Late Night Live - Full program podcast - podcast cover

Late Night Live - Full program podcast

ABC listenwww.abc.net.au
From razor-sharp analysis of current events to the hottest debates in politics, science, philosophy and culture, Late Night Live puts you firmly in the big picture.

Episodes

The most trusting nation on Earth, and the rise and fall of Trudeau

The Danes, alongside other Scandinavian nations, are the most trusting people on Earth - trusting of their neighbours, fellow citizens and public institutions. Why then, has trust in the Danish media collapsed? Plus, biographer Stephen Maher on the rise and fall of Justin Trudeau, the prince of Canadian politics.

Mar 13, 202554 min

The State of the World: the rise of Orbán, Trump and Netanyahu

Has the rise of leaders like Orbán, Trump and Netanyahu finally put paid to the liberal fantasy that fascism, ultra-nationalism and xenophobia were symptoms of a political malaise consigned to the 19th century? Authors Wesley Lowery and John Crace join David Marr in front of a live audience at Adelaide Writers' Week.

Mar 05, 202554 min

The State of the Self: Have we lost a sense of community in a post pandemic world?

Despite the promise that we were “all in it together”, the COVID-19 pandemic led to a flight from sociability. While that escape may have been a relief for some, has it intensified a culture of excessive individualism, narcissism, and disconnection from one another? Julia Baird, Geraldine Brooks and Rachel Kushner join David Marr in front of a live audience at Adelaide Writers Week

Mar 04, 202554 min

The State of the Self: Have we lost a sense of community in a post pandemic world?

Despite the promise that we were “all in it together”, the COVID-19 pandemic led to a flight from sociability. While that escape may have been a relief for some, has it intensified a culture of excessive individualism, narcissism, and disconnection from one another? Julia Baird, Geraldine Brooks and Rachel Kushner join David Marr in front of a live audience at Adelaide Writers' Week.

Mar 04, 202554 min

The State of the Nation: has the myth of the 'fair go' been broken?

Has the myth of the Australian fair-go finally been broken? Are social divides deepening and widening? And in a time of great uncertainty, how does Australia see itself in the world? Bob Carr, Rick Morton and Rebecca Huntley join David Marr in front of a live audience at Adelaide Writers' Week.

Mar 03, 202553 min

The story of Russia through Putin's eyes, and the painting that rocked Australian politics

Three years after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, renowned historian Orlando Figes, delves into President Vladimir Putin's rationale for war. And we go back to 1970s Australia and America, when the Whitlam Government paid a record sum for an abstract expressionist painting - Blue Poles. There was an outcry, and the government would pay a political price as well.

Feb 26, 202554 min

Calls to audit Welcomes to Country, and who pays for climate disasters when insurance folds?

Indigenous Australian theatre and arts director Rhoda Roberts says the backlash against Welcome to Country ceremonies is a return to assimilation. Plus in 2024, the planet was hit by 58 weather disasters with damages of more than a billion dollars and numerous insurance companies are either folding or limiting what they will insure. So who pays for the damage?

Feb 20, 202554 min

Bruce Shapiro's America, Vanuatu deals with multiple earthquakes and are book blurbs just an incestuous love-fest?

Members of the US Congress are wondering whether President Donal Trump will simply ignore the courts and and precipitate a constitutional crisis. How does Vanuatu recover from the double shock of earthquakes and cyclones? And major publishing house Simon and Schuster has banned book blurbs, claiming the practice is part of an "incestuous" system that rewards an author's connections.

Feb 18, 202554 min

The wild and talented poet Dorothy Porter and re-thinking privacy

The late Australian poet Dorothy Porter is best known for her verse novel The Monkey's Mask. But her work ranged across many ouvres. Her early life at home, with violence and bullying at the hands of her well-known barrister father, Chester Porter, is laid bare in a memoir written by Dorothy's sister Josie McSkimming

Feb 06, 202554 min

Vancouver's fentanyl epidemic plus the lost languages of Tibet

Vancouver decriminalised possession of small quantities of drugs for personal use in 2023. Then drug deaths sky-rocketed. So did the experiment fail, or were there other factors at play? Plus Tibet is one of the most linguistically diverse regions on the planet, but Mandarin is encroaching and the old languages are disappearing.

Jan 29, 202554 min

Australia by numbers, and a history of the beach shack

As the Australia Day weekend comes to a close, leading social researchers Rebecca Huntley and Anthea Hancocks break down what the latest data says about who we are as a nation in 2025. Plus, Anna Clark muses on the history of the Australian beach shack.

Jan 27, 202554 min
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