#252 - President Halimah calls out employers for penalizing workers taking COVID leave & SG crowned “Most Instagrammable Place In The World”
Jan. 19, 2022
President Halimah Yacob posted on Facebook on 8th Jan about the recent case of a pest control technician who was jailed for potentially exposing the public to COVID-19 by refusing a swab test and returning to work. In the sa…
#251 - Should OCBC be held responsible for phishing scams & Razer gets called out for misleading N95 mask claims
Jan. 17, 2022
In December 2021, around 469 OCBC customers were conned of a total of $8.5 million by an SMS phishing scam, leaving many bewildered victims stripped of their life savings overnight. Many customers have since come forward to …
#250 - Another ASK-ME-ANYTHING episode where we answer your BURNING questions
Jan. 14, 2022
It’s our 250th episode, and to commemorate the occasion we’ll answer the deepest and most exciting questions, as chosen by YOU! How we deal with rejection, how to start your own podcast, and the worst disagreements we’ve eve…
#249 - WHO now says boosters are not a viable strategy & Bentley driver tries to run down security officer
Jan. 12, 2022
WHO experts warned that repeating booster shots of the COVID vaccines is not a viable strategy going forward against emerging variants. In Singapore though, Minister of Health Ong Ye Kung recently said that we may need annua…
#248 - Djokovic wins Australian visa battle & Soh Rui Yong is beaten at 2.4km challenge
Jan. 10, 2022
So after a protracted back and forth between Australian authorities and his legal team about his medical exemption from vaccination, tennis superstar and vaccine-hesitant Novak Djokovic has won the court battle to avoid depo…
#247 - Police combing through CCTV footage of Clarke Quay NYE revelers & actress Jacelyn Tay talks sex with her son
Jan. 7, 2022
HELLO 2022! We can’t think of a better way to welcome the new year than by defying COVID restrictions, which is what a few hundred revelers did on NYE when they congregated as a group at Clarke Quay and improvised their own …
#246 - A look back at 2021: Singapore’s Top 10 Trending News topics
Dec. 28, 2021
So this is 2021! In a look back at this crazy year, we deep dive into the Top 10 Trending News as collated by Google Trends. Some of these topics might be familiar as we covered them on our podcast, while others might surpri…
#245 - Tennis player Peng Shuai retracts sexual assault allegations in Zaobao interview & Loh Kean Yew is SG’s first badminton world champion
Dec. 20, 2021
Today we discuss tennis and badminton, and how SG has made waves in both racquet sports in the last couple of days. First, the mysterious case of Peng Shuai that has captivated global media in the past month sees another maj…
#244 - Photos of escaped Changi lions’ treatment provokes discussion & Ms Universe 2021 made to meow by host Steve Harvey
Dec. 18, 2021
2 lions broke free of their enclosures at Changi Airport this week and had to be tranquilized by a team from Mandai Wildlife Group. While they are currently safe and stable, photos surfaced of their less-than-ideal transit c…
#243 - Pritam Singh testifies to Committee of Privileges & New Zealand to ban smoking for future generations
Dec. 13, 2021
Leader of the Opposition Pritam Singh finally gave his side of the story in the Raeesah Khan saga to the Committee of Privileges, in a 9-hour grilling session fronted by Minister Edwin Tong. But how much closer are we to the…
#242 - Straw poll reveals SGeans “not confident” of their skills & Better.com CEO faces backlash for firing workers over Zoom
Dec. 9, 2021
At a panel discussion on future skills featuring an appearance by Minister Chan Chun Sing, a straw poll showed that a majority of the attendees were only “slightly confident” that their skills would be relevant in a few year…
#241 - Former MP Yaw Shin Leong says WP asked him to “stay silent” & will MOE allow teachers to be ”sugar babies”?
Dec. 7, 2021
In another twist in the Raeesah Khan saga, former MP Yaw Shin Leong came out on Facebook to dispute Pritam Singh’s account of events surrounding his expulsion from WP in 2012. Who’s telling the truth? Elsewhere, a Sugarbook …
#240 - Raeesah Khan’s testimony opens can of worms for WP leaders & Grab’s share price tumbles after going public
Dec. 5, 2021
On Friday evening, an interim report featuring Raeesah Khan’s testimony was released by the Committee of Privileges, and it painted the Workers’ Party in a bad light. Most damning of all was that the WP leadership allegedly …
#239 - Workers’ Party MP Raeesah Khan resigns & Singapore crowned world’s second most expensive city
Dec. 2, 2021
Workers’ Party MP Raeesah Khan abruptly resigned from her position as an MP and from the party on Tuesday afternoon, just hours before she was due to face an internal disciplinary hearing. WP’s leaders came out with the deta…
#238 - Are the vaccines effective against Omicron & MrBeast’s viral Squid Game video sparks discussion
Dec. 1, 2021
In the past week, a new variant of COVID was identified in South Africa, and it was named the Omicron variant. The CEO of Moderna has said that the current vaccines are likely to be less effective against this variant, and s…
#237 - Actor and entrepreneur Andie Chen talks about acting, fatherhood and the future of the metaverse
Nov. 26, 2021
Actor, father, entrepreneur, and now metaverse evangelist Andie Chen tells us about relocating during a pandemic, the differences between Singapore and Taiwan, and how the metaverse is going to take over! Find us here! Ou…
#236 - Lawrence Wong discusses identity politics and tribalism & SG Army gets rid of 5BX
Nov. 24, 2021
In a speech about “identity” at the Institute of Policy Studies, Finance Minister Lawrence Wong acknowledged the struggles of marginalised groups and assured them that they were all part of the “Singapore family”. Does this …
#235 - Violent COVID protests erupt across Europe & Pew survey reveals: what do SGeans find meaningful in life?
Nov. 22, 2021
Protests broke out across Europe over the past weekend, as Belgium, Netherlands, Italy, Austria, Switzerland and Denmark all saw demonstrations against the latest COVID restrictions meant to curb the “fourth wave” of the vir…
#234 - SG obesity rate balloons in 2020 & transgender actress named ‘Amanda Man‘ in latest Jack Neo movie
Nov. 20, 2021
Based on MOH's latest National Population Health Survey, which collected data from over 6,000 Singaporeans and PRs aged between 18 to 74, SG’s obesity rate has risen to the highest level since 2010. Is this really a surprise…
#233 - SG extending F1 contract & Shanmugam calls Amos Yee‘s supporters “hypocrites”
Nov. 17, 2021
Minister of Transport S Iswaran recently revealed that SG is in talks to continue hosting the F1 night race next year. Having only discussed this topic on YLB #165 in June, we revisit the debate of whether SG should move on …
#232 - Kaws art showcase stopped by court order & Kendall Jenner’s dress at BFF’s wedding ignites debate
Nov. 14, 2021
A court injunction was served at the VIP preview of a new Kaws showcase at Marina Bay that featured a 42-metre-long inflatable created by the artist. We run through all the key players involved in this debacle and try to mak…
#231 - SG allows “soft” music in F&B outlets & YouTube removes “Dislike” numbers
Nov. 11, 2021
SG has finally allowed F&B outlets to play background music, albeit only “soft recorded music”. This comes alongside the easing of several other measures that signifies SG’s move towards living with COVID, so we discuss what…
#230 - Impending execution of M’sian drug trafficker draws international attention & anti-vaxx group‘s videos removed from YouTube
Nov. 10, 2021
This past week, the impending execution of a convicted Malaysian drug trafficker who allegedly has “severe mental disabilities" drew criticism from activists, international NGOs and even billionaire Richard Branson. Nagaenth…
#229 - Healthcare workers to receive $4K reward & F45 studio posts racially insensitive video
Nov. 7, 2021
To recognise their “courage and invaluable work”, the Ministry of Health will be awarding 100,000 public healthcare workers $4,000 each. We discuss what this gesture means, and if it’s enough to stem the tide of healthcare w…