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Radio fave and recommended listening: Late Night Live – abc.net.au/radionational/programs/latenightlive – a Monday-Thursday evening (10pm Australian Eastern Daylight) conversations spanning the globe with Phillip Adams.
Key Links
Late Night Live
Past Programs
In Bed With Phillip
iTunes (Separate Stories)
@LNLonRN
@PhillipAdams_1
About the program: Affectionately known as ‘the little wireless program’, Late Night Live has been presented by Phillip Adams for a record breaking 25 years. He says, and many an envious broadcaster and journalist agrees, ‘I’ve got the best job in Australian media.’ That’s because the little program isn’t so little, casting the widest net in wireless, gathering its guests and topics from around the planet—the best and the brightest discussing history, current affairs and the world’s most challenging ideas. Adding even more interest, the program’s style is famously friendly, good humoured and irreverent. Listen and you’ll learn why Phillip calls his listeners ‘gladdies’ and ‘poddies’ – G and Ps.
2023
Can humanity solve the world’s water crisis? – This week, thousands of delegates will assemble in New York to attend a UN Water Conference, as the world faces an escalating water crisis. Guest: Mike Young, Research Chair in Water and Environmental Policy at the University of Adelaide
How borders make and break our world – Today, there are more borders in the world than ever before. In fact, the building of border walls, barriers and barricades has increased sixfold in the past two decades alone. Conversation with James Crawford’, author of The Edge of the Plain (Canongate)
2022
2022 Year in Review: An irreverent look back at an eventful year – Last live Late Night Live for the year. It was the year of overturned abortion rights, a federal election, an infamous Oscars slap and a new European war. The year no one could afford a head of lettuce and the year a lettuce outlived a British Prime Minister. Join an all-star cast for a tour of the highs and lows of 2022. 1:00 It’s awful ; 4:30 You would think an anti-vaccer would have done more of his own research on Australia’s visa requirements. – James Schloeffel
A ‘fungi first’ approach to climate change – Vast underground fungal networks sequester carbon and sustain much of life on Earth. Yet they have so far been overlooked by efforts to tackle the climate crisis. A new fungi-focused non-profit – spun.earth – is working to change that. @spununderground
How millennial Sam Vincent fell into farming – Sam Vincent @samcvincent was working as a writer in Canberra when he agreed to start an apprenticeship with his father on the family farm. Now eight years later he has taken over the farm and has established a successful fig orchard as well as some cattle and sheep. What has he learnt about the land, its history and his father in that time?
An ecological manifesto for thriving under climate change – Tim Hollo has written an ecological manifesto for how we can not only survive, but thrive under climate change, highlighting the communities taking steps towards transformative collective action through mutual aid, ecological thinking, protest and more.
The story behind the Aboriginal Tent Embassy – Fifty years ago, Gary Foley was among the protestors that established the Aboriginal Tent Embassy on the lawns of Parliament House. What started out as a media stunt turned into one of the most significant and enduring protests for Aboriginal land rights and sovereignty. This year it is celebrating fifty years of endurance.
Stolen Focus – why you can’t pay attention – Author Johann Hari (@johannhari101) argues our collective attention span is declining rapidly, and there are sinister reasons behind it. (23/28:42 Collective awareness)
2021
Year in review, with laughs aplenty and sombre reflection as well – Our cheery panel find the humour in some of the most challenging parts of a difficult year.
The joy and mystery of mazes – Mazes have gone in and out of fashion over the centuries but in recent years, Adrian Fisher has played a major role in reinvigorating the art and business of creating them. He estimates he has built 700 mazes in 42 countries, ranging from traditional hedge mazes to ones made of water. His Blenheim Palace maze now features on the British five-pound note.
Fire legacies – It’s widely accepted, including by two inquiries, that climate change was a significant factor in the Black Summer fires of 2019/20. But in the response to the fires, and in the opportunities for preparation in the years before, many human, political and systemic errors were made. Journalist Bronwyn Adcock (@bronwyn_adcock) lived through the huge Currowan fire on the NSW South Coast, and in a new book has dissected it from every angle, including policy and politics.
Wayne Quilliam; Culture is Life – Adjunct Professor Wayne Quilliam’s camera has been his ticket around the world. From picking up his first camera whilst serving in the navy, to now having held over 300 exhibitions across the globe and being published in over 1000 publications, he is one of Australia’s pre-eminent Indigenous photographic artists, curators and cultural advisers.
The frontline of koala conservation – The koala is listed as one step below endangered so why aren’t we saving them? The Australian Koala Foundation’s Deborah Tabart and specialist koala ecologist Dr Steve Phillips discuss all things koala: their personalities, their history and how a broken political system is pushing them to extinction.
Return American national parks to tribal owners – America’s famed national parks are heralded as a triumph of democracy. Vast swathes of land set aside in the late 1800s, ‘for the people’. But not all people. Native Americans were removed from this land which had sustained them. There was bloody conflict, and shoddy deals. Now, says an eminent Native American academic and writer, it is time to transfer the national parks back to tribal ownership.
What’s Modern Monetary Theory? – As the rate of global debt continue to rise at unprecedented levels, some economists argue that there’s no limit now to how much you can borrow. Printing money endlessly appears to be part of President Biden’s recovery plan, and is part of the theory known as MMT, or Modern Monetary Theory. Guest: Satyajit Das, author of A Banquet of Consequences: Reloaded.
The clans, clicks and culture of sperm whales – New research indicates that sperm whales were able to communicate to each other in order to avoid the whalers of the 19th century. Our guest is Hal Whitehead, professor and marine biologist at Dalhousie University in Canada.
Growing popularity of ‘Doughnut’ economics – Late Night Live – British Economist Kate Raworth’s ‘Doughnut’ Economics aims to ensure that no one falls short on the essentials of life, while ensuring that collectively we do not overshoot our pressure on Earth’s life-supporting system. Her theory is being attempted by cities across the world.
The new era: Space 2.0 – With the US, China and Russia increasingly flexing their space muscles, and more companies heading to the moon and beyond, a panel of experts discuss the current state of astro politics, business and culture. Guests: Steven Freeland, Alice Gorman, Donna Lawler
America’s waning war on drugs – Gonzo journalist Michelle Lhooq discusses the legalisation of drugs like marijuana and psychedelics in parts of the US and the impact on counterculture.
2020
Tim Flannery on solving the climate emergency – The latest State of the Climate Report has confirmed our worst fears: the climate crisis has arrived here in Australia, and we’re running out of time to act. Does Australia’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic hold important lessons for dealing with this existential threat?
Songlines: the power and the promise – Margo Neale and Lynne Kelly offer an Indigenous and Non-Indigenous perspective on the meaning and significance of Songlines, why they have been so successful in keeping Indigenous knowledge intact for tens of thousands of years and how they work as an effective memory technique and tool.
Why Scientific American endorses Joe Biden – For the first time in Scientific American’s 175 year history the popular magazine has decided to endorse a candidate in the US Presidential election. Editor in Chief Laura Helmuth explains why it’s not Donald Trump.
Has COVID-19 signalled the end of the American era? – Has COVID-19 signalled the end of the American era? Professor Wade Davis argues that the virus reveals what America has become, and even if President Donald Trump is defeated, a profoundly polarized nation may not be able to find a way forward. He writes that “for the first time in the history of the world, all of humanity has come together, focused on the same existential threat, consumed by the same fears and uncertainties, eagerly anticipating the same, as yet unrealized, promises of medical science.”
Mentioned: The Unraveling of America – Wade Davis/Rolling Stone
Is Donald Trump a fascist? – Conversation with Sarah Churchwell @sarahchurchwell
Mentioned: American Fascism: It Has Happened Here
16:00 We could get ourselves in a lot of trouble trying to figure out what Trump is aware of at the moment. Whatever he was was once aware of, he is clearly less aware of on a daily basis.
Funding species survival – With over 1 billion animals dead and species extinction already an issue before the wildfires, how adequate is funding for the survival of threatened species in Australia?
Wendell Willkie, the last internationalist? – Wendell Willkie lost to Franklin D. Roosevelt in his bid to be President of America in 1940. But although he was from the opposing party, Roosevelt asked him to be an international envoy for America across the globe. They shared a strong commitment to internationalism. A new biography called The Idealist has been written by Samuel Zipp, published by Harvard University Press. Quote: “I want to be a free spirit. If I wasn’t one, I would be still sitting on a cracker box in Indiana.”
– Wendell Willkie, quoted in The Idealist
Videos
Manus Island Contract
Kevin Rudd interviews Phillip Adams
Wikipedia
Late Night Live
Phillip Adams
Giuseppe Antonio Brescianello
Planeta.com