{"podcast":{"title":"If You're Listening","slug":"if-you-re-listening-232515","podcast_index_feed_id":232515,"rss_url":"https://www.abc.net.au/feeds/9593214/podcast.xml","website_url":"https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/if-youre-listening/","image_url":"https://live-production.wcms.abc-cdn.net.au/0b00910f69470533fe28ab472d099166.jpg?src","author":"ABC Australia","episode_count":250,"summary":"The world is on fire. There's a coup. Inflation is through the roof, and AI is taking our jobs. What does it all mean? Each week, Matt Bevan explains the biggest story in world news while hiding in his basement from assassins and authoritarian regimes. Recent episodes include an exploration of the relationship between India and China, a closer look at the Saudi Arabian city of NEOM, the conflict in the Middle East, the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran, and Ukraine's incursions into Vladimir Putin's Russia. Matt Bevan draws connections between stories from the past and the events of the present to help listeners understand world news and international affairs. The podcast also features series about big moments in world news; previous series have focused on the United States presidential election, the United Kingdom's 14 years of Conservative Party leadership, Donald Trump's relationship with Russia, Donald Trump's presidency and promise to Make America Great Again, the Mueller Report, Vladimir Putin's scheme to destroy western democracies, how the relationship between Australia and China came to the verge of collapse, and Australia's turbulent history with clima…","last_synced_at":"2026-09-12T04:23:07.571960+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/if-you-re-listening-232515"},"episode":{"title":"Matt finally gets to talk about Sealand","slug":"matt-finally-gets-to-talk-about-sealand","published_at":"2026-06-29T15:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/if-you-re-listening-232515/matt-finally-gets-to-talk-about-sealand","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/if-you-re-listening-232515","url":"https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/if-youre-listening/matt-finally-gets-to-talk-about-sealand/106858594","audio_url":"https://mediacore-live-production.akamaized.net/audio/02/m0/Z/k9.mp3","summary":"Last Thursday's episode touched on the relatively short-lived, Israel-backed microstate of Free Lebanon. For Matt, that's all the excuse he needs to tell the story of his favourite ever micronation: the Principality of Sealand. Especially because, when he mentioned Sealand in an episode last year, so many of you wrote in to say you shared his enthusiasm. So here we finally are. Today, Matt is telling producer Adair the story of the radio pirate turned actual pirate who declared himself Prince of a rusting gun platform in the North Sea. Follow If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app . Check out our series on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDTPrMoGHssAfgMMS3L5LpLNFMNp1U_Nq","meta_description":"Last Thursday's episode touched on the relatively short-lived, Israel-backed microstate of Free Lebanon. For Matt, that's all the excuse he needs to tell…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":1380,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/if-you-re-listening-232515/episodes/matt-finally-gets-to-talk-about-sealand/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/if-you-re-listening-232515/matt-finally-gets-to-talk-about-sealand.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}