Perhaps the most dangerous idea is what to do about dangerous ideas.

A spate of anti-semitic attacks has led to new laws that will punish Australians for "hate speech". But are hate-speech laws a band-aid over deeper problems like ethnic bigotry, religious conservatism, historical ignorance, social media, migrant integration, university bias, and Islamism - problems which may have been addressed if we'd spoken more openly about them in the first place?

That's the argument of Professor Alan Davison, the incoming president of Australia's Free Speech Union. He and Josh discuss free speech, diversity, journalistic integrity, critical thinking, and who gets to speak for minority groups.

Is it time to speak more fearlessly, not less? Or is the free-speech position just an excuse for more division and hate?

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How should medium-sized countries respond when they're bullied by a superpower? The question applies as much to Canada dealing with President Trump as to Australia reacting to China.

Last Friday, the pilot of a Virgin Australia flight from Australia to New Zealand noticed a flash of weapons from a Chinese warship just a few hundred miles off the coast of Sydney. Other passenger planes suddenly got mid-air warnings to divert course. The Australian government scrambled to reassure citizens that nothing was amiss.

But this is the first time China has sent naval assets so far south down the Australian coast. It's the first time they've conducted live-fire exercises so close to Australia, inside its exclusive economic zone, in a busy flight corridor linking the region's only two Western democracies.

What's going on? How should we react? Is a China-U.S. war in the 21st century inevitable?

Sam Roggeveen is a former intelligence officer and a foreign policy analyst who now heads the International Security Program at the Lowy Institute, Australia's preeminent international policy think tank.

He and Josh discuss China's belligerence, the Australia-U.S. alliance, Trumpist isolationism, Taiwan, NATO, and immigration. His book is The Echidna Strategy, an argument for developing an independent security strategy.

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Imagine posing as a drug dealer and going undercover into a Chinese drug lab. That's what Ben Westhoff did to report on how fentanyl -- which kills about 75,000 Americans every year -- gets made.

Will Trump's crackdowns at the Mexican border stanch the flow? Why are other rich countries less affected by opioids? How did fentanyl cause the worst drug crisis in American history. Is the problem getting any better?

Ben is a best-selling investigative journalist who's written about the fentanyl crisis for The New York Times, The Atlantic and the Los Angeles Times. His book is "Fentanyl, Inc.: How Rogue Chemists Created the Deadliest Wave of the Opioid Epidemic" and his story of heading to China to meet fentanyl's manufacturers is unmissable.

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Varied are the ways in which political parties, media moguls and corporations screw you. One man who stands up to them all -- or who at least makes funny, informative, viral videos explaining their shenanigans -- is the phenomenon known as "Punters Politics". Millions of Aussies devour his Instagram and YouTube videos to learn how the system is ripping us off.

Why is there a revolving door between politicians and the industries they regulate? What does Norway do that we should, too? And what does it mean to “pass the pub test?”

From Rupert Murdoch to mining taxes, from government lobbyists to the beauty of the mullet, Konrad and Josh gleefully explore what, exactly, ails democracy... and how to fix it.

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Productivity tips. Life hacks. Calendar apps. Magic mornings. Brain supplements.

None of it will free you from the sense that there's more to do than you possibly can. That's because you're finite. Your time is finite, your focus is finite, and you're going to die. No productivity hack can change that.

It's a liberating idea, if you look at it the way Oliver Burkeman does. Oliver was the second-ever guest on this podcast, at the height of the Covid pandemic, to discuss how to ignore the news. He returned in 2021 to discuss his profound book, "Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals" (four thousand being the number of weeks in an eighty-year life).

Oliver was a columnist for The Guardian in New York before decamping to the English countryside from where he writes his marvellous blog, The Imperfectionist. Today, Oliver and Josh discuss ambition, anxiety, the hedonic treadmill, self-help, Elon Musk, distractedness, boredom, and snorkelling in Yorkshire.

Oliver's latest book is "Meditations for Mortals: Four Weeks to Embrace Your Limitations and Make Time for What Counts".

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Natalie is a Jewish Iranian-American who grew up in New York. She was partying at the Nova Music Festival in Israel when Hamas attacked.

Today, she uses her experience to advocate for the Combat Antisemitism Movement.

She and Josh discuss Gaza, the Israeli occupation, hatred, love... and her experiences that day.

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What's it like being a promiscuous young gay guy in the 2020s? How much freedom is there in random sex from hookup apps, versus how much shame? Do social conservatives have a point when they say fidelity and monogamy are the best model for life?

The producer of "Fleabag" and "Baby Reindeer" -- both humongous British TV shows which started as one-person stage shows at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival -- has a new one-person stage show about a gay Brit looking for love. "Feeling Afraid As If Something Terrible Is Going To Happen" was a smash hit in Edinburgh and just opened at the Sydney Opera House.

The show's writer, Marcelo Dos Santos, and its star, Samuel Barnett, swung by the Uncomfortable Conversations studio on the day of their opening night. Marcelo won Britain's Critics Circle Theatre Award last year. Samuel has been nominated for an Olivier Award and two Tony Awards, for "The History Boys" and "Twelfth Night" on Broadway.

You can also watch this entire conversation in-person here.

Samuel, Marcelo and Josh wrestle with promiscuity, grief, self-worth, mental health, cultural malaise, sex on stage, and why Aussies and Brits are so allergic to American self-help.

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President Trump says the United States should take over the Gaza Strip and relocate its two million residents to neighbouring countries while we redevelop Gaza into the "Riviera of the Middle East." Josh has thoughts.

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