The Usual Place

Will COE prices for cars fall if there is just one COE category for cars, with a tiered surcharge or rebate depending on the vehicle’s open market value? These are some changes that the Land Transport Authority (LTA) proposed on Oct 8, as part of a review of the COE system. This comes as the gap between Category A and B premiums has narrowed, making the distinction between mass-market and higher-end cars less clear. In this episode of The Usual Place, Natasha speaks to ST’s senior transport correspondent Lee Nian Tjoe and NUS associate professor Timothy Wong, who researches transportation and urban economics. How will the proposed changes affect the market? Will car dealers game the system? And if you’re in the market for a new car, should you buy now or wait until proposed changes kick in? Watch or listen to the podcast to find out. Highlights (click/tap above): 1:20 What is LTA is proposing and why? 5:21 Will COE prices come down? 7:13 How would a rebate and surcharge system work? 12:07 Can dealers game the system to get into lower OMV tiers? 17:03 More ‘feebate’ bands could ensure greater fairness 25:24 Will LTA ever tackle high COE prices? 29:24 Should private hire cars get a surcharge? 35:31 Is owning a car now a luxury? If you would like to give feedback on LTA’s proposal, go to: https://go.gov.sg/coe-pcd-feedback Host: Natasha Ann Zachariah ([email protected]) Read Natasha’s articles: https://str.sg/iSXm Follow Natasha on her IG account and DM her your thoughts on this topic: https://str.sg/8KNT Follow Natasha on LinkedIn: https://str.sg/v6DN Follow The Usual Place podcast on IG:   / theusualplacepodcast  Follow Natasha on LinkedIn: https://str.sg/v6DN Filmed by: Studio+65 Edited by: Eden Soh & Yang Jiesan Cruz Executive producer: Danson Cheong Producers: Natasha Ann Zachariah, Elizabeth Law & Zachary Lim Follow The Usual Place Podcast and get notified for new episode drops every Thursday: Channel: https://str.sg/5nfm Apple Podcasts: https://str.sg/9ijX Spotify: https://str.sg/cd2P YouTube: https://str.sg/theusualplacepodcast Feedback to: [email protected] SPH Awedio app: https://www.awedio.sg --- Follow more ST podcast channels: All-in-one ST Podcasts channel: https://str.sg/wvz7 Get more updates: http://str.sg/stpodcasts --- Get The Straits Times app, which has a dedicated podcast player section: The App Store: https://str.sg/icyB Google Play: https://str.sg/icyX -- #tup #tuptrSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Parents have long complained that the education system in Singapore is too stressful for children. To address their concerns, the Ministry of Education has made policy changes over the years, including scrapping PSLE T-scores and removing weighted assessments and examinations at certain levels. But have these measures worked? A recent survey by the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) showed that parents are more stressed than 10 years ago, and they are spending more on tuition and enrichment classes. The Straits Times also reported that some property agents now explicitly market themselves as Primary 1 strategists or consultants, and advise their clients to plan ahead so their children can get into the school of their choice. If the system has been easing up, what’s driving parents to continue taking part in the education “arms race”? And are the tuition and property industries capitalising on their anxiety? In this episode, Natasha chats with: • Jacqueline Ho, assistant professor of sociology at the Singapore Management University, who researches the Singaporean education system, and • Prab Nathan, a property agent and former school teacher, and a father of two. His eldest daughter will be in Primary One next year. Highlights (click/tap above): 3:46 Are property agents feeding parents’ anxiety? 9:18 Is it smart to move for a school? 11:45 School status should not be a priority: Prab 25:42 Why parents get FOMO over extra tuition 28:30 Are parents who send their kids for tuition really kiasu? 34:00 Is being a “relaxed parent” a luxury? 43:39 What’s wrong with having a shadow education system? 49:50 Parents strategise to cope with inequality Follow The Usual Place Podcast and get notified for new episode drops every Thursday: Channel: https://str.sg/5nfm Apple Podcasts: https://str.sg/9ijX Spotify: https://str.sg/cd2P YouTube: https://str.sg/theusualplacepodcast Feedback to: [email protected] SPH Awedio app: https://www.awedio.sg --- Follow more ST podcast channels: All-in-one ST Podcasts channel: https://str.sg/wvz7 Get more updates: http://str.sg/stpodcasts --- Get The Straits Times app, which has a dedicated podcast player section: The App Store: https://str.sg/icyB Google Play: https://str.sg/icyX -- #tup #tuptrSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Will AI eventually be able to kill us, or are AI doomsayers being alarmist? Recently, employees at AI frontier companies like Anthropic and OpenAI have voiced serious concerns - and made doomsday predictions - about the technology getting out of control. What made people pay attention: Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon publicly quit the AI giant in September, writing on X that “the people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade”. His warning comes after the high-profile OpenAI-Hugging Face incident: OpenAI models broke out of an isolated testing sandbox and hacked into Hugging Face, an AI model repository. In this episode, Natasha speaks with Clement Neo, a research advisor at SASH, a non-profit organisation that looks at policy-relevant governance work. He also founded Neo Research, an independent AI safety evaluation lab, and was previously a research engineer with the Singapore AI Safety Institute under NTU Digital Trust Centre, which looks at AI models and figures out how to reduce the risks they pose. We talk about why AI models are being trained to be relentlessly “persistent”, if we should stop assigning human-like qualities to a software programme, and what’s the worst that could happen? Highlights (click/tap above): 1:36 How Clement got into AI safety research 6:34 AI feels helpful, so how is it dangerous? 10:14 How could AI kill us? 11:48 Why it’s difficult to rein in the AI agents 16:23 Why not limit the models’ capabilities to avoid risk? 22:12 Why the OpenAI-Hugging Face incident rattled the industry 25:36 What does ‘aligning’ the AI models mean? 29:40 Does projecting human intent onto AI make the issue worse? 33:57 Are we close to recursive self-improvement? 39:10 What would it take for an industry-wide AI slowdown? 45:28 Are AI companies being self-serving about the AI risks? Host: Natasha Ann Zachariah ([email protected]) Read Natasha’s articles: https://str.sg/iSXm Follow The Usual Place podcast on IG: https://str.sg/8KNT Follow Natasha on LinkedIn: https://str.sg/v6DN Filmed by: Studio+65 Edited by: Eden Soh & Amirul Karim Executive producer: Danson Cheong Producers: Natasha Ann Zachariah, Elizabeth Law & Zachary Lim Follow The Usual Place Podcast and get notified for new episode drops every Thursday: Channel: https://str.sg/5nfm Apple Podcasts: https://str.sg/9ijX Spotify: https://str.sg/cd2P YouTube: https://str.sg/theusualplacepodcast Feedback to: [email protected] --- Follow more ST podcast channels: All-in-one ST Podcasts channel: https://str.sg/wvz7 Get more updates: http://str.sg/stpodcasts --- Get The Straits Times app, which has a dedicated podcast player section: The App Store: https://str.sg/icyB Google Play: https://str.sg/icyX -- #tup #tuptrfSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If you’re a customer with a pre-paid package with a business and it closes, will you ever get your money back? True Fitness and True Yoga customers and employees were left in the lurch last week after the businesses shuttered. Many have unused memberships, packages and services, and members have reported losses of more than $609,000. And it’s not just gyms. Prepayment packages are common at nail salons, spas, interior design and renovation firms, and bridal studios. When these businesses close, what happens to consumers’ money, and are there ways consumers can be better protected? In this episode of The Usual Place, Natasha chats with: • Jeremy Ko, a fitness entrepreneur who has opened 25 fitness gyms and three climbing gyms, and had to close three of them, and • Debby Lim, a senior partner in Dentons Rodyk’s Litigation and Dispute Resolution Group. She was also affected by the recent closure of True Fitness, having been a member since June 2025. Highlights (click/tap above): 2:08 What’s happening with the fitness industry? 6:44 Red flags that customers could possibly look out for 10:17 Is this the end of the “mega-gym” concept? 14:11 Why are True Fitness and True Yoga under “provisional liquidation”? 18:25 Why Jeremy’s gyms don’t offer prepayment packages 21:15 The hard-selling vs just saying no 26:08 Law reform needed to “save us from ourselves”? 30:10 Why aren’t more businesses signing up for CaseTrust accreditation? 34:39 Is consumer protection anti-business? Host: Natasha Ann Zachariah ([email protected]) Read Natasha’s articles: https://str.sg/iSXm Follow The Usual Place podcast on IG: https://str.sg/8KNT Follow Natasha on LinkedIn: https://str.sg/v6DN Filmed by: Studio+65 Edited by: Eden Soh & Hadyu Rahim Executive producer: Danson Cheong Producers: Natasha Ann Zachariah, Elizabeth Law & Zachary Lim Follow The Usual Place Podcast and get notified for new episode drops every Thursday: Channel: https://str.sg/5nfm Apple Podcasts: https://str.sg/9ijX Spotify: https://str.sg/cd2P YouTube: https://str.sg/theusualplacepodcast Feedback to: [email protected] --- Follow more ST podcast channels: All-in-one ST Podcasts channel: https://str.sg/wvz7 Get more updates: http://str.sg/stpodcasts --- Get The Straits Times app, which has a dedicated podcast player section: The App Store: https://str.sg/icyB Google Play: https://str.sg/icyX -- #tup #tuptrfSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Will the increase in ministerial salaries cost the People’s Action Party (PAP) votes at the next General Election? On Sept 8, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong announced that political office-holders will get a one-off pay increase of up to 9 per cent. This will take effect from Oct 15 - an entry-level grade MR4 minister getting the full adjustment will see his annual pay rise from $1.1 million to $1.2 million. The changes to salaries come after the Government accepted the recommendations of a committee convened to review political salaries. One of its recommendations is that the MR4 benchmark will also be updated from $1.1 million to $1.8 million. Existing ministers’ salaries will continue to be adjusted based on performance, and PM Wong expects most MR4 ministers to earn about $1.35 million – the lower end of the new salary range – by the end of this term of government. In this episode of The Usual Place, Natasha speaks with Straits Times’ senior columnist Bhavan Jaipragas, and Rebecca Grace Tan, a senior lecturer in Political Science at the National University of Singapore. We discuss whether there is the “right” formula to calculating ministers’ salaries, and whether alternative performance reviews of ministers’ and MPs work is now necessary to account to the public for the pay raises. Highlights (click/tap above): 1:24 How did PM Wong fare in explaining the salary increases? 5:38 Was the debate “subdued” as compared to 2012? 8:44 Have S’poreans come to accept the million-dollar salaries? 13:45 Why didn’t the Workers’ Party oppose more strongly? 18:00 Growing divide between political elites and the rest of us? 21:09 Is the top 1,000 earners benchmark still fair? 26:20 Money, motive and minimising opportunity costs 32:15 How can we assess ministers’ performance? 41:44 Has public office become unattractive? 47:22 Is S’pore just another corporation? Host: Natasha Ann Zachariah ([email protected]) Read Natasha’s articles: https://str.sg/iSXm Follow The Usual Place podcast on IG: https://str.sg/8KNT Follow Natasha on LinkedIn: https://str.sg/v6DN Filmed by: Studio+65 Edited by: Eden Soh, Hadyu Rahim & Teo Tong Kai Executive producer: Danson Cheong Producers: Natasha Ann Zachariah, Elizabeth Law & Zachary Lim Follow The Usual Place Podcast and get notified for new episode drops every Thursday: Channel: https://str.sg/5nfm Apple Podcasts: https://str.sg/9ijX Spotify: https://str.sg/cd2P YouTube: https://str.sg/theusualplacepodcast Feedback to: [email protected] --- Follow more ST podcast channels: All-in-one ST Podcasts channel: https://str.sg/wvz7 Get more updates: http://str.sg/stpodcasts --- Get The Straits Times app, which has a dedicated podcast player section: The App Store: https://str.sg/icyB Google Play: https://str.sg/icyX -- #tup #tuptrfSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.