Late Night Live - Separate stories podcast

Over her 70 year reign, Queen Elizabeth II encountered 13 US presidents - from Harry S Truman to Donald J Trump. The journalist Susan Page details how the Queen wielded her subtle influence over the world's most powerful men. Guest: Susan Page, Washington bureau chief for USA Today, author of 'The Queen and Her Presidents' Producer: Ali Benton

Journalist and former correspondent Irris Makler joins Late Night Live from Israel, days away from the nation's elections. Polling suggests neither Netanyahu's Likud party, nor the challenging bloc lead by Gadi Eisenkot will win enough seats to form a majority. Guest: Irris Makler, journalist and former Jerusalem correspondent, France24

A rare bystander's view of the 1965 coup where neighbours, including soon to be President Suharto, were key players. Tari Lang's family were radical intellectuals, working for the Sukarno Government. Sukarno was ousted, and their lives would never be the same. Guest: Tari Lang, author of 'My neighbour, the dictator' (Published by Monsoon, distributed by Simon & Schuster) Producer: Ann Arnold

Veteran Iraqi journalist Ghaith Abdul-Ahad surveys Iraq's uncertain future, as the US makes its final withdrawal of personnel, and the Iraqi government unleashes a familiar 'crackdown' on corruption. Guest: Ghaith Abdul-Ahad, journalist for the Guardian Producer: Ali Benton

500 years ago, the Incas ruled the western half of South America with the help of a unique form of writing based on coloured and knotted strings. Researchers think they're getting closer to deciphering these strings, known as khipus. Guest: Professor Sabine Hyland, anthropologist from the University of St Andrews Producer: Sarah Allely Originally broadcast in June 2025.

The current Ebola epidemic in the Democratic Republic of Congo is the largest and most lethal in that country’s history, with 4536 deaths so far from 9415 cases, and it continues to spread at an alarming rate in communities already facing violent conflict, food insecurity, and other health emergencies. The latest outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo virus, a different strain from the one responsible for the devastating 2014–2016 West African epidemic. During the first 100 days of the outbreak, the DRC recorded nearly six times as many infections as were reported during the early stages of the previous epidemic. Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors without Borders) has been there from the beginning, providing patient care and treatment. Dr Rupa Narra is a paediatrician who has undertaken three deployments to care for people with Ebola, and she says children are the most vulnerable, but are being left behind in the Ebola response. Guest: Dr Rupa Narra, Paediatric Medical Expert Officer with Médecins Sans…

With two weeks to go before the midterms, Bruce Shapiro runs through which states to watch for changing seats, and why many of them are former Republican strongholds. And he examines President Trump's strange diesel deal with Russia - will it win him any votes? Guest: Bruce Shapiro, contributing editor with The Nation magazine and Director of the Global Center for Journalism and Trauma. Producer: Catherine Zengerer

Hordes of yabbies are trashing rivers in southern Africa - an Australian native crayfish that has rapidly become a devastating pest. Can the crustaceans be curtailed, or is this an unstoppable invasion?

The youth movement known as the Cockroach Janta Party is testing Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's iron grip on power in India. Our guest, a global democracy expert, believes it's the most important challenge to Modi yet, and that the Cockroaches may represent a renewed prioritising of democratic ideals in that country. Guest: Maya Tudor, Professor of Politics and Public Policy at the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford Producer: Ann Arnold

SBS Chief political correspondent Anna Henderson on the attack on Independent MP for Indi, Helen Haines. Plus tensions between the PM and Treasurer Jim Chalmers over credit card payments, and why the Nationals won't support the EU trade agreement. Guest: Anna Henderson, chief political correspondent, SBS

In 1988 developers Tom and Wendy Chapman decided to expand their marina on Hindmarsh Island in the mouth of the Murray river which people usually accessed by ferry. But to get the development approved they needed to build a bridge from the mainland. Opposing them were the Ngarrindjeri women on the basis of what became known as ‘secret women’s business’. The island, which they call Kumarangk, was for them a place of birth, burial and sacred ceremonies. The Hindmarsh Island bridge affair would go on to become of the most controversial disputes over Aboriginal heritage in modern Australian history. Premiering at the Adelaide Film Festival this weekend is a new documentary about the scheme which would embroil the developers, the women, a lot of lawyers, both the state and federal governments and the media, in protracted battles spanning decades. Guests: Tracey Rigney, writer/director KUMARANGK: Sacred Women’s Business and Steve Kenny, one the lawyers who represented the Ngarrindjeri people. Producer: Catherine…

For thirty years reporter Amy Goodman has been dogging presidents, politicians, oil companies, and tyrants of all kinds for her radio and television show Democracy Now ! that’s syndicated to over 1000 public television and radio stations around the world. “I deeply believe it’s our job to go to where the silence is,” she says. “ … and you know it’s not quiet there. It’s raucous, it’s rowdy, people are organising. It just doesn’t hit the corporate radar screen. And that’s were Democracy Now! lives. I really do think independent media will save us …it’s dissent that will save us.” Now Oscar-nominated filmmakers Carl Deal and Tia Lessin have turned the cameras on her for their documentary Steal This Story, Please! which is showing at the Adelaide Film Festival on 18 and 24 October and opens in select cinemas in Australia from 22 October, 2026. Guest: Amy Goodman, journalist, co-host of Democracy Now! Star of the new documentary film Steal this story, Please! Producer: Catherine Zengerer

Author of multiple books, and longstanding writer for The New Yorker magazine, Susan Orlean is passionate about telling the stories of ordinary people, and showing why they are interesting. She is in Australia this week on a speaking tour. Guest: Susan Orlean. Most recent book 'Joyride: a memoir' (Allen & Unwin) One of her better known books is The Orchid Thief, later made into the Academy Award winning film Adaptation, starring Meryl Streep as Susan. Producer: Ann Arnold

A new book claims the snow gum, with its twisting form and multi-coloured bark, is the most exquisite tree in Australia. It plays many important roles – storing water, holding back snow to prevent drift and melt, food for birds, condensation which creates rain that ends up in rivers. But the trees are dying, killed by rogue beetles, fires, and climate change more broadly. Guests: Anthony Sharwood, journalist and author of several books about Australia's High Country. Co-author with Anna Langford of ‘The last snow gum’ (Hachette, Sept 2026) Anna Langford, co-author of 'The last snow gum'. Climate activist Producer: Ann Arnold

Zero is one of mathematics’ most profound inventions: a symbol for nothing that made new ways of thinking about numbers possible. Clemency Montelle traces its evolution across civilisations, from an empty placeholder to a number in its own right. Guest: Clemency Montelle, Professor in the School of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand Producer: Ali Benton

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio was on a mission when he visited Greece last week: to shore up defence ties between the two countries, to make new energy routes for US LNG exports and to use Greece as an example of a model NATO ally to the rest of Europe. Greece had its own agenda: deterrence against Turkiye who recently stepped up their global positioning with a defence pact with Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. Guest: Yanis Varoufakis - Greece’s former finance minister, leader of the Democracy in Europe Movement and co-host The Econoclasts podcast. Producer: Catherine Zengerer

UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham is pushing for a reset in Britain’s relationship with the EU, arguing Brexit has left the UK worse off and calling for closer economic ties. Guest: Ian Dunt, iNews columnist and regular LNL commentator Producer: Ali Benton

Artificial intelligence is raising big questions about power, profit and what it means to be human. Father Paolo Benanti, advisor to the Holy Sea on AI ethics, is in Australia to discuss how we should navigate the challenges posed by this rapidly developing technology Guest: Father Paolo Benanti, Professor at the Pontifical Gregorian University, and advisor to the Holy Sea on AI Ethics Producer: Ali Benton

Under federal law, faith schools in Australia have the right to expel pupils and sack teachers who are gay. The Law Reform Commission recommended abolishing the practice several times, but so far faith leaders have successfully argued such powers are essential to maintaining the ethos of their schools, whether Christian or Islamic. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese promised to address this gap in anti-discrimination law when he came to office, but has thus far failed to do so. Now Independent MP for Wentworth, Allegra Spender, has introduced a bill to end the right of faith schools and universities to punish gay and trans pupils and staff. Guest: Allegra Spender, Independent MP for Wentworth

Writer and historian Sally Young solves the strangest crime in Australian political history: the theft of the ceremonial mace from Victoria's parliament in October 1891. Guest: Sally Young, author, 'The Curious Case of the Stolen Mace: Solving Australia's Strangest Political Crime,' New South

Kate Grenville's new book, 'The Country Schoolmaster: A Mystery in 88 Letters' began with the discovery of an unassuming bundle of letters in state archives. On closer inspection, they revealed a curious tale of a rural teacher, Joseph Connor, accused of savagely beating his students. Was he a monster, or the victim of a small-town vendetta?

A chance encounter in 2003 led Heather Morris to meet 87 year-old Auschwitz survivor Lale Sokolov. For the next three years, Lale told her his story. Heather’s book, The Tattooist of Auschwitz, went on to be an international best-seller and television series, and led to two follow-up stories, Cilka’s Journey and Three Sisters. Now another chance encounter has led Heather to write a remarkable true story, The Piano Teacher of Montparnasse. In 1942 in Nazi-occupied Paris, the Nazis arrest a Jewish family, but their 11-year-old daughter escapes to her piano teacher, Andrée Levallois. Andrée is secretly a French Resistance operative who risks everything, including her own family, to hide the child. Guest: Heather Morris, author, The piano teacher of Montparnasse, published by Firefinch Producer: Catherine Zengerer

J.R.R. Tolkien created one of the most intoxicating imaginative worlds of the 20th century, but the man behind Middle-earth remains surprisingly elusive. A deeply religious, conservative Oxford academic, Tolkien was also an obsessive inventor of languages, myths and imaginary histories. Guest: DJ Taylor, author of The King under the Mountain Producer: Ali Benton

Tree rings are more than a record of a tree’s life. They’re an archive of climate, fire and environmental change. They can take us back thousands of years, revealing droughts, disasters and even clues to the rise and fall of societies. Valerie Trouet examines the science of reading these ancient records, from Europe’s oldest tree to Stradivarius violins. Guest: Valerie Trouet, Professor in the Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, University of Arizona Producer Ali Benton

Bruce Shapiro looks at the political fall-out from the Cornell University rape case, how the failed execution of Christa Pike in Tennessee has intensified national debate in the US over lethal-injection protocols, and, four weeks out from the mid-terms, all the polls are showing a Democrat win in both the House and the Senate... but how accurate are the polls? And could President Trump's recent $2 Billion USD Medicare spending spree swing the vote? Guest: Bruce Shapiro, contributing editor with The Nation magazine and Director of the Global Center for Journalism and Trauma. Producer: Catherine Zengerer

Australian writer Lech Blaine shares the stranger-than-fiction story of his childhood, growing up with a loving foster family in a rural Queensland pub, haunted by fanatical Christian kidnappers. Guest: Lech Blaine, author, 'Australian Gospel' Originally broadcast in November 2024

It's invisible, it drives us crazy, and we can't live without it. The wind has been worshipped, feared and cursed across cultures, referenced in the earliest forms of writing. Simon Winchester tells the stories of how we've mastered the winds, and when we've been humbled by it's awesome force. Guest: Simon Winchester, journalist and author of The Breath of the Gods: The History and Future of the Wind Producer: Alex Tighe This program was originally broadcast in November 2025.

This author ate multiple breakfasts in each of ten Indian cities, with the aim of looking at India's diversity and layered societies through its breakfast foods, makers and consumers. Guest: Priyadarshini Chatterjee, Kolkata-based travel, culture and food writer. Author of ‘First Bite: Breakfast stories from urban India’ (Speaking Tiger Books, 2026) Producer: Ann Arnold

Confronted with a series of existential threats, like the climate crisis and the potential of AI to end life on earth, Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor argue in their new book that wealthy billionaires, including the so-called "tech bros", have become focused not on how we can deal with those threats, but who will best survive them. Leaders of tech companies are now warning they could soon lose control as super intelligence supersedes their understanding and is acting for itself. As an increasing number of people both inside and outside of governments believe we are facing the end of days, and are using AI assisted warfare to help bring it on, Klein and Taylor warn there is an urgent need for far more limits on dangerous technologies than US President Donald Trump's Whitehouse accord, which allows companies to regulate themselves. Guest: Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor, co-authors, End times fascism and the fight for the living world, published by Penguin Producer: Catherine Zengerer

The German Peasants' War was the greatest popular uprising in Western Europe before the French Revolution. In 1524 and 1525, it swept across Germany with astonishing speed as thousands of people massed in armed bands to demand a new and more egalitarian order. The response from feudal overlords was brutal, but while the rebellion was suppressed, it would continue to influence subsequent revolts, contribute to the emergence of peasant and worker movements in the following centuries and serve as a precursor to larger social and political transformations in Europe. Guest: Professor Lyndal Roper, Regius Professor of History at Oriel College, Oxford University and author of Summer of Fire and Blood: The German Peasants' War, published by Hachette Producer: Catherine Zengerer

Trauma has become one of the defining languages of our age. Cultural theorist, Catherine Liu argues that our focus on individual suffering can obscure the deeper forces of class, inequality and power. So has trauma become a new form of political identity, and is it getting in the way of solidarity? Guest: Catherine Liu, Professor of Film & Media Studies at the University of California, Author of Traumatised: The New Politics of public suffering Producer: Ali Benton

Australian and Canadian-run companies, some with questionable credentials, are trying to cash in on Donald Trump's promotion of deep sea mining licences. The US licensing disregards the international regulator, the International Seabed Authority. Plus, the US Administration is moving to open up a big slab of the seabed off American Samoa and the Northern Mariana Islands, despite those territories' objections. Guest: Todd Woody, reporter, Bloomberg News. Specialises in the environment, and oceans in particular Producer: Ann Arnold

David Marr is on holiday in the outback, to see Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre in flood. He shares his birdseye view of the rare natural wonder.

Volkswagen was once the powerhouse of German industry. Now Chinese car makers are challenging its dominance, while Dieselgate still casts a shadow over the company. VW is cutting jobs, considering factory closures, and even turning one car plant towards defence production. Can the company reinvent itself before its glory days become history? Guest: Jack Ewing, New York Times reporter and author of Faster, Higher, Farther: The inside story of the Volkswagen emissions fraud Producer: Ali Benton

Mark Kenny reviews PM Anthony Albanese's week at the United Nations in New York, and asks whether the Australian leader should be more assertive in rebuking the US President, on issues like the regulation of AI. Guest: Professor Mark Kenny, Director of the Australian Studies Institute ANU, columnist for Canberra Times, co-host of Democracy Sausage podcast

Dozens of Australian and New Zealand doctors and nurses have worked in Gaza over the past two years. They temporarily joined the local medical staff in working around the clock, sometimes on very little food, trying to help people despite limited resources, and with the constant threat of attack. Forty of those medics have contributed accounts of their experiences to a book called '‘The Weight of Witness’. It is published by Readers and Writers Against Genocide, a collective of publishing professionals who contributed their services. Guests: Dr Bushra Othman, Palestinian Australian General Surgeon from Naarm/Melbourne. Has done three stints in Gaza, and edited the book. Dr Amy Neilson, QLD-based specialist in rural and remote , tropical, and emergency medicine. Visiting Medical Officer in the NSW Hunter/New England regions. Senior lecturer in medical education at James Cook University, Cairns. Spent two weeks in Gaza in 2025. Producer: Ann Arnold

A new book tracks this exotic 'spice' from the 16th century, and its origins in the world's only edible orchid, found in Central America, to the widespread use of vanilla flavouring today. And it explains how this very expensive resource came to be equated with bland. 'Vanilla' is now a synonym for ho-hum, whiter-than-white. Guest: Eric Jennings, Professor of History, University of Toronto. Author of ‘Vanilla: the history of an extraordinary bean’ (Yale University Press) Producer: Ann Arnold

Humanity has extracted more from the Earth in the past 50 years than in all previous history combined. James Crawford explores the global scramble for dwindling resources, from lithium in Chile to the fossil-fuel landscapes of his childhood. What happens when the age of abundance comes to an end? Guest: James Crawford, historian and broadcaster. Author, The Vanishing Earth, A journey through the last days of abundance Producer: Ali Benton

Immigration built Australia. Since the 1830s, when free settlers began to outnumber convicts in the colonies, some 12 million migrants have come to Australia, shaping the country's economy, culture and identity. These days, Australia is seen as one of the world's great multicultural success stories yet our relationship with newcomers has often been uneasy. Guest: Mark Cully, the author of Waves of Plenty: Immigration and the Making of Australia, published by Black Inc. Producer: Jackie Dent

It's been 54 months since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The Guardian’s senior international correspondent, Luke Harding, has witnessed the war firsthand. His latest book condemns the US 'betrayal' of Ukraine, and asks probing questions about Donald Trump’s often baffling relationship with Vladimir Putin. Guest: Luke Harding, senior international correspondent for The Guardian, author of 'Betrayal: Trump, Putin and the Age of Conquest' Producer: Julie Street

As US President Donald Trump's approval ratings hit new lows, are the Republicans facing a Democratic 'blue wave' at the looming midterm elections? Guest: Bruce Shaprio, Contributing Editor for The Nation, Executive Director of the Global Center for Journalism and Trauma

Since the early pastoral expansions of colonial Australia, the native bandicoot has attracted the ire of farmers and gardeners, blamed for digging up crops, ruining lawns, and even spreading disease. A new research paper traces 150 years of animosity to the bandicoot via old newspaper clippings. It tells the story of a maligned and misunderstood creature, once abundant but now threatened. Guest: Annabel Ellis, PhD candidate, University of Sydney Read Annabel's research paper here

António Guterres will step down as UN Secretary-General at the end of the year, after a decade in the job. He leaves a UN under pressure from wars, funding cuts and deepening rivalry between the major powers, with US President, Donald Trump openly challenging the organisation. Now the race is on to choose his successor, who will take over in January 2027. Guest: Richard Gowan, Director of Global Issues and Institutions at the International Crisis Group. Producer: Ali Benton

PM Anthony Albanese has visited Apple CEO Tim Cook in Silicon Valley to discuss Australia's digital safety laws, before travelling to New York for a meeting of the United Nations. Australia has formally launched a bid for a two year temporary seat on the UN Security Council, for 2029-2030. Guest: Anna Henderson, chief political correspondent, SBS

For millenia, Turkiye’s former capital of Istanbul has been at the centre of world affairs thanks to its geography straddling the Bosphorus, the natural canal that forms the border between Europe and Asia. President Erdogan is keen to see the country reclaim some of its former power and importance, and get rich in the process, as his reign becomes more and more autocratic. Suzy Hansen chronicles the age of authoritarianism in Turkiye through an intimate portrait of its people, how Istanbul handled hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees, and how its streets now teem with nationalistic fervour, political repression and rampant corruption. Guest: Suzy Hansen, journalist and author of From Life Itself: Turkey and Istanbul in the Age of Erdogan, published by Allen and Unwin Producer: Catherine Zengerer

Mary Gaudron has died at the age of 83, a giant of the Australian legal profession. She was a woman of many firsts: the first woman to sit on the Australian High Court, the first to hold the rank of a federal court judge, the first to be appointed Solicitor-General anywhere in the Commonwealth, the first woman admitted to the NSW Bar in 1972. Her colleague John Basten AO KC, former judge of the NSW Court of Appeal, remembers a formidable figure, who leaves a lasting legacy. Guest: John Basten AO KC, former judge of the NSW Court of Appeal

On his first day in office in 2025 US President Donald Trump announced a freeze on foreign aid. Billions of dollars in humanitarian assistance stopped flowing to other countries and thousands of aid workers were laid off. The U.S.A.I.D program was established by President John F Kennedy in 1961, at the peak of cold war tensions, but researcher Luke Fletcher says its roots date back to WWII, and a desire by the US to greatly expand its economic and military power. So what is the US losing by shutting it down? And who is filling the void? Guest: Luke Fletcher, Executive Director, Jubilee Australia Research Centre and author of America and the Birth of Global Aid, published by Routledge Producer: Catherine Zengerer

A world globe looks like a simple object, but look closely and you can see centuries of discovery, error, ambition and empire. The blank spaces, the imaginary islands, the borders and flags all tell us something about what people knew, and what they thought they knew. Guest: Nikolaus Schobesberger, Director at the Globe Museum of the Austrian National Library, Vienna Producer: Ali Benton

In May 2025, US President Donald Trump announced that he'd fired Kim Sajet, then Director of the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery, describing her as 'a highly partisan person, and a strong supporter of DEI'. Trump did not have the power to sack her, but Sajet decided to depart anyway. The White House continues to attack public museums and galleries deemed too 'woke' or unpatriotic in their displays of history. Sajet is in Australia to speak on the subject of courageous museum leadership in the age of culture wars. Guest: Kim Sajet, art historian and director of the Milwaukee Art Museum, former director of the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Kim is in Sydney for the International Congress of Maritime Museums, hosted by the Australian National Maritime Museum in Sydney. Her speech is titled Courageous Leadership: Museums in the Age of Culture Wars

The UK's new Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband has announced new sanctions on Israeli West Bank settlements, prompting a furious response from Israel. Plus, UK Reform leader Nigel Farage has received two record £36m donations from crypto-billionaires - but are those donations legal? Guest: Ian Dunt, columnist with i-news, co-host of the Origin Story podcast