Coming soon on Substack

Lessons from #Ashes so far - which doubles as a statement of the bleeding obvious. Play some proper warm up games. Take the offer of a pink ball warm-up. Look upon driving on the up like swimming in a rip. Staying with that theme, play some between the flags test cricket.

Of all the interviews we have done on ABC Radio National’s Saturday Extra this year, few have got as big an audience reaction as our conversation with the Australian Governor General, Sam Mostyn. www.abc.net.au/listen/progr...

History never ended - lovely to catch up with The Rest is History boys for a conversation on Saturday Extra @holland_tom @dcsandbrook #historyneverended www.abc.net.au/listen/progr...

“They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old: Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning We will remember them.”

Great to see the updated UK paperback of The Forever War out in the wild in London. New chapters on Trump 2.0 and the 2024 campaign. It’s the 250-year backstory of Trumpism. It’s the history, stupid.

Even Liberace would have told his interior designer to tone it down a bit…..

UK publication day for the paperback edition of The Forever War. Two new chapters on Trump 2.0 and the 2024 election. The Trump presidency has been 250 years in the making. If you look at US history in a different light, as I try to do so in the book his shocking presidency isn’t such a shock.

Coming soon to the UK and US - the updated paperback version of The Forever War

America needs more Dolly Partons - my latest column www.smh.com.au/world/north-...

Code red for democracy - my interview with the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Ressa www.abc.net.au/listen/progr...

The updated edition of The Forever War - with chapters on Trump 2.0 and the 2024 campaign - is out in time for Father’s Day.

The Trump summer. His presidency in full. My long read on a highly chaotic and highly consequential few months. www.abc.net.au/news/2025-08...

Delighted that this is now out in the wild - the updated edition of The Forever War: America's Unending Conflicting with Itself. A new chapter on Trump 2.0, and a new forward on the 2024 presidential election. It's the 250 year story of the rise of Donald Trump.

I post this every year to mark her birthday - a letter to our beautiful daughter Honor. Five years on, she remains an absolute delight - a real joybringer. If I had to pick one piece from my career with the BBC, this would be it. www.bbc.com/news/world-u...

It’s a year since The Forever War: America’s Unending Conflict with Itself was published. Huge thanks to all those who have read it, listened to it or watched me blather on about it. The book is the 250 year backstory of Donald Trump. 📷 Hugh Stewart

Always a great pleasure to do the Sydney Writers Festival - feels now like a home fixture. And great to share the stage with Barrie Cassidy, Emma Shortis and Peter Beinart

A packed Saturday Extra - Donald Trump with Thomas Friedman; Middle East @rmslim; the mushroom case with @thomashayes, a local reporter covering his first trial; Oz politics with two historians Judith Brett and @fbongiornoanu Eurovision @dreurovision www.abc.net.au/listen/progr...

From Donald Trump we get ‘the weave.’ From Peter Dutton we got the unraveling. Voters rejected Americanisation and carried out a collective act of Australianisation.

Australia voted for its politics to remain Australian, using its uniquely Australian model of democracy to re-elect an emphatically Australian prime minister. (And Peter Dutton was more Ron DeSantis than Donald Trump.) My latest. www.smh.com.au/national/spo...

ABC Saturday Extra - Gaza war with former Israeli PM Ehud Olmert; an American pope - Scott Stephens @ABCReligion; Indo-Pakistan - @MichaelKugelman; historical roots of Donald Trump - @sarahchurchwell; Australian election fallout @markgkenny @janeenorman www.abc.net.au/listen/progr...

Thrilled to be at the Australian book industry awards where The Forever War is up for non-fiction book of the year. And honored to be on shortlist of great authors.

In an election where Australians said they wanted their politics to remain Australian, Anthony Albanese benefited from being authentically and emphatically Aussie. Given the scale of his win, he could become the first PM since John Howard to have the word era attached to his name

Anti-Trumpism, in Australia and Canada at least, has become a more powerful political force than anti-incumbency.

Saturday Extra Election Special - packed programme, with a health check on Australian democracy - and listen until the end for a national treasure. www.abc.net.au/listen/progr...

The Economist hasn’t been pulling any punches

Thrilled to make this shortlist - the books nominated by the booksellers themselves.

On Saturday Extra, Trump vs Harvard, South Africa, Hanan Khashoggi on her murdered husband, Jamal, campaign 2025 and Colum McCann. www.abc.net.au/listen/progr...

It’s great to see the new movie The Correspondent getting such brilliant reviews. They are richly deserved. The story of the imprisoned journalist @PeterGreste portrayed by Richard Roxburgh. It was a treat to interview them both on Saturday Extra. www.abc.net.au/listen/progr...

We need to rethink the very concept of US isolationism. Conventionally, isolationism has been perceived of as an active American choice. In the Trump era, however, US isolationism is increasingly being imposed on America from outside.

The Upending -my long read on how Donald Trump’s post-American world marks a return to the pre-American world. www.abc.net.au/news/2025-04...

A packed Saturday Extra. Market mayhem with Warwick McKibbin Myanmar @yogital; The new film The Correspondent @PeterGreste Richard Roxburgh Adelaide Cabaret Festival at 25 Virginia Gay Australian election @ccroucher9 @katinacurtis.bsky.social www.abc.net.au/listen/progr...

This is lovely news to get - The Forever War shortlisted for ABIA nonfiction book of the year.

This is lovely news to get - The Forever War shortlisted for ABIA nonfiction book of the year.

In November, I delivered a lecture at the National Press Club warning against the Americanisation of Australia. t.co/luRsjkHh5G

There’s a long history of American authoritarianism - and a long history of Americans supporting American authoritarianism. It’s a story I tell in The Forever War.

A packed Saturday Extra: Ukraine with Mick Ryan; Canada with former dep PM Sheila Copps; South Korea with Robert Kelly (with bonus "BBC dad") Seven Wonders with Bettany Hughes; COVID 5 years with Richard Holden and Rebecca Huntley; F1 Melbourne with Filip Cleeran www.abc.net.au/listen/progr...

It would have been Mark Colvin's birthday today. I still miss him. Australia is not the same in his absence. The world could do with more journalists, like Mark, who were like real-time historians. I was lucky to call him a mate. www.bbc.com/news/world-a...

The Australian Chamber Orchestra, is one of the world’s great string ensembles. On its 50th anniversary, I interviewed its artistic director Richard Tognetti. If anyone has any lingering spasms of the cultural cringe, listen to the ACO. www.abc.net.au/listen/progr...

Full edition of Saturday Extra - Ukraine with former deputy prime minister @olehrybachuk and departing UK High Commissioner @VickiTreadell; the International Women's Day with Hannah Tonkin & @suigenerisjen; Richard Tognetti on ACO at 50 www.abc.net.au/listen/progr...

A thought experiment: imagine it had been Vladmir Putin sat in the Oval Office not Zelesnky. My latest piece on how Trump is becoming a content provider for Russian state TV: www.abc.net.au/news/2025-03...

The view from Moscow - it was a treat this week to catch up with the BBC's Russia editor Steve Rosenberg - we even worked in some piano playing....... www.abc.net.au/listen/progr...

Australia’s negotiations with Trump administration over steel and aluminium tariffs suddenly feel small, but they raise the same mega question being asked in Europe. It is not just whether Trump’s America is a reliable ally, but rather whether Washington is an ally at all.

The 250 year backstory - it’s all in there. The authoritarian strain, the flaws of the constitution which Trump is exploiting, the long history of demagoguery and political violence.

“In 1989, after the fall of the Berlin Wall, we were talking about the end of history, the triumph of liberal democracy, whereas in 2025 we are confronting the end of America as we have known it since the end of World War II.” My column. www.smh.com.au/world/north-...

Private Eye

The final chapter is called “Goodbye America”.

JD Vance in Munich with @mfullilove Albo and Trump with Jane Hardy, interest rates with Angela Jackson, deciphering China with @DSORennie national anthems with Wendy Hargreaves. Packed Saturday Extra. www.abc.net.au/listen/progr...

Aluminium Albo - an embattled Australian prime minister goes up against Donsld Trump. My latest column www.smh.com.au/world/north-...

The fracturing of Australia - my latest column www.smh.com.au/national/no-...