Israel recently bombed the gates of Iran’s notorious Evin prison, a place that Dr Kylie Moore Gilbert came to know all too well. The political scientist and author was imprisoned in Iran for 804 days and eventually released in a prisoner swap in November 2020. In this chat with Matt Bevan, Kylie talks about solitary confinement, Iranian cheetahs, how her first cellmate was a spy, and why the regime is cracking down on dissidents right now. Follow If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app . Check...
Jun 30, 2025•34 min
For the last century, since the rise of mechanised and then nuclear warfare, defence budgets are designed to stop big existential attacks. Ships, planes, submarines. But cheap, retail store level technology - drones - have changed the game in the conflicts involving Ukraine and Israel. There’s no real way to immunise against a drone swarm that’s been smuggled into your country and hidden in a truck. These covert attacks are relatively cheap to deploy and incredibly effective. Like the nuclear bo...
Jun 25, 2025•23 min
The United States has dropped some very large bombs on Iran, inserting itself into what we are currently calling the Israel-Iran War, despite Donald Trump saying just days earlier that he was going to spend two weeks thinking about it. The bombs they dropped managed to destroy or at least severely damage a nuclear facility buried 90 metres underground. Which kind of makes Matt’s studio basement bunker superfluous. So what’s next? Matt is joined by Emma Shortis, Director of the Australia Institut...
Jun 23, 2025•23 min
There is violence on the streets of America as anti-ICE protesters push back hard against the Trump Administration’s immigration policies. In the early months of the Trump presidency it seemed like everything was going his way but now that’s changing and fast as his executive orders are challenged in the courts. When it comes to stopping mass deportations Americans are learning that protests can actually work. These protesters aren’t backing down… but neither is Trump so what does that mean for ...
Jun 18, 2025•24 min
It’s been a manic week in global politics. Trump and Musk have officially broken up, Americans have taken to the streets to protest ICE deportations… oh and we’re seemingly on the brink of a nuclear war in the Middle East! To take stock of these rapidly deteriorating news stories, Matt Bevan talks to Dr Emma Shortis, Director of the Australia Institute’s International Security Affairs Program, author and host of the podcast After America. If you have a burning question for Emma or Matt send it t...
Jun 16, 2025•27 min
In news that will surprise no one, the big beautiful bromance between Donald Trump and Elon Musk has finally come to an end. Over the last week, there's been a dramatic shift in Trump's presidency - he's publicly fighting with his former First buddy, judges are overruling his executive orders and there are protests in the streets of LA. As we pass 100 days of the Trump administration, everything is changing fast and understanding the gravity of this moment is vital. So for the next two episodes,...
Jun 11, 2025•22 min
While investigating the history of fluoride, Matt Bevan stumbled upon a regional newspaper insert from the 1940s called Modern Weekly News Magazine. And let’s just say that the content was ... rather unique. In this bonus episode of If You’re Listening Matt swaps articles with supervising producer Kara Jensen-Mackinnon from the quirky pages of Modern Weekly News Magazine. Follow If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app . Check out our series on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYWsonBlN...
Jun 09, 2025•20 min
Putting fluoride in drinking water has often been called one of the most successful public health measures in human history. But since the very beginning of fluoridation programs in the 1940s, it’s been plagued by misinformation and furious opposition. Now with Robert F Kennedy Jr at the helm of the US Department of Health, the Trump Administration is leading the charge to get states to ban the use of fluoride in water - and he’s succeeded in Utah and Florida. So when did this anti-fluoride scep...
Jun 04, 2025•21 min
A little trivia question for you... is Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi married? He’s gotta be, right? World leaders do tend to be married, and someone like Modi probably is. But, picture him at a big rally does he have a spouse there with him? You can't can you? Well, it turns out Narendra Modu is married and his carefully crafted image of a bachelor was up-ended when it emerged that he had a wife who had been kept secret for decades. In this bonus episode of If You’re Listening Matt chats t...
Jun 02, 2025•24 min
India and Pakistan have agreed to a temporary ceasefire, but tensions between the two nuclear-armed nations are still running high. There are factions in both governments that think a war might be a good thing for them politically. The old saying goes that most nations have an army, whereas Pakistan is a place where the army has a nation. So will nationalistic rhetoric from Pakistan’s military lead an inevitable escalation into all-out war? This is the second episode in a two-part series where w...
May 28, 2025•25 min
After a brief moment where two nuclear powers looked to be on the verge of war, India and Pakistan have agreed to a temporary ceasefire. But Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi says it’s not an end to hostilities, just a pause. The scary thing is - there are factions in both governments that think a war might be a good thing for them politically. So why is that and will it inevitably lead to a deadly conflict? Over the next two episodes, we’re going to take a look at both sides: India and then P...
May 21, 2025•22 min
When two planes crashed into the World Trade Center towers on September 11 2001 Howard Lutnick lost 658 of his colleagues. It was a tragedy of unthinkable proportions which we covered in last week’s episode. But Howard Lutnick lost something else that day and Matt can’t stop thinking about it. In this bonus episode of If You’re Listening we take a look at the most famous sculptor since Michelangelo; Auguste Rodin, and his work, “The Gates of Hell” which was on the 101st floor of the North Tower ...
May 20, 2025•20 min
The man behind Trump’s trade war is Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and his backstory is extraordinary. He’s been a hero, he’s been a villain, he’s been a sympathetic figure and also one of the most hated men in America - and all of that is even before he attached himself to Donald Trump. Over the last few months, gambling with tariffs has caused economic chaos and sent global markets into a tailspin… but Howard Lutnick is clearly all in. So why is the Commerce Secretary so reckless when it co...
May 14, 2025•25 min
Just a few months ago Elon Musk was heralded as a political kingmaker when he had a hand in helping Donald Trump win the US election. Musk has since meddled in the politics of the UK, Germany, Spain and elsewhere but has struggled to convert his political prowess into victories for his chosen Conservative parties. I n fact, being in any way similar to Trump or Musk has been a dead weight around the ankle of political campaigns over the last few months. It was clear the DOGE dynamism had official...
May 07, 2025•24 min
To scroll through social media during an election campaign in 2025 is to experience some of the worst misinformation. But an online soup of bots spouting partisan talking points wasn’t inevitable, even in recent years. After the 2016 election of US President Donald Trump and UK vote for Brexit, it was clear that online platforms like Facebook and Twitter were used to target voters with misinformation and disrupt political discourse enough to sway elections. As a result, the social media giants r...
Apr 30, 2025•26 min
To scroll through social media during an election campaign in 2025 is to experience some of the worst misinformation. But an online soup of bots spouting partisan talking points wasn’t inevitable, even in recent years. After the 2016 election of US President Donald Trump and UK vote for Brexit, it was clear that online platforms like Facebook and Twitter were used to target voters with misinformation and disrupt political discourse enough to sway elections. As a result, the social media giants r...
Apr 30, 2025•26 min
When US President Donald Trump was inaugurated in January, the world’s three wealthiest people stood right behind him, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk. All own massive online platforms. These tech billionaires are now major political players in their own right, but for the last 15 years the platforms they control have shaped political debate, changed how people feel about their governments and gathered information on voters that tells politicians which buttons to push. The Australian g...
Apr 23, 2025•25 min
In the middle of the 1800s, the Confederate army built a stealth vessel that could travel undetected underwater to give them the military edge over the Union...so did it work and how has it impacted military innovation since? In this special episode of If You’re Listening, Matt Bevan sits down with Marc Fennell to talk about his new ABC RN show, “No One Saw It Coming”. Follow If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app .
Apr 16, 2025•32 min
You’re not losing your mind, the internet is different now. The 2025 Australian federal election will be the first in a decade where news isn’t readily available on social media, and there’s no effort to fact check or moderate what is there. The billionaires behind the major tech platforms aren’t just background characters in politics anymore; they’re centre stage, making decisions around misinformation, bankrolling candidates, generating content that aligns with their own ideology and broadcast...
Apr 14, 2025•2 min
Australia’s housing market is in the midst of a crisis that feels like it will never be solved and now housing is one of the major battlefields of the upcoming federal election. In this episode of If You’re Listening originally published last year we head to Japan, where 30 years ago, houses were the most expensive in the world. Today home ownership in Tokyo is comparatively affordable with plenty of housing stock up for grabs – so how did they achieve this massive turnaround? And is it somethin...
Apr 09, 2025•17 min
It has not been a good year so far for Elon Musk’s car company Tesla. Stocks are plummeting and sales are falling even faster as people around the world who are opposed to his involvement in the Trump Administration boycott the company. That’s been accompanied by arson and vandalism at Tesla dealerships around the world. But this isn’t the first time that a company has come under sustained attack for its connections to a Presidential administration. For three decades, one of America’s biggest be...
Apr 02, 2025•24 min
Donald Trump is talking about rare earth elements like they are magic rings with the power to unlock world domination. The US President is on the brink of signing a multi-billion dollar deal with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, that would give the US access to Ukraine's rare earth minerals in exchange for financial security and continued military support in the war with Russia. Rare earths are critical for manufacturing electronics, batteries, magnets, and military weapons. But are thes...
Mar 26, 2025•20 min
Donald Trump’s sudden shift on Ukraine has come as a massive shock to most countries in America’s orbit. European leaders who have long banked their national security on US military protection are beginning to lose confidence in their most powerful ally. But there is one American ally that has been planning for this potential eventuality for decades. France has long been sceptical of how much America can be trusted and now they may be the only safe refuge for countries looking for new security g...
Mar 19, 2025•24 min
Since he took office, Donald Trump has made a lot of decisions that fly in the face of traditional US foreign policy. He’s left Ukraine high and dry, he’s abandoning Europe, he’s slapped tariffs on America’s allies, and he’s floated the idea of seizing new territory in Greenland, Canada and the Panama Canal. And the big one: President Trump seems to have a great deal of time and respect for Russian President Vladimir Putin. So what’s the deal with Putin and Trump - is what we’re witnessing now j...
Mar 12, 2025•24 min
In the United States, there are laws constraining the President’s power. The Attorney General and everyone who works at the Department of Justice aren’t meant to just do whatever the President tells them; they’re in charge of enforcing the law, whatever it is. So what will they do when enforcing the law doesn’t align with Donald Trump’s policies? In Trump’s first term, the Attorneys General and Justice Department staff prioritised the law over Trump’s desires, because that’s how democracies work...
Mar 05, 2025•19 min
Throughout Donald Trump’s campaign he declared that the Justice Department and the FBI were weaponised against him. Now that he’s US President, he’s making huge changes to both, putting loyal supporters in charge. Over two episodes, If You’re Listening looks at the massive transformation underway in the US federal criminal justice system, starting with the appointment of Kash Patel as Director of the FBI. For almost 50 years, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover used the bureau as a political weapon, an...
Feb 26, 2025•21 min
Billionaire Elon Musk is at the helm of US President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency, established to slash massive amounts of government spending as fast as possible. In just weeks they’ve dismantled agencies, cancelled programs and attempted to lay off tens of thousands of government workers. Everyone agrees that the US government is a mess, that it’s spending more than it earns and something should be done. And yet, there are mass protests across America against what Musk is...
Feb 19, 2025•19 min
When US President Donald Trump announced his plan for America to take over the Gaza Strip, everyone was stunned. That includes the man standing next to him, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. President Trump says everyone he’s spoken to loves the idea. But who has he spoken to? In his first term as president, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner led efforts to broker peace in the region, and his approach makes this latest announcement make a lot more sense. This week on If You’re Listening, ...
Feb 12, 2025•22 min
Donald Trump started his presidency by picking a fight with Colombia. The US threatened its Central American neighbour with massive tariffs if it didn't accept planes full of handcuffed deportees. Colombia backed down — and that has serious implications for the rest of the region. President Trump is gearing up for negotiations over deportations and his new favourite issue, ownership of the Panama Canal. This week on If You're Listening, can one of the most divided, violent and vulnerable parts o...
Feb 05, 2025•21 min
Donald Trump has liked the idea of tariffs for a long time, since before his first term as president. Now that he’s back in office he’s using them to do all sorts of things — threaten other countries, crack down on drug importation and bring manufacturing jobs back to the United States. He’s starting with a 25 per cent tax on imports from Canada and Mexico, a move that would have huge implications for America’s economy and its relationship with its closest neighbours. President Trump is promisin...
Jan 29, 2025•19 min
