Eighty years since Hiroshima a nuclear expert says deterrence policies are no longer enough to deal with the increasing prospect of nuclear escalation. Plus inside London's exclusive clubs - how much have they changed since they were the illegal gambling dens of the eighteenth century?
Aug 06, 2025•55 min
Ian Dunt looks at the backlash to UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer's intention to recognise Palestine. The bombs have stopped on the Thai-Cambodia border but how long can peace last? Plus why the global trade of beef and livestock remains a source of risk and anxiety forty years since the mad cow disease outbreak.
Aug 05, 2025•55 min
After nearly ten years, Late Night Live has changed its tune. Annabel Crabb reflects on the lessons for Australian politicians after the Sydney Harbour bridge walk for Gaza plus Anne Applebaum on Ukraine's corruption issues and the next round of ceasefire talks with Russia.
Aug 04, 2025•55 min
Israel is using AI to track and target Hamas operatives - and those around them. Ukraine is efficiently deploying cheap drones against the military might of Russia. Both conflicts show us how quickly warfare is changing, according to acclaimed New Yorker writer Dexter Filkins. And just when you thought you knew the story of the Titanic, we hear about an overlooked group of passengers. There were eight Chinese men aboard, but their presence has been largely forgotten.
Jul 31, 2025•54 min
The Director of Pompeii Archaeological Park Gabriel Zuchtriegel shares some of the latest discoveries from the buried Roman city, as new areas are excavated for the first time. Plus, the Australian adventures of Hollywood writer Zane Grey, who hunted sharks and other game fish in 1930s Australia.
Jul 30, 2025•54 min
Bruce Shapiro on how the ghost of Jeffrey Epstein is haunting US President Donald Trump. Editor-in-chief of the Jerusalem Post, Zvika Klein, on the disappearance of the Left in Israeli politics. Plus, the fight to preserve Iraq's magnificent marshlands, drying out due to climate change.
Jul 29, 2025•54 min
Annabel Crabb looks at why the Coalition is refusing to condemn the starvation of people in Gaza by Israel and why they are walking away from net zero. And acclaimed Irish journalist Fintan O'Toole examines Donald Trump's presidency, seven months in.
Jul 28, 2025•55 min
Former Liberal leader John Hewson says after two years the National Anti-Corruption Commission has failed in its mission to properly investigate allegations of systemic corruption. Plus how US President Theodore Roosevelt's sons introduced the panda to the West.
Jul 24, 2025•55 min
Health officials in Gaza say starvation is now killing Palestinians at a faster rate than at any point in the 21-month war. China might be a coal behemoth, but our northern neighbours are also dominating the world in renewable energy. Plus the rise and fall of Russian mercenary Yevgeny Prigozhin. Two years since he was killed in a plane crash, how has the Wagner group reorganised?
Jul 23, 2025•57 min
Regular UK commentator Ian Dunt looks at the Palestine Action group's High Court bid against its proscription as a terrorist organisation. The US is planning to send Afghan expats home, many of whom assisted the US against the Taliban. And Australia will stop processing cheques by 2030. Should we mourn their demise?
Jul 22, 2025•55 min
As parliament returns for the first time since the federal election, Annabel Crabb looks at how Labor will use its large majority. Saudi Arabia is executing drug offenders at an alarming rate and Japan is running out of rice.
Jul 21, 2025•55 min
Professor Chris Wallace argues the decline in both enrolments in, and the offering of history and other humanities subjects at Australian universities has resulted in a loss of capacity for historical thinking. Plus, how women have handled unwanted and dangerous pregnancies throughout history.
Jul 17, 2025•54 min
The Torres Strait Islanders' case against the federal government over responsibility for action on climate change may have been lost, but another significant case is coming up in the International Court of Justice which could set a new legal framework for future cases. Plus more than 25 years ago another case of a missing tourist in outback WA dominated the headlines, but in this case the missing man did not want to be found.
Jul 16, 2025•55 min
The Trump Administration now has the legal green light to dismantle the Education Department; Australia played a leading role in the fight against HIV/AIDS. And what is being hailed as the world's richest shipwreck, the San Jose, lies off the coast of Colombia.
Jul 15, 2025•55 min
ABC's chief online political writer, Annabel Crabb, on what Anthony Albanese is hoping to achieve during his visit to China, and unpacking Israel's plan to forcibly re-locate Palestinians in Gaza into large-scale camps. Plus the evolutionary genius of feathers
Jul 14, 2025•55 min
Harvard Professor Naomi Oreskes on the impact of President Trump's slashing of science funding. And two historians, one Indigenous (Jackie Huggins) and one not (Ann McGrath), on what can be learnt from Indigenous perspectives on our history.
Jul 10, 2025•54 min
Author and journalist Oliver Moody examines the historic European flashpoint of the Baltics - a group of nine borderland nations that continue to shape the future of the continent. Plus, theoretical cosmologist Katie Mack contemplates the end of the universe - and what it means for life now.
Jul 09, 2025•55 min
UK Labour is facing an internal revolt after attempts to cut the welfare budget by more than £5 billion. Bio-hacking is touted as the new secret to longevity, but is it just snake oil? Plus the Taungurung people's efforts to find out why the deberra, or bogong moth, is disappearing.
Jul 08, 2025•54 min
ABC's Bridget Brennan surveys the process that lead to Victoria's Yoorrook Justice Commission's final truth-telling report, which found that the Indigenous people of Victoria were subject to a genocide. Plus, US sociologist Musa al-Gharbi contends that the so-called 'woke elites' of the West, are more concerned about self-promotion than actual social change.
Jul 07, 2025•54 min
The man who killed 51 people at two Christchurch mosques in 2019, was motivated by far-right extremism and white nationalist ideology. A new podcast traces the killer's digital footprint prior to the massacre. And the promise of AI (artificial intelligence). A linguistics professor warns that AI technologies, particularly large language models like ChatGPT, are often misrepresented as intelligent entities.
Jul 03, 2025•54 min
The world is experiencing a profound break from the orthodoxy of globalisation. President Donald Trump and his MAGA movement didn’t invent isolationism - the concept goes back to ancient Greece. So what's the appeal of self-sufficiency, from a nation-state level down to the individual? Plus, a story of changing polices and attitudes to children in China - a journalist tracks down a stolen child, and reunites twins who grew up separately in China and Texas.
Jul 02, 2025•54 min
As the Dalai Lama turns 90, a struggle looms over his succession, with China insisting they will choose the next in line. Bruce Shapiro examines divisions amongst Republicans as Trump's 'big beautiful bill' faces a marathon debate in the Senate. And a sweeping 150 year history of test cricket - a story of race, class, money and empire.
Jul 01, 2025•54 min
A look at Anthony Albanese's political agenda for his second term with Guardian Australia Political correspondent, Tom McIlroy and for the first time in history, the MI6 chief — codename C — will be a woman. Plus the life of the lesser known Flinders brother, Samuel, who is seems was overlooked because of a family feud.
Jun 30, 2025•54 min
Space lawyer Steven Freeland is just back from UN meetings in Vienna, where his draft principles for accessing space resources were discussed. As chair of a working group, his job is to get all 107 member countries to agree on rules for who can do what. And the truths about Jimmy Governor, and his brother Joe, who inspired the book and film 'The chant of Jimmy Blacksmith'.
Jun 26, 2025•54 min
French President Emmanuel Macron's political fortunes may have turned against him at home, but in Europe, he now stands as one of the longest-serving leaders on the continent. What is the role of Macron's France in a tumultuous region and world? Plus, trailblazing Maori Professor Ngāhuia te Awekōtuku tells the wild, heartbreaking and beautiful stories of her life.
Jun 25, 2025•54 min
Our regular UK correspondent Ian Dunt looks at how the surprise US attack on Iran is playing out in Europe. Journalist Andrew Fowler has the backstory on the politics of getting Julian Assange freed. And the great mystery you may never have thought of - why are the noses missing from so many classical statues?
Jun 24, 2025•54 min
Late Night Live examines the political fallout from the US strikes on Iran, from Washington DC to Tel Aviv. Plus, as the US and Israel seek to destroy Iran's nuclear weapons capabilities, what sort of arsenal does Israel possess itself?
Jun 23, 2025•54 min
Why are people around the world having fewer babies, and what – if anything – should be done about it? And Macau has long been overshadowed by Hong Kong, but it was once a central meeting place of Western and Chinese cultures, a colonial outpost rich in stories and characters.
Jun 19, 2025•54 min
In 1948, a team of 17 Australians and Americans went to Arnhem Land to document traditional Aboriginal life, collecting thousands of natural specimens and cultural artefacts. It was an ethical and organisational shambles. And Kim Il-Sung, the grandfather of North Korea's current leader, Kim Jong Un, created the state of despair and oppression that continues today.
Jun 18, 2025•54 min
Bruce Shapiro on Trump's Iran plan, and those military parades - how popular were they really? The right-wing firebrand Geert Wilders has walked out of the conservative Dutch coalition. And string writing by the Incas has been misunderstood. These khipus were in fact used to record changes in climate.
Jun 17, 2025•54 min