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Monday 12 May 2008
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The recent poor showing for Labour in the British local government elections has caused some in the party to re-examine their policies and positions on a range of issues. One MP, Frank Field, believes it's possible for government to be less paternalistic, encourage greater personal responsibility and still maintain a civil society.
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Three ordinary Australians talk about an activity that is foreign to the lives of most people.
Joanna Mendelssohn is an art historian and critic who lives in Sydney. Reflecting on her own children's educational experiences she has become increasingly interested in the state of the public education system and asks why so many people are deserting it.
Monday 05 May 2008
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Philip Jenkins is possibly the most respected writer on the subject of demographics and Christianity. He's looked at the effect different birth rates are having on the world's Christian populations. His conclusion is that Third World Christians, with their much more conservative, Bible-focused beliefs, are likely to dominate the big Christian churches.
Claims are often made that large numbers of migrants are trafficked around the world for sex. Laura Maria Agustin has looked closely at the evidence for this and concludes that the figures are exaggerated. She says that the West's obsession with migrant sex workers is a moral panic produced by concerns about immigration in general.
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A light hearted look at the new Tory Mayor of London.
Princess Diana wore one, Bill Clinton wore one, and Kramer in Seinfeld got beaten up for not wearing one. Since its emergence in 1991, the awareness ribbon has achieved the kind of cultural status usually reserved for religious symbols and big-brand icons.
So what are these ribbons and wristbands telling us about ourselves?
Monday 28 April 2008
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Two speakers from the Intelligence Squared debate argue the proposition that Islam is incompatible with democracy.
We give blood and donate organs but should we be able to sell them? Philosopher Jeremy Shearmur teases out the argument and looks at the Yuk factor and the commodification of body parts.
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Why is Australia a much richer country than New Zealand? Thirty years ago there wasn't that much difference, but today, by most measures the Australian economy has really pulled away. Some might point to the Australian mining sector and the boom in commodity prices, but Phil Rennie doubts this explanation.
Monday 21 April 2008
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The future of car manufacturing in Australia is much debated, but one hard question that is rarely raised is this: Should we even have a local car manufacturing industry? Economist Peter Lloyd not only believes that the automotive industry's woes will not be solved by government assistance. He also has reservations about whether such an industry is viable at all.
Where do companies get their good ideas? What drives productivity, creativity and innovation? And do universities have a role in any of this?
Anthropologist Diane Austin-Broos has spent the last 30 years conducting ethnographic research in Kingston, Jamaica and Central Australia. "Both milieux", she says "involve types of change and violence". But Anthropology, she argues, would better address these phenomena if economy became part of ethnographic analysis.
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6pm AEST