In this episode, we talk to Anthony Burke. You might know him as the ubiquitous host of multiple renovation TV shows on the national broadcaster, including Grand Designs Australia, Grand Designs Transformations and Restoration Australia. (He's even got a new one about Asian design, called Culture by Design.) Today, he shifts from sympathising with those in the midst of their own particular building dilemmas to offer more general advice to all of us who contemplate building or renovating what is usually our most valuable and emotional investment: the family home. Among other things, Burke gives us a checklist of dos and don'ts – and things to bear in mind when it comes to our own construction projects. Hosting this conversation is Good Weekend senior writer Amanda Hooton.

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In this episode we bring you the remarkable story of Miriam* (not her real name), a survivor of forced marriage. Often confused with arranged marriage, forced marriage means one person is not giving their full consent – sometimes due to coercion, deception, incapacitation or threats. Each year the Australian Federal Police deal with about 90 cases, although this is thought to represent a fraction of the problem, which was made a crime in Australia in 2013.

Miriam escaped her fate by chipping away at the glue her parents had used to seal her window, and running away just one week before her planned wedding to a man she did not know. In today’s episode, we have changed her name, omitted some details, and also used AI technology to disguise her voice and protect her identity, for this difficult conversation about the feature story – "No Going Back" – which you can read in the pages of our magazine, by Good Weekend senior writer Melissa Fyfe.

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In this episode, we talk to Hugh Allen. Allen, of course, was made executive chef of iconic three-hat Melbourne restaurant, Vue de Monde, at the tender age of 23. The son of a nurse and a paediatrician – both terrible cooks, it must be said – Allen was once marked at high school as a "struggling" student, but through food, he became a star. Allen just turned 30, yet has already enjoyed stints under chefs such as Neil Perry, Shannon Bennett and the esteemed René Redzepi from Copenhagen institution, Noma. He’s been a popular guest judge on MasterChef Australia, and last but not least, is opening his own Melbourne restaurant later this year, named Yiaga. To celebrate Good Weekend's annual Food & Wine issue, Allen joins senior writer Konrad Marshall for a chat about his life and career – and what’s new in the restaurant industry right now.

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