Late Night Live - Separate stories podcast

John Menadue has been at the heart of Australian public life for over fifty years, working for the Whitlam, Fraser and Hawke governments. He oversaw the effective end to Australia's White Australia Policy, was CEO of Qantas and set up the Centre for Policy Development. In the media he ran The Australian for Rupert Murdoch, launched the online weekly New Matilda and founded the influential public policy platform, Pearls and Irritations. Now aged ninety, John reflects on Australia's media, in particular its coverage of the war in Gaza, our attitudes to race relations, AUKUS, our relationship with the United States and how Australia is navigating its place in the world during a global power shift. Guest: John Menadue, Founder and Editor in Chief of Pearls and Irritations Producer: Catherine Zengerer

From Dresden to Notre Dame, rebuilding or replicating in architecture, is never a neutral act. The art of the rebuild is about politics, national identity and sometimes, even just plain mimicry. GUEST: Elizabeth Kostina, Masters student in historic preservation at Columbia University in New YorkPRODUCER: Ali Benton

Former Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan has spent two years behind bars, sentenced to 14 years on corruption charges. Khan says he's the victim of political attacks, and is refusing to cut a deal for his release. Meanwhile, his old PTI party is struggling to form a stable opposition. Guest: Dr. Farzana Shaikh, associate fellow at Chatham House, author of Making Sense of PakistanProducer: Jack Schmidt

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer joined President Donald Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and European leaders to discuss pathways to peace in the Ukraine-Russia war. Plus, could Irish novelist, Sally Rooney, be arrested under the UK Terrorism Act after pledging royalties to Palestine Action?GUEST: Ian Dunt, columnist with i-news and co-host of the Origin Story podcast  PRODUCER: Ali Benton

Harry Parkin is a Senior lecturer in English Language at the University of Chester and the editor of the Concise Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain. He discusses the surprisingly recent tradition of surnames in England, emerging post-1066. Parkin highlights how names transitioned from indicating landownership to becoming inherited markers of identity. He also explores the global variations in naming practices, revealing how surnames can reflect societal dynamics and personal heritage, along with some curious anecdotes about their etymology.

Last month, around 80% of Tuvalu's population balloted for a new Australian visa. The 'Falepili Mobility Pathway' is a response to the erosion of Tuvalu's territory caused by rising sea levels; each year, 280 Tuvaluans will be chosen to apply for the visa, which allows unrestricted movement and the right to work in Australia.Guest: Jane McAdam, Scientia Professor of Law and Founding Director of the Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law at UNSW Sydney.Producer: Alex Tighe

Laura Tingle assesses the meeting in Alaska between Presidents Trump and Putin, where Ukraine President Zelenskyy fits in the negotiations, why European leaders are locking arms with him and what happens when Donald Trump doesn't seem to have a cohesive geo-strategic plan.Guest: Laura Tingle, ABC Global Affairs Editor

The last letters of WWII French resistance fighters, before their executions, became important for French morale-boosting and Allied propaganda. The letters themselves show us people reckoning with what’s important. Guest: Daniel Brunstetter, Professor of political science at the University of California, Irvine, working on a book called ‘The Last Letter: Intimate Farewell, Weapon of the French Resistance, Memorial Battleground’ Producer: Ann Arnold

A new Netflix documentary investigates the evangelical forces behind Jair Bolsanaro in Brazil, and how the seeds of the movement were planted in the 1970s by American televangelist Billy Graham. The film traces the extraordinary political power of the preacher Silas Malafaia, his deep relationship with Bolsanaro, and the havoc they created during the Covid-19 pandemic, when 700,000 people died. Guest: Petra Costa, Director Apocalypse in the TropicsProducer: Catherine Zengerer

Acclaimed US journalists and podcast collaborators with The Atlantic Hanna Rosin and Lauren Ober join David Marr in-studio to discuss the MAGA women who love Trump, the state of the media in post-insurrection America, and the importance of complex human storytelling in journalism. Guests: Hanna Rosin and Lauren Ober, co-hosts of the podcast We Live Here Now. Hanna is also Senior Editor at the Atlantic and host of Radio Atlantic Producer: Catherine Zengerer