Freelance journalist Andrew McMillen writes about all sorts of fascinating stuff. While I was in Brisbane I sat down with him to briefly discuss dead bodies and Wikipedia, but we spent most of our time focussed on getting high.

Andrew’s book Talking Smack: Honest Conversations About Drugs saw him interview big names in Australian music about their relationship with and opinions on illegal drug use. I asked him what he learnt from putting the book together and we talked about the history of drug criminalisation, the relationship between drugs and creativity, the problems with the public debate about the issue, why people take drugs, how to buy them and where he sees the conversation going next.

@andrew_mcmillen

andrewmcmillen.com

Article: How I Snuck Through Wikipedia’s Notability Test

Article: Meet The Ultimate Wikignome

Lisa Pryor’s A Small Book About Drugs

FriendlyJordies on sniffer dogs

Cause of the Week: Headspace (headspace.org.au)

Direct download        iTunes       libsyn

Clementine Ford is a self-described “feminist killjoy to the stars”. As a Daily Life columnist, speaker and activist, Clem is a proudly outspoken advocate for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault and a staunch critic of rape culture and all that entails.

Our conversation covered the perceptions of and challenges faced by modern-day feminism, society’s attitude towards the perpetrators and victims of rape and sexual assault, men’s role in feminism, checking one’s privilege, “rape jokes” and more.

Please note this discussion comes with a strong trigger warning; details of sexual assaults and victim blaming are mentioned.

@clementine_ford

Clementine on Tumblr

Clementine’s TED Talk: Your Vagina Is Not A Car

Opinion piece: It Was Easy For Bayley To Stalk, Rape And Murder

Article: Comedian Ray Badran Tells Audience Member To Die For Objecting To Rape Joke

My blog on rape jokes after the Daniel Tosh controversy

Opinion piece: There’s Nothing Funny About Misogyny

Opinion piece: How the Offence Debate Misses The Point Of Comedy by Helen Razer

triple j’s Hack program: Are rape jokes ever OK?  

Cause of the Week: Safe Steps Family Violence Response Centre (safesteps.org.au)

Journalist and comedy writer Richard Cooke has worked with the likes of The Chaser, The Checkout, The Saturday Paper, The Guardian and The Monthly.

He gave me some of his time to sound off on Aussie hip hop, Australian political satire, the theory of “mutual obligation” and tax evasion and the role of polling in today’s politics.

@rgcooke

richardcooke.net

Matty B’s Fridays

Article: Why I Have Resigned From The Telegraph

Article: Much Obliged

Article: The People Versus The Political Class

Cause of the Week: Doctors Without Borders (doctorswithoutborders.org)