The King of Conversations, Richard Fidler joins Nick Bryant on The Last Thing.

Richard Fidler's last great read took him to Northern Ireland, the last good tv show transported him to southern Italy and the last great place he visited?  Find out on The Last Thing.

This week, a flotilla of Chinese ships from the biggest navy in the world has been sailing around the waters of Australia, further south than they’ve ever been before.

Whenever we switch on our TV, or favourite streaming service, or visit our local bookshop, we're flooded with stories about spies.

Chris Costa, an intelligence officer for three decades and a former Trump security advisor, has a few theories about why this undercover world so captures the public's imagination. Today he runs the International Spy Museum in Washington DC, where he says visitor numbers keep rising.

Guest: Chris Costa, Executive Director, International Spy Museum

Producer: Lisa McGregor

Australia has long been lauded as the land of the fair go - a place where there will always be a helping hand for anyone who has fallen on hard times.

But are Australians genuinely committed to a fair society, and are we prepared to pay for it?

A new book traces the evolution of welfare from the governments of Menzies to Morrison.

On the eve of the scheduled talks between US President Donald Trump and the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the BBC's Moscow Correspondent Steven Rosenberg reflects on talks that may end the war, and forge a new a new international order with Russia and the US at its centre

He describes how inflation, high interest rates and the devastating human cost of the war are being keenly felt  by Russians.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has clashed with Donald Trump and JD Vance in a tense exchange in the Oval Office, with President Trump telling the Ukrainian leader to "make a deal or we're out".

A planned news conference between the leaders was abruptly cancelled and both leaders have since taken to social media, with Trump saying Zelensky "can come back when he is ready for peace".

Pamela Falk has reported diplomatic talks for decades - she joins Nick Bryant to reflect on the public breakdown of the US Ukraine relationship.

A century ago, Paris was the creative centre of the world, with writers, painters and performers flocking to the city of light to savour the art and the avant-garde. Some of those creatives were Australian, and the story of the artistic journey they undertook is the subject of an exhibition at the Bendigo Regional Gallery.

German voters will soon cast their votes to determine who will run their next government, with Friedrich Merz's conservative Christian Democrats expected to emerge as the biggest party.

But snapping at the heels of the Merz’s party is the AfD , Alternative für Deutschland,  which is polling well across the country.  

Katja Hoyer discusses the party's rising support Germany's west.

David Wenham played lovable small-time crim, Johnny Spiteri, aka Spit, in the 2003 comedy Gettin' Square.

The film became a cult hit, partly because of Wenham's mesmerising performance as the mullet-headed Spit. Two decades on, Spit is the star once more.

• Guest: David Wenham, actor.

This weekend, 100 randomly-selected Australians are going to be asked about their views on a set of housing reforms that have been put forward by experts to see if they can find some rare common ground. 

Guests: 

• Georgina Harrisson, CEO, Amplify
• Ben Snell, participant