Menzies Research Centre

Menzies Research Centre Executive Director Nick Cater presents his column from The Australian in audio format. In this episode he asks why Australia's lockdown measures are getting tougher when the threat from the coronavirus is weakening. Read the full column at https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/coronavirus-state-governments-response-to-covid-ever-more-extreme/news-story/d66da6618532a35...

Nick Cater talks to David Goodhart about his latest book, Head Hand Heart: The Struggle for Dignity and Status in the 21 st Century which argues that the explosion in higher education has created a global elite who are convinced they are not just better educated than their fellow citizens, but better full stop.

Tony Abbott's maiden speech to Parliament delivered on May 31, 1994 is a record of what he wanted to achieve in public life. Mr Abbott reflects on the speech after 25 years in Parliament including two as Australia's Prime Minister in conversation with MRC Executive Director Nick Cater

Dr Brendan Nelson on what the 70-year history of the Anzus Alliance tells us about its future in a world of strategic uncertainty

Elizabeth Lee migrated to Australia as a child from South Korea with her parents. Today she leads the Canberra Liberals in the ACT assembly. She's proud of her heritage, but refuses to allow it to define her. In conversation with Nick Cater, Executive Director of the Menzies Research Centre

The National Curriculum epitomises almost everything that is wrong about modern schooling. It is an abstruse, cluttered document that brushes aside the need for tried and tested teaching methods and is burdened with an ugly, post-modern agenda. Sociologist Frank Furedi joins Nick Cater discuss the cultural underpinnings of the educational malaise. Watercooler is brought to you by the Menzies Resea...

Former Liberal Party Leader Brendan Nelson on history, Liberal values and their defence as he launches David Kemp's book, A Liberal State. Followed by a reply from Dr Kemp.

Claire Lehmann, the founding editor of Quillette, talks to Nick Cater about the philosophy that drove her to become an entrepreneur of free thought.

Joel Kotkin warns that traditional middle class aspirations and values such as family, nationhood and home ownership are under threat from a new class of oligarchs. In the US, this aristocracy consists of a handful of powerful tech companies isolated from and unaccountable to the broader community. Their power and privilege is sustained by a cosmopolitan breed of opinion makers who refuse to enter...

John Anderson talks to Nick Cater about the cultural concerns that have driven him to seek a second career in Parliament. John Anderson served as Deputy Prime Minister of Australia for 6 years between 1999 and 2005 under John Howard. He host the Conversations series on YouTube

David Furse-Roberts joins Nick Cater to discuss his new book oratorical highlights from the speeches of the great Sir Robert Menzies. Menzies in His Own Words is published by Jeparit Press. Order at menziesrc.org/books

In the second of two podcasts, John Howard and John Anderson discuss the themes in Anderson’s Eighth John Howard Lecture which explores the corrosive influence of identity politics and the grim ideology underlying it.

In the first of two podcasts, former deputy prime minister John Anderson delivers the Eighth John Howard Lecture exploring the corrosive influence of identity politics and the grim ideology underlying it.

The Australian Christian Lobby's Martyn Iles joins Nick Cater to discuss the assault on religious freedom and other challenges to civil society

Brendan O'Neill, editor of spiked, joins Nick Cater from London to swap notes on cultural and political developments.

As Donald Trump's National Security Advisor, Lt Gen H.R. McMaster was instrumental in the development of the new China policy, the biggest strategic shift in the US since the end of the Cold War. In his new book Battlegrounds: The Fight to Defend the Free World, McMaster urges us to confront the threat to our freedom from the Chinese Communist Party and other authoritarian forces. In this podcast...

It can be hard to voice unfashionable socially conservative views these days. To be socially conservative and a committed Christian can be even harder. Lyle Shelton talks about his experience as a former head of the Australian Christian Lobby in conversation with Nick Cater. Lyle Shelton's book, 'I Kid You Not': Notes from 20 Years in the Trenches of the Culture Wars' is published by Connor Court

Madeleine Kearns joins Nick Cater from New York to discuss the trite and incompetent Scottish government, the rise of authoritarianism and the minefield of transgender politics.

Peter Robinson tells the story behind one of the most famous Cold War speeches and discusses contemporary events in China and California with Nick Cater from the Menzies Research Centre. Peter Robinson is a Research Fellow at the Hudson Institution, presenter of Uncommon Knowledge and a former speechwriter to President Ronald Reagan.

Psychiatrist Dr Tanveer Ahmed says the weaponisation of shame and the rise of cancel culture is preventing people from realising their potential and leads to anxiety and self harm. Hosted by Nick Cater and produced by the Menzies Research Centre. Dr Ahmed's new book 'In Defence of Shame' is published by Connor Court

Renowned author and commentator Douglas Murray joins Watercooler from the UK to discuss the revised edition his latest book ‘The Madness of Crowds’ and its critique of left-wing groupthink. The Madness of Crowds is available from Bloomsbury: https://www.bloomsbury.com/au/the-madness-of-crowds-9781472979575/

There has never been a better time to be alive thanks to innovation, says Matt Ridley. But as the COVID-19 has shown, promising innovation is frequently blocked, often by governments. This conversation with Nick Cater is also available on video https://bit.ly/358mkRq

Daniel Hannan joins Nick Cater to discuss the erosion of freedoms and rule of law under the pretext of tackling a pandemic. Hannan is former Conservative European MP and is a leading Conservative thinker. Cater is Executive Director to the Menzies Research Centre. Subscribe to the MRC from jus $10 a month at www.menziesrc.org

Why borders matter and how social distancing is driving societies further apart. Sociologist Frank Furedi in conversation with Nick Cater.

Writer Mary Harrington joins Nick Cater to discuss why young people with micro-managed childhoods feel threatened by democratic debate. Having grown up in micro-managed childhoods where conflict is managed by an external authority, they find authoritarian solutions to civic disagreement increasingly attractive. Mary Harrington lives in England and writes for Unherd.