Want to dive deeper into topics you care about? A new podcast series by The Straits Times' Opinion section does just that.

Titled In Your Opinion, the series takes a hard look at social and political issues of the day.

It premiered on April 13.

In the first episode, I spoke to political science associate professor Chong Ja Ian from the National University of Singapore on "Analysing sentiments of some pro-China Singaporeans and differing views over Ukraine crisis".

Prof Chong tackled some of the claims that Singapore is following a "Western" posture towards the war in Ukraine, instead of a supposedly Asian or Asean one.

He also shared examples of disinformation campaigns, and explained how the media in Singapore can play its part in public education and debunking falsehoods.

In the second episode "How do we get more people to cycle to work?", I spoke to ST's associate editor Chua Mui Hoong on improving cyclist-pedestrian- driver interactions, Singapore's active mobility infrastructure, and how to get more Singaporeans to cycle to work.

Ms Chua gave a rundown of the different cycling "tribes" in Singapore, and described her (literally) bumpy experience of cycling to work.

In today's episode, she shares her thoughts on fourth-generation (4G) leadership renewal, now that Finance Minister Lawrence Wong has been chosen to lead the 4G team.

She explains why, in an era of greater contestation, the 4G refresh of the social compact should include politics.

We also discussed when the next general election could be held, and who might lead the charge.

A new episode will premiere every two to three weeks under the steady hands of ST podcast editor Ernest Luis and podcast producer Hadyu Rahim. Mr Luis started ST's and The Business Times' podcast network about three years ago.

The network hit one million downloads in the last year, and presently has about 30,000 unique listeners from more than 200 countries. It is currently the top monthly audio network in SPH Media.

Aside from the main ST Podcasts channel on Apple or Google Podcasts and Spotify, ST has 16 podcast series that produce regular episodes every week.

You can find it on Spotify, the SPH Awedio app, and the ST website.

E-mail me if you have a great idea or want to propose a guest for the podcast. Happy listening.