Late Night Live - Separate stories podcast
Episodes
On the hunt for the next epidemic
25 Jun 2026
Contributed by Lukas
An Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo is once again drawing attention to the threat of infectious diseases. But a new report from the...
How Murdoch's media wields power and punishment
25 Jun 2026
Contributed by Lukas
For many decades, Rupert Murdoch's global media empire has wielded immense power and political influence in Australia and abroad. A new book examines...
Reverse extinction: do we want that?
24 Jun 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Last month a company in Texas announced it had made an artificial egg, with the hope of bringing back to life extinct birds like the dodo. But there ...
What's next for Lebanon, as UN Peacekeepers prepare to leave?
24 Jun 2026
Contributed by Lukas
After nearly five decades, United Nations peacekeepers are preparing to leave Lebanon, bringing one of the organisation's longest-running missions to...
Mariana Mazzucato on making economies work for the common good
23 Jun 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Countries around the world are grappling with how to handle the cost of housing, providing health care for an aging population and how to fund the bi...
The soccer-playing Anzacs
23 Jun 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Soccer fever is consuming the world right now, and for lots of Australians the game has a strong association with the many cultures who came to Austr...
Anna Henderson's Canberra: most Australians don't want a 'monoculture'
23 Jun 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In her recent address to the National Press Club, One Nation leader Pauline Hanson said Australia should be 'monocultural' rather than multicultural....
The evolution of Islamic State
22 Jun 2026
Contributed by Lukas
At its peak between 2015 and 2017, the Islamic State attracted tens of thousands of foreign fighters and inspired attacks worldwide. Today, its calip...
Ian Dunt's UK: Keir Starmer resigns
22 Jun 2026
Contributed by Lukas
After months of turmoil inside the Labour party, plummeting polls and the Reform Party making major gains in local elections, UK Prime Minister Keir ...
Rediscovered Birrundudu drawings rewrite the timeline of Aboriginal art
18 Jun 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In 1945, sixteen Aboriginal men working at Birrundudu Station created 810 crayon drawings, commissioned by anthropologists Ronald and Catherine Bernd...
Whatever happened to the Australian Sex Party?
18 Jun 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Before Robbie Swan and Fiona Patten co-founded the Australian Sex Party in 2009, they worked the halls of parliament, lobbying against the 1990s cens...
The Paris menagerie that made the modern world
17 Jun 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Founded during the French Revolution, the Paris menagerie was one of the earliest modern zoos and a model for later European institutions. It grew in...
Being human under the AI advance
17 Jun 2026
Contributed by Lukas
As artificial intelligence increasingly does what humans can do, and begins to possibly rise above human capabilities, the question is 'what does bei...
Why First Nations people are dismayed at Brisbane's new Olympic stadium
16 Jun 2026
Contributed by Lukas
This month, earthworks commenced on a new stadium for Brisbane's 2032 Olympic Games. After years of debate, reviews, and a political backflip, Victor...
US-India tensions after strikes kill seafarers in Hormuz
16 Jun 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The US has refused to apologise for the deaths of Indian sailors killed by US strikes in the strait of Hormuz, straining relations between the two co...
Bruce Shapiro's USA: Trump's agenda on the line in Supreme Court
16 Jun 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The US and Iran have announced an interim peace deal, but is the deal more spin than substance? Plus, the Supreme Court will reach a series of massiv...
Trump opens America's doors to white South Africans
15 Jun 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Why are white South Africans being fast-tracked for refugee status in the US, while millions of other refugees wait in line? Donald Trump's South Afr...
Why is Google releasing millions of infected mosquitoes?
15 Jun 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Alphabet, Google’s parent company, has asked the US government for permission to release millions of mosquitoes in California and Florida which hav...
Laura Tingle on why Israel isn't backing Trump's Iran peace deal
15 Jun 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The terms of the peace deal between the United States and Iran included an immediate halt to fighting on all fronts, including in Lebanon; the reopen...
Why do we fixate on the human face?
11 Jun 2026
Contributed by Lukas
What's in a face? The face is where all our senses come together, but we also perceive each other's faces through the prisms of culture and technolog...
Madame War Criminal: Serbia's Iron lady
11 Jun 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Before the Bosnian war, Biljana Plavšić was a renowned biologist and university dean. She later became the only woman convicted by an internation...
Soweto: the uprising that changed South Africa
10 Jun 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In June 1976, thousands of students took to the streets of Soweto, South Africa, to protest a government decision to make Afrikaans a compulsory lang...
The campaign to save PNG's Sepik river from an Australian mining company
10 Jun 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Deep in the rainforests of Papua New Guinea winds the Sepik river. Rich with crocodiles, eels, turtles, prawns and fish, it’s one of the largest un...
Ian Dunt's UK: Henry Nowak's murder sparks immigration backlash
09 Jun 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The murder of Henry Nowak by a Sikh man in Southampton last year has sparked protests encouraged by anti-immigration Reform Party leader, Nigel Farag...
Will Switzerland vote to cap its population?
09 Jun 2026
Contributed by Lukas
This weekend, the Swiss will vote on a proposal to cap the nation's population at 10 million (it's already at 9.1 million). Polling suggests the resu...
The men who want women to be quiet: America's 'masculinist' movement
09 Jun 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Journalist for The Atlantic Helen Lewis speaks with key figures of the so-called 'masculinist' movement in the United States - a movement pushing bac...
Spam spam spam! Why the luncheon meat is still loved in many countries
08 Jun 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Spam may be derided in Western countries but in Asia and the Pacific it's still a beloved staple. It was created by Hormel Foods in 1937 to utilise s...
Barcelona's magnificent Sagrada Familia Basilica to be blessed by the Pope
08 Jun 2026
Contributed by Lukas
This week, the Pope will be in Barcelona to officially bless the final tower of La Sagrada Familia, the monumental Catholic basilica, which was 144 y...
The forgotten Timorese boat people
04 Jun 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In 1995, long before the 2001 'Tampa' refugee crisis, a small fishing boat arrived in Darwin, carrying eighteen East Timorese asylum seekers, includi...
The great illicit drug debate: How Australia changed course
04 Jun 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Heroin, cocaine, cannabis and opiates — it’s hard to imagine now, but in 19th-century Australia there were few restrictions on the use of these s...
The psychiatrist who investigated reincarnation
03 Jun 2026
Contributed by Lukas
While Ian Stevenson (1918–2007) was an academic psychiatrist with a strong professional reputation, he became known for researching an unusual topi...
Is 'Muskism' the new Fordism?
03 Jun 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Elon Musk is tipped to become the world’s first trillionaire when his company SpaceX goes public on the stock exchange as early as next week. To ...
How Glasgow stopped an immigration raid
02 Jun 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In 2021 UK immigration officers carried out a dawn raid in Kenmure St in the culturally diverse Pollokshields area of Glasgow's Southside. They arr...
How nature is the performance enhancer for Ethiopian runners
02 Jun 2026
Contributed by Lukas
There are many ways to attain endurance and high performance. The ethos of Ethiopian collective running contrasts sharply with the testosterone suppl...
Bruce Shapiro's USA: Republicans finally stand up to Trump
02 Jun 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Republican Senators are rebelling against Donald Trump using funds from his settlement of a legal case against the IRS, which is being labelled a slu...
Why Lord Howe Island is celebrating a cockroach boom
01 Jun 2026
Contributed by Lukas
A new study shows that insect life on Lord Howe Island has significantly increased since the eradication of invasive rodents in 2019. Experts say inv...
What are Syrian refugees returning home to?
01 Jun 2026
Contributed by Lukas
When the brutal Assad regime fell in Syria in 2024 it offered an opportunity for the millions of people displaced by the regime to return home – in...
Will the government hold its nerve on tax reform?
01 Jun 2026
Contributed by Lukas
A new poll published in the Australian Financial Review has Pauline Hanson's One Nation ahead of Labor and the Coalition on primary vote. Meanwhile, ...
The young US conservatives trying to redefine environmentalism
28 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The American Conservation Coalition was formed in 2017 to try to attract younger people to the Republican Party. But the Coalition doesn’t seem to ...
Long before 1979: A very different Iran–US relationship
28 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
While negotiations over a lasting peace deal remain unpredictable, historian and author, John Ghazvinian argues that the past fifty years of hostilit...
The women at Nuremberg
27 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Just after World War Two, leading figures from Nazi Germany were tried before an International military tribunal for their crimes against humanity - ...
Janine di Giovanni's reckoning with war criminals
27 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Janine di Giovanni has been a war correspondent for more than thirty years. She's been shot at, kidnapped and held at gunpoint. She’s written abo...
Pedro Sanchez, Spain's defiant PM
26 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Despite mounting pressure at home after his Socialist Party suffered heavy losses in its former Andalusian stronghold, Pedro Sánchez has emerged as ...
Ian Dunt's UK: Andy Burnham's big gamble, plus what's wrong with British leadership?
26 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
All eyes are on the Makerfield by-election as Andy Burnham, the Mayor of Greater Manchester, puts his reputation on the line. Burnham has thrown his ...
Ballerina Anna Pavlova's sensational tour of Australia, 100 years on
26 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
100 years ago, Russian ballerina and global megastar Anna Pavlova toured Australia and New Zealand, filling theatres and newspaper columns wherever s...
Ancient Roman gossip and why it mattered
25 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The Romans were merciless in the way they talked about their rulers. Baldness and body hair, sexual positions and partners, and inebriation and indol...
Ways forward for the Left
25 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
As the Far Right rises, what’s the Left to do? Focus on the details of people’s lives, is one lesson from the New York Mamdani mayoral win. Ameri...
Anna Henderson's Canberra: Could the Teals form a new political party?
25 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Teal independents are reportedly in talks to form a new political party amid voter disillusionment that has sparked the resurgence of Pauline Hanso...
Tareq Baqoni on being a gay Palestinian Hamas expert
21 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Tareq Baqoni grew up in Jordan after his family was expelled first from Palestine and then from Lebanon during the civil war. He became an academic a...
Satyajit Das on the economic fallout from Trump’s war on Iran
21 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Since the US-Israel war on Iran broke out three months ago, the price of oil has jumped at least fifty percent, causing economic pain around the worl...
Roddy Doyle on a lifetime of writing the characters of Dublin
20 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Roddy Doyle reflects on a lifetime telling the stories of working-class people in Dublin, with themes of domestic violence, unplanned pregnancy and l...
Who was Blind Freddy?
19 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The common Australian term 'Blind Freddy', as in 'Blind Freddy could see that', spread quickly and comprehensively. But who was Blind Freddy? An auth...
What made John Safran question the right to offend?
19 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
John Safran has made a career out of blasphemy and offence. With his gonzo-style journalism he placed a “fatwa” on Rove McManus, streaked naked t...
Bruce Shapiro's USA: Trump's rush to redistrict the South, as polls slump
19 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Ahead of November's midterm elections, Republicans are looking to reshape South Carolina's congressional districts, in an effort to create a US House...
The joys and travails of translating Shakespeare
18 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
All over the world, people are encountering the timeless work of Shakespeare for the first time, thanks to translators who have managed to distil the...
Where is Gazan doctor Hussam Abu Safiya?
18 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Hussam Abu Safiya, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in Gaza, was repeatedly warned to evacuate during the war between Israel and Hamas, but chose to ...
Anna Henderson's Canberra: battle lines drawn over tax
18 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In the wake of treasurer Jim Chalmers' budget - and opposition leader Angus Taylor's budget reply - the political battle lines have been drawn over t...
Why food traditions matter in times of conflict
14 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Food traditions can be one of the most fundamental losses in in war, or under political repression or displacement of populations. Michael Shaikh ce...
Royal commissions in Australia - when have they made a difference?
14 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Since Federation, there have been 141 royal commissions in Australia into various crises and tragedies. Some have brought about meaningful policy cha...
Antoinette Lattouf on women who challenged power and won
13 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
When Antoinette Lattouf was fighting her own unfair dismissal case against the ABC, she faced some dark moments and intense anxiety. For help and ins...
Fifty years of Australian film at Cannes
13 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
For the last fifty years Australians have been making their mark at the Cannes film festival. Spearheaded by people like Phillip Adams and David Stra...
Ian Dunt's UK: Starmer on the brink as the King opens parliament
13 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The King has proceeded with his scheduled speech to open the UK parliament, despite the desperate situation of his Prime Minister Keir Starmer, as La...
Tojo Hideki, the Japanese wartime leader we know little about
12 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Hideki Tojo, a senior military officer who was Prime Minister of Japan from 1941 - 1942, as well as Minister for the Army, had advocated for Japan's ...
Australia's first political assassination, and the man still behind bars
12 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In 1994, Cabramatta MP John Newman was shot dead outside his home in a crime billed as Australia's first political assassination. But could the convi...
The trauma trope: can humanitarian journalism do better?
11 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Whether it’s Ukraine, Gaza, Yemen or Sudan, journalists reporting on conflict zones across the world, want their stories of human suffering on the ...
Six months underwater in a submarine
11 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
A British nuclear-armed submarine returned home recently after six months submerged, with no fresh air. Its mission is deterrence, with the threat of...
Anna Henderson's Canberra: budget expecations, Farrer fall-out
11 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Anna Henderson looks ahead to the big expectations on Labor to deliver a budget that will appeal to One Nation voters on issues like migration and ho...
Lalia’s story: how to save a mother and her five daughters from the Taliban
07 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
When refugee activist and author Mij Tanith was asked to help an Afghan woman and her five daughters escape the Taliban, she hesitated, burned out af...
Fintan O'Toole on Trump's madman strategy.
07 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
That power sends men mad, is a rule of politics and of history that goes way way back before Dr Freud. When riding in triumph through Rome, Caesar’...
What happened to the survivors of Belsen concentration camp?
06 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Three weeks before the end of WWII, the Germans invited the British to liberate the 60,000 prisoners - mostly Jews - being held at Belsen. But for th...
Netanyahu rivals join forces ahead of Israeli election
06 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is facing the prospect of running against a rightwing-centrist super coalition in elections later this ...
An old register forges new relations on Norfolk Island
05 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
After the infamous mutiny on the Bounty the mutineers settled on remote Pitcairn Island. The Pitcairn Island Register is the original record of birth...
Keeping the signal alive: 2SER’s uncertain future
05 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
One of Sydney’s leading community radio stations faces possible closure as early as July, as it works to close a funding gap left by the departure ...
Bruce Shapiro's America: US Supreme Court undermines voting rights; defamation intimidation tactics continue
05 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In another regressive move, the US Supreme Court has made a ruling weakening America's 1965 Voting Rights Act which helped Black and other minority v...
Colouring the classical past: Mark Bradley and the rediscovery of painted sculpture
04 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Conventional perceptions of ancient Greek and Roman sculpture tend to emphasise the purity of white marble surfaces. However, as classicist Mark Brad...
The unlikely resurgence of Kim Jong Un
04 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In 2020, North Korea was at a low point. Crippled by COVID border closures, its Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un tried and failed to negotiate sanctions re...
Anna Henderson's Canberra: Japan PM's visit, plus Alice Springs mourns
04 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Japan's Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is on her first official visit to Australia to sign agreements on energy, defence and critical minerals. Takai...
Australian writers celebrate David Malouf - friend, mentor, inspiration
30 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
David Malouf, who died last week at 92, was a hugely influential figure in Australian culture. A novelist, poet, teacher, arts advisor and board memb...
Richard Meagher was at the centre of early Australian politics. But he had a scandalous past
29 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In 1895 Sydney solicitor Richard Meagher incited a campaign to free George Dean, a handsome, popular ferryman accused of attempting to poison his own...
Ian Dunt's UK: The King's speech to Congress. Will Trump get the message?
29 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
King Charles has address the US Congress with messages in favour of the rule of law, checks and balances on executive power and an anti-war message. ...
The White House shooting attempt, and the 30th anniversary of Port Arthur, remind us how the media should cover mass shootings
28 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
On the 30th anniversary of the Port Arthur massacre - and in the wake of the Bondi Beach terror attack - media scholar Dr Glynn Greensmith's timely...
What does Pakistan gain from its role in the US-Iran peace talks?
28 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Pakistan has taken over from Qatar as the mediator in the US-Iran peace talks. So how did this happen? What's the relationship between Pakistan's Arm...
Japanese espionage in Australia
27 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In the years before Pearl Harbour, Australian authorities were convinced that members of the Japanese diplomatic and business community were spying, ...
Radicalised indigenous soldiers
27 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Australian indigenous soldiers who served in World War l were radicalised by the experience. They were shaken and angered by the injustices they expe...
Silence, stigma and survival: polio in postwar Australia
23 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In the 1950s thousands of Australians contracted polio. Many aging survivors are still living with its impacts, including the mother of Professor Cat...
Silence, stigma and survival: polio in postwar Australia
23 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In the 1950s, Australia endured several dangerous outbreaks of polio - a highly infectious disease that threatened lifelong paralysis. Many aging sur...
The false stories the British elite tell about themselves
23 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The British elite present themselves as part of a new, open, dynamic meritocracy. Is that true? Of course not, and two sociologists have the data to ...
The German Jazz band that got stuck in wartime Australia
22 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The Weintraubs Syncopators were Germany's most popular jazz band until 1933, recording much of the music for Marlene Dietrich’s films. As Jewish mu...
Why did New Zealand's PM call a leadership vote on himself?
22 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
New Zealand PM Christopher Luxon says his leadership is secure after the National Party caucus backed him in an unexpected confidence vote on Monday....
The great escape from WA, on the Catalpa ship
21 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
It is 150 years since one of the greatest convict escapes in Australian history. In 1876, a whaling ship called the Catalpa picked up six Irish polit...
40 years on, wildlife is thriving in Chernobyl
21 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
It's been 40 years since the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, when an exploded reactor emitted four hundred times the radioactive material released by the...
Bruce Shapiro's USA: what's Trump's next move on Iran? Plus scandal in the FBI.
21 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
As the Iran ceasefire deadline looms, Trump says he's unlikely to extend it without a new deal, but will Iran believe anything he says? Meanwhile the...
Does Australia's culture of remembrance need updating?
20 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
As ANZAC Day approaches, the esteemed Australian military historian Peter Stanley asks whether Australia's remembrance of war reflects the complexion...
Anna Henderson's Canberra: Pocock piles on gas tax pressure
20 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Recent polling shows some interesting results: the PM and the Opposition leader are a close race in one poll, and One Nation is dipping. Plus, Indepe...
Kati-Thanda Lake Eyre is filling up - but will tourists have fuel to get there?
20 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Australia's vast inland salt lake Kati-Thanda Lake Eyre might overflow this year, for the first time since 1974. The spectacle is a once-in-a-lifetim...
What if corporate scandals are actually good for the world?
16 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Two political scientists make the argument that corporate malfeasance, when brought to light, can create a democratic fury that leads to civic renewa...
A family reckoning on law and violence in the Middle East
16 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Legal anthropologist Dr Marika Sosnowski grew up knowing that her grandparents survived the Holocaust. But it was only when she began researching r...
Dennis Altman's adoring fans
15 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
A veteran writer and scholar has been getting some very flattering and inventive emails, purportedly from people wanting to promote his work, one way...
The forgotten achievements of the Colombo Plan
15 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The Colombo Plan, launched in 1951, is best known in Australia for bringing Asian students to Australian universities on scholarships. But it was a m...
Ian Dunt's UK: Orban's loss a blow for Europe's far right
15 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Keir Starmer is proposing legislation that would let the UK quickly adopt certain future EU rules using secondary legislation, meaning less parliamen...