Late Night Live - Separate stories podcast

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...

Ian Dunt's UK: Labour's trade plans for the EU, Starmer says no to Hormuz blockade, and Orban's loss a blow to the European 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...

Hormuz as a chokepoint of power: the narrow seas that shaped global wars

14 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Control of maritime chokepoints helped decide conflicts like the Gallipoli Campaign and the Suez Crisis; now, renewed tensions and shipping disruptio...

US 'may stop by Cuba' after Iran, says Trump

14 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

US President Donald Trump has continued to threaten an American invasion of Cuba, telling reporters that US forces 'may stop by Cuba' after they deal...

Magnificent heritage sites damaged in Iran

13 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Last month, US and Israel bombing of Iran caused significant damage to cultural heritage sites - the most serious confirmed damage has been to Tehran...

The gay conservatives out, loud and proud to vote Trump

13 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The Log Cabin Republicans is a group of LGBTQ+ conservatives in the United States who support Republican policies while also advocating for LGBTQ+ in...

Australia's fuel import dependency exposed

13 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The Albanese government is seeking to reassure Australians of the nation's fuel security, with multiple supply missions to Asia, and a new $20m ad ca...

The making of poet A.D. Hope, Australian literary giant

09 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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 it...

Daniel Defoe, writer and spy

08 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Daniel Defoe, the writer of 'Robinson Crusoe' and 'Moll Flanders', was a spy in Scotland in the early 1700s, sending information to England, to help ...

Arts under attack in Trump's America

08 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Not much has remained untouched in Trump’s second term: the East Wing of the White House torn down, the Kennedy Center board stripped back—the li...

The art of Peter Marralwanga - Old Master and ritual leader

07 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Peter Marralwanga was a leading figure in traditional  bark paintings from Western Arnhem Land which depicted important ceremonies and creation stor...

The antibiotic explosion in India

07 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

India is the world's biggest exporter of, and consumer of, antibiotics. Their overuse and misuse is on the brink of triggering systemic failures acro...

Bruce Shapiro's USA: Will Trump follow through on his latest Iran threat?

07 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

US President Donald Trump has published an expletive-laden post on social media in which he threatened to destroy Iran's power plants and bridges if ...

Henry Reynolds turns Australian history upside down

06 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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...

A decade after the leak: The lasting impact of the Panama Papers

02 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

It’s been ten years since the Panama Papers exposed a global network of hidden offshore accounts used by politicians, celebrities, and corporations...

Robert Reich on how the Democrats lost the working class

02 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In October 1994 then US Labor Secretary Robert Reich wrote his old friend and now boss, Bill Clinton, a letter with an urgent warning. “We’re in ...

The Shahs and the Ayatollahs - Iran's extreme leaders

01 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The division and deep discontent in Iran gave Israel and the US a public rationale for attacking its brutal leadership. How did this nation become so...

Ian Dunt's UK: Starmer's plan to address the fuel crisis

01 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Just one hour after Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese addressed the nation about oil supply issues, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer gave a pr...

Mapping the wilderness

31 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

An environmental scientist and his colleagues have just finished mapping Australia's remaining wilderness areas - the first time it has been done in ...

Israel to use death penalty for West Bank Palestinians

31 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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 fo...

Why should WA get so much of the GST?

31 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

This year Western Australia will once again be the big winner in the GST carve-up, with $6.6 billion from taxpayers heading its way as part of a swee...

Daylight savings forever? Why B.C, Canada has ditched clock changes

30 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The province of British Columbia, Canada has officially ditched its biannual seasonal clock changes, embracing daylight savings time forever - rename...

Ash Sarker's message to the Left - get a grip

30 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In her book, Minority Rule, Ash Sarkar argues that parts of the modern left have drifted away from focusing on material issues like wages, housing, a...

Anna Henderson's Canberra: fuel tax halved, as global energy crisis deepens

30 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The Albanese government will halve the fuel excise for three months at a cost of $2.5b, to provide some petrol and diesel price relief to consumers. ...

How the National Library digitises millions of archives, with Dr Marie-Louise Ayres

26 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The longstanding Director-General of the National Library of Australia Dr Marie-Louise Ayres has just retired after a long career, overseeing the dig...

How the Strait of Hormuz closure is threatening aid and food security

26 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The wars on Iran, Gaza and Lebanon have seen millions left without shelter or food. People are fleeing into neighbouring Syria, Turkiye and Iraq and ...

The museum that celebrates famous flops and failures

24 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The Museum of Failure, founded by psychologist Dr. Samuel West, is a celebration of innovation gone wrong. It showcases a wide range of failed produc...

Skyscrapers to sand dunes: Trump’s business ventures in the Gulf

24 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Donald Trump’s private business footprint in the Gulf spans luxury real estate, golf courses, and high-profile partnerships. The Trump administrati...

Bruce Shapiro's America: Is Trump really negotiating with Iran?

24 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Donald Trump told the press his Middle East special envoy Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law Jared Kushner conducted talks with Iran on Sunday. The US ...

The dark side of floristry

23 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Pretty flowers often carry a dark side. Pesticides that harm the florists who handle them. Thousands of travel miles for the many imported flowers. A...

Remembering Rhoda Roberts AO

23 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Trailblazing Arts executive and Widjabul Wieybal woman of the Bundjalung Nation Rhoda Roberts AO has died, aged 66. Alongside her vast accomplishment...

Anna Henderson's Canberra: what the SA election result means for the nation

23 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Why One Nation appealed to South Australians, plus the looming fuel shortage - is Australia moving fast enough to prepare for it?Guest: Anna Henderso...

Research that claimed Roundup herbicide is safe, retracted by US journal

19 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In 2017, a lawsuit uncovered internal emails from chemical giant Monsanto that suggested its employees helped ghostwrite an influential paper that cl...

Evangelical Christians are manufacturing the guns used in mass shootings

19 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In the USA today the Americans who own the most guns are not military veterans or hunters. They are white evangelical Christians, and there are 60 mi...

Please explain: Niki Savva, Paul Kelly and Antony Green on the resurgence of Pauline Hanson

18 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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 mai...

How presidential pardons are being used as a political tool

17 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

On the day of his inauguration, US President Donald Trump issued a mass pardon covering the over a thousand people charged or convicted in connection...

Not satisfactory at all: Geoffrey Watson on the NACC'S Robodebt findings

17 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

"I don't feel like it's satisfactory at all." Geoffrey Watson SC, has compared the sealed section of the Holmes Royal Commission into Robodebt with t...

Ian Dunt's UK: Trump pressures Starmer on Iran war

17 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

US President Donald Trump has renewed his criticism of the UK government over its response to the Iran conflict, after Prime Minister Keir Starmer sa...

Why pensioners are still protesting in their seventies

16 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Adelaide writer Margaret Merilees has spent her life protesting: from Pine Gap in the 1980 through to the Rising Tide protests against coal exports, ...

Will Saudi Arabia be the winners in the war on Iran?

16 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Saudi Arabia has long sought to be the dominant power in the Middle East and there is speculation Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman himself urge...

Anna Henderson's Canberra: Matt Canavan and his Nationals' front bench

16 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The new Nationals' leader has announced his front bench. Our weekly correspondent analyses what the reshaped Nationals will offer, and how they will ...

Porn, AI, and the internet: social media's new frontier

12 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In January, AI-generated pornography flooded the social media site X, owned by Elon Musk. X's AI chatbot turned anybody into pornography, and brought...

Mystic, manipulator, catalyst: Rasputin and Russia’s Last Tsar

12 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Grigory Rasputin rose from a humble Siberian peasant to become one of the most influential figures at the court of Tsar Nicholas II. A mystic and sel...

Psst: the Irish love a conspiracy theory

11 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The Irish have high trust in government, and, also, a surprisingly widespread belief in conspiracy theories. What explains the Irish appetite for con...

Why is it so hard to make Australian TV?

11 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The amount of money going towards subsidising Australian film and TV has gone way up over the last two decades. The number of hours being made has go...

Lost Vanuatu numbering system

10 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In the early 2000s, esteemed Australian archaeologist Matthew Spriggs made a promise to the community of Aneityum, an island of Vanuatu: he would try...

Armageddon briefings: US Troops told Iran war is 'God’s plan'

10 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

US military commanders have been invoking extremist Christian rhetoric about biblical “end times” to justify involvement in the Iran war to troop...

Bruce Shapiro's USA: Noem, no more

10 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Will the war in Iran be long or short? According to Donald Trump: both, depending on what day you ask him. Plus, new and scandalous allegations from ...

Power, crime, and money: the rise of the global mafia

09 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In Mafia: A Global History, Ryan Gingeras draws on more than a decade of research to uncover this suppressed underworld history. Crossing centuries a...

Why France is backing Lebanon in the Middle East War

09 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

“For Lebanon we must act,” said French President Emmanuel Macron last week. “Everything must be done to prevent this country, so close to Franc...

Anna Henderson's Canberra: Albanese's call for de-escalation in Middle East

09 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Australia's military capabilities are in focus as the government decides how it can assist Gulf states facing an Iranian retaliatory strike, amid the...

Australia's oldest continuously used library turns 200

05 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The State Library of NSW has had to adapt its collections and philosophy over the years, becoming both a foundation of, and mirror to, broader societ...

Yanis Varoufakis on the Iran war, drug charges & cancelling Adelaide Writers' Week

05 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Yanis Varoufakis sits down with David Marr to reflect on the war on Iran, the failures of the Democracy in Europe Movement, cancelling his appearance...

In conversation with the UK's Ian Dunt

04 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

For the first time, Late Night Live UK political commentator Ian Dunt, meets David Marr in person. In this special hour-long conversation, Dunt explo...

Australia's first desert people

03 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Sometimes described as a 'phantom population', because so little is known about them, the first settlers across the arid interior of Australia are co...

Batteries, and the power they have over us

03 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The green energy future depends on batteries. But batteries are not exactly a low-footprint technology; a massive mining and industrial operation wil...

Gideon Levy on Israel's objectives in Iran, Lebanon, and the broader Middle East

03 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said the US bombing of Iran had to happen because they had intelligence that Israel was about to take action. H...

Behind the bestseller: feuds, failures, and publishing mishaps

02 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Behind every great book lies a story — and sometimes, it’s a disaster. In When Books Go Bad, Alexander Johnson uncovers the scandalous mishaps th...

Trump attacks Iran: the view from inside America

02 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

President Trump has put the United States, and the world, into an unpredictable situation: a war without a clear rationale, and without a clear end. ...

Anna Henderson's Canberra: Australia and the Iran war

02 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Our regular Canberra correspondent dissects the careful language being used by the Australian Government, in the wake of the US and Israel's surprise...

Bob Carr on suddenly losing his wife Helena

26 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Former NSW Premier and former Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs Bob Carr and his wife Helena were almost inseparable. When she suddenly died, whil...

High Court rules the Catholic Church is liable for a priest's abuse

25 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

A NSW man who suffered sexual abuse at the hands of a priest in the late 1960’s when he was 13, has won his High Court battle over liability, but h...

Water in 2026: will Australia learn from our mistakes?

25 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Australia's last big drought was from 2017 to 2019; a relatively short drought, but a vicious one. Water storage levels in Sydney dropped by 50% in j...

Bruce Shapiro's USA: the State of the Union address

25 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

US President Donald Trump has just given his State of the Union address, saying America is winning so much they don't know what do. But who believes ...

What do Mawson's diaries reveal about the Flinders Ranges in South Australia?

24 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

As well as his Antarctic work, the explorer Sir Douglas Mawson had a deep interest in the Flinders Ranges. A team has been working for years to decip...