Is our obsession with being nice is actually part of the problem?

This week on Small Talk, I'm joined by one of Australia's most respected political journalists and authors, Amy Remeikis, to unpack why playing nice might be getting us absolutely nowhere.

Amy is the Chief Political Analyst at The Australia Institute, a contributing editor at The New Daily and is known online as Pyjama Politics. Amy is able to make the complicated world of politics accessible without losing any of its nuance. And her latest book, Screw Nice, makes a compelling case for why it's time to rethink our relationship with politeness.

We talk about why women are conditioned to be agreeable, the difference between being nice and being kind, and why the people causing the most outrage seem to face the fewest consequences.

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Hello hello! If you had any doubt before, you can now say for certain that we are living in a dystopian hellhole because the U.S. has announced it will livestream the execution of a prisoner on death row. 

Hannah talks about how this announcement, and the recent failed execution of Christa Pike, has sparked universal outrage from all sides of politics.

Then, Sarah explains why Olivia Dean is being sued for allegedly copying Bill Withers’ classic hit ‘Just the Two of Us’. And the whole debacle has us asking – is it possible for anything in music, fashion or art to feel original these days?

Plus, the Coalition’s migration promise, the Greens’ public supermarket proposal, Mia Goth and Shia Le Bouf’s divorce, One Nation’s racist AI-generated campaign ad, and why actress Selma Blair was arrested at JFK airport.

Send in a question for us to answer next ep HERE on the SpeakPipe. 

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We spend years learning about our bodies through trial and error because no one ever really taught us how our hormones work.

Model, founder of Selfdom and creator of the bestselling gratitude journals, Dominique Elissa returns to the pod this week to discuss her new journal 'Flow State' and why understanding your hormones has completely changed the way she lives. From the four phases of the menstrual cycle and learning to work with your body instead of against it, to her fertility journey and now expecting her first baby, Dominique has an honest conversation about reconnecting with your body

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Prosecutors have reopened an investigation into an alleged rape at Cornell University after public outrage and mounting questions over how the case was handled.

Then, the New York Times has decided the best TV shows of the 21st century and naturally, we have thoughts.Back home, the Greens have a new leader, but the result has exposed some pretty major divisions within the party.

Plus, has the internet officially changed its mind on Pete Davidson? He’s opening up about his famous exes, his confrontations with Kanye West and why he has an issue with female content creators. And former Bachelor star Sam Wood has been charged with domestic violence offences.Then in our Q+A: Megan Fox’s Letterboxd four. Yes, we’re judging.

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Daisy Edgar-Jones and Esmé Creed-Miles on in studio with us? Consider this Sarah’s pinch-me moment.

The girls join us to talk about their new film, Sense and Sensibility, which by the way, is perfect cinema. You’ll know Daisy of course from the cult classic, Normal People, as well as Where the Crawdads Sing, Fresh and Twisters, and Esmé from Hanna, The Doll Factory and Silver Haze.

Together we're talking Jane Austen, big sister energy and why a story written more than 200 years ago still understands our dating lives so well. From sibling-order theory and family dynamics to a bestie dating an absolute flop and an ex wanting a second chance, we get into the advice we all need through the eyes of Elinor and Marianne.

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Welcome back to Big Talk! It’s the political scandal so infamous that, 50 years later, we’re still adding “gate” to the end of every controversy.

But Watergate didn’t begin with a break-in.

In Part One, we’re going back to Richard Nixon’s rise to power, the lies America was told about the Vietnam War, the explosive leak of the Pentagon Papers, and the increasingly secretive White House determined to stop its secrets getting out.

This is how we got to Watergate.

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Richard Nixon wins re-election in one of the biggest landslides in American history. Less than two years later, he becomes the first and only U.S. president to resign.

So, how did it all fall apart?

In Part Two, we get into Nixon’s growing paranoia, the creation of CREEP, the increasingly unhinged schemes of the people around him, and the break-in at the Watergate complex that started the unraveling.

We take you inside what actually happened that night, before following the investigation, the secret White House tapes and the cover-up that ultimately reached all the way to the President.

This is the break-in, the cover-up and the bitter end of Richard Nixon’s presidency.

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On the show this week, OpenAI hacked a Medicare portal months ago, and we’re only just hearing about it now. So… how did that happen?

Then, Taylor Swift has released new music. Of course, she’s the biggest pop star in the world, so we HAVE to deep it, but if you’re not in the mood to psychoanalyse Taylor with us, you can always skip ahead.

Plus, looksmaxxing influencer Braden Peters, otherwise known as Clavicular, has been charged with sexually assaulting a teenage girl. We then unpack everything that went down at the VMAs, Anthony Albanese getting a Trump selfie in New York, and Susan Sarandon and Hacks star Hannah Einbinder are arrested while protesting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

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This week, Sarah sits down with renowned human rights and media lawyer Jen Robinson, whose career has taken her from Julian Assange’s legal team and the Murdoch phone-hacking scandal to representing Amber Heard.

Jen unpacks how defamation laws can be weaponised to silence women, survivors and journalists, and the enormous legal and financial risk that can come with telling your story.

We also get into the rise of trial by TikTok: how viral clips, algorithms and bot campaigns can distort high-profile court cases, what Jen witnessed during the Depp v Heard saga, and why we should be far more sceptical of what lands on our feeds.

Plus, the global fight at the centre of Jen’s documentary Silenced, and what needs to change to protect the right to speak.

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Hey BSTies! On the show this week – anti-abortion activist Dr Joanna Howe and her husband James have come under fire after he said that he doesn’t “do consent”.

Then, the girls unpack Lena Dunham’s announcement that she has become a mum via surrogacy. Is it ever okay to pay someone to carry your child?

Plus – Labor and One Nation announce migration crackdowns, Channing Tatum allegedly has a burner account (!?), the latest on Macklemore and Ed Sheeran, and how to hold on to hope with the UN General Assembly’s Be Hope campaign.

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The beauty industry is worth more than $450 billion globally. So what actually makes us buy one product over another?

Sarah sits down with Natassia Nicolao, founder and CEO of Conserving Beauty, to unpack what it really takes to build a beauty brand in an industry obsessed with virality, celebrity launches, dupes and the next “must-have” product.

From creating the world’s first dissolving makeup wipe to getting stocked in MECCA, Natassia reveals how science and sustainability became her competitive edge, why 12-year-olds are suddenly using actives, and just how much of a product’s success comes down to clever marketing or genuine innovation.

Plus, she takes us behind the scenes of building a business from scratch, the education that helped her get there, and what she’s learned about taking the leap before you feel completely ready.

This episode is brought to you by Deakin University.

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