Late Night Live - Separate stories podcast

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 list goes on. Cultural institutions, in particular, have found themselves in the firing line, reshaped by political pressure and an ever-narrowing space for dissent.  Guest: Sebastian Smee, Pulitzer Prize winning art critic, formerly of the Washington Post...

Peter Marralwanga was a leading figure in traditional  bark paintings from Western Arnhem Land which depicted important ceremonies and creation stories like the Rainbow Serpent (called Bolung or Ngalyod) and the mermaid-like Yawkyawk. The creation spirits in his paintings were the Djang who made his country and placed the spirits of people within it. While many people from his generation were forc...

India is the world's biggest exporter of, and consumer of, antibiotics. Their overuse and misuse is on the brink of triggering systemic failures across food production, health care, and public welfare. It is part of a wider threat to the world at large, from antimicrobial resistance, when antibiotics no longer work against bacteria. Guest: Assa Doron, co-author with Alex Broom, of ‘World of Resist...

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 the country failed to meet his Tuesday (USA ET) deadline to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. If actioned, the destruction of civilian infrastructure could constitute war crimes. Will the President follow through, or back out again?  Guest: Bruce Shapiro,...

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 of Capricorn paints a vastly different picture of this country, its people, politics and ambitions.  Guest: Henry Reynolds, historian and author of Looking from the North: Australian History from the Top Down

It’s been ten years since the Panama Papers exposed a global network of hidden offshore accounts used by politicians, celebrities, and corporations to avoid taxes and hide wealth. The leak sparked investigations in dozens of countries, led to high-profile resignations, and debates over financial transparency and accountability. A decade later, the Panama Papers remain a landmark in investigative j...

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 danger of losing Congress” he said. “Polls show that the voters who are most alienated from the administration are adults without college degrees, whose incomes have dropped the most. Many are (so-called) “Reagan Democrats,” who were slowest to rally to y...

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 divided in the first place, and which of its extreme leadership models, the Shahs or the Ayatollahs, have served Iran best? Guest: Robert Templar, author of 'The Shah's last party, and the Iranian Revolution that followed' (Hurst) Former journalist,...

Just one hour after Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese addressed the nation about oil supply issues, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer gave a press conference with his plan. But unlike Australia's response, UK Labour has a plan to address fuel prices.  Guest: Ian Dunt: iNews columnist and regular LNL commentator Producer: Ali Benton 

An environmental scientist and his colleagues have just finished mapping Australia's remaining wilderness areas - the first time it has been done in 40 years. The project shows that true wilderness areas have declined in area by at least 20%, and raises questions about how wilderness is defined.  Guest: James Watson, Professor of Environmental Science, University of QLD . Australian mapping commis...

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 found guilty of killing Israelis. The law effectively enshrines capital punishment for Palestinians alone, as it explicitly excludes Israeli citizens or residents who are tried in civilian courts. The UN Human Rights Office in Palestine has called on Isr...

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 sweetheart deal which will cost Australia about $60 billion in the next five years. That’s despite WA’s very healthy state coffers. The mineral-rich state has been running a surplus for 8 years, while running down debts. So how does WA keep justifying the...

The province of British Columbia, Canada has officially ditched its biannual seasonal clock changes, embracing daylight savings time forever - renamed Pacific time.  It's a seemingly popular decision locally, likely fast-tracked in response to Donald Trump's unfriendly rhetoric, but challenges await when the province falls out of sync with its neighbouring US states.  Guest: Maurice Katz, video jo...

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, and public services, and have instead become overly focused on identity, language, and symbolic actions. While she acknowledges the importance of struggles around race and gender, she believes these issues are sometimes treated separately from class an...

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. The PM is urging calm and encouraging Easter travel, but how will the current crisis shape the political landscape, and Jim Chalmers' looming budget?  Guest: Anna Henderson, chief political correspondent, SBS

The longstanding Director-General of the National Library of Australia Dr Marie-Louise Ayres has just retired after a long career, overseeing the digital cataloguing of millions of physical archives. It's a never-ending project, as the archive grows and technology continues to improve.  Guest: Marie-Louise Ayres, General-Director, National Library of Australia

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 aid organisations are struggling to meet the demand for help. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has seen much needed aid stranded in key transportation hubs like Dubai. Crucial fertiliser for growing crops is also being blocked just as spring planti...

The Museum of Failure, founded by psychologist Dr. Samuel West, is a celebration of innovation gone wrong. It showcases a wide range of failed products and ideas from around the world, from famous flops like the Apple Newton and Google Glass to lesser-known attempts that never made it to market. The museum emphasises that failure is not something to be feared or hidden, but rather a crucial part o...

Donald Trump’s private business footprint in the Gulf spans luxury real estate, golf courses, and high-profile partnerships. The Trump administration denies that this business activity is a conflict of interest with the US presidency. The Democrats, US based ethics groups and the American constitution says otherwise. Guest: Eric Lipton, Investigative reporter, New York Times Producer: Ali Benton

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 stock market rose sharply but fell again when Iran denied the talks. Now a Guardian report says Egypt has been assisting negotiations - so is Trump looking for an out? Meanwhile Congress has confirmed a new Homeland Secretary to replace the disgraced...

Pretty flowers often carry a dark side. Pesticides that harm the florists who handle them. Thousands of travel miles for the many imported flowers. And floral foam that leaks microplastics into water, and therefore waterways. Guest: Rita Feldmann, founder and education director of the Australian-based Sustainable Floristry Network Producer: Ann Arnold 

Trailblazing Arts executive and Widjabul Wieybal woman of the Bundjalung Nation Rhoda Roberts AO has died, aged 66. Alongside her vast accomplishments in Australian arts, media and culture, she is credited with coining the term 'Welcome to Country' - a modern ceremony with ancient roots, which first emerged in Australia's cultural scene in the 1970s. Rhoda joined David Marr on Late Night Live in F...

Why One Nation appealed to South Australians, plus the looming fuel shortage - is Australia moving fast enough to prepare for it? Guest: Anna Henderson, chief political correspondent with SBS

In 2017, a lawsuit uncovered internal emails from chemical giant Monsanto that suggested its employees helped ghostwrite an influential paper that claimed to find no evidence the company’s widely used glyphosate herbicide, Roundup, caused cancer. Now, the scientific journal that published the 2000 paper has announced it has been retracted, at the request of Harvard scientist Naomi Oreskes. Guest:...

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 million of them. Evangelical churches are not only encouraging their congregations to bring their guns to church, in some cases they are setting up shooting ranges, raffling off guns as prizes and even manufacturing the mass killing weapons being used i...