If the rumours are true, Taylor Swift has tied the knot this weekend in a stadium in New York City.

Since Swift's August 2025 engagement to footballer Travis Kelce, there has been speculation about the venue, the guest list, the setlist... everything. Swift is, after all, one of the world’s biggest pop stars, and her success has been built on turning the details of her life into stories. This wedding is one hell of a story.

On this bonus episode of The Briefing, we revisit Swift’s most recent batch of stories on her 2025 album ‘The Life of a Showgirl’. Chris Spyrou speaks with Kate Pattison, a PhD candidate on Swift’s fandom and our in-house TS expert.

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Few politicians in Australian history have quite the standing that John Howard does.

While his time in power as Australia’s 25th Prime Minister between 1996 and 2007 was characterised by both economic wins and policy fails (think industrial relations and immigration), he is looked to now as an elder statesman and a symbol of when things in Australia were ‘good’.

But that’s revisionist history, according to political journalist Amy Remeikis, whose new book Where It All Went Wrong: The Case Against John Howard, explores how Howard sold out the younger generations to benefit their parents, undermined the public health system and destroyed the housing market.

In this chat with Amy Remeikis, Sacha Barbour Gatt explores these ideas with Remeikis while discussing the Canberra bubble and how a child of a conservative Lithuanian dad who voted One Nation went on to become one of the leading progressive voices in this country.

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Thursday Headlines:

• New analysis proves its harder to own a house now than when interest rates were 17%
• Pollies turn out for Midwinter Ball
• Online fraud and scams have increased as we become less vigilant
• Karl Stefanovic to lose radio show
• Details emerge about Taylor Swift’s wedding

Deep Dive: Twin earthquakes tore through Venezuela's north last week, leaving more than seventeen hundred dead and tens of thousands missing.

The emergency response has been widely criticised, international aid has faced unexpected obstacles getting in, and the government is carefully controlling the narrative as the outside world watches.

In this episode of The Briefing, Chris Spyrou is joined by LiSTNR senior journalist Claudianna Blanco to examine what this disaster reveals about the state of the country and what life actually looks like for Venezuelans six months on from the US capture of President Nicolás Maduro.

Further listening from headlines:

What a 'free' Karl Stefanovic really means

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Wednesday Headlines:

• Thai police investigating Australian man for possible links to suitcase murders
• Support for One Nation remains high despite rejection of key policies
• House prices drop by biggest amount since 2022
• Donald Trump’s controversial birthright citizenship policy struck down by Supreme Court
• Grad sacked after allegedly accessing Albo’s bank account
• NT residents named the happiest in the country

Deep Dive: July 1 marks the start of the new financial year and also when a raft of new laws, policies, regulations and pricing comes into effect.

This year that includes cheaper electricity for most states, bucking recent trends which have seen prices for everything else go up.

But it’s a little more complicated than just getting a cheaper bill, in fact, some people will be paying more.

In this episode of The Briefing, Sacha Barbour Gatt is joined by Canstar’s Data Insights Director, Sally Tindall, to unpack the changes coming to our power bills and how to get the best deal.

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Tuesday Headlines:

• Anthony Albanese backs multiculturalism as Coalition considers a rebrand
• US-Iran talks resume
• Bruce Lehrmann loses bid for Brittany Higgins footage
• Aussie fuel prices return to pre-Iran war levels
• Musical theatre industry calls for government help

Deep Dive: Karl Stefanovic got tongues wagging last week when he had controversial UK figure Tommy Robinson on his independent podcast for a conversation that did little to challenge the far-right agitator on his problematic views about immigration and Islam.

Within days of the podcast episode going live, it had sensationally been pulled from all platforms, and the Nine Network’s highest-paid star had been shown the door, in an exit that signals yet another shift in the media space.

In this episode of The Briefing, Chris Spyrou is joined by Jacqueline Maley, columnist and senior writer at The Age to discuss Karl’s Nine exit, why he’s happy about it and what it means for free speech and the broader media landscape in Australia.

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Monday Headlines:

• Labor recovers in the polls, One Nation takes a hit
• Australian man denies murder charges after 17-year-old's body found in suitcase
• Thousands still missing from Venezuela earthquakes
• US and Iran recommence strikes
• NSW announces major shark mitigation strategy after Coogee attack
• World Cup moves to the knockouts

Deep Dive: Your cybersecurity is at risk, according to the world’s spies. Five Eyes is the alliance of spies from the US, UK, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia – and last week, they published a warning that cutting-edge AI “accelerates the speed, scale, and sophistication of cyber threats”.

They also wrote that the timeline of the transformation is “not years, it is months.”

How worried should we all be about these cyber threats? And what can we, individually and collectively, do about them?

In this episode of The Briefing, Chris Spyrou is joined by cybersecurity expert Alastair MacGibbon, the founding head of the Australian Cyber Security Centre.

Further listening from headlines:

• The truth about shark culls
• Your guide to Aus v Paraguay

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Michael Theo first captured Australia's attention as one of the stars of Love on the Spectrum.

Since then, he's gone on to lead the ABC comedy-drama Austin - a performance that has now earned him a Silver Logie nomination for Best Lead Actor in a Comedy.

To mark the nomination, we're revisiting one of our conversations with him from the archives.

This bonus Sunday episode of The Briefing is Antoinette Lattouf's 2024 conversation with Michael Theo about finding fame through Love on the Spectrum, making the leap into acting, and the very specific checklist he has for his ideal partner.

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