-
1 week ago | 
abc.net.au | Natasha Mitchell |Claire Slattery |Brendan O'Neill |David Le May
The exiled founder of Russia's only independent television news channel, Mikhail Zygar, takes us inside Vladimir Putin's Russia, with a firsthand account of how the President has successfully silenced the media, opposition and Kremlin critics, to cement his hold on power. The 2025 AN Smith Lecture: Journalism against autocracy: Putin, Trump and the future of news was recorded at the University of Melbourne's Centre for Advancing Journalism on 31 March 2025.
-
1 week ago | 
abc.net.au | Natasha Mitchell |Isabella Tropiano |David Le May
A story of continents crashing and cleaving apart, the making of a civilisation, the language of the dead, and ... a mummified rat makes a cameo too. The Incan empire was vast and sophisticated. It built the stunning citadel in the clouds of Machu Picchu in the Andes mountains. But within a century its people were catastrophically wiped out by the onslaught of the Spanish conquistadors.
-
1 week ago | 
abc.net.au | David Le May |Paul Penton |Karin Zsivanovits |Natasha Mitchell
The language used to talk about mental ill-health can play a key role in reducing or enforcing stigma. And it's constantly evolving. But what terms should be used and when? And by whom? The wrong word can not only deeply hurt a person's feelings. It can end careers, destroy relationships, cut access to support systems.
-
1 week ago | 
abc.net.au | Natasha Mitchell |Claire Slattery |David Le May
What can a mosquito teach us about time? Noone likes a mosquito bite — but for a brief moment when it stings you, you know you are alive. This idea is based on a traditional song of the Indigenous Sami peoples of the northern Arctic region. For long periods, they live in complete darkness or sunlight — how does this shape their experience and understanding of time? Humans are by nature temporal beings — it's what makes us different from other animals.
-
1 week ago | 
abc.net.au | Claire Nichols |Sarah L'Estrange |David Le May |Rhiannon Brown
Irish writer Eimear McBride revisits favourite characters on a rainy night, actor-turned-writer Tasma Walton dredges up a family story of abduction and James Bradley's crime novel about climate catastrophe. Irish writer Eimear McBride is a past winner of the Women's Prize for Fiction whose writing is celebrated for its originality and inventive use of language.
-
2 weeks ago | 
abc.net.au | Natasha Mitchell |Claire Slattery |Richard Girvan |David Le May
It's not long now until Australians find out what their next government will look like. The election has been described as a boring campaign, but a fascinating contest. So just what is going on in the minds of voters as Australia heads to the polls this weekend? This event was recorded at the Sorrento Writers Festival on 27 May 2025.
-
2 weeks ago | 
abc.net.au | Natasha Mitchell |Richard Girvan |Ross Richardson |David Le May
Are we living through a key turning point in world history? How do we make sense of this present moment, and what's on the horizon? Trump's trade wars, long-held alliances dismantled, the deadly conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine, the rise and rise of AI, the tech oligarch takeover, China's military build-up, NATO's demise, and much more. It's a confusing time. Four seasoned analysts and journalists with their finger on the pulse join Big Ideas host Natasha Mitchell to share their prognoses.
-
2 weeks ago | 
abc.net.au | Natasha Mitchell |Claire Slattery |Christian Huff-Johnston |David Le May
It's been called a coming-of-age story for a nation. The Whitlam Government's purchase of Jackson Pollock's Blue Poles in 1973 helped to bring down the government. So how did this abstract expressionist masterpiece become the most famous, most controversial artwork in Australia? Then: how does political portraiture affect how we feel about politicians — and how we vote? Jacqueline Maley looks at The Art in the Optics — and explains why political portraiture is more important than ever today.
-
2 weeks ago | 
abc.net.au | David Le May |Karin Zsivanovits |Natasha Mitchell
The USA has provided about 30% of global health funding. They have been dominant in supplying HIV/AIDS medication and have funded a major part of medical research. Much of this has now stopped with Donald Trump restricting gender affirming care, withdrawing from the WHO and holding funds from USAID - and the list goes on. What are the impacts on pandemic preparedness, future global health priorities and resource mobilisation?
-
2 weeks ago | 
abc.net.au | Claire Nichols |Anita Barraud |David Le May |Rhiannon Brown
Palestinian American playwright Betty Shamieh turns to fiction in Too Soon, a nuanced and lusty story of three generations of Palestinian women and the times that shape them. Australian author and TV screen writer Debra Oswald follows the eventful life of a gritty, strong woman in One Years of Betty. And in her biting satire Mother Tongue, Naima Brown asks, if you could change your life, could you live with what you left behind?
