In this week’s New Yorker Out Loud podcast, Emily Nussbaum talks about the latest season of “Mad Men” with Sasha Weiss and Michael Agger: http://nyr.kr/19hb5yt

(Source: newyorker.com)

This week in the magazine, the novelist Rivka Galchen goes back to Elmhurst Hospital in Queens, where she did her medical residency, and writes about a doctor she had a rotation with, Dr. Joseph Lieber. In this week’s New Yorker Out Loud podcast, she and Jerome Groopman, who writes about medical issues for the magazine, talk about the training of doctors and about medical writing: http://nyr.kr/10d7TyT

This week, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in two cases dealing with gay marriage: the challenges to California’s Proposition 8 and the federal Defense of Marriage Act. On the Political Scene podcast, Jeffery Toobin and Margaret Talbot talk with Dorothy Wickenden about how the Court might rule in each case and what the decisions could mean for marriage equality. Click-through for more: http://nyr.kr/XlrxwN

(Source: newyorker.com / The New Yorker)

In the magazine this week, Michael Schulman writes about Tim Minchin, the singer-songwriter-comedian who composed the music and lyrics for “Matilda the Musical” (an adaptation of the Roald Dahl book), which just opened on Broadway after a celebrated run in London. Here, Schulman listens to and explains a few of the songs that made Minchin famous in his native Australia and in the U.K. Also, a phone call with Minchin himself: http://nyr.kr/Zj0sJ4

This week in the magazine, Kelefa Sanneh writes about Dapper Dan, the Harlem designer whose flashy fur-lined leather coats helped shape hip-hop style. Here, Sanneh and Leo Carey talk with Sasha Weiss about status and influence in men’s fashion, as well as The New Yorker style when it comes to writing about clothes: http://nyr.kr/YBpQWM

Listen to the podcast of “Smoke Signals,” John Cassidy’s Comment on the choices of Pope Francis: http://nyr.kr/XUC1m8

Jorge Mario Bergoglio, now better known as Pope Francis, steps into his new role during a time in which the Catholic Church faces numerous challenges around the world. Foremost among them, of course, is the problem of child abuse within the Church and the attempts over the years to cover it up, but there’s also the Vatican’s banking scandal and the question of how long official doctrine can lag behind progress and public opinion on issues like the role of women, gay marriage, and reproductive rights. On this week’s Political Scene podcast, Joan Acocella and Margaret Talbot join host Amy Davidson to discuss how Pope Francis might change the Church. Listen now, and click-through for more: http://nyr.kr/YuL4Wr

(Source: newyorker.com / The New Yorker)

On this week’s Political Scene podcast, Jon Lee Anderson and John Cassidy talk with host Amelia Lester about the late Hugo Chávez’s ambitions as a leader, what he was able to accomplish in his time as the President of Venezuela, and the legacy he leaves behind. Listen now: http://nyr.kr/15AMpkD

This week in the magazine, Jeffrey Toobin writes a Profile of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who even before her time on the Supreme Court played an important role in shaping the legal framework for women’s rights and gender discrimination. Here Toobin and Margaret Talbot talk with Amy Davidson about Ginsburg’s legacy and some of the current issues the Court is addressing. Also, fiction from a veteran of the war in Afghanistan.  Click-through to listen now: http://nyr.kr/15sjBe5

“What we have now is a government where the notion of solving the problem seems to be secondary to a lot of people in Congress,” George Packer says on this week’s Political Scene podcast. “That’s our political life these days: going from one near-death experience to the next.”

The next such brush with fiscal mortality on the schedule is, of course, the sequester. On March 1st, a series of severe cuts to the federal budget will go into effect if Congress can’t pass a suitable deficit-reduction plan. Packer joins James Surowiecki and host Dorothy Wickenden on the podcast to discuss the long line of short-sighted policy decisions that have emerged from Congress over the past few years, the lack of action on significant issues like inequality and growth, and what has been happening to Americans as a result. Listen to the podcast, and click-through for more: http://nyr.kr/W6L846

(Source: newyorker.com / The New Yorker)