This week: sectarian persecution returns

Paul Wood, Colin Freeman and Father Benedict Kiely write in the magazine this week about the religious persecution that minorities are facing across the world from Syria to the Congo. In Syria, there have been reports of massacres with hundreds of civilians from the Alawite Muslim minority targeted, in part because of their association with the fallen Assad regime. Reports suggest that the groups responsible are linked to the new Syrian president Ahmed al-Sharaa (formerly known as Abu Mohammed al-Jolani). For some, the true face of the country’s new masters has been revealed. Whether the guilty men are punished will tell us what kind of country Syria has become since the fall of Assad’s dictatorship.

Speaking to those on the ground, Wood reports of fathers who were shot in front of their families, victims made to howl like dogs as they crawled through piles of corpses, and of state security forces trying to prevent survivors from photographing or talking about what had happened.

But to what extent is al-Sharaa responsible? And could other minorities, like the Syrian Christian minority – one of the oldest in the world, be next? Paul and Fr Benedict joined the podcast to discuss. (1:02)

Next: this century’s ‘unstoppable process of language extinction’

There are around 7,000 languages currently spoken across the world, but by the end of the century only 500 are expected to survive. Thus, documenting endangered languages has never been so important and this is the starting point of Lorna Gibb’s new book, Rare Tongues: The Secret Stories of Hidden Languages, reviewed by Harry Ritchie in the books section of the magazine this week. What are some examples of the languages facing extinction? And should we accept this as an inevitable cultural rise and fall, or should we be working to combat this?

Harry joined the podcast alongside Dr Oliver Mayeux, a sociolinguist at Cambridge, who also speaks Louisiana creole – a language spoken by fewer that 10,000 people. With special thanks to the Endangered Language Alliance, for allowing us to use a clip of the Garifuna language, who are working to document and preserve languages facing extinction across the world. (18:06)

And finally: what is ‘Boom Boom’, Gen Z’s favourite aesthetic trend?

Out are boring converse and dirty t-shirts beloved by millennial tech bros and in are high-fashion double-breasted suits and loafers, or so says Arabella Byrne who writes about the aesthetic trend defining Gen Z. American trend analyst Sean Monahan – who also coined 2013’s ‘normcore’ – coined the term ‘Boom Boom’ to encapsulate the look and feel of the trend. Think 1980s yuppies updated for 2025 – so why exactly is it popular, and what does it tell us about today’s twentysomethings? Arabella and Sean joined the podcast to discuss. (27:50)

Plus: Matthew Parris, Stephen Fry, Rory Sutherland, Rachel Johnson, Philip Hensher, Sean Thomas and Petronella Wyatt reveal the worst insults they ever received from a teacher. (13:59)

Presented by William Moore and Lara Prendergast.

Produced by Patrick Gibbons.