Why is Pakistan the new deal broker in the US-Iran war? And what do cryptocurrency and critical minerals deals have to do with their new-found role? And the ethics of media coverage of mass shootings, or attempted shootings, as with President Trump over the weekend. Guests: Dr Farzana Shaikh, Associate Fellow with the Asia-Pacific Programme at Chatham House, author of MAKING SENSE OF PAKISTAN (2018) Dr Glynn Greensmith, senior lecturer in journalism at Curtin University (WA); former ABC broadcas...
Apr 28, 2026•54 min
Indigenous soldiers who fought in WW felt betrayed when they returned, then formed the first radical Aboriginal political organisation. And, before the Pacific War, Australia had a strong business relationship with Japan. But were there spies in the mix? Guests: John Maynard, historian, author, Emeritus Professor at Newcastle University. Contributor to the book ‘Challenging Anzac: stories that don’t fit the legend’ (NewSouth) Nick Hordern, author, former diplomat, former policy advisor, former j...
Apr 27, 2026•54 min
How the British elite see themselves is not what the data reveals. An historian of medicine, who's mother had polio, is revisiting the experiences of polio for thousands of people, via archival records. And a brief tribute to the Australian writer David Malouf. Guests: Professor Sam Friedman, a sociologist of class and inequality at the London School of Economics Professor Catharine Coleborne, historian of health and medicine at the University of Newcastle, NSW...
Apr 23, 2026•54 min
New Zealand PM Christopher Luxon survives a no confidence vote, but how long can he hang on to the leadership? Plus why the Musician's Union of Australia put an end to the career of popular 1930's Jewish jazz band, The Weintraubs' Syncopators. Guests: Henry Cooke, Deputy political editor, The Post, based in Wellington Albrecht Duemling, historian and author of From Berlin to Sydney: The Weintraubs Syncopators’ Jazz Legacy (1924–1940)...
Apr 22, 2026•55 min
Trump contemplates his next move on Iran as the ceasefire deadline looms, while at home his administration is dealing with yet more scandal, this time in the FBI. 40 years since the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, the Exclusion Zone has become a thriving wildlife refuge. Plus the story of Australians most daring convict escape on the whaling ship Catalpa, which sailed from America to pick up six Irish convicts in Fremantle. Guests: Bruce Shapiro, contributing editor with The Nation magazine and Dire...
Apr 21, 2026•55 min
Our regular Canberra correspondent on the latest polling, and Independent David Pocock's new focus on taxing gas. Historian Peter Stanley argues for a new way to do war commemoration, and the spectacle of a flooded Lake Eyre/Kathi-Thanda is alluring, but fuel anxiety may limit the number of visitors. Guests Anna Henderson, SBS chief political correspondent Peter Stanley, former Australian War Memorial historian Trevor Wright, owner of the William Creek pub and Wrightsair, which does Lake Eyre jo...
Apr 20, 2026•54 min
The Melbourne legal scholar Marika Sosnowski spent many years researching violence and the law in Syria. Now she reckons with her own family's proximity to state violence in 1950s Palestine. Plus, it's easy to be cynical about the impunity of corporations that commit great financial crimes. But political scientist Pepper Culpepper thinks that, in the long run, corporate scandals can help restore democracy. Guests: Marika Sosnowski, Melbourne University. Author of ‘ 58 facets – on law, violence a...
Apr 16, 2026•55 min
Ian Dunt examines what Viktor Orban's loss in Hungary means for the EU and looks at questions around Donald Trump's mental capacity. There once was a plan that brought disparate countries together, to work for their common good, in Asia and the Pacific. And an author and scholar has been getting some very flattering emails from 'people' keen to promote his books. Guests: Ian Dunt, iNews columnist and regular LNL commentator Professor David Lowe, Deakin University, author of 'The Colombo Plan: de...
Apr 15, 2026•55 min
Cuba's leader is defiant in the face of the country's worst humanitarian crisis in decades, while President Trump hints at inflicting more pain. And the Strait of Hormuz is the latest of many maritime chokepoints which, in the past, have destroyed or saved civilisations. Guests: Jon Lee Anderson, staff writer with The New Yorker Damien Valdez, historian from the University of Cambridge
Apr 14, 2026•54 min
Professor Mark Kenny reflects on Australia's record fuel price hike and the Australian government's unfolding response. We meet the Log Cabin Republicans, a prominent organisation of gay conservatives that continues to support US President Donald Trump. Plus, amid reports of damage to cultural heritage sites in Iran, Australian archaeologist John Tidmarsh reflects on the beauty of damaged and destroyed sites across the Middle East region. Professor Mark Kenny reflects on Australia's record fuel ...
Apr 13, 2026•55 min
Alec Derwent Hope (1907–2000) was one of Australia's most acclaimed poets. His first collection was not published until he was 48 years old, but its release cemented his reputation as the pre-eminent Australian poet of his time. The literary scholar Susan Lever knew Hope, and has written the first biography of his life - from rural Tasmania, to the halls of Oxford, and the heights of Australia's literary scene. Guest: Susan Lever, author of A.D. Hope - A life, published by LaTrobe Susan's recomm...
Apr 09, 2026•55 min
Pulitzer prize-winning art critic Sebastian Smee, recently laid off by Jeff Bezos's Washington Post, looks at the state of the arts in Trump's America., Plus, the story of Daniel Defoe's secret life as a spy, against Scottish independence, in the early 1700s, before he became the author of the famous 'Robinson Crusoe'. Guests: Sebastian Smee, writer and art critic, formerly with The Washington Post Marc Mierowsky, author of 'A spy amongst us: Daniel Defoe's Secret Service and the plot to end Sco...
Apr 08, 2026•55 min
Bruce Shaprio on the US President's latest ultimatum for Iran. Prof.Assa Doron reveals how India has become the global epicentre for the world's antibiotic resistance problem. And anthropologist Luke Taylor celebrates the artistic legacy of the late Peter Marralwanga, the master bark painter of West Arnhem Land. Bruce Shapiro, Executive Director at the Global Centre for Journalism and Trauma, Contributing Editor with The Nation Professor Assa Doron, anthropologist at Australian National Universi...
Apr 07, 2026•54 min
The writing of Australian history has tended to focus on the south-eastern corner of the continent, but the story of colonisation north of the Tropic of Capricorn paints a vastly different picture of this country, its people, politics and ambitions. Guest: Henry Reynolds, historian and author of Looking from the North: Australian History from the Top Down
Apr 06, 2026•55 min
In his new memoir, Former Secretary of Labor under Bill Clinton, Robert Reich, traces how the Democrats lost the working class and paved the way for Donald Trump. Plus ten years on since the release of the Panama Papers, has anything changed in the global financial system?
Apr 02, 2026•55 min
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer announces his plan to address fuel prices. And 'The Shah's party, and the Iranian revolution that followed'. Bob Templer on how Iran's recent history explains the deep divisions and violence that occurred in February, leading to the current war. Guests: Ian Dunt: iNews columnist and regular LNL commentator Robert Templar, author of 'The Shah's last party, and the Iranian Revolution that followed' (Hurst)
Apr 01, 2026•54 min
The only Australian state with a budget surplus will get an extra $6.6 billion from Australian taxpayers in the coming financial year, under its special GST deal. Israel's parliament has passed a law that makes the death penalty the default punishment for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank who have been found guilty of killing Israelis. Australia's wilderness has just been mapped for the first time in 40 years, and it's estimated to have shrunk by more than 20 percent. Guests: Shane Wright –...
Mar 31, 2026•54 min
The Australian government will halve the fuel excise for three months, as the energy crisis triggered by the Iran war looks set to drag on. UK journalist, commentator and self-identified communist Ash Sarkar offers her critique of the modern liberal-Left, and its tendency to fall into culture war traps that do not serve people's material needs. Plus, why has the Canadian province of British Columbia decided to ditch seasonal clock changes, and embrace daylight savings time year round? Guests: An...
Mar 30, 2026•55 min
Millions have been made homeless by wars in the Middle East, but with access severely limited, humanitarian agencies are struggling to get aid into the region. Plus, the National Library of Australia's departing General-Director Marie-Louise Ayres reflects on a decades-long career at this cherished public institution, where she's overseen the digitisation of millions of precious Australian archives. Guests: Susanne Legena, CEO of Plan International Australia Mat Tinkler, CEO Save the Children Au...
Mar 26, 2026•55 min
Bruce Shapiro on whether Trump now looking for a way-out of the war in Iran, and why the Pentagon has lost its defence of media shut-out rules. Plus the New York Times has investigated Donald Trump’s private business footprint in the Gulf, and found luxury real estate, golf courses, and high-profile partnerships. And why we should celebrate failure. Guests: Bruce Shapiro, contributing editor with The Nation magazine and Director of the Global Center for Journalism and Trauma. Eric Lipton, Invest...
Mar 24, 2026•54 min
The South Australian election result has got the major parties elsewhere scrambling to understand what the One Nation phenomenon means for them. In tribute to the late Rhoda Roberts, we replay an interview she did with David Marr on the 'Welcome to country' backlash. Plus the downsides of pretty flowers, and what the industry is doing to clean up its act.
Mar 23, 2026•54 min
Journalist and author William J. Kole examines how white evangelicals in the United States have fused the gospel and guns - and are standing in the way of reasonable restrictions on firearms. Plus, fresh scrutiny on the makers of the herbicide Roundup - and the widely-cited research used as evidence of its safety. Guests: William J. Kole, journalist and author of In Guns We Trust -The Unholy Trinity of White Evangelicals, Politics, and Firearms, published by Broadleaf books Naomi Oreskes, Henry ...
Mar 19, 2026•55 min
Pauline Hanson rose from Ipswich City Council in 1994, to win the federal seat of Oxley in 1996, as a disendorsed Liberal turned independent. Her maiden speech ignited national controversy, and after just two years in Canberra, and a string of failed comebacks, she’s now back at the centre of Australian politics — with One Nation now polling at 24% of the primary vote (Resolve Strategic). Some of Australia's finest political minds unpack Hanson's remarkable resurgence. Guests: Niki Savva, journa...
Mar 18, 2026•55 min
Ian Dunt on why UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has refused to be drawn into the "wider war" in the Middle East. Geoffrey Watson reflects on the findings of the National Anti-Corruption Commission into Robodebt - and finds them wanting. And why a law professor thinks the power of presidential pardons in the USA should be curtailed. Guests: Ian Dunt: iNews columnist and regular LNL commentator Geoffrey Watson SC, Director of the Centre for Public Integrity, Senior Counsel at New Chambers Saikrishn...
Mar 17, 2026•55 min
Our regular Canberra correspondent Anna Henderson on the new-look Nationals. Saudi Arabia is playing a quiet hand so far in the war. And a longtime radical feminist reflects on the need to keep protesting. Guests: Anna Henderson, chief political correspondent, SBS Simon Mabon, Professor of International Politics at Lancaster University, specialising in Saudi-Iranian relations Margaret 'Mag' Merrilees, author of 'Scared Angry Laughing - how to fix the world'...
Mar 16, 2026•54 min
The so-called 'mad monk' Rasputin bewitched Tsar Nicholas II and his wife, Alexandra. But their strange and scandalous relationship conceals a riddle, which casts an intriguing light on the controversial 'great man' theory of history. And, in a push to deepen engagement with Grok, the chatbot on the X platform, Elon Musk allowed AI to generate porn from public images of people, including children.
Mar 12, 2026•55 min
Australian TV now has to compete with social media, on-demand streaming, and, soon, AI. Our government supports the industry, but the amount of Australian TV being made has continued to drop. What can be done to keep Australian stories on screen? Plus: why do the Irish have such pervasive belief in conspiracy theories?
Mar 11, 2026•55 min
Donald Trump's war in Iran is certainly taking the world's attention away from the scandals of his administration, including the firing of former Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, and the latest allegations about Trump in the Epstein files. Speaking of the US military, what role does Christian nationalism play in the most lethal military in the world? Any role is too much for Mikey Weinstein, the founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation. Plus: recovering a lost language fo...
Mar 10, 2026•55 min
Our Canberra correspondent on Australia's delicate positioning with the Middle East War. Why the French President is passionately arguing for no further attacks on Lebanon. And the mafia, even after all these years, still holds sway in Japan, the US, and Italy.
Mar 09, 2026•54 min
Yanis Varoufakis, the firebrand economist and former Greek Minister of Finance, joins David for a talk about the Iran war, Trump's tariffs and the new drug charges against him. Plus how our oldest library has been reflecting us for 200 years. The Mitchell Librarian, Richard Neville, talks about the living collection under his care.
Mar 05, 2026•54 min
