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The World Is Getting Meaner. Why Are We Still Playing Nice?

October 14, 2026 · 57 min

Show notes

Is our obsession with being nice is actually part of the problem?

This week on Small Talk, I'm joined by one of Australia's most respected political journalists and authors, Amy Remeikis, to unpack why playing nice might be getting us absolutely nowhere.

Amy is the Chief Political Analyst at The Australia Institute, a contributing editor at The New Daily and is known online as Pyjama Politics. Amy is able to make the complicated world of politics accessible without losing any of its nuance. And her latest book, Screw Nice, makes a compelling case for why it's time to rethink our relationship with politeness.

We talk about why women are conditioned to be agreeable, the difference between being nice and being kind, and why the people causing the most outrage seem to face the fewest consequences.

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This ep was produced by Sarah Jane Adams 

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