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Incisive analysis, fearless debates and nightly surprises. Explore the serious, the strange and the profound with David Marr.
This LNL podcast contains the stories in separate episodes. Subscribe to the full podcast wherever you get your podcasts.
This LNL podcast contains the stories in separate episodes. Subscribe to the full podcast wherever you get your podcasts.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Sep 18, 2025 • 27min
Has the CIA lost its way?
Founded in 1947, the CIA was established under the mission 'know thine enemy'. Now, under US President Donald Trump, the agency is being gutted. Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, Tim Weiner, argues that Trump has instigated what he calls an “ideological purge” at the CIA. Analysts and officers with decades of experience are being pushed out (or told to leave) under the new leadership, of CIA Director John RatcliffeGUEST: Tim Weiner, author The Mission: The CIA in the 21st CenturyPRODUCER: Ali Benton

Sep 18, 2025 • 23min
Australian war memorial withdraws literary prize awarded to author and journalist Chris Masters
The Australian War Memorial has decided not to award a prestigious literary prize to journalist Chris Masters for a book about alleged war criminal Ben Roberts-Smith, insisting the rules prevent established authors from being considered. GUEST: Peter Stanley, Principal Historian at the Australian War Memorial from 1980 to 2007. PRODUCER: Catherine Zengerer

Sep 17, 2025 • 27min
The Patagonia story: how to make a fortune and give it all away
Patagonia is an outdoor clothing retailer than has grown into a global giant with a hundred stores around the world and an enormous online business, posting sales of more than a billion dollars a year. For decades, it has also been a beacon for social change and corporate activism. But in 2022 its founder, Yvon Chouinard, determined to get off the Forbes Billionaire list, gave his whole business away. He set up the Patagonia Purpose Trust, with 100 percent control given to the Holdfast Collective, a nonprofit dedicated to fighting the environmental crisis and defending nature. but while Chairbound spent a lifetime trying to protect the environment, he also did lots of damage along the way. Guest: David Gelles, climate reporter for the New York Times and author of “Dirtbag Billionaire: How Yvon Chouinard Built Patagonia, Made a Fortune, and Gave It All Away” published by Text publishingProducer: Catherine Zengerer

Sep 17, 2025 • 25min
Humiliation — the "nasty edge" of politics
Many emotions drive politics and culture: ambition, greed, altruism, anger. But what about humiliation? An Australian anthropologist makes the case that humiliation and its counterpart, dignity, are overlooked motivators of politics, both locally and globally.Guest: Professor Ghassan Hage, Professorial Fellow in Anthropology and Social Theory at the University of MelbourneProducer: Alex Tighe

Sep 16, 2025 • 11min
Anguilla's .ai domain name is an internet jackpot
Every time someone buys a web domain ending in .ai, the tiny island nation of Anguilla gets a fee. In the same way that .au is for Australia and .uk is for the United Kingdom, the .ai country code is Anguilla's... which means that the launch of ChatGPT and the booming interest in artificial intelligence has been a windfall for Anguilla. AI start-ups have been snapping up .ai domain names over the last few years, and the fees for .ai domains now account for almost a quarter of Anguilla's government revenue.

Sep 16, 2025 • 25min
UN report finds Israel is committing genocide in Gaza
Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, according to a report by a United Nations Commision of Inquiry. The Commission, established by the UN Human Rights Council, concluded that Israeli authorities "intended to kill as many Palestinians as possible" and have committed the crime against humanity of extermination. One of the key authors of that report, Australian human rights lawyer Chris Sidoti, joins Late Night Live just hours after its release.Guest: Chris Sidoti, lawyer and member of the UN’s Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian TerritoryProducer: Catherine Zengerer

Sep 16, 2025 • 14min
Ian Dunt's UK: Mandelson gone, far right protests and Donald Trump's UK visit
Keir Starmer has sacked Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the US over his association with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, the far right takes to the streets of the UK, with a cameo from tech billionaire Elon Musk, and Donald Trump's state visit to the UKGUEST: Ian Dunt, columnist with i-news; co-host of the Origin Story podcast PRODUCER: Ali Benton

Sep 15, 2025 • 13min
Why do we use the QWERTY keyboard?
The QWERTY keyboard wasn't designed to be fast or logical. It was created in the 1870s to stop typewriter keys from jamming - and to suit telegraph operators working in morse code. Since then, more efficient layouts like Dvorak have been invented, but none have stuck. So how did QWERTY become "locked in" to our machines, our workplaces, and even our muscle memory?Guest: Gianfranco Di Giovanni, Content Director for ABC Radio Perth and consumer technology journalistProducer: Rebecca Metcalf

Sep 15, 2025 • 23min
Bruce Shapiro on the fall-out from the Charlie Kirk assassination
US correspondent Bruce Shapiro looks at the fall-out from the assassination of Charlie Kirk, the 31-year-old founder of Turning Point USA, including the targeted campaign against Kirk's critics, what President Trump meant when he said he would "go after the radical left", the continued lack of interest in gun control and the implications for the trans community in the USA. Guest: Bruce Shapiro, contributing editor with The Nation magazine and Director of the Global Center for Journalism and Trauma. Producer: Catherine Zengerer

Sep 15, 2025 • 16min
Anna Henderson's Canberra: climate targets, and tackling Islamophobia
As Australia's first climate risk report is released, Anna Henderson looks at the challenge in uniting the Coalition around net zero targets, as Liberal frontbencher Andrew Hastie threatens to quit the shadow cabinet if the Coalition does not abandon its target. Plus how Sussan Ley is navigating the issues raised in the Islamophobia Envoy, Aftab Malik's, report. Guest: Anna Henderson, SBS World News Chief Political Correspondent | National Press Club DirectorProducer: Catherine Zengerer