Late Night Live — Full program podcast
Episodes
LNL Summer: Stephen Fry on life, last words and the things he can't do
16 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Stephen Fry (UK) ets candid on storytelling, impostor syndrome, and the things he’s hilariously hopeless at. Wise, witty, and wonderfully self-depr...
LNL Summer: Can copyright protect Indigenous art, and the downfall of the Maharajas
15 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Since the 1980s, lawyers have used copyright law to protect Indigenous Art, but is it fit for purpose? When India gained its independence, a huge par...
LNL Summer: New Zealand's ethical escort agency, and pen pals across the Iron Curtain
14 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Antonia Murphy recounts her stranger-than-fiction experience, running an ethical escort agency in New Zealand. And historian Alexis Peris uncovers a ...
LNL Summer: Opus Dei and the banks, plus the million-year history of birdsong in Australia
13 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The deep connections between banks and the conservative Catholic order, Opus Dei. Plus how Australia's birds had songs millions of years before the...
LNL Summer: Wy the Dreyfus Affair still matters
09 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Alfred Dreyfus was an officer in the French Army when he was arrested 130 years ago for treason, convicted and sent to Devils Island for 5 years in s...
LNL Summer: Who were Australia's black convicts and the truth about absinthe
08 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Santilla Chingaipe tells the stories of the 15 convicts of African descent that came with the first fleet, and the hundreds that followed. How does t...
LNL Summer: A biography of Madrid, and the lives of medieval women
07 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Australian-born writer and honorary madrileño Luke Stegemann celebrates the remarkable and under-appreciated Spanish capital of Madrid. And a new ex...
LNL Summer: The paradox of passports, plus Harry Houdini's Australian hijinks
06 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Did you know passports can be ranked, and can be different even within nations? Patrick Bixby examines the history of passports. Plus what Harry Ho...
LNL Summer: Australia's first novelist revealed plus the race to save the world's islands
02 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Author Henry Savery is credited with being Australia's first novelist, for his work 'Quintus Servinton', but in his new book author and historian Sea...
LNL Summer: Celebrating First Nations languages, and a neuroscientist gets to know some cattle
01 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Insights into some of the hundreds of Australian indigenous languages, which continue to evolve. And what can be learnt from spending a lot of time w...
LNL Summer: The UK's poet laureate, and the return of the night parrot
31 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
UK poet laureate Simon Armitage reflects on his Yorkshire upbringing, writing great royal deaths and coronations, and his fear and love for nature. P...
LNL Summer: Ambon pilgrimage and remembering Kosciuscko
30 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
War historian Joan Beaumont makes a pilgrimage to the Indonesian island of Ambon, where hundreds of Australian soldiers died in WWll, and ponders the...
LNL Summer: the year Paris was in ruins plus why we're hooked on salty fish
26 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Art critic Sebastian Smee on why 1870 was an "annus horribilis" for Paris, but one which produced breathtaking art. Plus, love them or hate them, the...
LNL Summer: Frontline nurses in the AIDS crisis plus the Erm Malley hoax
25 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In the early years of AIDS, nurses were stigmatised along with their patients. Now, their story has been told. Plus the great Australian poetry hoa...
LNL Summer: Pamela Churchill Harriman, kingmaker plus Balkan food fight
24 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Writer Sonia Purnell reveals the astonishing life of Pamela Churchill Harriman, one of the most significant women in 20th century politics. Plus why ...
LNL Summer: Guatemalan adoption & Wyballena memorials
23 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In Guatemala private adoption agencies sent huge numbers of babies overseas - with many of them indigenous. And on Flinders Island in the Bass Strait...
LNL Summer: Searching for the soul
19 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What is the soul? Is it a substance, your conscience or simply a creation of the mind? Most societies and religions have some concept of the soul. Hi...
Exposing Pine Gap, the scam of academic publishing and the brilliance of the notebook
18 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Des Ball had a long and complicated relationship with Pine Gap, which is explored in a new documentary, we ask whether academic publishing should be ...
LNL Summer: Lobbying in the US and Captain Cooks last voyage
17 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Brody Mullins investigates how lobbyists have changed politics and society in America and Hamilton Sides tells the story of how and why James Cook's ...
LNL Summer: William Dalrymple on India's Golden Road
16 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
For more than 1000 years, India was a trading powerhouse across the globe - not only of spices, wild animals and gemstones but also of language, phil...
2024 Year in Review
12 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Chas Licciardello, Sashi Perera and First Dog on the Moon - aka Andrew Marlton - join David Marr to survey the profound and the ridiculous from the y...
What made Cyprus rich, and the secrets of the deep oceans
11 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
A history of Cyprus that's equal parts epic and personal. Plus, Susan Casey on the life that thrives thousands of metres below the surface of the oce...
Bruce Shapiro's America, Syria's uncertain future, and our love of Mars
10 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Bruce Shapiro's take on a remarkable year in American politics - and what to expect in the year to come. What's next for Syria after the stunning fal...
Canberra Politics, Belgium compensation & Bulgarian villages
09 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Laura Tingle and Niki Savva bring their incisive analysis on the year in politics, why the world is looking at a compensation case playing out in Bel...
Robert Manne's intellectual combat, and a history of sex and Christianity
05 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Robert Manne is one of Australia’s foremost public intellectuals. His new memoir traces his intellectual roots, and his own political shifts over 4...
The Fairfax dynasty's last hurrah plus what Australia's trees can tell us
04 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The life of James Fairfax, philanthropist, art collector and heir to the Fairfax media dynasty, told through eleven objects, plus what Australia's an...
Ian Dunt's UK, Bob Hawke and the Balibo Five, and the patron saint of the Internet
03 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Ian Dunt's final UK report for 2024 looks at UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer's pre-Christmas political re-set and the Irish election results. Historia...
Laura Tingle's Canberra, North Korean troops in Russia, and poetry's place in Australia
02 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Laura Tingle casts her eye over the last week in Parliament, and the Prime Minister's relationship with his Environment Minister. Why is North Korea ...
Why humans think they can subdue nature, and Helen Garner's love of football
28 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Historian Philipp Blom deciphers why humans continue to believe they can subjugate the Earth, tracing ancient stories of dominion back to the Bronze ...
Essays that changed Australia, and beware the Christmas creep
27 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Can an essay change a nation? Meanjin editor Esther Anatolitis believes that some of the essays published over the journal's long history have - incl...
Bruce Shapiro's America, Australia's submarine fiasco, and the rise of Britishisms
26 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Bruce Shapiro on the dismissal of President-elect Donald Trump's federal cases. We revisit Andrew Fowler's study of Australia's "nuked" submarine dea...
Laura Tingle and George Megalogenis
25 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Laura Tingle gives her analysis of Labor's plans for the last sitting week of 2024, while George Megalogenis looks forward to 2025, and what the parl...
Imagining a better Australia, and Lech Blaine's miraculous life
21 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Former federal MPs John Brumby and Cheryl Kernot discuss how Australia can make policy progress and find bipartisanship in a world of growing politic...
Marcia Langton on truth telling and Sidney Nolan's African paintings
20 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Marcia Langton on the dashed hopes for truth telling in Australia and Sidney Nolan's paintings of Africa tell a deeper story about his concerns for t...
Ian Dunt's UK, who is Barron Trump, and the shark that lives forever
19 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Ian Dunt on what the US election result means for security in the UK and Europe. Journalist Jamie Tahsin investigates the online "manosphere" and Tru...
Laura Tingle on the Greens' compromise, and Jon Ronson dissects the politics of conspiracy theories
18 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The Australian Greens have dropped their demand for a climate trigger in the Government's proposed environmental reforms. And British/American journa...
How Australia writes its war history, and the lives of medieval women
14 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Acclaimed historian Peter Stanley on how Australia writes its war histories, and our complicated relationship with memorialisation. And a new exhibit...
How will Trump handle China and Virginia Woolf's brilliant hoax
13 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
China expert Geoff Raby says we are seeing a significant global power shift away from Russia and towards China - but how will Donald Trump handle it?...
Bruce Shapiro's America, reporting from crisis zones, and the last witch of England
12 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Bruce Shapiro on why the Democrats lost last week's US presidential election. Veteran Al Jazeera reporter Drew Ambrose calls for a greater focus on A...
Laura Tingle's Canberra, backtrack at the NACC, and Francesca Albanese's latest report
11 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Laura Tingle on how the Australian parliament is preparing for a second Trump presidency. Geoffrey Watson SC on the National Anti-Corruption Commissi...
Gaza's damaged heritage, and a biography of Madrid
07 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Archaeologist Ayman Warasnah on the damaged and destroyed cultural sites in Gaza. And a new biography of the the city of Madrid, in which Luke Stege...
Late Night Live's US election special 2024
06 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Late Night Live's team of experts bring you their analysis of the US election 2024. What went right for Donald Trump? What went wrong for Kamala Harr...
Ian Dunt's UK, Japan's gender gap, and a precious bible torn apart
05 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Ian Dunt on the UK Conservative party's new leader and the government's bold new budget. Japan recently elected a record number of female representat...
Bernard Keane's Canberra, and will Shaun Micallef ever retire?
04 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Bernard Keane says unless we fix housing young people still face huge disadvantage in Australia, even with lower student debt. Plus Shaun Micallef on...
Running an ethical escort agency, and the pen pals across the Iron Curtain
31 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Antonia Murphy recounts how she became the Madam of an escort agency in small town New Zealand. And historian Alexis Peri uncovers ten years of pen p...
Who were Australia's black convicts and the truth about absinthe
30 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What truth is there to the mystical powers of absinthe both in the past and its current form? Is it more myth than magic? Evan Rail investigates. And...
Bruce Shapiro's America, when chatbot relationships turn sour, and cave painting in the dark
29 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Bruce Shapiro on Trump's Madison Square Garden rally and the final week of the campaign. Also in the US, a mother is suing a chatbot company for dece...
Stephen Fry on life, last words and the things he can't do
28 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Stephen Fry reflects on the power of story-telling, how to counter impostor syndrome and the things he absolutely can’t do.
Yemen's fight to be free of foreign interference and the Snowy Hydro scheme's 75th birthday
24 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Journalist and human rights advocate Tawakkol Karman Yemen must have self-determination, free of foreign interference, to achieve true democracy and ...
Nigel Biggar on colonialism, and a portrait of Bill Gates
23 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Oxford theologian Nigel Biggar reckons with colonialism and the legacy of Empire. And journalist Anupreeta Das examines the life and power of the bil...
The must-win state of Pennsylvania, and Antony Loewenstein on the weapons of war
22 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Journalist and former resident of Pennsylvania Sarah Smiles Persinger on why her old home town could decide the next President. Plus an update on the...
Bernard Keane's Canberra, asylum seekers stranded on Nauru, and why we crave apocalypse stories
21 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Bernard Keane on the Teals latest win, and why Labor is yet to introduce political donation reform. Plus the government has been quietly sending asyl...
Exposing Opus Dei, and learning the language of birds
17 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Journalist Gareth Gore investigates the wealth, power and influence of the Catholic order Opus Dei. And Andrew Turbill and Dan Lyons decode the beaut...
Why Russia's Constitution matters, and the Scottish poet hounded out of town
16 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Professor William Partlett uncovers the "constitutional dark arts" that have enabled Russian President Vladimir Putin to consolidate power. Plus, Sco...
Ian Dunt's UK, Māori Muslims, and food culture in the Balkans
15 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Ian Dunt on the King's imminent visit to Australia. Why are a growing number of Māori in New Zealand finding faith in Islam? And how food and identi...
Hurricanes and campaigns in Florida, and Jennifer Robinson on Assange's freedom
14 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
How will back-to-back hurricanes impact voter turnout in Florida? Plus Julian Assange's lawyer Jennifer Robinson on his testimony to the European P...
Taiwan's kaleidoscopic story
10 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Taiwan is much more than the debate about whether it's a province of China. Its past is a colourful one, full of visitors and invaders from multiple ...
The Palace Letters, Australia becomes the place of the unfair go and the scandals of the Moulin Rouge
09 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Will King Charles agree to finally release the Palace Letters about the dismissal of Gough Whitlam? Labor MP Andrew Leigh on increasing inequality in...
US Politics, nature positivity, Wikipedia and AI
08 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Bruce Shapiro on the latest from the US Presidential campaign trail. What is nature positivity and should Australia be legislating for it? Is AI a re...
The family behind the Nobel prizes, and the life of political kingmaker Pamela Churchill Harriman
07 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Author Bengt Jangfeldt reveals the brilliance and resilience of the Swedish Nobel family. And Sonia Purnell recounts the astonishing life of Pamela C...
Can copyright protect Indigenous art and the downfall of the Maharajas
03 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Since the 1980s, lawyers have used copyright law to protect Indigenous Art, but is it fit for purpose? When India gained its independence, a huge par...
Sri Lanka's new President, America's love of dictators, and the cocaine hippos
02 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Sri Lanka has elected a new President who is not from one of the elite families who have ruled the country since independence, but who is he? America...
Chasing votes in Georgia USA, discrimination in religious schools, and the elusive night parrot
01 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The battle for votes in ultra-marginal Georgia, USA. Anglican Bishop Michael Stead on freedom and discrimination in religious schools, and Dr Penny O...
Laura Tingle's Canberra, is Hezbollah finished and why we're bored with the space race
30 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Laura Tingle on the challenge for Labor in addressing the housing crisis. Israel has killed military leader Hassan Nasrallah, but will it mean the en...
Artificial intelligence at the border, and who was Kosciuszko?
26 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Human rights lawyer Petra Molnar investigates the growing use of artifiicial intelligence at the world's borders. And Anthony Sharwood on the man beh...
Ian Dunt's UK, and Fintan O'Toole on the perils of political tribalism
25 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Ian Dunt reflects on UK Labour's Party Conference, while Jeremy Corbyn forms a new party of his own. Plus, Fintan O'Toole on how populists are weapon...
Bruce Shapiro's America, sedition in Hong Kong, and when Houdini visited Australia
24 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What are the Democrat and Republican ground game strategies in the lead up to election day? How Hong Kong is silencing the pro-democracy movement. An...
Karen Middleton on Australian politics, Japan's next Prime Minister, and the feelings of plants
23 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Karen Middleton, political editor of The Guardian Australia, on Peter Dutton's nuclear power speech today, and the new populism of the Greens. There ...
Cultural change in the Australian Defence Force, and the secret history of LSD
19 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Why are rates of suicide in the Australian veteran community so persistently high? And what did the CIA learn from Nazi Germany about psychedelics. ...
Wisconsin, hydrogen and the lost subways of America
18 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
While Wisconsin only provides 10 electoral votes in the US Presidential race, it is one of the key swing states in the upcoming election - how can it...
The damning robodebt report and tea's significance in Iran's rich cultures
17 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The Public Service Commission is very sorry on behalf of the public service. Journalist Rick Morton updates on the Robodebt findings of the commissio...
Niki Savva's Canberra, Iran's feminist uprising and opal mining under threat
16 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Political analyst Niki Savva says if it doesn't change course, Labor is set to lose its majority and become the first one term government since 1931....
Eric Beecher on media moguls and the broken promises at Wybalenna
12 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Eric Beecher looks back at some of the media dynasties through history including the Murdochs, how they use and abuse their power. And on Flinders Is...
Dissecting the Trump-Harris debate, and the rise of the French Impressionists
11 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Bruce Shapiro dissects the US presidential debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. And art critic Sebastian Smee on how the dazzling light of ...