Historian and author Professor Frank Bongiorno takes us on a colourful ride through our political evolution, including archival audio excerpts from the 1930s onwards.

Ian Dunt introduces the new UK PM, Rishi Sunak. The hidden influence of the world's most powerful consulting firm. And celebrating a radical cultural institution - the New Theatre.

Bruce Shapiro on the unwelcome link between Paul Pelosi and Elon Musk. Why 3D virtual universes need regulating, with Catriona Wallace. And author Eleanor Limprecht on the mostly forgotten leper colony at Sydney's Little Bay.

Bernard Keane's Canberra, plus Paddy Manning looks at how Lachlan Murdoch will manage his father's empire - if his siblings allow.

Kate Summerscale delves into the history of phobias and when and why we started to identify them and Kristina Gaddy tells the global story of the banjo and its roots in rebellion and religion.

What does Labor's first budget mean for Indigenous Australia? The similarities between Putin's Ukraine strategy to Nixon's in Vietnam, and could humans soon be speaking to whales?

Bruce Shapiro on the squeeze Biden is feeling from Congress on Ukraine, the legacy of the war crimes tribunal in Cambodia and we hear about that moment of transition from oral story telling to fixing those stories on stone and paper.

Laura Tingle previews the Federal Budget, Ian Dunt and Naomi Smith preview the vote for the new Prime Minister of the UK and Lucy Worsley reveals the surprising side of Agatha Christie.

Jim Davidson has written a new book about the literary lives of the founding editors of Meanjin and Overland, Clem Christesen and Stephen Murray-Smith. Plus, we meet the new Editor of Meanjin, powerhouse arts and culture advocate Esther Anatolitis.

UK PM Liz Truss may not last the week in the leadership, but does the Tory party have someone to replace her? Plus Margaret Throsby on 55 years behind the microphone and the most notable interviews of her career.