The Sunday Magazine for January 18, 2026
This week on The Sunday Magazine with Piya Chattopadhyay:
What Carney's gear shift on Chinese EVs means for politics at home
The first visit by a Canadian prime minister to China in nearly a decade resulted in Mark Carney signing a deal that will allow tens of thousands of Chinese electric vehicles into our country, in exchange for lowering canola duties. The Globe and Mail's Stephanie Levitz and Joël-Denis Bellavance from La Presse break down the implications for federal-provincial relations, and how it's landing with the White House amid ongoing trade tensions with the United States.
Is Iran at a tipping point?
Nationwide anti-government protests in Iran, and the regime's deadly ensuing crackdown, have put the future of the country in flux. Chattopadhyay speaks with Iranian-Canadian historian Arash Azizi and The Economist's Middle East correspondent Gregg Carlstrom about how the demonstrations could reshape Iran, what's at stake if the United States chooses to step directly into the crisis, and what the unrest signals for the region.
Former Irish president on how to hold on to human rights
As multilateralism gives way to a more authoritarian world order, Mary Robinson says the fight for human rights needs to focus on the grassroots. The former Irish president and United Nations human rights commissioner joins Chattopadhyay to discuss what her time as a lawyer and politician fighting for women's rights in Ireland taught her, the importance of holding on to visions for a better world, and why smaller countries need to band together to take politics out of human rights.
Grid of empty squares that's full of history and politics (nine letters)
The crossword has been around for more than a century. And in that time, Natan Last says it's far transcended leisure. Last constructs puzzles for The New York Times and The New Yorker. Now, he's looking at their history and evolution in a book called Across the Universe. He joins Chattopadhyay to explore the role this puzzle has played in times of crisis, the ways culture and constructors have changed it, and how it's grown to be a boon for business, a platform for social debate and even a form of modern art.