Episodes

  • Best of 2024: The ‘doomsday cult’ recruiting Australian university students

    Best of 2024: The ‘doomsday cult’ recruiting Australian university students
    Dec 25 2024
    The Shincheonji church is an international Christian sect which started in South Korea. But the group is being accused of bizarre recruitment strategies at a number of Australian universities and former members have made allegations of ‘coercive control’ tactics that include love bombing and sleep deprivation. Medical editor Melissa Davey speaks to Reged Ahmad about the experiences of families of current members, as well as former members, about life on the inside You can support the Guardian at theguardian.com/fullstorysupport
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    25 mins
  • Best of 2024: Bringing the blue whale back from the brink

    Best of 2024: Bringing the blue whale back from the brink
    Dec 24 2024
    Blue whales are the largest animals to have ever lived but they were once hunted to the brink of extinction. The international community only agreed to stop hunting them in 1965 when they numbered fewer than 200. Now scientists are using new methods to learn whether the number of blue whales in the wild is increasing – and they are seeing and hearing promising signs. Reporter Luca Ittimani speaks to marine mammal acoustician Brian Miller about the whale’s Antarctic resurgence You can support the Guardian at theguardian.com/fullstorysupport
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    20 mins
  • Best of 2024: ‘We are not robots’: Woolworths workers tracked and timed

    Best of 2024: ‘We are not robots’: Woolworths workers tracked and timed
    Dec 23 2024
    What happens when the human body is treated like a machine – pushed to its limit – for the sake of a company’s efficiency standards? Former and current staff at Woolworths allege that the supermarket has been cracking down in a way they describe as ‘bullying’ and unsafe, something the company’s supply chain arm denies.Reged Ahmad asks investigations reporter Ariel Bogle if Woolworths’ warehouse tactics are putting their workers’ health and safety at risk
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    23 mins
  • Best of 2024: Jess Hill on what it will take to stop men killing women

    Best of 2024: Jess Hill on what it will take to stop men killing women
    Dec 22 2024
    For many years political leaders have condemned violence against women and expressed platitudes about the need for change. But government policies to reduce gender-based violence have failed and frontline services say they are severely underfunded. Journalist and coercive control educator Jess Hill speaks to Nour Haydar about the major paradigm shift that governments still need to make
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    24 mins
  • Newsroom Edition: why there’s still cause for hope in 2025

    Newsroom Edition: why there’s still cause for hope in 2025
    Dec 19 2024
    This year the gap between the rich and the poor widened in Australia – as the housing crisis deepened and the cost of living hit hard. But while there were moments of despair, there were also times of joy that may give us reason to be hopeful for 2025. Bridie Jabour talks with editor in chief Lenore Taylor, head of newsroom Mike Ticher and national news editor Jo Tovey about the highs and lows of 2024 and and what to expect next year
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    25 mins
  • The prince and the spy

    The prince and the spy
    Dec 18 2024
    Prince Andrew is in trouble again, this time for meeting a businessman who has denied spying for China. In parliament, it has sparked fears about how far the British establishment has been infiltrated by spies. In Beijing, there has been outrage. For Prince Andrew, it has led to him missing Christmas dinner at Sandringham with the rest of the royal family. It is fair to say the accusation that the Chinese businessman Yang Tengbo has been spying for China has caused a serious stir. Dan Sabbagh and David Pegg report
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    29 mins
  • Peter Dutton’s nuclear fantasy

    Peter Dutton’s nuclear fantasy
    Dec 17 2024
    The opposition leader has finally released the Coalition’s costings for its proposal to build seven nuclear power stations in Australia. Peter Dutton says the plan will cost tens of billions of dollars less than Labor’s transition to renewables. But experts say the plan is not credible and fails to address the climate crisis. Climate and environment editor Adam Morton tells Nour Haydar why the plan doesn’t stack up.
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    18 mins
  • The Unabomber and his ongoing influence

    The Unabomber and his ongoing influence
    Dec 16 2024
    This episode originally ran on Monday 19 June 2023. Theodore ‘Ted’ Kaczynski died at the federal prison in Butner, North Carolina, last year at the age of 81. Known as the Unabomber, Kaczynski waged a 17-year bombing campaign from an isolated shack in the Montana wilderness before finally being caught in 1996. One of those who helped apprehend Kaczynski was former FBI agent Jim Fitzgerald. He tells Michael Safi that the arrest was only possible following the publication of the bomber’s manifesto in the Washington Post. It was those words that were recognised by Kaczynski’s brother, who took his concerns to the authorities.
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    45 mins