Infrastructure
Whyalla’s white-knight wipeout
Sanjeev Gupta’s collapsing global businesses make his promises to revive and expand the Whyalla steelworks ring hollow
The Monthly | Australian politics, society & culture
During a week staying at the Whitlam family home in Cabramatta, a series of unexpected aquatic resonances emerge
How postwar anti-communist zeal seeded the growing influence of far-right extremism in mainstream politics
On the beauty and necessity of music, especially in times of disaster, conflict and crisis
Former Philippines senator Leila de Lima, imprisoned for nearly seven years during Rodrigo Duterte’s “war on drugs”, on her hopes for democratic reform
Both Lidia Thorpe’s protest against King Charles and the subsequent civility policing served to demonstrate how the status quo continues without the Voice
The limited legalisation of psychedelic-assisted therapy permits it in medicalised and hospital settings, but will that work for everyone?
Like meerkats with binoculars, Landcare Victoria Twitchathon participants compete to spot the most birds in six hours
Role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons updates its rules – and its views on orcs’ inherent evil – to mark its 50th anniversary
Mass production: Masami Teraoka and Angelica Mesiti
Ukiyo-e prints at the NGA and a monumental video installation at the AGNSW provide rewards beyond gallery blockbusters
Down at the rail: Helen Garner’s ‘The Season’
The latest book from one of our most compelling writers finds her contemplating old age through the lens of a grandson’s footy team
The season’s best criminal drama, comedy capers, horror and true crime viewing, from ‘I’ll Be Gone in the Dark’ to ‘Longlegs’
Capers and capability: ‘Anora’ and ‘Black Dog’
Sean Baker’s Palme d’Or winning take on a rags-to-riches story set in the sex industry, and Guan Hu’s energetic, heartfelt story of a tough guy and a wild dog
Hungry ghosts New fiction from the Miles Franklin–winning author of ‘The Yield’ and ‘After the Carnage’
Janet Frame’s ‘The Edge of the Alphabet’
A reissue of the New Zealand author’s 1962 abstract classic of trans-oceanic passage and postcolonial melancholy
Lili Anolik’s ‘Didion & Babitz’
A twin biography that tells us more about its podcasting and bestselling American author than its celebrated subjects
‘Many are the caterpillars / that have outcrawled it’
The author reflects on the line from Szymborska that reminded him death isn’t as irresistible as it might seem
Remembering the Lutheran theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, as we approach the 80th anniversary of his execution on Hitler’s orders
Misinformation is easy to ignore online, but what to do when it permeates the festive family lunch?
Should a priest’s actions be the responsibility of the church? Final submissions are being heard, sort of.
Prime Minister Albanese’s reaction to the accusation of receiving special treatment is more troubling than the allegation itself
The doping scandals overshadowing the Australian Open
Sports journalist and author of the Substack “But Do You Actually Like Sport?”, Molly McElwee, on the twin doping scandals overshadowing the Australian Open.
HOST Ruby Jones
GUEST Molly McElwee
'Everyone wants to be my friend': The people paying millions for access to Trump
Public Citizen’s lobbyist on ethics and campaign finance, Craig Holman, on who is giving Trump money, and what they’re getting out of it.
HOST Daniel James
GUEST Craig Holman
Ex-Pentagon official on the Israel-Hamas ceasefire
Research director at The Washington Institute, Dana Stroul, tells us how the deal was struck and how Trump and Biden each claiming the victory as their own obscures an unlikely alliance.
HOST Daniel James
GUEST Dana Stroul