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We're back! Welcome to Season 7 of The Rejection Podcast. 

Joan Jett carries two titles – the Queen of Rock ’n’ Roll and the Godmother of Punk. She's also the first woman rocker to ever start her own record label. Jett is an inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, with a dozen albums to her name. But back when she enrolled in her first guitar lesson, the teen was told rock and roll was NOT for girls. And that was only the beginning. Jett faced sexism, violence and 23 label rejections. 

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A personal account of day-to-day life in Iran told through the calls of two Iranian sisters – one in the UK, the other in the Iranian city of Shiraz. Since the outbreak of war at the end of February, a near total internet blackout and a shutdown of international phone lines by the Iranian authorities has meant limited information has got out of the country. Despite the risks involved, the sisters have made recordings of their conversations which have been shared with the BBC. They discuss when the bombs land, the destruction of places they love and the realities of an economy that’s being brought to its knees. They struggle to sleep at night. Salaries don’t come through. It’s a roller coaster of emotions. But there are also moments of calm and comfort…a spot of dark humour and the scent of hyacinths.

Actors:

Presenter: Caroline Hawley

Part 2 of a three-part immigration series this week. Martin Parkinson (economics) available here; Mike Pezzullo (acculturation, social cohesion, security) drops Friday.

Mark Cully was the inaugural chief economist at the Australian Department of Immigration (2009-2012). His forthcoming book, Waves of Plenty (September 2026), is (to my knowledge) the first truly general history of immigration to Australia. It will fill a remarkable gap in our literature, given the centrality of immigration to the Australian story.

We discuss Australian exceptionalism in migration policy. The only country to have run assisted passage at scale (around 3.5 million people whose fares were subsidised). The first country in the world to have a dedicated Department of Immigration. The first country to offer migrants English-language training. Per capita, the world's largest receiver of international students for decades. Today, one of only three countries – alongside Switzerland and Singapore – with an overseas-born share above 30%. On current trends that share is projected to approach 40% by mid-century, a level likely not seen since the 1880s.

We walk through six decades that built the nation – the 1830s, 1850s, 1890s, 1950s, 1970s, and 2000s. We discuss why Australia eschewed slavery, why the 1850s might be the most important decade in the making of modern Australia, and what the White Australia policy was really about. We also explore what made the post-war migration program the most epic policy experiment in our history, whether migration has increased Australian living standards, and what history can teach us about the rise of One Nation.

(Episode recorded on 23 February 2026.)

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Local reporters at The Connecticut Mirror heard story after story of drivers having their cars towed and then sold out from underneath them, sometimes in just 15 days. They teamed up with ProPublica to investigate why, how often this was happening and who was profiting from it.

This episode traces the history of the 100-year-old law that made all of it legal and follows the reporters as they try to track down drivers’ cars and confront the bureaucrats allowing a flawed system to take advantage of vulnerable people.

Reporters: Ginny Monk and Dave Altimari
Read More: https://www.propublica.org/series/on-the-hook
Support our journalism by donating at propublica.org/donate.

Every hoarder's nightmare… SMASHING an irreplaceable, precious antique. Annabel Crabb pieces together the tale of prospector Bernhardt Holtermann. 

Gold Rush mogul. Early photography enthusiast. He found Australia's largest reef gold nugget (153kg!) and produced the world's biggest wet plate glass negative. Then something very bad happened.

This episode's speakers:

• Margot Riley - Curator 
• Louise Anemaat — Executive Director, Library and Information Services and Dixson Librarian

The photo for this episode is courtesy of State Library of NSW.

Search for the Holtermann Collection in the SLNSW online catalogue.

Presenter: Annabel Crabb

Researcher: Julia O'Shea

Audio Engineer: Harvey O'Sullivan

Supervising Producer: Rachael Cusick

Executive Producers: Eric George and Carmel Rooney

Head of Audio on Demand: Jessica Radburn

To hear the rest of the History Or Hoarding? podcast series, or for more of the best history podcasts covering Australian history, global history including war, politics, literature and some of the most interesting people, moments and turning points in history, go to ABC listen Australia's history tab or the ABC Australia channel or wherever you get your podcasts.

To add the History Or Hoarding? podcast to your playlist, just tap 'favourite' or 'follow' on your app and you'll never miss an episode.

The MAGA right is enthusiastically embracing a potent psychedelic called ibogaine. Its the new counter-counter-culture.

This episode was produced by Kelli Wessinger with help from Danielle Hewitt, edited by Miranda Kennedy with help from Jolie Myers, fact-checked by Gabriel Dunatov, engineered by David Tatasciore and Bridger Dunnagan, and hosted by Jonquilyn Hill.

President Donald Trump signing an executive order to further medical research for certain psychedelic drugs, with Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., podcaster Joe Rogan, and W. Bryan Hubbard, CEO of Americans for Ibogaine looking on. Photo by Jim WATSON / AFP via Getty Images.

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Today’s episode was recorded in front of a live audience at the Regent Street Cinema in London: David talks to the writer and broadcaster Helen Lewis about George Clooney’s Good Night, and Good Luck (2005). A film about the golden age of journalism and the grim years of McCarthyism, it tells the story of Ed Murrow’s attempt to take down scaremongering and conspiracy theories. Where is McCarthyism at work today? What’s happened to cancel culture? How was early TV like podcasting? And is George Clooney a hero for our times?

You can find out everything you need to know about this podcast – who we are, what we do, plus merch, events and full lists of all episodes including PPF+ bonus episodes on our website https://www.ppfideas.com

Next Time in Great Political Fictions: Brave New World

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“Fifth-century Athens still lingers even for us, and it’s a mythical golden age,” says Mary Beard on this week’s episode of The World in Time. “And we imagine that all we can do is count ourselves lucky to be the inheritors of the Greek Miracle, all of the things that the Greeks invented: democracy, philosophy, and theater, among much else. I struggled with that when I was at university because it was almost cliché to say that the fifth- and sixth-century Athenians invented democracy, which is simply not true. It doesn’t take much to say, ‘Look, democracy isn’t like the iPhone or the steam engine.’ It isn’t invented in that way. Democracy is a process and people have been experimenting with that process all over the world–not just in Western Europe–for thousands of years.” 

This week on the podcast, Donovan Hohn speaks with Mary Beard, best-selling historian and professor emerita of classics at the University of Cambridge, about her new book, Talking Classics: The Shock of the Old. “What is the point of the ancient classics?” Beard asks in the book’s introduction. “Why should we bother about what people did two thousand years ago or more: what they made, wrote, and thought? What can it all mean to us now?” In the chapters that follow, and in this episode of The World in Time, she shares her best answers, drawing from her own lifelong, wonder-struck study of the ancient world

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Before the hits, before the headlines, there was chaos, instinct… and a gamble.

Welcome to the birth of London Records: a label that didn’t just ride the wave of 1980s pop, but helped create it. In this opening episode, journalist Siân Pattenden throws us headfirst into a music industry that feels more like the Wild West: fast-moving, rule-breaking, and full of possibility.

With founders Roger Ames and Tracy Bennett at the helm, London Records wasn’t interested in playing it safe. Instead, they built a culture driven by risk, rebellion, and raw creative energy. Through the voices of artists and insiders, we hear how early signings like Blancmange embodied a DIY, art-school ethos, proving that pop could be smart, strange, and fearless.

Then came Bananarama: Sara Dallin, Siobhan Fahey and Keren Woodward; three friends squatting in London who would go on to define a generation. Their rise captures the spirit of the time: scrappy, stylish, and completely self-made.

Behind the scenes, a young Pete Tong begins shaping the label’s future, while staffers recall an office buzzing with urgency, noise, and big personalities. Deals are struck fast. Records are rushed out. Hits are chased with instinct as much as strategy.

But this isn’t just about success; it's about attitude. London Records becomes a family of outsiders: loud, ambitious, and unapologetically cool. As journalists like Miranda Sawyer explain, this was the moment pop exploded into everyday British life.

And then, pop turns political. Enter Bronski Beat and the unmistakable voice of Jimmy Somerville. With ‘Smalltown Boy,’ the pop charts become a place of protest, identity, and emotional truth.

From underground beginnings to cultural revolution, Episode 1 tells the story of how a maverick label and its cast of fearless artists helped usher in a brand new era of pop.

Written and presented by Siân Pattenden. Produced by Robin Leeburn. A Podmasters production for London Records.

Guests featured in this episode: Goldie, Richard Coles (The Communards), Siobhan Fahey (Shakespears Sister / Bananarama), Neil Arthur (Blancmange), Sara Dallin (Bananarama), Keren Woodward (Bananarama), Pete Tong, Sean Rowley, Colin Bell, Juliette Sensicle, John Niven, Hillary Shaw, Miranda Sawyer.

Songs featured in this episode:  

Goldie - Kemistry (Doc Scott mix)

Bronski Beat - Hit That Perfect Beat

Blancmange - Living on the Ceiling

Bananarama - Ai Ae Mwana

Fine Young Cannibals - She Drives Me Crazy

Communards - Don’t Leave Me This Way

Bananarama - Cruel Summer

Bronski Beat - I Feel Love

Bronski Beat - Smalltown Boy

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‘Hit That Perfect Beat - The London Records Story’ compilation is released on 2CD / Digital on June 12, 2026 and available to pre-order now

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When the Enhanced Games got announced a lot of people thought it was a joke. An Olympic style event where the athletes can take any kind of performance enhancing drugs they want? Sounded like an idea that would never come to life – and yet in a few short weeks at the end of May, former Olympic athletes are set to compete for a million dollar prize at Resorts World Las Vegas. And we’ve been right there alongside the competitors as they prepare for this radical new sports event.

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