Counterpoint

A sceptic is someone who has not decided, or is not in a position to decide, what is true, right or good. Why then are sceptics now called deniers? As the impeachment trial of the former president begins, is there any precedent for impeaching people no longer in office? Yes there is and it's a gruesome tale. How much have captives' or slaves influenced those who took them? It turns out, quite a lo...

Over the last couple of decades infrastructure spending, with the exception of China, has been decreasing. Why and how can it be lifted. Do urban ethnographers do more harm than good in speaking for Black communities? Do you have a fight or flight reaction when people stand too close to you? Why is that? Will The Peace Park in Myanmar be able to survive the troubles in Myanmar?

Can we move beyond the labels progressive and conservative? Why is Coon cheese getting a new name and how difficult will it be choosing a new one? Does science really have to be about hard facts? The fascinating history of dogs and are you feeling a bit peckish? Need a bit of a pick-me-up? How about some rhubarb sprinkled with some ground mummy?

How did Venice cope with the plague of 1575? By using a new practise called quarantine. An interesting tale about how carbolic acid has made surgery easier for everyone and the fascinating libertarian history of science fiction. How good are utopian fictions? Not at all. If you don't fit in, you're out.

Why are international borders causing so much anxiety over recent years? Did you hear the one about Stalin? Life under Russian dictator Joseph Stalin wasn't funny and yet there were jokes. What can the history of the Chinese tea trade tells us about the history of capitalism? Are they linked?

In recent times there has been much talk about the imminent collapse of the liberal rules based order with Russia and China citied as the main culprits for this destabilisation. Is it true? How did people in Ancient Greece cope with sickness? Can you hear any birds singing right now? Do you think that people in the ancient world heard the same kinds of birds in the same kind of numbers that we do...

In 2018 Dr Frances Arnold was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Then she gave it back. Why At the turn of the 20th Century Australia went through a bit of a fortune telling craze. The practise was illegal and the police tried to prosecute where they could but the women survived and in some cases thrived. Alphabets are disappearing. There are between 6,000 to 7,000 languages in the world. Yet 9...

Why do regime changes rarely work? Would you buy something from a company if they didn't agree with the same causes that you do? Rules are everywhere. Some make perfect sense but others seem to be there simply to annoy us, so how do we know which ones to ignore or break and which ones to follow? Superman has saved the world countless times, he did other things too, but why are he and his superhero...

Is China the all powerful, all conquering nation that some believe it to be or is it 'in “decay” and beset by internal and regional challenges that will frustrate the nation’s grand ambitions'? Wokeness, cancel culture, and calling out have become almost a way of life in recent times. But instead of calling people out should we be calling them in? How safe are consumer goods in Australia and how c...

Australia has embraced the concept of a rules-based order but what does that actually mean? Instead of breaking up Big Tech can we create new technologies and new ways of living either with or without them? Can science measure free will? How? Alternate maps from alternate histories can teach us a lot, they're also fun. What would be your alternate map of Australia, would you change any State borde...

Can a pandemic be a source of wisdom? Yes it can! After the devasting effects of the last bush fire season do we need to learn how to live with fire? The fascinating history of the pall point pen and autopsies may be on the decline but they have taught us a lot about how COVID-19 affects the body and shown us more effective ways to treat it

Can COVID-19 change the way African cities are planned in the future? Can science measure wisdom and what is wisdom anyway? Can Darwinism and religion happily co-exist and now that we're not doing a lot of right now, how important is touch?

On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month we mark the end of the first World War and remember...what exactly and why? The United States, like Australia, is settled country and a migration nation, but has this meant that there isn't a shared sense of history? One of the biggest issues over the last few years has been identity politics. But not all identity categories are interchangeable, a...

How did individualism create our postmodern culture? What is conservatism and who is a conservative and does that depend on where you are? Why did thousands of people, including around 80 Australians, join the International Brigades and fight in the Spanish Civil War? How did we learn to breathe for each other, the moving history of the ventilator.

Is it possible to get back to the prosperity of the postwar years? Right now we're all being told to plant trees but is it really the right thing to do? Should we let mother nature just be? Rules, when should we obey them and when should we break them? Why is the Jet age important and how much did jets themselves define the era?

China is the world's biggest seafood exporter and the population consumes around a third of world's catch. How do they do it and at what consequence? Might facts be overrated and what can we learn about vaccinations from the 1976 swine-flu fiasco. What has 43 quintillion potential variations, has sold more than 350 million, and began as a spatial tool for people with science, math, or engineering...

Imagined in 2001 and meeting since 2009, in 2020 just how successful has the BRICS grouping been and should it continue? Is Asia turning inwards? The Economist Intelligence Unit believes so. Was Milton Freidman right, or maybe half right. Is greed good? We all know that Australian lyrebirds are great mimics and that the male tail, when fanned out, is beautiful but did you also know that they are a...

Belarus is a country in turmoil, two months after the presidential election protests are still going on and the calls for a new election are getting louder. Can we compare what's happening here with the Ukranian protests of 2005 and 2013-2014? Why are conspiracies and conspiracy theorists' like QAnon, so popular in the United States right now? Did you know that there are about 200 contact language...

Is the silver lining of working from home an increase in productivity? How has this happened? The relationship between China and Taiwan is fraught with tension and right now that tension is being played out in a dispute over a bird conservation group. There's new documentary called Juice. It's abut electricity and those who have it and those who don't and an interesting tale about how carbolic aci...

Recently there have been calls for Australia to decouple from China but is this really a good idea? Identity politics is all the rage right now and as such we appear to be living in an era in which people are more often rewarded for their identities, especially if it’s a victim identity, rather than for their achievements. Why is that? Why do cities get built where they do, what are they hoping to...

The ammonium nitrate blast in the Port of Beirut on 4th August was devastating. What effect did it have on internal politics in Lebanon? What does the UAE's agreement with Israel mean for the rest of the Middle East. Does Big tech need to be regulated? Perhaps the comic book industry can show the way to do it effectively and with consumer support. How good are utopian fictions? Not at all. If you...

As his party votes for a new leader how will Shinzo Abe be remembered? What were some of the successes and failures of the longest serving prime Minister in Japanese history? Should some Australian universities consider merging? Consolidation may offer a better long-term path to sustainability. Can we compare this US election campaign, with Donald Trump and Joe Biden, with the 1948 campaign of Har...

Around the world countries have 'radical and previously unthinkable policies to counter the spread of the coronavirus pandemic'. What does this mean, if anything, for democracy? Have you noticed a change in how some products and companies are advertised? Many have gone from aspirational to woke. Why? Feeling a bit peckish? Need a bit of a pick-me-up? How about some rhubarb sprinkled with some grou...

75 years after the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki what is the nuclear future of the world? Do the woke left and the alt-right have more in common than they might think? Yes they do. Who should you believe? An expert or someone on twitter? The person who says they have all of the answers or the person who doesn't have the answer right now? How can we hear what's happening deep in a forest or in...

What is American conservatism and is it the same, or similar to, nationalism? What is the history of philanthropy and how has it changed in recent times from small micro loans to million dollar projects that may or may not be completed? Who will run the post-COVID world and how can we make sure it won't be Russia, China or the United States? The internet and social media promised so much. What hap...