Saturday Magazine

Bruce Wolpe is a Senior Fellow (non-resident) at the United States Studies Centre. Bruce is a regular contributor on US politics across media platforms in Australia. In recent years, Bruce has worked with the Democrats in Congress during President Barack Obama’s first term, and on the staff of Prime Minister Julia Gillard. He has also served as the former PM’s chief of staff.

Bruce Wolpe is a Senior Fellow (non-resident) at the United States Studies Centre. Bruce is a regular contributor on US politics across media platforms in Australia. In recent years, Bruce has worked with the Democrats in Congress during President Barack Obama’s first term, and on the staff of Prime Minister Julia Gillard. He has also served as the former PM’s chief of staff. From 1998-2009, Bruce was a senior executive at Fairfax Media in Sydney.

Bruce is author of Trump’s Australia, an examination of Donald Trump’s possible return to the presidency and the issues presented to Australia (Allen & Unwin, 2023), The Committee, a study of President Obama’s legislative agenda in Congress (University of Michigan Press, 2018, 2d Edition September 2021) and Lobbying Congress: How The System Works (Congressional Quarterly Books, 1990, 1996.

In a recent article. Wolpe was quoted as saying, “Trump has a few weeks to renew voter confidence in him — and that’s amid a risk of unintended consequences like friendly fire incidents and American casualties”.

“They’re going into a war in which most people don’t want,” he told SBS News from the United States.

“I think there’s a burden on Trump, and he has to do a lot to get a better outcome as far as the standing with the American people.”

“Trump came into office with the promise of an end to America’s cycle of forever wars. Before his election, he promised in 2024 to “turn the page forever on those foolish, stupid days of never-ending wars”.

Now he’s seeking to justify a broad, open-ended war on Iran, though he initially projected the war on Iran to last four to five weeks.

https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/trump-approval-iran-war/ac8wk6g8r

The post Saturday, 7th March, 2026: Bruce Wolpe, Senior Fellow, US Study Centre, Do most Americans support the Iran action? AG Pam Bondi to testify on Epstein + Trump fires Kristy Noem appeared first on Saturday Magazine.

Kenny and Macca talk to Professor  Peter Greste,  an award-winning journalist, author and academic who spent fifteen years with the BBC before he joined Al Jazeera as East Africa correspondent. In 2013, he went to Egypt to help cover the unfolding political crisis but two weeks into the assignment, security agents raided his hotel room and arrested him and two colleagues. They were charged with terrorism offences, and in the subsequent trial they became champions of press freedom. All three were eventually convicted and sentenced to between seven and 10 years in prison, before being released under intense international pressure.

Peter saw his trial and conviction as an extreme example of the way journalism was being attacked in the War on Terror globally, and wrote about his experience in The First Casualty, He joined the University of Queensland as UNESCO Chair in Journalism and Communication in 2018 where he continues to campaign for the freedom of journalists.

In honour of his campaigning, Peter has been given numerous awards including a Walkely (2014); the British Royal Television Society’s Judges Award (2015); the Australian Human Rights Council Medal (2016); the RSL’s ANZAC Peace Prize (2016); and the Australian Press Council’s Press Freedom Medal (2018).

The post Saturday, 7th March, 2026: Prof. Peter Greste, Alliance for Journalists’ Freedom; State of Press Freedoms and State of Affairs in the Middle East. appeared first on Saturday Magazine.

Macca and Kenny talk to Josh Burns, ALP MP Macnamara, Federal Politics Update: Iran War, Cost of Living and Trump’s latest controversies.

The post Saturday, 7th March, 2026: Josh Burns, ALP MP Macnamara, Federal Politics Update: Iran War, Cost of Living, and more appeared first on Saturday Magazine.

Macca, Kenny and Jack are joined live on air by Australian Motor Sport Legend, Mick Doohan as they discuss tomorrow’s Australian Grand Prix and Mick gives us his predictions.

Image courtesy of: Mercedes-Benz.com.au

The post Saturday, 7th March, 2026: Mick Doohan–Melbourne Grand Prix 2026. appeared first on Saturday Magazine.

Nevena and John talk to ABC Journalist, Maddison Connaughton,

Maddison Connaughton is an investigative reporter for Background Briefing. She has also worked at the ABC programs Four Corners and Media Watch.

Prior to the ABC, she was editor of The Saturday Paper and a senior editor at Vice. Her reporting has also appeared in The Guardian, New York Times, The Observer, Foreign Policy and more.

Looksmaxxing refers to a subculture focused on maximizing physical attractiveness. While some aspects involve standard self-care like grooming and fitness, the trend often moves into extreme and hazardous territory, particularly within online communities. 

https://theconversation.com/looksmaxxing-is-the-disturbing-tiktok-trend-turning-young-men-into-incels-221724

The post Sat, 28th Feb, 2026: Maddison Connaughton – ABC Journalist, ‘Looksmaxxing’ and its Bizarre Side Effects appeared first on Saturday Magazine.

Nevena and John speak to Rachel Payne -Legalise Cannabis MP for South-Eastern Metropolitan, about her  recent article in the New Matilda, about a lack of class in politics.

Rachel Payne is a prominent Australian politician and a key figure in the Legalise Cannabis Victoria party. Since her election to the Victorian Legislative Council in 2022, she has consistently advocated for comprehensive cannabis law reform, focusing on decriminalisation, medicinal access, and road safety

https://newmatilda.com/2026/02/25/why-im-an-mp-who-cant-use-the-c-words-often-enough/

The post Sat, 28th Feb, 2026: Rachel Payne -Legalise Cannabis MP for South-Eastern Metropolitan-The C-word (class) In Politics appeared first on Saturday Magazine.

John Safran discusses some observations in media and some life hacks that happened to him recently

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The post Sat, 28th Feb, 2026: Cat Woods – Freelance Journalist, What’s Hot, what’s not on TV and Films, Nicole Kidman’s Scarpetta, Angelina Jolie in Couture appeared first on Saturday Magazine.

Nevena and John talk to Mark Nielsen – Associate Professor, School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, Punch and his Plushie, Attachment Theory

A baby macaque monkey named Punch has gone viral for his heart-wrenching pursuit of companionship.

After being abandoned by his mother and rejected by the rest of his troop, his zookeepers at Ichikawa City Zoo in Japan provided Punch with an orangutan plushie as a stand-in mother. Videos of the monkey clinging to the toy have gone viral worldwide”

“But Punch’s attachment to his inanimate companion is not just the subject of a heartbreaking video. It also harks back to the story of a famous set of psychology experiments conducted in the 1950s by US researcher Harry Harlow.

The findings from his experiments underpin many of the central tenets of attachment theory, which positions the bond between parent and child as crucial in child development.

Harlow took rhesus monkeys from birth, and removed them from their mothers. These monkeys were raised in an enclosure in which they had access to two surrogate “mothers”.

A viral monkey, his plushie, and a 70-year-old experiment: what Punch tells us about attachment theory

Mark joined the School of Psychology in 2002 as a UQ Postdoctoral Research Fellow after completing his PhD at La Trobe University. His research interests lie in a range of inter-related aspects of socio-cognitive development in young human children and non-human primates. His current research is primarily focused on charting the origins and development of human cultural cognition.

He is:

– Senior Research Associate, University of Johannesburg, South Africa

The post Sat, 28th Feb, 2026: Mark Nielsen, Associate Professor, School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, Punch and his Plushie, Attachment Theory appeared first on Saturday Magazine.

Nevena and John speak to Michael Galea MP, State Member for S E Metro Region: Parliament Update

Michael Galea is an Australian Labor Party member of the Victorian Legislative Council, representing the South-Eastern Metropolitan Region since his election in 2022. Based on parliamentary records from 2026, he serves as Deputy Chair of the Legal and Social Issues Committee and is active in committees covering economy, infrastructure, and the 2026 Commonwealth Games.

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