This week on News Weakly, Sami Shah looks at what happens when populism accidentally stumbles into good policy while everything else quietly catches fire.

The federal government tweaks negative gearing and capital gains tax concessions, triggering a media meltdown from a property-owning class suddenly discovering class warfare. Meanwhile, Pauline Hanson unveils a gas policy so interventionist it accidentally sounds Scandinavian.

Australia also discovers compassion for “boat people” when the people on the boats happen to be Australian activists detained by Israel during the Gaza flotilla interception.

Plus: literary fiction panics after an allegedly AI-generated short story gets shortlisted for a major prize, and Elon Musk’s gutting of USAID collides with a growing Ebola outbreak in Africa.

All that, and more.

Sami Shah is a multi-award-winning comedian, writer, journalist, and broadcaster.

For more: http://thesamishah.com

Theme music 'Historic Anticipation' by Paul Mottram

This podcast is written, hosted, and produced by Sami Shah.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week on News Weakly, Sami Shah looks at what happens when politics stops pretending to care equally about everyone.

Labor’s latest budget is compared to the brutal Abbott-Hockey austerity budget of 2014, revealing how conservative outrage mysteriously only appears when wealthy Australians lose tax advantages. Meanwhile, the Albanese government finally responds to gambling reform recommendations with a plan so timid it feels focus-grouped by Sportsbet itself.

In the UK, Labour MPs appear ready to repeat the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd years at high speed, threatening to hand Nigel Farage the easiest political opening of his life.

Plus: Coles gets caught playing games with “Down Down” pricing, and the Royal Commission into antisemitism exposes something darker than political disagreement — a growing public instinct to explain away Jewish fear rather than confront it.

All that, and more.

Sami Shah is a multi-award-winning comedian, writer, journalist, and broadcaster.

For more: http://thesamishah.com

Theme music 'Historic Anticipation' by Paul Mottram

This podcast is written, hosted, and produced by Sami Shah.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week on News Weakly, Sami Shah looks at the stories Australia keeps turning into culture wars instead of solving.

The death of Kumanjayi Little Baby reignites debate around Indigenous communities, systemic neglect, Welcome to Country ceremonies, and the country’s ongoing inability to confront its own contradictions. Sami explores the idea of the “Pink Flamingo”: the national dysfunction everyone sees but nobody meaningfully addresses.

Meanwhile, the Liberal Party responds to electoral collapse by considering a return to Tony Abbott, because apparently the answer to political failure is expired yoghurt conservatism.

And in journalism, former Age editor Michael Gawenda and writer Jeff Sparrow collide in a debate over objectivity, activism, and whether journalists still know the difference between reporting facts and performing politics online.

All that, and more.

Sami Shah is a multi-award-winning comedian, writer, journalist, and broadcaster.

For more: http://thesamishah.com

Theme music 'Historic Anticipation' by Paul Mottram

This podcast is written, hosted, and produced by Sami Shah.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.