Bourdain and Batali's 'right-hand' woman Laurie Woolever on her tell-all book

New York food writer, editor and podcaster Laurie Woolever spent the early years of her career assisting two very famous chefs: first Mario Batali, then Anthony Bourdain, for whom she worked for nine years. Woolever was also, for much of this time, an addict – using alcohol, marijuana and sex to ge…

A national address, nailing down the budget, and Hastie’s ‘striking’ interview

This week we debate the merits of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s national address before getting stuck into what’s happening with the budget. With the world in a bit of a shambles, we found it interesting that the PM hasn’t totally killed off the idea of reforms in the budget to things such as c…

A national address, nailing down the budget, and Hastie’s ‘striking’ interview

This week we debate the merits of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s national address before getting stuck into what’s happening with the budget. With the world in a bit of a shambles, we found it interesting that the PM hasn’t totally killed off the idea of reforms in the budget to things such as c…

Peter Hartcher: Donald Trump is on the cusp of walking away from Iran

US President Donald Trump says he’s nearly done with the war in Iran, declaring: "We will be leaving very soon." His secretary of state also said on Wednesday that he can "see the finish line". This would be significant, but only if the Americans were in control of the war. Today, international a…

A question of trust for Blues v Roos

The Easter round throws up a variety of intriguing AFL games, with Andrew Wu and Peter Ryan disagreeing on where to put their faith on Good Friday. They also debate the merits of speculative "expected-score" statistics, ponder how much damage the Western Bulldogs could do to the Bombers and get exc…

The Sea Eagles are bleeding out, so who will make Manly great again?

After three straight losses, Sea Eagles coach Anthony Seibold has been sensationally sacked by Manly. But was it fair? And how will interim coach Kieran Foran cope? Plus, as the Panthers continue to dominate, will Nathan Clearly be crowned the NRL's greatest player of all time? This week, rugby l…

Nick McKenzie on how North Korean spies are infiltrating Australian companies

Investigative reporter Nick McKenzie logged on to a Zoom call to meet the man who said he was Aaron Pierson. McKenzie was also hiding his real identity, posing as a recruiter for an Australian tech company. The whole thing was a set-up, a trap for someone McKenzie suspected to be a spy for North K…

Albanese has a petrol plan. Will it help, or boost inflation?

The government has finally announced its national fuel security plan to help us cope with one of the worst global oil crisis the world has seen. After meeting with the heads of all states and territories in a special meeting of the national cabinet, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the governm…

The dramatic end to the hunt for Dezi Freeman

In a sudden conclusion to one of Australia’s most intensive manhunts, self-described sovereign citizen Dezi Freeman was shot dead by police on Monday morning. For more than 200 days, Freeman evaded police after killing two police officers at a rural property in Porepunkah, in Victoria’s High Count…

How low can the Blues and Bombers go?

One-time AFL behemoths Carlton and Essendon delivered more disappointment to their long-suffering supporters at the weekend, prompting Michael Gleeson, Jake Niall and Caroline Wilson to ask if either club has reached its lowest ebb. The league also comes in for scrutiny after a boundary-line blunde…