Unleashed presents diverse and robust opinion about politics, society, belief and behaviour.
Last Updated: 10/10/2008 4:41:00 PM
10 October 2008, 16:30
The meltdown cup
As the first Tuesday in November looms up, Michael Hutak speculates about the chances of a glamourous Spring Carnival.
"While the Spring racing hots up with tomorrow's star-studded Caulfield Guineas meeting, several big corporate sponsors of racing have announced they are are pulling their heads in at this year's Melbourne Cup carnival, courtesy of the global financial crisis." More...
10 October 2008, 16:00
Tim Flannery: One man and a vision
His environmental vision earned Tim Flannery the Australian of the Year award in 2007. Recently delivering the Kenneth Myer annual lecture at the National Library in Canberra, he revisited his favorite themes - the environment and the future.
This video is presented by Unleashed in conjunction with ABC Fora, a great source of talks and debates online. More...
10 October 2008, 12:00
Caring for carers
Julien Leith, Executive Officer of the Victorian Mental Health Carers Network says it's crucial carers also look after themselves.
"Caring for a family member with an anxiety disorder can be extremely demanding and stressful for the family or carer, frequently affecting the health and well being of the carer." More...
10 October 2008, 10:00
Australia's mammals still under threat
Kat Miller from WWF Australia explains why this country leads the world in mammal extinctions.
"Australia may have a natural habitat like no other on the planet, but our record on mammal extinction is deplorable.
Embarrassingly, we are responsible for half of all global mammal extinctions in the past 200 years." More...
9 October 2008, 17:00
The first things to go
Gregor Stronach considers what to throw overboard first as the economy falters.
"Like a lot of this economic mumbo-jumbo, it all seems to be a bit of a paradox, really - to reverse the problem, the Reserve Bank took a hatchet to the official cash rate this week, slashing it by a full percentage point. That means that the folks in the mortgage belt will be better off, in the short term, by a few hundred bucks a month. However, if history (and my own abysmal abilities to plan for the long term when it comes to cash) is any guide, we can expect that the relief granted to mortgage holders will be spent on things we don't really need." More...
9 October 2008, 16:00
For a sporting nation we're not very sporting
The most recent of the IQ2 Debates was another sellout in Sydney's Angel Place Recital Hall, and the audience were wildly appreciative of the genuinely funny addresses. The topic under scrutiny was that "For a Sporting Nation, We're Not That Sporting." When the audience was polled on this question when they arrived for the event, a clear majority agreed with the proposition.
This video is presented by Unleashed in conjunction with ABC Fora, a great source of talks and debates online. More...
9 October 2008, 12:00
Modern music is rubbish
Ian Shadwell explains how technology and radio has ruined modern music.
"...digital recording has profoundly changed the way writers, performers and ultimately the audience feel about music. In the past, when recording on tape, you had to be able to play your song, from start to finish. You might "drop in" bits and pieces to repair problem sections, but the integrity of a complete performance was a necessity before you could hear the song. On computer you need only to get a couple of good bars and then start cutting and pasting." More...
9 October 2008, 10:00
Pancakes & porridge times
Gerard Oosterman can see a bright side to the global economic downturn.
"The real question now is to minimise economic pain and live more for basics rather than for those non-essentials, that the conjurors of Western US style Economy have pushed unrelentingly for so long. The collapse is not because of lack of growth, it is because of it." More...
8 October 2008, 12:00
The RBA's line in the sand
Dick Bryan says yesterday's RBA interest rate decision is a sign of leadership.
"To lead required doing something bold; something outside market expectations. The RBA must have calculated that a one percentage point cut would certainly be noticed. It may crash the currency (the value of the dollar) but being decisive is what mattered." More...
8 October 2008, 10:30
It's all about the money, honey
Katrina Blowers sees a link between the recent decline in divorce numbers, our love-lives and economic well-being.
"A survey... found 92.8 per cent of women with an average annual income of $9.5 million said the greatest benefit of their personal wealth was a higher quality sex life. And nearly 80 per cent said their wealth made their sex lives more daring and exotic." More...
8 October 2008, 09:30
Australia's Security Council candidacy
Anthony Billingsley backgrounds the government's bid to become a member of the United Nations Security Council.
"The Government has announced a number of broad objectives behind its candidacy, including the climate change response, conflict prevention and dealing with terrorism. Of particular interest, however, is the Government's initiative to promote the goal of nuclear non-proliferation or disarmament. The International Commission on Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament is a long term exercise which could benefit greatly from the added influence our involvement in the Security Council would give us." More...
7 October 2008, 15:00
Reserve Bank slashes rates by 1 per cent
The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has cut interest rates by a full 1 per cent, taking the official cash rate to 6 per cent.
The surprise 100 basis point cut is the second rate cut by the RBA since the start of September.
Readers are invited to comment on the surprise decision. More...
7 October 2008, 14:00
The economic consequences of George, Gordon and Milton
As the world wobbles, Bob Ellis sings a hymn in praise of tax and government.
"One thing we've got to do is change our attitude to tax. Tax is just a cost, no more. It goes up and it goes down. Tax is the cost of being looked after. There's nothing radioactive about it, the way Americans think there is, there's nothing debilitating about it, effeminate about it, shameful about it, morally crippling about it. It's what gives you the BBC and the Pentagon and Star Wars, the Volvo and the Mars probe and the cure for AIDS in Africa. And it doesn't really cost that much." More...
7 October 2008, 12:00
Bill Clinton On Africa
Former US president Bill Clinton has been back in the spotlight, not just on the campaign trail for Barack Obama. He has also been to Africa, where he has been on a fact finding mission for his philanthropic venture, the William Clinton Foundation. Recently, he attended the Aspen Festival for Ideas, where he discussed the situation across Africa, as well as some more global ideas: the environment, and the future of education.
This video is presented by Unleashed in conjunction with ABC Fora, a great source of talks and debates online. More...
7 October 2008, 10:00
Pokies unfairly stigmatised
Richard Allsop questions the arguments of those campaigning against gambling and poker machines.
"Banning gambling is usually one of the first acts of authoritarian governments when they seize power, but imposing restrictions on it is also a common action of democracies. However, what generally happens is that types of gambling that appeal to working class people, such as SP bookmaking for much of the twentieth century, and now poker machines, come under far greater attack than the gambling modes of choice of the elites. Denying gambling choice to ordinary people is a rare area of common policy of conservatives and the Left." More...
6 October 2008, 16:00
Not up to the job
Brendon O'Connor was not impressed by Sarah Palin's performance during last Friday's vice presidential debate.
"As the much tested judge of a huge number of undergraduate presentations on foreign affairs, I can tell when someone knows their stuff or when they are simply trying to wing it. It seems almost obscene to be comparing the performance of a potential US vice president with undergraduate students but the way Palin grasped at a few names and catch-phrases in the debate as if to suggest she understood the issues was insulting to voters and people everywhere effected by US government policy (and in fact she had speech cards in front of her that she regularly relied on during the debate)." More...
6 October 2008, 15:00
Christopher Kremmer On Greed
Did the notion that "Greed is Good" die out with the 1980s? In this thoughtful meditation, the first in the PEN Voices Lecture Series, writer Christopher Kremmer considers greed from all angles: social, historical, economic and cultural.
This video is presented by Unleashed in conjunction with ABC Fora, a great source of talks and debates online. More...
6 October 2008, 11:00
Artistic Licence
Donald Brook speculates on freedom in the arts and considers the 'artistic merit' defence.
"The popular artworld answer that the photographs that Henson makes (and by extension, the means he employs to make them) are protected by artistic licence will only be good enough if we have a really persuasive story about why we should allow works of art to be offensive in ways that would ordinarily be intolerable." More...
6 October 2008, 09:30
End of the Anglican Crown?
Hugo Vickers writes about plans to bring Britain's traditional rules of succession to the throne into line with anti-discrimination law.
"The new proposals are something that ministers have been considering for some time, on the grounds that if the Crown rejects Catholicism, in a sense it institutionalises religious discrimination. It is a proposal likely to be welcomed by the Prince of Wales, who, in 1994, memorably declared on television that he would prefer to be 'defender of faiths' rather than 'Defender of the Faith', causing quite a fevered discussion on the matter." More...
3 October 2008, 10:00
NRL grand final & free speech
In the lead-up to Sunday's NRL grand final, League historian Sean Fagan sets the scene.
"Rugby league - as many have pointed out - is a soap opera. Every day brings some new drama.
The most recent media controversy surrounds the Storm, and "the grapple tackle" that has led to the suspension of the club's captain Cameron Smith, and his exclusion from the Grand Final.
To anyone who has seen the footage of the incident (or "mugging" if you like) - where three Melbourne players contort the Broncos' Sam Thaiday in three different directions while no one seems remotely interested in the ball itself - the NRL's decision to charge and then to suspend Smith for his neck-grab on Thaiday, comes as a fair penalty." More...
3 October 2008, 09:00
Guarantee Bank Deposits and Cut Interest Rates
Economist Jon Stanford argues the Australian government is long on platitudes and short on effective action to protect depositors and borrowers.
"This is the time for a bold move by the Australian government to guarantee all deposits in Australian supervised banks up to a limit of $100,000 per account. The offset for this is that banks would be required to pass on to borrowers all of any official cuts in interest rates." More...
3 October 2008, 08:30
A woman from Mars?
Brendon O'Connor sees deep historical resonances in the responses to Sarah Palin.
"At home she is the latest installment of the American dream; abroad she is seen as an all too familiar global nightmare. Does the reaction to Palin outside of the US reveal a certain anti-Americanism, or have the Republicans chosen a candidate so patently ill-prepared that it is an insult to the intelligence of Americans and the rest of the world?" More...
2 October 2008, 17:30
Torture and Terror
How much did the Bush administration really know about the torture that was carried out by the US military in Guantanamo Bay and Iraq since 9/11? It's a fascinating question, brilliantly addressed by international lawyer Philippe Sands in his new book, "Torture Team: Rumsfeld's Memo and the Betrayal of American Values". Here he's at the Melbourne Writers festival with "Stasiland" author Anna Funder.
Philippe Sands is a professor in international law at University College London, as well as serving as a Queen's Council on the British bar. Anna Funder is a Sydney-based writer, journalist and former lawyer.
This video is presented by Unleashed in conjunction with ABC Fora, a great source of talks and debates online. More...
2 October 2008, 10:00
Turning forty
As her 40th birthday looms up, Bronwyn Christensen looks back.
"Turning 40 is not something I can change and it certainly beats the alternative. At almost 40 I may not have the firm thighs or youthful vitality of my teens and twenties, but I have the confidence I lacked then, some pretty good life experiences and a little bit of wisdom! I also know how to dress better to disguise those thighs!" More...
2 October 2008, 09:00
A laptop computer deluge in our schools? No Thanks!
Mike Jones sees a deep downside to providing internet computer technology to schools.
"When the school received their first quarter's internet usage bill, they were flattened. The students had downloaded four gazillion squigabytes. And when they sought a breakdown of the content they were relieved to find that almost none was pornography, but less pleased that more than 60% was downloaded music files and videos." More...
1 October 2008, 15:30
The Iranian challenge
David Barnett reports on the visit by Dr Michael Rubin to Australia and a recently published report on US policy on nuclear developments in Iran.
"The Bipartisan panel is blunt in its warning to the world. "It is the decided judgment of this group that continued Iranian enrichment of uranium and ineffectively monitored operation of the light water reactor at Bushehr threatens US and global security, regional stability and the international non-proliferation regime."" More...
1 October 2008, 10:00
Depression and other disorders
David Long says we're witnessing the death of the psychopathic side of the financial sector.
"Unfortunately, in tandem with the growth of international trade, there has emerged a psychopathic monster called "financial markets". While this monster is limited to assisting the trade in real goods and services it can exist outside of the lunatic asylum and without medication. The moment it starts to trade in itself, however, it becomes an all-consuming madness, a financial, nuclear maelstrom that is fuelled by the combination of savings and greed." More...
1 October 2008, 09:00
Mick Dodson: Treaty Entreaty
Should the Australian constitution be altered to refer specifically to indigenous Australians? Should there be a treaty between the Australian nation and its first inhabitants? It's currently a big debate, and recently at the National Archives in Canberra, the former reconciliation commissioner Mick Dodson bought in to the argument. His talk commemorates Constitution Day.
This video is presented by Unleashed in conjunction with ABC Fora, a great source of talks and debates online. More...
30 September 2008, 10:00
Just like money in the bank
David Horton considers the changes in our thinking about money.
"I had a jar to put money in, and on my bedroom wall I put a drawing (very originally I thought) of a thermometer marked in a scale with cents and dollars, the top figure being (if I remember correctly) $10. I did odd jobs - garden weeding, chopping wood, helping old ladies across the road, the usual things - and slowly filled up the jar, and filled in the thermometer (with a bright red pencil), cent by painful cent." More...
30 September 2008, 09:00
Bolivian crisis unites South America against US
Latin American affairs specialist Rodrigo Acuña backgrounds the recent political crisis in Bolivia and the role of the regional group UNASUR.
"Proposed in 2007 by the Venezuelan government, UNASUR aims to be the South American equivalent of the European Union. Despite Hugo Chávez's less than diplomatic expulsion of the U.S. ambassador in his own country in support of La Paz, almost every government in the region chose to meet under UNASUR while practically ignoring the OAS.
This was UNASUR's first meeting to resolve a regional crisis and Washington was not invited." More...
29 September 2008, 10:30
Who would do such a thing?
Mustafa Qadri writes it's difficult to tell who is friend or foe in the conflicts now engulfing Pakistan's border regions.
"The uncertainty has left ordinary people wary of all the antagonists from the Taliban and the Pakistan Army to local militias and bandits. Yet it may surprise outsiders to know that most of the local antipathy is reserved for the Pakistan Army because it has been implicated in several atrocities involving civilians.
In the town of Timagara, at the foothills of the mountainous region of Bajaur, people live in basic camps without electricity or running water and limited access to food. At displaced person camps such as this people recount shocking stories of wanton targeting of civilians by the Pakistan Army." More...
29 September 2008, 09:00
The free market that never was
As the US Congress work out the detail of the massive US$700 billion bailout, Bob Ellis sees deregulation at the root of our financial woes.
"It's as big a shift in the way we think as what accompanied the fall of the Berlin Wall. Like that huge event it showed the rules we lived by till then were wrong, because so many people wanted to escape those rules. It showed the CEOs we rewarded in millions per year for being smart were idiots, because they didn't see it coming. That when house payments get too high, a black engulfing cloud of unending debt swallows up the world." More...
27 September 2008, 17:00
The First Presidential Debate - readers comment
The first presidential debate between Senator Barack Obama and Senator John McCain has concluded, with the two candidates clashing over government spending, taxes, energy and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Readers are invited to comment on the debate. More...
