The new documentary Ithaka documents 76-year-old John Shipton's campaign to free his son, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. Shipton joins the show to discuss Ithaka and why he'll never give up on his attempt to free his son.

In Dr Arika Okrent's latest book, Highly Irregular: Why Tough, Through, and Dough Don't Rhyme - and Other Oddities of the English Language, the linguist examines the weirdness of the English language and why it is so hard to master.

Journalist Greg Walters has been writing about how influencers and "beautiful people" posting glamorous selfies aboard Russian oligarchs' yachts are helping to bring down the incredibly rich people around Vladimir Putin.

Dr Ross Stitt is a New Zealand writer and political commentator living in Sydney. He joins the show to analyse the 2022 Australian federal election, which took place yesterday, and what the result means for Australians.

Yanai Postelnik could never have imagined how his life was going to change when he arrived at Gaia House in Devon for a silent meditation retreat in 1990. He returned to Gaia House to work in 1991, and remains there to this day.

Slaves to the algorithm - big tech's mathematical maximising of engagement undermines the Christchurch Call three years on; Budget 2022 - public media entity's funding finally made public; Budget 2022 - more for Maori media, but where's the strategy?

Cleaning has never played a bigger role in our lives than it does today. Whether it's wiping down workplace surfaces or disinfecting supermarket trolley handles, we're doing it all more. Microbiologist Dr Siouxsie Wiles is with us to discuss.

We've all heard about new Omicron subvariants with such names as BA.2, BA.4 and BA.5. The recent proliferation of variants begs the question: is Covid-19 mutating faster than ever before? Dr Sebastian Duchene explains.

Two weeks ago, Jacinda Ardern announced that our borders would fully reopen (including to cruise ships and international students) on July 31 - two months earlier than initially planned. A new poll shows Kiwis largely agreed.

Australians are waking up to life with a new Prime Minister, with Anthony Albanese and Labor ousting Scott Morrison's incumbent Liberal National coalition in yesterday's election. Political commentator Stephen Mills offers his analysis.