# Why Richard Flanagan says Elon Musk's X is the new Spanish inquisition

An episode of [Global Roaming with Geraldine Doogue and Hamish Macdonald](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1725924485), 25 Sep 2026, 29 min.

Audio: https://mediacore-live-production.akamaized.net/audio/02/or/Z/bi.mp3

Australian author Richard Flanagan joins Global Roaming to talk about his new essay collection Heresies. He tells Hamish Macdonald and Waleed Aly why he thinks Elon Musk's takeover of Twitter echoes the public punishment of heretics in the Spanish Inquisition, why he believes Australia is a uniquely conformist nation unable to reckon with its colonial history, and the extraordinary story of a plan to build a Jewish homeland in the wilderness of southwest Tasmania. Plus: why Flanagan says hope, not despair, is the truly heretical position in 2026.Guest: Richard Flanagan, author of HeresiesVote in Radio National's Top 100 Australian books here Get in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au Find all the episodes of Global Roaming now via the ABC Listen App or wherever you get your podcasts.

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