Late Night Live - Separate stories podcast
1,319 episodes - English - Latest episode: almost 2 years ago - ★★★★★ - 18 ratingsLNL stories separated out for listening. From razor-sharp analysis of current events to the hottest debates in politics, science, philosophy and culture, Late Night Live puts you firmly in the big picture.
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Episodes
Lech Blaine on the campaign trail
June 02, 2022 12:05 - 27 minutes - 25.2 MBLech Blaine spent five weeks on the campaign trail and met some very interesting people on his journey through Queensland in particular. He introduces us to some of the swinging voters and why some people were changing from voting for One Nation to voting for the Greens. He has written a colourful cover piece for The Monthly which is called "Teal and Loathing".
The unlikely drug smugglers
June 01, 2022 12:40 - 19 minutes - 17.6 MBThey were erroneously referred to as the ‘drug grannies’. In 1978, two American women in their late 50s/early 60s, life companions and not a grandchild between them, were charged with importing into Australia a two-tonne load of cannabis resin, or hashish, in a campervan. Vera Hays and Florice Bessire had unwittingly, according to former journalist Sandi Logan, who has stayed with their story for 40 years, become drug mules for Vera's charismatic ne...
The WA gas project that will blow our chances of achieving our emissions targets and threaten precious ancient rock art
June 01, 2022 12:20 - 19 minutes - 17.5 MBOn WA's Burrup peninsula in the Pilbara a site of significant Indigenous rock art is at risk from Woodside petroleum's plan to massively expand its Pluto LNG project in Karratha by bringing in more gas from the Scarborough gas fields offshore. Climate analysts say the project so big, it would blow our chances of ever reaching our carbon reduction targets.
A new look at the life of Winston Churchill
May 31, 2022 12:40 - 22 minutes - 20.2 MBThere is no doubt Winston Churchill's legacy is complicated. Generally considered as one of the greatest leaders of the twentieth century - he was nonetheless a man with some challenging characteristics. Veteran journalist and author Geoffrey Wheatcroft brings an alternative analysis to the life of Winston Churchill.
Why Australia needs a First Nations Foreign Policy
May 31, 2022 12:20 - 14 minutes - 13.5 MBAt the National Press Club before the election, the now Foreign Minister Penny Wong announced that her government would implement a First Nations Foreign Policy and since the election she has referred to this new policy several times. James Blackwell explains what a First Nations Foreign Policy could look like.
Returning ancient ceramics from the maritime silk route
May 30, 2022 12:40 - 15 minutes - 14 MBMost of the objects found on shipwrecks on the maritime silk route have not been fully understood because they were salvaged without proper archaeological processes and often sold on the private market for huge sums of money. Now Flinders University archaeologists will lead an international consortium to discover the origin of ancient ceramics from the route with the hope of returning them to their countries of origin. ...
The revival of NATO: Good or bad for world security?
May 30, 2022 12:20 - 19 minutes - 17.7 MBPutin's invasion of Russia has breathed new life into the alliance Trump considered 'obsolete'. As Sweden and Finland are poised to become the latest members, it's worth considering what the purpose of NATO actually is and whether it has made, and will continue to make, the world a safer place.
A Blue New Deal to save our oceans
May 26, 2022 12:20 - 22 minutes - 20.7 MBOver the last few years there’s been growing momentum for green jobs, green manufacturing and Green New Deals to reverse climate change and provide for an equitable transition. But, for the most part, there has been little talk of the ‘blue’ – the importance of the world’s oceans to this effort. Chris Armstrong sets out to change this, by providing an urgent case for the need to save the oceans, and a radical roadmap to do so. ...
Locals and asylum seekers
May 26, 2022 12:05 - 31 minutes - 28.7 MBEverywhere in the world that boatloads of asylum seekers land, or where they are detained, there are local people who will inevitably be affected by what they see, and possibly by ongoing involvements. But we don’t hear much about those people. They are the host communities, effectively, even though they usually didn't choose to be. This story looks at Christmas Island, with reference also to the Italian island of Lampedusa. ...
The power of reading dangerously
May 25, 2022 12:40 - 21 minutes - 19.8 MBBestselling author of Reading Lolita in Tehran Azar Nafisi argues that in order to resist the populist and polarising impulses of contemporary politics we must read dangerously; works by authors like Salman Rushdie, Margaret Atwood, Elias Khoury and Ta-Nehisi Coates that challenge comforting clichés and attempt to change the world.
China-Taliban relations
May 25, 2022 12:20 - 17 minutes - 15.8 MBChina were one of the first countries to offer support for the Taliban regime when they seized power in 2021. Where are relations now?
The Pacific Report
May 25, 2022 12:05 - 12 minutes - 11.5 MBWhat is the Pacific response to the new Labor government and can new foreign minister Penny Wong build relationships and regain trust with both our Pacific neighbours and China? Meanwhile her Chinese foreign minister counterpart, Wang Yi, is doing a whistlestop tour of the Pacific.
The Last Executed German
May 24, 2022 12:40 - 14 minutes - 13.3 MBFranziska Stünke's new film explores the life of Werner Teske, a Stasi agent who has the ignoble title of being the last person to be executed in East Germany in 1981.
Decoding the Russian propaganda machine
May 24, 2022 12:20 - 19 minutes - 17.4 MBAs the Russian invasion of Ukraine drags on, it's clear the West is getting a very different version of the war to the people of Russia who are accessing their news on Russian State television. Vladimir Putin has been drawing on the language of WW2 to keep the population behind the war on Ukraine.
Biden in Asia, Covid in North Korea and a Quad meeting
May 24, 2022 12:05 - 17 minutes - 16.4 MBNorth Korea has taken advantage of the war in Ukraine to step up its military activity, but could a Covid wave present a diplomatic opportunity? Plus, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese spends his first day on the job at a Quad meeting in Tokyo.
The Wood Age
May 23, 2022 12:20 - 29 minutes - 26.7 MBRoland Ennos believes that we take trees for granted, and that in fact wood and trees have played a significant role in human evolution. From when we lived in trees to using wood to create tools, fire, houses, boats and paper, wood has proved the most versatile of materials.
The 2022 Election Wrap
May 23, 2022 12:05 - 22 minutes - 20.8 MBLaura Tingle and Niki Savva analyse the election outcome and what the new Parliament will look like. What will the results mean for the Labor Party, the Liberal Party, the Nationals and how will Anthony Albanese manage the huge number of independents in both the lower house and the Senate.
Communism in the family: truths and myths about Katharine Susannah Prichard and her son Ric Throssell
May 19, 2022 12:05 - 53 minutes - 48.9 MBTwo new books look at the lives of the remarkable Prichard/Throssell family. 20th century novelist Katharine Susannah Prichard was a founding member of the Communist Party in Australia. In her last years in Perth, and after her death, she was referred to as The Red Witch, although the meaning of that depended on who was saying it.. Katharine’s son, Ric Throssell, was a diplomat who was accused of being a Russian spy, and that plagued him all his...
How fractions distort our thinking
May 18, 2022 12:40 - 19 minutes - 18.2 MBJames Zimring explains why our inability to fully understand and process fractions, percentages and numbers has profound ramifications not only for our lives and wellbeing but also in the way we think.
Ticking time bomb off the coast of Yemen
May 18, 2022 12:20 - 18 minutes - 16.7 MBThere are grave fears that a decaying oil tanker off the coast of Yemen could result in one of history's most disastrous oil spills, and exacerbate the world's worst humanitarian crisis. A small window of opportunity has opened for a U.N. mission to avert the crisis, but whether it can be pulled off will come down to global political will.
Operation Paperclip
May 17, 2022 12:40 - 15 minutes - 14.3 MBAs the war drew to a close in Europe, American scientific intelligence officers were looking for weapons - rockets, biological and chemical weapons that they would take back to America. But they were also looking for the scientists and engineers that had overseen their design and construction, so they could offer them a new life in America where they would share their knowledge and secrets in return for wiping their record of atrocities clean. It was ...
Coal electorates in the 2022 election campaign
May 17, 2022 12:20 - 20 minutes - 18.3 MBThe politics being played out in the various coal electorates has received surprisingly little attention in this election campaign. But investigative journalist Marian Wilkinson has been on the ground in the NSW Hunter region, listening to what voters are being told and promised. She says it's a different story there and in some QLD seats, compared to the messaging for city voters.
Bruce Shapiro's America
May 17, 2022 12:05 - 14 minutes - 13.5 MBThe United States is reeling after a racially motivated mass shooting in Buffalo, New York and the fallout from the leaked draft Supreme Court opinion overturning Roe v Wade continues.
Antoinette Lattouf on how to have a conversation about racism
May 16, 2022 12:40 - 22 minutes - 20.9 MBJournalist and media diversity advocate Antoinette Lattouf thinks that Australia needs to find new ways to talk about racism - not only about the structural racism that works against immigrants of colour and the First Nations population of Australia, but also how to deal with casual and overt racism on a day to day basis.
The environment and the election
May 16, 2022 12:20 - 15 minutes - 14.5 MBAustralia is facing an extinction crisis, yet the environment has been almost completely absent from debates during the election campaign. What pledges and policies have the major parties announced when it comes to biodiversity and conservation, and what do those working in the field want the next federal government to prioritise?
Laura Tingle and Niki Savva on the campaign trail
May 16, 2022 12:05 - 15 minutes - 14.1 MBLaura Tingle and Niki Savva analyse the final weeks of the campaign including the new housing policy from the Coalition and the pitch from Prime Minister Morrison that he is no longer a bulldozer. And has Anthony Albanese has done enough to recover from his early campaign jitters to give voters a convincing alternative.
India's turbulent history
May 12, 2022 12:05 - 53 minutes - 49.1 MBAs Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi navigates the country's delicate relationship with China, and defends India's position of neutrality on the Russia/Ukraine war, the country's position in the world is more important than ever. Author John Zubrzycki has looked to the past to understand the politics of the present in India.
From stone age neurosurgeons to robots: the surprising history of surgery
May 11, 2022 12:40 - 19 minutes - 18 MBYou might think surgery is a fairly modern phenomenon, but in the Stone Age cavemen performed neurosurgery and their patients lived to tell the tale! Ancients Egyptians, Greeks and Romans picked up the mantle of surgery before it was thrust into the hands of barbers. It's since come leaps and bounds, but the development of robotics has placed surgery at another crossroads.
How recycled phones are saving rainforests and their inhabitants
May 11, 2022 12:20 - 19 minutes - 17.8 MBConservation technologist Topher White is re-purposing old mobile phones to defend the world’s rainforests from illegal logging and to monitor the sounds of important species of birds and animals.
Indigenous News with Sarah Collard
May 11, 2022 12:05 - 13 minutes - 12.2 MBSarah Collard reports on her week on the campaign bus with Scott Morrison and the issues that Indigenous Australians would have liked to see on the front pages. She also profiles some of the Indigenous candidates that are running this election across the nation and the political divide.
Driftwood - escape and survival through art and music
May 10, 2022 12:40 - 17 minutes - 16 MBTania de Jong tells the incredible story of the renowned Austrian/Australian sculptor Karl Duldig, his artist/inventor wife, Slawa Horowitz-Duldig and their escape from the holocaust in a new musical called Driftwood.
Basic Income for artists
May 10, 2022 12:20 - 19 minutes - 17.4 MBIrish artists of every kind - performers, writers, sculptors, musicians, the lot - are nervously waiting to hear if they will be among the 2000 people to be allocated a Basic Income for three years. The Irish Government has announced this pilot program for artists impacted by the pandemic – billed as a New Deal, and a once in a lifetime policy intervention. Could we, and would we, do it in Australia? Or is Ireland, where culture is so embedded in i...
Meet the young Democrats reviving rural politics
May 10, 2022 12:05 - 16 minutes - 14.7 MBChloe Maxmin and Canyon Woodward were mid-twenties climate activists when they turned their skill at organising social movements into a political campaign that led them to turn the heart of red rural America blue. Now they've written a tough-led letter to the Democratic Party and provided a roadmap for other progressive politicians to connect with rural voters.
Ideas being floated to fix Australia's housing crisis
May 09, 2022 12:40 - 20 minutes - 19 MBHousing has entered the election debates, with each major party making different promises. But what do the experts say about how far these proposals might go to address the affordability crisis, in both house prices and rents, hitting hundreds of thousands of Australians? Two experts discuss the election pledges and float their own possible solutions.
Australia's economic choices: Houses and holes
May 09, 2022 12:21 - 14 minutes - 13.5 MBIn the third and final part of this series drawing on themes discussed in Satyajit Das' new book Fortune's Fool: Australia's Choices we discuss Australia's 'houses and holes' economy and the risks inherent in our dependence on our current housing system and mineral wealth.
Laura Tingle's Election 2022 with David Washington
May 09, 2022 12:05 - 14 minutes - 13.1 MBIndependents are challenging two key seats in SA: the state's most marginal seat of Boothby, and the surprise seat of Grey. Will the Senate race in SA see the return of Senator Rex Patrick, will Nick Xenophon make a come-back and could the Greens pick up a second seat?
Lynette Wallworth comes out from behind the camera
May 05, 2022 12:20 - 21 minutes - 20.1 MBLynette Wallworth is a an Emmy Award winning film maker and artist. Earlier works include Collisions and Awavena that used virtual reality technology to demonstrate the clashes between Indigenous cultures and the modern world. In her latest work she comes out from behind the camera to tell her own story of the four years she spent in a cult.
Australia's forgotten nuclear test site
May 05, 2022 12:05 - 28 minutes - 26.4 MBThree years before the British atomic tests at Maralinga, in remote South Australia, there were two big tests at Emu Field, a red earth claypan about 200kms from Maralinga. It was 1953, and it was an experiment that took little care to protect Aboriginal people in the wider area, or Air Force personnel who were instructed to fly into the cloud. And yet we barely know anything about it.
The gentleman hangman
May 04, 2022 12:40 - 22 minutes - 20.7 MBHanging was a significant part of life in the colony of NSW; reported on, speculated on, and gossiped about. The hangmen themselves were the bogey men of popular culture, cast as evil or undesirables. One though – the colony’s longest serving hangman – was a bit different to his predecessors, seen as more stable and thoughtful.
India's deadly heatwave puts pressure on coal supplies
May 04, 2022 12:20 - 16 minutes - 15.3 MBOver the last week temperatures breached 45 degrees Celsius in at least nine Indian cities, a potentially deadly heatwave for a country where less than 12 percent of people have access to air-conditioners.
Reviewing book reviews
May 03, 2022 12:40 - 15 minutes - 14.3 MBThe selection of novels reviewed by major newspapers can come down to topicality of theme, click bait potential, and whether or not a particular freelance reviewer is available at the time. In a meta exercise, a recent article reviews a book about book reviewers, and analyses the changing culture of literary criticism.
How the King of Kowloon captured the spirit of Hong Kong protesters
May 03, 2022 12:20 - 23 minutes - 21.3 MBLouisa Lim delves into the rebellious history of Hong Kong, and tells the extraordinary story of the eccentric self-titled "King of Kowloon", whose determination to cover the city in his message of territorial ownership came to reflect the spirit of a nation repressed by global super-powers.
US update with The Emancipator's Kimberly Atkins Stohr
May 03, 2022 12:05 - 12 minutes - 11.4 MBA leaked draft reveals that the Supreme Court has voted to strike down the landmark Roe v. Wade decision, how student debt is perpetuating the racial wealth gap and a new report reveals Harvard's ties to slavery.
The many lives of Calamity Jane
May 02, 2022 12:40 - 18 minutes - 16.8 MBHow Martha Jane Canary became Calamity Jane- an icon of the American wild west.
Marcos family on the cusp of regaining power in Philippines
May 02, 2022 12:20 - 18 minutes - 16.7 MBWith current Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte ineligible for re-election, son and namesake of the former dictator Ferdinand Marcos Jr is currently poised to win a landslide victory when the country heads to the polls on May 9. With its implications for democracy, the looming election has been described as the ‘most consequential in modern Philippine history’.
Laura Tingle's Election 2022 with Dennis Atkins
May 02, 2022 12:05 - 13 minutes - 11.9 MBAfter launching Labor's election campaign in WA, Anthony Albanese has been campaigning in Queensland, where Labor is hoping to pick up the seat of Brisbane, and hold on to other inner urban seats. But they face significant challenges from the Greens and from One Nation, whose leader Pauline Hanson is likely to gain a seat in the Senate.
Saving Ukraine's cultural heritage
April 28, 2022 12:20 - 24 minutes - 22.2 MBUkrainians and their supporters around the world are racing to save Ukraine’s cultural heritage. Thousands of people are archiving, digitising, and rescuing digital resources before they are wiped. Our Ukrainian/American/Canadian guest, Ksenya Kiebuzinski, adds that the Ukrainian diaspora has a long history of preserving and circulating cultural artefacts.
How low should we go? The case for lowering the voting age
April 28, 2022 12:05 - 27 minutes - 24.9 MBYoung people are growing up with the knowledge that they will bear the brunt of today's policies, yet they have no say in the political process. Increasingly, political scientists are making the case that not only are young people capable of voting, their doing so might go some way to cleaning up politics and reversing democratic decline.
The Persians
April 27, 2022 12:40 - 19 minutes - 17.4 MBThe Persian empire was the world’s first superpower. Its geographical spread was from Libya down to Ethiopia, and across the Middle East to Pakistan and India. Its heart, and main seat of power, was in what is now Iran. But much of what we know about it is skewed, because our understandings of the Persians have been shaped by the Greeks, who were not big fans
Unrest in Sweden as Nordic countries push for NATO membership
April 27, 2022 12:20 - 18 minutes - 17.3 MBThere have been violent clashes in multiple cities in Sweden over rallies by anti-Islam group Hard Line, led by the Danish-Swedish politician Rasmus Paludan. Meanwhile Sweden and Finland are pushing to join NATO in the wake of the Russia/Ukraine war, with Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson saying Sweden had to be “prepared for all kinds of actions from Russia.”