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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.
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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 of creativity, experimentation, and progress.Guest: Dr Samuel West, Clinical psychologist and founder, Museum of FailureProducer: Ali Benton
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 TimesProducer: 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 Kristi Noem, but Markwayne Mullin will have his hands full dealing with chaos as airports across America as Trump sends ICE agents in to replace workers affected by a go0vernmet shutdown. And the Pentagon loses its defence of media shut-out rules. Guest: Bruce Shapiro, contributing editor with The Nation magazine and Director of the Global Center for Journalism and Trauma. Producer: Catherine Zengerer
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 NetworkProducer: 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 February 2025, at a time when some federal politicians were suggesting these ceremonies were too costly and 'overdone'. Rhoda discussed their origins, purpose and value to First Nations people and the broader community. Guest: Rhoda Roberts AO, Arts executive and Widjabul Wieybal woman of the Bundjalung Nation
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
1In 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: Naomi Oreskes, Henry Charles Lea Professor of the History of Science at Harvard University. Producer: Ali BentonThe authority which regulates pesticides in Australia - the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) - maintains that glyphosate products are "...considered safe to use when the instructions on the label are followed."
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 in school shootings. Veteran journalist Bill Kole was an evangelical Christian himself when began investigating the intersection between guns and god, and what he found out made him question his own religion. Guest: William J. Kole, journalist and author of In Guns We Trust -The Unholy Trinity of White Evangelicals, Politics, and Firearms, published by Broadleaf books Producer: Catherine Zengerer
Pauline Hanson rose from Ipswich City Council in 1994, to win the federal seat of Oxley in 1996, as a disendorsed Liberal turned independent. Her maiden speech ignited national controversy, and after just two years in Canberra, and a string of failed comebacks, she’s now back at the centre of Australian politics — with One Nation now polling at 24% of the primary vote (Resolve Strategic). Some of Australia's finest political minds unpack Hanson's remarkable resurgence.Guests:Niki Savva, journalist, author and former political advisor to Peter CostelloPaul Kelly, Editor-at-large for The AustralianSimon Hunt and his alter ego Pauline PantsdownABC Election Analyst Emeritus, Antony GreenProducer: Ali Benton
On the day of his inauguration, US President Donald Trump issued a mass pardon covering over a thousand people charged or convicted in connection with the January 6 riots. Trump has gone on to issue hundreds of other pardons, many of them controversial. Law professor Saikrishna Prakash has looked at the use and abuse of presidential pardons, and says the law should be changed to restrict their power. Guest: Saikrishna Prakash, Distinguished Professor of Law and Miller Center Senior Fellow at the University of Virginia and author of The Presidential Pardon: the short clause with a long, troubled history, published by Harvard University Press.Producer: Ann Arnold
"I don't feel like it's satisfactory at all." Geoffrey Watson SC, has compared the sealed section of the Holmes Royal Commission into Robodebt with the recent findings by the National Anti-Corruption Commission. The NACC found two senior public servants engaged in serious corrupt conduct, but cleared former prime minister Scott Morrison and three other public servants, including former secretary of the Department of Human Services, Kathryn Campbell. Watson says it was clear from both the NACC and the Royal Commission reports that there was a culture of fear in the public service of consequences for not agreeing with directions from superiors.Guest: Geoffrey Watson SC, Director of the Centre for Public Integrity, Senior Counsel at New ChambersProducers: Catherine Zengerer/ David Marr
US President Donald Trump has renewed his criticism of the UK government over its response to the Iran conflict, after Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the country would not be drawn into the "wider war". On the domestic front in the UK, Starmer announces a cost of living package, to help with the rising cost of oil.Guest: Ian Dunt: iNews columnist and regular LNL commentatorGuest: Ian Dunt: iNews columnist and regular LNL commentator
Adelaide writer Margaret Merilees has spent her life protesting: from Pine Gap in the 1980 through to the Rising Tide protests against coal exports, to joining Extinction Rebellion and protesting SANTOS' support of the Tour Down Under bicycle race. Now she's written a collection of essays reflecting on the issues she's fought for, why people in their seventies are as determined as ever, and why younger generations need to know whose shoulders they are standing on. Guest: Margaret Merrilees, author of Scared Angry Laughing - how to fix the world, published by Pink Shorts Press.Producers: Ann Arnold and Catherine Zengerer
Saudi Arabia has long sought to be the dominant power in the Middle East and there is speculation Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman himself urged President Donald Trump to go ahead with the bombing of Iran on February 28. But in the past few years the kingdom has been softening its stance towards its formal rival, and Saudi Arabia has been diversifying its economy away from oil production. So who will emerge stronger after this war?Guest: Simon Mabon, Professor of International Politics at Lancaster University, specialising in Saudi-Iranian relations, and author of The Struggle for Supremacy in the Middle East: Saudi Arabia and Iran, published by Cambridge University Press (2023)Producer: Catherine Zengerer
The new Nationals' leader has announced his front bench. Our weekly correspondent analyses what the reshaped Nationals will offer, and how they will deal Pauline Hanson and Barnaby Joyce.Guest: Anna Henderson, chief political correspondent, SBS
In January, AI-generated pornography flooded the social media site X, owned by Elon Musk. X's AI chatbot turned anybody into pornography, and brought millions of eyeballs to the site. What should we make of this new frontier of pornography?Guest: Jo Bartosch, journalist and assistant editor at The Critic, and co-author of PornocracyProducer: Alex Tighe
Grigory Rasputin rose from a humble Siberian peasant to become one of the most influential figures at the court of Tsar Nicholas II. A mystic and self-proclaimed holy man, he won the trust of the Romanov family and gained extraordinary access to power. But his growing influence, scandals and enemies at court deepened the crisis facing imperial Russia. In Rasputin and the Downfall of the Romanovs, historian Antony Beevor explores how the “mad monk” became entangled in the empire’s final collapse.Guest: Antony Beevor, historianProducer: Ali Benton
The Irish have high trust in government, and, also, a surprisingly widespread belief in conspiracy theories. What explains the Irish appetite for conspiracies, and how can damaging beliefs be slowed down? Plus: a digression about bouncy castles.Guest: Jane Suiter, Professor in the School of Communications at Dublin City University (DCU) and director of DCU's Institute for Future Media, Democracy and SocietyProducer: Alex Tighe
The amount of money going towards subsidising Australian film and TV has gone way up over the last two decades. The number of hours being made has gone way down. Why?Guests: Professor Anna Potter, a professor in Digital Media and Cultural Studies in Queensland University of Technology’s School of Communication; and Simon Nasht, a former political journalist for The Age and the ABC, and now a documentary producer and filmmakerProducer: Alex Tighe
In the early 2000s, esteemed Australian archaeologist Matthew Spriggs made a promise to the community of Aneityum, an island of Vanuatu: he would try to recover their lost numbering system, erased by English missionaries in the mid-1800s. He has now found it, and is returning the knowledge to the community.Guest: Matthew Spriggs, Emeritus Professor of Archaeology at The Australian National University (ANU). Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities. Honorary Curator of Archaeology at the National Museum of Vanuatu, and Honorary Librarian of the Vanuatu and Pacific Collections at the National Library of Vanuatu. Producer: Ann Arnold
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Muslims voting for progressives who support lgbtqi+?
net zero will become toxic? not to the abc. taco will sue abc over Sarah Ferguson Russia collusion fake news
brilliant interview, left vrs v left with ad homennum attacks
protests like 13Sept. how many?
what a shame dunt wasn't interrogated like Victoria Coates
I'd like to hear Fintans opinions on the protests in Ireland
a historian who says the pyramids and sphinx are 2000yrs old. DEI in action
Oh dear, David finally has an ethic guest on who doesn't follow the script
Bruce gets it wrong again
The ABC does it again. It manages to find the 1 person on the planet who has anything positive to say about Macron
out of touch.
University of terrorism
savva is not a liberal
another book with a limited circulation, paid for by grants from the taxpayer
fantasy. find someone else with a grip on reality
reality hurts, so shapiro retreats into fantasy.
triumph of optimism over reality in Muhammedan countries
next week the rule of hamas in gaza and how well that worked out.... maybe not on the abc
sava needs medical help
The left just cannot face facts. Women do not have a penis and Harris was hopeless