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    <title><![CDATA[Counterpoint]]></title>
    <description><![CDATA[Michael Duffy and Paul Comrie-Thomson field commentary and debate from all sides of Australian society, economics and culture.]]></description>
    <link>http://abc.net.au/rn/counterpoint/</link>
    <copyright>Australian Broadcasting Corporation</copyright>
    <language>en</language>
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      <title><![CDATA[Counterpoint]]></title>
      <link>http://abc.net.au/rn/counterpoint/</link>
    </image>
    <itunes:author>ABC Radio National</itunes:author>
    <itunes:summary><![CDATA[Michael Duffy and Paul Comrie-Thomson field commentary and debate from all sides of Australian society, economics and culture.]]></itunes:summary>
    <itunes:image href="http://abc.net.au/rn/podcast/feeds/image/itunes/cpt_600.jpg"/>
    <itunes:category text="News &amp; Politics"/>
    <itunes:category text="Society &amp; Culture"/>
    <item>
      <title><![CDATA[Counterpoint - 2008-07-14 ]]></title>
      <description><![CDATA[Bill of Rights
Previously on Counterpoint the Vice Chancellor of the Australian Catholic University, Professor Greg Craven, argued against a Bill of Rights for Australia.
Today barrister Julian Burnside puts the case for a Bill of Rights.


US Gun Laws
Thirty years after Washington DC enacted the nationīs toughest gun laws, shooting deaths are as prevalent as ever.
Brian Doherty discusses the significance of a recent US Supreme Court ruling which has upheld (in Washington D.C. at least) an individualīs right to bear arms.
So where is the US gun debate heading?


Food: local or global ?
Louise Staley critiques the fashionable belief that we should eat only in season produce. She asks why modern farming practices have become so demonised?


]]></description>
      <link>http://mpegmedia.abc.net.au/rn/podcast/current/audioonly/cpt_20080714.mp3</link>
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      <pubDate>Mon, 14 Jul 2008 00:00:00 +1000</pubDate>
      <guid isPermaLink="false">d260435a646ec303e2b39600d775ab20</guid>
      <itunes:author>ABC Radio National</itunes:author>
      <itunes:summary><![CDATA[Bill of Rights
Previously on Counterpoint the Vice Chancellor of the Australian Catholic University, Professor Greg Craven, argued against a Bill of Rights for Australia.
Today barrister Julian Burnside puts the case for a Bill of Rights.


US Gun Laws
Thirty years after Washington DC enacted the nationīs toughest gun laws, shooting deaths are as prevalent as ever.
Brian Doherty discusses the significance of a recent US Supreme Court ruling which has upheld (in Washington D.C. at least) an individualīs right to bear arms.
So where is the US gun debate heading?


Food: local or global ?
Louise Staley critiques the fashionable belief that we should eat only in season produce. She asks why modern farming practices have become so demonised?


]]></itunes:summary>
      <itunes:duration>51:12</itunes:duration>
      <itunes:explicit/>
      <itunes:keywords/>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title><![CDATA[Counterpoint - 2008-07-07 ]]></title>
      <description><![CDATA[Political jargon and plain English
Has the Plain English movement had any impact on the way politicians speak or on the way corporations write reports? Baden Eunson takes apart the speeches and words of some of our political leaders and asks, how effective are they at communicating?


The Murray-Darling Basin
Last week the Council of Australian Governments signed an Intergovernmental Agreement for reform of the Murray-Darling Basin. The new plan involves spending $3.7 billion on water projects across the basin. Is this money well spent, and how effective will it be?


Patrick Cook
Patrick Cook offers his view on Australia, climate change and the Garnaut review.


Economic cycles
When people talk about the current state of the economy they tend to do so in terms of  the business cycle, a relatively short-term phenomenon covering maybe three to five years. But some economists believe a far more important type of cycle underlies our economic circumstances. Itīs called the Kondratiev cycle, or the Kondratiev wave and, if it does exist, we appear to be in a pretty dangerous stage of it at the moment.


]]></description>
      <link>http://mpegmedia.abc.net.au/rn/podcast/current/audioonly/cpt_20080707.mp3</link>
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      <pubDate>Mon, 07 Jul 2008 00:00:00 +1000</pubDate>
      <guid isPermaLink="false">b44a080a857ce76f23e55cdcf3b23458</guid>
      <itunes:author>ABC Radio National</itunes:author>
      <itunes:summary><![CDATA[Political jargon and plain English
Has the Plain English movement had any impact on the way politicians speak or on the way corporations write reports? Baden Eunson takes apart the speeches and words of some of our political leaders and asks, how effective are they at communicating?


The Murray-Darling Basin
Last week the Council of Australian Governments signed an Intergovernmental Agreement for reform of the Murray-Darling Basin. The new plan involves spending $3.7 billion on water projects across the basin. Is this money well spent, and how effective will it be?


Patrick Cook
Patrick Cook offers his view on Australia, climate change and the Garnaut review.


Economic cycles
When people talk about the current state of the economy they tend to do so in terms of  the business cycle, a relatively short-term phenomenon covering maybe three to five years. But some economists believe a far more important type of cycle underlies our economic circumstances. Itīs called the Kondratiev cycle, or the Kondratiev wave and, if it does exist, we appear to be in a pretty dangerous stage of it at the moment.


]]></itunes:summary>
      <itunes:duration>53:29</itunes:duration>
      <itunes:explicit/>
      <itunes:keywords/>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title><![CDATA[Counterpoint - 2008-06-30 ]]></title>
      <description><![CDATA[Evangelical influence: myth and reality
It has been uncritically assumed by political commentators that there are up to one hundred million Evangelicals in America with a right-wing agenda. Christine Wicker argues the real figure is nothing like that. She says that this has far-reaching political implications for both John McCain and Barack Obama.


Crime, race and  literature
One of the finest novelists at work in America is Richard Price, whose latest book, Lush Life, was published here recently. Apart from their success as works of fiction, his writings are important politically because he opens our eyes and ears to the daily reality of America's predominately black underclass.

His first novel Clockers helped to inspire the cable TV cult classic The Wire, for which he wrote several episodes.

In revealing what local politics, work, school and job opportunities are really like for African-Americans, his writing flies under the radar of the mainstream media.


]]></description>
      <link>http://mpegmedia.abc.net.au/rn/podcast/current/audioonly/cpt_20080630.mp3</link>
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      <pubDate>Mon, 30 Jun 2008 00:00:00 +1000</pubDate>
      <guid isPermaLink="false">489b79be1470067b378773c62cd92703</guid>
      <itunes:author>ABC Radio National</itunes:author>
      <itunes:summary><![CDATA[Evangelical influence: myth and reality
It has been uncritically assumed by political commentators that there are up to one hundred million Evangelicals in America with a right-wing agenda. Christine Wicker argues the real figure is nothing like that. She says that this has far-reaching political implications for both John McCain and Barack Obama.


Crime, race and  literature
One of the finest novelists at work in America is Richard Price, whose latest book, Lush Life, was published here recently. Apart from their success as works of fiction, his writings are important politically because he opens our eyes and ears to the daily reality of America's predominately black underclass.

His first novel Clockers helped to inspire the cable TV cult classic The Wire, for which he wrote several episodes.

In revealing what local politics, work, school and job opportunities are really like for African-Americans, his writing flies under the radar of the mainstream media.


]]></itunes:summary>
      <itunes:duration>52:40</itunes:duration>
      <itunes:explicit/>
      <itunes:keywords/>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title><![CDATA[Counterpoint - 2008-06-23 ]]></title>
      <description><![CDATA[Are markets moral?
The claim that free markets diminish our humanity because they encourage us to act selfishly has been a potent argument against the laissez-faire system  for centuries. Paul Zak argues to the contrary, that modern market exchange works only because most people, most of the time, act virtuously. In fact he says a trip to the shops can teach us a lot about values.


Older people and fun
Recent Australian research suggests that, where social life is concerned, older adults are better at having fun than younger ones. Professor Bill von Hippel explains his findings.


Patrick Cook
Patrick Cook comments on diplomacy, international relations and the Rudd government.


Piano
Classical music performances are often sterile occasions in which too much humanity is sacrificed for too little art. Kenneth Hamilton, a young British concert pianist, looks back to a time when piano performances were far more spontaneous and even improvised, and suggests how we might recapture some of that spirit.


]]></description>
      <link>http://mpegmedia.abc.net.au/rn/podcast/current/audioonly/cpt_20080623.mp3</link>
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      <pubDate>Mon, 23 Jun 2008 00:00:00 +1000</pubDate>
      <guid isPermaLink="false">6283e5a837f197587f23f975d8ed3576</guid>
      <itunes:author>ABC Radio National</itunes:author>
      <itunes:summary><![CDATA[Are markets moral?
The claim that free markets diminish our humanity because they encourage us to act selfishly has been a potent argument against the laissez-faire system  for centuries. Paul Zak argues to the contrary, that modern market exchange works only because most people, most of the time, act virtuously. In fact he says a trip to the shops can teach us a lot about values.


Older people and fun
Recent Australian research suggests that, where social life is concerned, older adults are better at having fun than younger ones. Professor Bill von Hippel explains his findings.


Patrick Cook
Patrick Cook comments on diplomacy, international relations and the Rudd government.


Piano
Classical music performances are often sterile occasions in which too much humanity is sacrificed for too little art. Kenneth Hamilton, a young British concert pianist, looks back to a time when piano performances were far more spontaneous and even improvised, and suggests how we might recapture some of that spirit.


]]></itunes:summary>
      <itunes:duration>55:19</itunes:duration>
      <itunes:explicit/>
      <itunes:keywords/>
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