Urgent Histories. This is a newish series of history podcasts coming out of Australian National University, featuring lecturers from the University. Being in a Nanna-ish frame of mind, I listened to the episode Grandparenting’s transformations in the twentieth century. This ARC-funded project, drawing in researchers from several Australian universities features demographer Dr Liz Allen, one of the researchers. She looks at migration, housing design, distance, longer lifespans and the rising cost of living in a range of households, including multicultural and First Peoples families, and the role of parents in child-care. I found it a bit self-evident really: I wonder if they’ll find anything new?
The Rest is Classified Episode 127 Was Epstein a Russian Spy? I wonder if I’m becoming a conspiracy theorist: I have never believed that Jeffrey Epstein committed suicide, and I believe that Vladimir Putin has something on Donald Trump. In this episode podcast presenter David McCloskey speaks with former CIA officer and foreign policy, intelligence, and national security expert John Sipher. They point out that the Epstein files show Epstein’s frequent contact and financial ties with Russia and Belarus, especially in relation to trafficking. They point out that in Russia, espionage is directed towards protection of the regime, and towards activation of foreign policy. In the United States, espionage ‘assets’ need to have vulnerabilities and be interesting, but they also need to be trustworthy and follow orders. They felt that neither Epstein nor Trump were trustworthy or willing to follow orders, but they could be valuable without being actual assets. In Russian espionage, the uncertainty of whether someone has Kompromat on you or not is its own form of constraint. They point out that Ghislaine Maxwell’s father, Robert Maxwell had helped the KGB as a banker during the fall of the Soviet union.. But overall, they downplay the likelihood of Epstein being a Russian spy- more like a ‘useful idiot’, and they reject completely the idea of him being an Israeli spy. [But that doesn’t mean that ‘they’ didn’t get to Epstein, I reckon]
From Our Correspondent (BBC) I really am quite enjoying this program. In the May 2 episode, Sean Coghlan talks about King Charles and Queen Camilla’s state visit to Washington came at a fragile moment in the UK-US relationship over issues such as Ukraine, defence spending, tariffs, and the Iran War. Sarah Smith talks about King Charles and Queen Camilla’s state visit to Washington, the multiple readings that could be taken on the King’s speeches and on how far the visit has helped restore the ‘special relationship’. Sean Coughlan has travelled with the King on previous tours, and reveals what made this one different. Lyse Doucet (I LOVE Lyse Doucet!!) recalls a trip to Iran in 1989 where a Revolutionary Guard spoke of the ‘tingle’ that came from acting illegally. She returns to Tehran, and finds many Iranians willing the fighting to continue, but for various reasons. John Donnison reports from Ramallah, where municipal elections were held last weekend in the occupied West Bank and Gaza. Hamas was officially excluded from participating, as the Palestinian Authority requires parties and candidates to recognise the state of Israel – something Hamas refuses to do. And in West Bengal a fierce state election battle is underway. Indian PM Narendra Modi’s BJP has mounted an aggressive push to unseat the Trinamool Congress party which is seeking a fourth consecutive term. Soutik Biswas reveals how FISH of all things have become a hot-button issue as culture and politics merge.
The Wargame.This five-part series from Sky News and Tortoise imagines how a Russian attack on the UK could play out. The Gathering Storm: The Grey Zone Ep.1. The Grey Zone is a murky space where it’s not clearcut that an attack has actually occurred, but with multiple, deliberate occurences, there is certainly a battle going on none the less. In this episode Sky News journalist Deborah Haynes travels to Salisbury with the widow of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko to visit the site of one of the most high profile grey zone attacks – the poisoning of another ex-Russian agent, Sergei Skripal, and his daughter Yulia. These poisonings were followed by a deluge of misinformation. Finally, Eliot Higgins, founder of the investigative website Bellingcat, describes how he and his team revealed the true identities of the Russian military intelligence officers named by the UK as prime suspects in the attempted assassination. Russia denies involvement.
The Resident Judge of Port Phillip 