Global markets are reeling in response to US President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs, but the tariff itself is nothing new. The ancient Romans applied duties to imports from the East - including incense, spices and jewels - designed to generate vast amounts of government revenue. But Roman tariffs also created problems - from price inflation to the emergence of black markets. 

• Guest: Peter Edwell, Associate Professor of Ancient History, Macquarie University

None of the leaders who signed the AUKUS deal in 2021 are in power today, and US President Donald Trump seems not to have heard about it. Now the UK has announced it will review the agreement given the swiftly changing geopolitical environment. So what does this mean for the relationship between the three allies from the UK’s perspective? 

• GUEST: Philip Collins is a former chief speechwriter to Tony Blair, he’s a weekly columnist for The Evening Standard and Writer-in-Chief at the writing agency The Draft. He is also a contributor to Prospect Magazine.
• PRODUCER: Catherine Zengerer

Opposition leader Peter Dutton has acknowledged that his proposal to compel Canberra-based public servants working from home to return to the office was a mistake. But as past elections have shown, there is still plenty of time to recover from a blunder. 

After 24 years, the Australian Book Review's CEO and editor, Peter Rose, is stepping down. By the time he leaves, Peter will have edited close to 250 issues, worked with more than 1500 writers and helped shape the national conversation.

• GUEST: Peter Rose, Outgoing editor and CEO of the Australian Book Review
• PRODUCER: Ali Benton

In 1998 wharfies across the country were locked out by men in balaclavas with savage dogs. What followed was the most dramatic industrial confrontation of the age between the Maritime Union of Australia and Patrick Stevedores, led by CEO Chris Corrigan.  The Howard government said they knew nothing about plans to sack the 1400 workers and train a new, non-union workforce in Dubai. But now ABC Radio National’s Rewind has uncovered new evidence that casts doubt on their claims. 

• GUEST: Dr Geraldine Fela –Research Fellow in the School of Humanities at Macquarie University, and producer and series historian of Conspiracy - war on the waterfront
• PRODUCER: Catherine Zengerer

Aristotle claimed that all humans want to know. But at the same time, we battle a competing desire to not know. Through history, humanity has been repeatedly compelled to ignore realities, seduced by irrational rumours, magical thinking and preposterous prophets. Are we living in a time of particular ignorance? 

In his new book Uprising, Stephen Gapps reveals the story of frontier resistance, along a huge area of the Murray-Darling river system - a concerted defence of River Country.

Australia’s rabbit plague was the fastest colonisation rate for an introduced mammal ever recorded anywhere on Earth. Which is why reports of an emerging plague of rabbits in the Adelaide Hills have locals and scientists worried. 

• GUEST: Mike Letnic, Professor of Conservation biology and Ecosystem restoration, University of New South Wales
• PRODUCER: Helen Pitt

Peter Dutton has made gas policy a central plank of his election pitch, unveiling a plan to reserve domestic gas supply and reduce energy prices.  But he’s yet to release the modelling to back up his claims. Mark Ogge says reserving gas for domestic use is important – but he says new gas projects don’t add to Australian supply, they just enable the export of more gas. And that’s a big problem for the climate. 

• GUEST: Mark Ogge, Principal Advisor, The Australia Institute
• PRODUCER: Catherine Zengerer

Questions remain as to why London police arrested six activists in a Quaker meeting house who were planning a protest.  Meanwhile, the conviction of far-right French leader Marine Le Pen for graft in a Paris courtroom has sent shock waves through European politics. 

Guest: Ian Dunt, columnist with i news, co-host of Origin Story podcast