spring2025 – Stilgherrian

18 December 202518 December 2025

The 9pm Slop Bowl of Discourse with Snarky Platypus

On a drab metal tray sits a white plastic plate piled with stuff including lettuce and dribbles of an unidentifiable brown sauce, a brown paper bag printed with the slogan “[Our] chips are lovingly crafted for [something out of sight]”, and a paper cup labelled “Chipotle Mexican Grill”. In the bottom left corner there’s an inset photo of a platypus. — *Chicken burrito bowl with tortilla chips and drink at Chipotle, August 2022, by* *Sarah Stierch*/Wikipedia Commons, used under a CC BY 4.0 license. Platypus inset photo by Taronga Conservation Society Australia / Chris Wheeler. Digital composition by Stilgherrian..

I like food. My good friend Snarky Platypus also likes food. And we also like wine. But we also have opinions. So in this final episode of the spring series we bring you some of those opinions.

03 December 202503 December 2025

The 9pm Social Media Ban and the Special Duck with Justin Warren

Close-up photo of middle-aged white man with neatly-trimmed grey stubble and black-rimmed spectacles. He wears an open-necked white collared shirt and a black jacket — *Justin Warren looks quite respectable when he tries. (Photo: Supplied)*

It’s just one week until Australia’s controversial social media age restrictions come into force, so I decided to chat with Justin Warren, noted “consultant, freedom of information tragic, hexagon enthusiast, and creator of the CyberRating™ labelling scheme”.

28 November 202528 November 2025

The 9pm Miracle Medical Reality with Dr Trent Yarwood

A middle-aged white man in a black t-shirt stands in front of some tropical tree or other, smiling, with his hands clasped behind his back. His hair is brown, as is his beard. He wears spectacles . The t-shirt has a green print in the style of, and indeed taken from, an old video game called Oregon Trail. It shows a covered wagon and the text: You Have Died of Dysentery. — *Dr Trent Yarwood wears the uniform of his people. (Photo: Cassandra Yarwood, The Time Thief Photography)*

Earlier this month I saw several news stories about new antibiotics, some even developed with AI. Miracle medical breakthrough, or not? Why not ask infectious diseases physician and overall medtech nerd Dr Trent Yarwood?

25 November 202527 November 2025

The 9pm All-Electric Douchebag with Peter Anderson

A handsome middle-aged white man looks into the camera. It's Peter Anderson! — *Peter Anderson. (Photo: Supplied)*

I know nothing about cars. I don’t even know how to drive. So obviously my guest today is freelance motoring journalist and editor of The Redline, Peter Anderson — because a lot has been happening in the auto industry, right? I might learn something.

13 November 2025

The 9pm Offworld Colonies with Dr Alice Gorman and Rami Mandow

Left: Dr Alice Gorman. (Photo: Simon Royal/ABC) Right: Rami Mandow. (Photo: Supplied; Post-processing: Stilgherrian). Not the best ALT text, I know, but yeah a white women and a man "of Middle-Eastern appearance". — *Left: Dr Alice Gorman. (Photo: Simon Royal/ABC) Right: Rami Mandow. (Photo: Supplied; Post-processing: Stilgherrian)*

No one under the age of 25 has ever known a time when there haven’t been humans in space — although to be fair, not many humans. To mark the 25th anniversary of the International Space Station’s inhabitation, and other space news, we chat once more with Dr Alice Gorman aka Dr Space Junk and astrophysicist Rami Mandow.

23 October 202513 November 2025

The 9pm Bongbong in the Region with Erin Cook

A white woman with her long brown hair tied back wears a yellow and black top, sunglasses, and a smile like the Mona Lisa. Behind her stretches out a view of a tropical landscape and, eventually, the ocean. It?s Erin Cook! — *Journalist Erin Cook towers above South-East Asia. (Photo: Supplied)*

We’re halfway through spring and this, finally, is the first episode of the spring series. In the Philippines, there’s typhoons and floods and earthquakes and political protests. So to look at what’s happening in that country, we’re joined by journalist Erin Cook, who specialises in South-East Asia.