Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. To end the show today for our last 15 minutes, little less, we're going to open up the phones and ask you what was the news from your holiday parties this weekend? 212-433-WNYC. 212-433-9692. You can also text that number. We can take your calls on two tracks here. The first most obvious is what were the major news topics that kept coming up in conversations? We know a lot of people went to holiday parties this week. This was one of the weekends where people have the holiday parties that come before Christmas in Hanukkah and Kwanzaa where it's so much about family. If you went to some kind of holiday party this weekend or in the last few days, maybe it was even an office party, what were the major news topics that kept coming up in conversations? 212-433-WNYC. 212-433-9692. Was it the drones over New Jersey? I'll bet that was one of them. 212-433-9692. Maybe it was the end of Taylor Swift's Eras Tour, which wrapped up last week. Maybe your colleagues or friends talk about Luigi Mangione a lot, obviously facing murder charges for the shooting death of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

What news items broke out at your holiday party among your friends or colleagues? 212-433-9692. If it was a work party, maybe the news that kept coming up was news impacting your company or your industry. Help us report. I don't want any company secrets or gossip about the boy. You can talk about gossip about the boss if you don't name any names. If you're an educator, maybe you discussed whether kids should have cell phones in schools, or if you work in the medical field, maybe you're talking about how hospitals nationwide are still grappling with an IV fluid shortage caused by Hurricane Helene.

Tell us about news from your work holiday party that might inform our other listeners about important things going on in your industry is really what we're after here more than who's sleeping with who after hours. 212-433-WNYC. 212-433-9692. It can be about news from the news of the day or from your industry, or maybe you stayed away from the news altogether. Maybe you learned something cool about a colleague or a friend of a friend that you wouldn't have learned otherwise. 212-433-WNYC. Tell us a personal story that you think would be interesting for people to hear.

212-433-9692. One of those, ''Huh? Really? You're doing that?'' Or, ''Really? Your mom's doing that?'' Whatever it is, as long as you don't violate anybody's privacy. 212-433-9692. I'll tell you a story. One producer for the show met a guy who has gotten into sewing and sews clothes for his girlfriend from patterns. The guy says, ''It's not that hard. I just follow the pattern.'' That was interesting, at least for one reason, because it's still unusual enough to hear from a guy who likes to talk about his sewing prowess.

Another producer found out that a neighbor hosts a weekly drumming circle, so maybe the news was personal news and you learned something fun about someone. We can take Those stories to 212-433-WNYC. 212-433-9692. Call or text or maybe this year the holiday work party was different. The Wall Street Journal reports the tradition of bringing a partner to the lavish office Christmas bash is fading into a workplace relic. By the way, some of you may remember when we were doing a workplace office party do's and don'ts call in last week.

A debate broke out among some of the callers about whether it's a good idea for your career to bring your partner, your spouse, or other partner to the holiday party at all. Separate from that is that the tradition seems to be going away. The Wall Street Journal says just under a third of companies are inviting plus ones to their holiday parties. Did you or your partner feel left out this year? Or what about a new Harris poll that shows many Gen Z workers would prefer no alcohol or a moderate amount policy at the party?

Did your company choose not to serve alcohol? Have you been to a work party like that? Did you notice perhaps your younger colleagues not drinking as much? How have your holiday parties changed with the generations? If a stereotype is younger people drink more than older people, well, Gen Z is apparently more of an abstinence generation, and certainly in circumstances like those. Or for that matter, how have your holiday parties changed since the pandemic or changed since the Me Too movement?

What do you like or not like about the changes? Anything about any holiday party, work, or personal that you've gone to in the last few days, what's the news that they were chatting about about the news? What's the news they were chatting about about your industry or interesting stuff from people's lives, like the guy who likes to sew? 212-433-WNYC. 433-9692. We'll take your calls and texts right after this.

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Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. To the calls on what was the talk of your holiday party. Melissa in Brooklyn, you're on WNYC. Hi, Melissa.

Melissa: Hi, Brian. I'm so happy to talk to you.

Brian Lehrer: The talk of your holiday party was?

Melissa: Seniors in high school getting college acceptances. This time of year--

Brian Lehrer: [crosstalk] Early admission this time of year. Right? Early admission this time of year--

Melissa: Yes. Exactly. It's early admissions--

Brain Lehrer: Or do you have to go on to all those other applications due in January? Right?

Melissa: Right. Right. It's such a big deal right now. I think every high school in New York City has an Instagram page where you can see where the seniors get into. Instantly everybody knows everybody's business. Everybody knows where everybody got into. If anybody told anybody where they applied early decision and they didn't get in, and it's a big deal that they didn't get in. Your whole life is very public right now for these.

Brian Lehrer: Melissa, thank you very much. The joy and the shame when it's all public like that. Bill in Point Pleasant, you're on WNYC. Hi, Bill.

Bill: Good morning. Long-time listener. We've been talking-- we were at a Rotary Christmas party this weekend and I was sitting with a bunch of fishermen and we were talking about the drones and we were talking about the new fishing regulations. We had a pretty active conversation there.

Brian Lehrer: What people say about the drones?

Bill: There was all kinds of different opinions, whether they were foreign, whether they were just a bunch of hobbyists trying to make a statement, and how the government was not doing its job by letting people know what was going on and that we should all go get our boats and go out and, and try to shoot them down ourselves beyond the limits of the New Jersey limits and the U.S. limits.

Brian Lehrer: Oh, so being international waters. Interesting. Bill, thank you very much. Noah in Somerset, you're on WNYC. Hi, Noah.

Noah: Hi. Can you hear me?

Brian Lehrer: Yes.

Noah: Hi. The big topic at my work Christmas party, because we are a behavioral healthcare clinic, was Luigi Mangione. The reason why he was the big topic is because probably 70% to 80% of our administrative and financial burden at my clinic is just getting the insurance companies to pay what they've agreed to pay us. There was a lot of talk about how if he had targeted a CEO of maybe any other industry, the national reaction might have been different. The health insurance industry is quite literally robber barons who are killing people.

I really appreciate the coverage you've been giving of this issue, Brian, because you've really been allowing people to speak on their frustrations without trying to dumb that issue down and how much it devastates families.

Brian Lehrer: Hopefully without endorsing murder. Noah, thank you very much. Claire in Sleepy Hollow, seems like your party took on a very weighty topic. Hi, Claire.

Claire: Oh, geez. I'm trying to figure out how to turn the radio off. Hi, Brian. Long-time listener, big fan. We talked about the history of conflict between Gaza and between the Palestinians and the Israelis and how long this conflict has been going on. It actually went in a lovely kind way, which was very good.

Brian Lehrer: Good. Thank you very much on such a polarizing topic. Here's probably a representative one for a lot of company holiday parties in a text message, says, ''Our corporate holiday party was a full-blown club scene for young people with music so loud you couldn't hold a conversation. The young employees loved it.'' Feeling left out, older ones? Let's see. We'll end with Amit in Queens. I think he'll be the last one. We'll see if we can sneak in maybe one short one, with a personal story. Right, Amit? Hi, you're on WNYC.

Amit: Hi, Brian, longtime caller, longtime listener. I just got back from my cousin's wedding in India, and it was just this past week. One of the biggest topics of conversation was how the BJP, which is Narendra Modi's right-wing Hindu nationalist party, has very likely manipulated two recent election results to claim victory. One is the election results in the state of Maharashtra, which is where Mumbai, Bombay, the largest city, is located, and the other is a very small by-election in a parliamentary constituency in the north that is close to 70% Muslim.

As most of your listeners well know, the BJP has been oppressing Muslims, and that by-election was also won by the BJP.

Brian Lehrer: Thank you for elevating that story from the wedding. All right. I'll throw in one more on a text that people will relate to for sure. ''Went to a holiday party this weekend. A tipsy friend of mine gave a stranger his unsolicited life story. The stranger politely listened and then made an excuse to leave.'' We got to leave. Talk to you tomorrow. Brian Lehrer on WNYC. Stay tuned for Alison.

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