Donald Trump is fighting a war against knowledge. In his second term, he has fired the Librarian of Congress and the Archivist of the United States, and government websites have been altered to remove facts about climate change and Black history. Haven't we seen this kind of war against knowledge before?

• Guest: Richard Ovenden, the Bodley's Librarian in the University of Oxford and author of "Burning the Books: A History of Knowledge under Attack"
• Producer: Alex Tighe

Last week PM Albanese announced Australia plans to list Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organisation after ASIO revealed links to antisemitic attacks in Melbourne and Sydney.  It's a plan former refugee and Kurdish journalist Behrouz Boochani supports - he was terrorised by the IRGC and forced to leave Iran, ending up in Australia as a refugee and sent to a detention centre on Manus Island for years. Now settled in New Zealand, the writer applauds the decision of the Australian government, but says the their latest deal to send more refugees to Nauru includes Iranian people who fled the regime. 

• Guest: Behrouz Boochani, Kurdish writer, journalist, scholar, cultural advocate and filmmaker.
• Producer: Catherine Zengerer

Gold means power, and has since the beginning of time. But why? What is it about the shiny yellow metal that so fascinates us humans? And why are gold prices now tearing upwards?

• Guest: Dominic Frisby, comedian and financial writer, and author of "The Secret History of Gold"
• Producer: Alex Tighe

International law, under the Geneva Conventions, clearly mandates the protection of journalists as civilians in conflict zones. However, in the ongoing Israel-Gaza conflict, these protections appear to be routinely ignored.

Gaza has become the deadliest place in history for journalists to report from. In the past 22 months alone, over 200 Palestinian media workers have lost their lives.

• GUEST: Dima Khatib, Syrian/Palestinian journalist, Managing Director of Al Jazeera plus
• PRODUCER: Ali Benton

Ian Dunt looks at the political forces that have shaped Reform leader, Nigel Farage and his recent scare campaign on migration in the UK 

• GUEST: Ian Dunt: iNews columnist and regular LNL commentator
• PRODUCER: Ali Benton

Divisions within the Liberal party as Country Liberal Senator and frontbencher Jacinta Nampijinpa Price supported the weekends' anti-immigration protests, while Liberal Party Leader Sussan Ley condemned them. Plus secrecy surrounds the government's $400 million deal with Nauru to resettle hundreds of non-citizens caught up in the High Court's NZYQ decision.

• Guest: Anna Henderson, SBS World News Chief Political Correspondent | National Press Club Director
• Producer: Catherine Zengerer

Dandyism is often associated with flamboyantly-dressed 19th Century figures like Oscar Wilde, Baudelaire and Lord Byron - artistic types who reproached Victorian era conformity. But a new history argues that the dandy was often a working-class irritant, subverting class structures through their sartorial splendour. 

• Guest: Peter K Andersson, author of The Dandy: A People's History of Sartorial Splendour
• Producer: Hayley Crane

The conservative US think tank Heritage Foundation describes its 'Project Esther' initiative as a campaign to combat antisemitism in the United States. Heritage has supported the Trump administration's crackdown on universities which have been the site of ongoing pro-Palestinian protests. Looking abroad, Heritage describes the recent march across the Sydney Harbour Bridge as a 'pro Hamas type rally'.

• Guest: Victoria Coates, Vice President of Conservative think tank, the Heritage Foundation, and former Deputy National Security Advisor to Donald Trump
• Producer: Ali Benton

The 2025 federal election marked the most significant electoral defeat in the history of the Liberal–National Coalition, with the party reduced to just 43 seats. The result was widely attributed to strategic missteps, internal divisions, and a failure to connect with a changing electorate. Almost four months on, where does the future lie for the Liberal Party? 

GUESTS:

Judith Brett, Emeritus Professor of politics at La Trobe University

Frank Bongiorno, Professor of history at the Australian National University

Paul Kelly, Editor-at-Large at The Australian

PRODUCER Ali Benton

Some of the most powerful figures in America – from Silicon Valley to the White House - are enamoured with a dead French philosopher by the name of René Girard.  Girard’s claim is that all human desire is 'mimetic' or based on imitation. His musings on human behaviour and psychology eventually lead him to God. But why is Girard all the rage amongst tech entrepreneurs? 

• Guest: Alexander Douglas, philosopher and author of Against Identity: The Wisdom of Escaping the Self
• Producer: Hayley Crane