Julian Assange's brother Gabriel Shipton joined Amy Mullins to update us as to Julian's state of mind and health ahead of the UK High Court's impending decision, which is to be handed down tonight 9.30pm AEDT (10.30am London time). The court will decide whether Wikileaks founder and journalist Julian Assange will be able to appeal the decision to extradite him from Britain to the United States where he faces 18 charges for publishing US military documents and diplomatic cables and up to 173 years in prison or even the death penalty. Gabriel tells us about his attendance as a guest of Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie at President Joe Biden's 2024 State of the Union Address and the intense lobbying efforts happening behind the scenes at the US Congress. When will the Australian government make greater representations to the United States on its citizen's behalf? To support Julian Assange and take action, visit the campaign website: www.action.assangecampaign.org.au Broadcast on 26 March 2024.

Freelance journalist Nick Feik speaks in-depth about his essay for The Monthly, 'The Rotten Core', which details his own investigations and the findings of a Tasmanian commission of inquiry uncovering decades of abuse towards young people in the state's care, including at the Ashley Youth Detention Centre and Launceston General Hospital. Nick also talks about the damning Richardson Report into the Home Affairs Department and the media's current lack of scrutiny towards the then responsible minister, Peter Dutton MP. Nick Feik is former Editor of The Monthly. Broadcast on 21 February 2024. Listen to Nick's essay in full here (free): https://tasmaniantimes.com/2024/03/the-rotten-core-audio-edition-by-nick-feik/ Or read it here: https://www.themonthly.com.au/issue/2024/february/nick-feik/rotten-core Please note this interview contains topics that may distress some listeners, including allegations of child sexual abuse and harm to children. Please see helpline information below. HELPLINES: If you or anyone you know needs mental health support, you can call Lifeline on 13 11 14. For support related to child sexual abuse, you can call Bravehearts on 1800 272 831. Children and young people up to 25 can seek help via the Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800.

Amy speaks with long-time blogging friend, turned journalist and economist Greg Jericho. Greg is a Guardian columnist and Chief Economist at The Australia Institute and he dives into the dubious political and policy debates around tax "reform" in Australia and the Stage 3 tax cut changes announced by the Albanese Labor government. He also talks about Australia's slowing inflation and the extent of the RBA's role in controlling it. Check out Greg's columns for the Guardian, 'Grogonomics' here: https://www.theguardian.com/profile/greg-jericho Broadcast on 6 February 2024.

We remember John Pilger, renowned Australian independent journalist and filmmaker, who passed away on 30 December 2023, by re-airing an interview Amy conducted with John at the Triple R studios in February 2017 on his prescient documentary, The Coming War On China (free to watch here: https://johnpilger.com/videos/the-coming-war-on-china). John was age 84. Re-broadcast on 6 February 2024.

Born in Chicago in 1938, author, artist, feminist, and commentator Sara Dowse speaks in-depth about her Jewish family history and how it is intertwined with the history of Zionism and specifically the dissenting voices within it who disagreed with the establishment of the state of Israel at the expense of Palestinians – those such as Asher Hirsch Ginsberg who wrote under the pen name Ahad Ha’am ("man of the people"). You can read Sara's columns for John Menadue's Pearls and Irritations on Israel's silencing of its critics: https://johnmenadue.com/what-good-comes-from-israel-silencing-criticism/ as well as The Sabra transformed: https://johnmenadue.com/the-sabra-transformed/ Sara's book about her Great-Aunt is called, As the Lonely Fly: https://books.google.com.au/books?id=Dmv9DwAAQBAJ&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&lpg=PP1&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=false Broadcast on 6 February 2024.

For International Women's Day, award-winning author and science journalist Angela Saini joins Amy from New York to talk about her latest book, The Patriarchs: How Men Came To Rule. Angela delves into the origins of "the patriarchy" and gendered oppression and finds that patriarchal societies are a far more recent historical development than we might imagine. She also talks about our fascination with matriarchy and women-led matrilineal societies and reveals that many different types of matrilineal societies exist across the world today. Angela explains how patriarchy is not inevitable and what feminists and people seeking a gender equal world can do to turn the tide. The Patriarchs was shortlisted for the 2023 Orwell Prize. It's published by Harper Collins Australia. Angela's previous books are, Inferior: How Science Got Women Wrong, and Superior: The Return of Race Science. This is the extended full version of the interview with Angela Saini. Broadcast on 5 March 2024.

Renowned Australian-born film critic Adrian Martin joins Amy to discuss the brilliance of Jean-Luc Godard’s cinematic masterpiece, LE MÉPRIS (Contempt, 1963), starring Brigitte Bardot, Michel Piccoli, Jack Palance, Giorgia Moll, and Fritz Lang. Filmed in Capri, Italy, LE MÉPRIS depicts the breakdown of a marriage, but it is also about much more than that as you'll hear. It has been newly restored in 4k and is having its Australian premiere at Europa Europa Film Festival in Melbourne on the 6th and 11th March 2024 (Hawthorn and Elsternwick). The screenings are co-presented by Melbourne Cinémathèque. This is the extended full version of the interview. In the original interview that aired, we heard some of the iconic music by Georges Delerue who composed the epic and sweeping soundtrack to LE MÉPRIS, including Générique: https://youtu.be/N_QiBDGJ__4?si=7wNYLiERT0AbaGDp and Camille: https://youtu.be/ZPtQWm2QmXI?si=k5J639911cysfrVY To view Godard's films from home, they can be found at your local library, university library, Picture Search Video & Vinyl in Richmond, on Kanopy (often via your library's subscription: https://www.kanopy.com/video/contempt), and Apple Movies and Google Movies. His films are distributed in Australia by Madman Entertainment and Umbrella Entertainment. Read Adrian Martin's film essays and criticism on his website: https://adrianmartinfilmcritic.com Broadcast on 5 March 2024.

James Curran, international editor of the Australian Financial Review and Professor of Modern History at the University of Sydney, speaks in-depth about his latest essay for Australian Foreign Affairs, 'Excess Baggage: Is China A Genuine Threat To Australia?' James writes that, "Australia’s fears of China... are profoundly shaped by what is being said and discussed in Washington." Are Australia's fears largely unfounded? What are China's intentions toward Taiwan? What is the United States aiming to achieve through AUKUS? Broadcast on 24 October 2023. Companion interview with Geoff Raby on China, as referenced: https://soundcloud.com/uncommonsense-rrr/interview-with-geoff-raby-a-former-ambassador-on-chinas-grand-strategy

Sean Reynolds, cultural archaeologist and founder of Melbourne Ghost Signs on Instagram, speaks about his passion for ghost signs in Melbourne and Victoria more broadly, and tells us what they reveal about our local histories. He also tells us about a community fundraising campaign for the Chiltern Athenaeum Museum building to get a climate control system. This will enable the Victorian gold rush town to protect their precious collection of items, photographs and records documenting the history of the Chiltern district and its people from the mid 1800s to the present. Follow @Melbourne_GhostSigns on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/melbourne_ghostsigns/?hl=en Donate to the Chiltern Athanaeum Museum's fundraiser: https://givenow.com.au/chilternathenaeum Broadcast on 24 October 2023.

El Gibbs, writer and disability advocate, joins Amy to talk about the Disability Royal Commission's final report. The commissioner's handed down their their 222 recommendations in September after extensive hearings detailing the violence, abuse, and neglect of disabled people in Australia. El Gibbs analyses the Royal Commission's activities, its findings, and what should happen next. El also addresses the ongoing COVID impacts on disabled and chronically ill people who are effectively excluded from engaging with society properly and safely as almost all COVID mitigations have been dropped. Broadcast on 24 October 2023.

Melbourne-based composer and multi-instrumentalist Claire Deak talks about her debut solo album, Sotto Voce, and the two women composers of the Baroque whose music she recovered and reimagined – Francesca Caccini (1587-c. 1645) and Barbara Strozzi (1619-1677). Some of their compositions are intuitively sensed and worked into new neoclassical compositions by Claire using a range of Baroque and modern instruments, as well as innovative modern and analogue recording techniques that bend our concept of time. Claire delves into her compositions and musical practice as we hear some of her atmospheric and imaginative new works throughout the interview. Claire has kindly given us permission to feature her music in the podcast for your listening enjoyment. Sotto Voce is out via Lost Tribe Sound. To listen to her album, visit Claire Deak's Bandcamp page here: https://clairedeak.bandcamp.com/album/sotto-voce Tracklist (in order) as aired in the interview: Claire Deak - Prefigured (Ritornello) Claire Deak - Dolce Tormento Claire Deak - Liberated Sighs Claire Deak - A Million Cloaked Ghosts Broadcast on 17 October 2023.