded, and says she has a plan for getting Gen Z back. Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything
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50:59
An American Pope
The world’s 1.4 billion Catholics have a new pope, and for the first time, he is from America.Jason Horowitz, the Rome bureau chief of The New York Times, introduces us to Pope Leo XIV.Guest: Jason Horowitz, the Rome bureau chief of The New York TimesBackground reading: Who is Pope Leo XIV?The first American pope took a global route to the role.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. Photo: Alkis Konstantinidis/Reuters
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27:59
A Frightening Moment to Fly
A 90-second failure of Newark Airport’s air-traffic safety systems, which blacked out communication to planes carrying thousands of passengers, has exposed a new level of crisis in air travel.Kate Kelly, an investigative reporter for The New York Times, explains what the problems at one of the country’s biggest airports tell us about air-travel safety in the United States.Guest: Kate Kelly, an investigative reporter for The New York Times based in Washington, D.C.Background reading: How lost radar and silent radios upended Newark air travel.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. Photo: Dakota Santiago for The New York Times
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31:01
It Sucks to Be 33
Jeanna Smialek, who covers the U.S. economy for The Times, will be 33 in a few weeks; she is part of a cohort born in 1990 and 1991 that makes up the peak of America’s population.At every life stage, that microgeneration has stretched a system that was often too small to accommodate it, leaving its members — so-called peak millennials — with outsize economic power but also a fight to get ahead.Guest: Jeanna Smialek, a U.S. economy correspondent for The New York Times.Background reading: When millennials gripe that they get blamed for everything, the accusers might actually be onto something.Millennials have the children, but boomers have the houses.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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