It's been over a year since an explosion tore through the centre of Beirut.

The blast killed hundreds, injured thousands, and left hundreds of thousands without homes.

But in the 12 months since it happened, living conditions in Lebanon have got worse, not better.

Today on The Signal, we're heading back to Beirut.

We're asking why life in Lebanon has deteriorated so rapidly, and what those who are part of an exodus from the country say about the broken homeland they're leaving behind.

Featured: 

Luna Safwan, independent journalist, Beirut

Every other day is a new worst day in NSW at the moment. 

But despite the almost-daily rise in the number of COVID-19 cases, the NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian still wants to gradually reopen once vaccination rates hit a certain percentage. 

While the Prime Minister Scott Morrison is in broad agreement, leaders in many other states are no longer so certain. 

So why does the national reopening goal everyone agreed to in July seem to be shifting? 

And why is the Prime Minister so insistent it must be met?

Featured: 

Professor Nancy Baxter, Head, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne 

David Speers, Host, Insiders, ABC TV

Everyone knows Australian house prices are completely bananas, but understanding why stumps even the experts.

So will the current trends continue? And if so, where does that leave renters?

Today on The Signal, we ask why our housing market is so weird, and explore one counterintuitive idea about how to improve it.

Featured:

Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University; Business and Economy Editor, The Conversation; and Co-Presenter, 'The Economists', ABC Radio National

Australia's off-shore processing policy towards asylum seekers arriving by boat is 20 years old this week.

Over that time, the policy has often been credited with "stopping the boats", so much so that other countries over the years have been inspired to try to copy it.

But did off-shore processing really stop the boats?

Today on The Signal, with a new refugee crisis brewing in Afghanistan, we look at how our off-shore asylum seeker system actually works, and ask why the Government seems to talk about it less and less.

Featured:

Madeline Gleeson, Senior Research Associate, Andrew and Renata Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, University of New South Wales, Sydney

It's not hard to understand why people might gravitate towards a simpler way of life in 2021.

For some women who call themselves "trad wives", that means winding back the clock on gender roles 70 or so years.

It's not all pickling and darning though — within the trad wife movement, there are women who have fused the lifestyle with white supremacy, and are pushing their message to thousands of social media followers.

Today on The Signal, meet the online community with a wholesome aesthetic and a neo-nazi streak.

Featured:

Siobhan Marin, co-host, 'This Much Is True', ABC RN

Dr Kristy Campion, far right researcher, Charles Sturt University

Laura, 'trad wife'

NSW case numbers skyrocketed this week, with the Premier extending the lockdown and admitting the state was no longer chasing "covid zero". What does it mean for NSW and Australia's plans to open up? And the Taliban are back in control in Afghanistan, we look at the history of the group and what it means for the future of the country.

Life has changed at a breathtaking pace for women and girls living in Kabul.

In the days since the Taliban retook the capital, they've been disappearing from education, erased from the workplace, and blotted out from public view.

There's no clue yet if, when or to what extent they'll be allowed to re-emerge.

The Taliban claim they've changed in the last 20 years, and they're promising a more progressive approach to gender this time around.

Today on The Signal, what's the reality of that promise so far? And what's in store for the millions of Afghan women who've fallen abruptly quiet?

Featured:

Nasrin Nawa, Afghan journalist and scholar

We're all used to bad news at this point, but even by 2021 standards, the numbers out of NSW yesterday were a horror show.

The state managed to jump from 452 to 633 new cases in just one day.

Today on The Signal, we find out what it means for Australia's exit strategy from this pandemic.

Do we need to readjust our expectations, yet again, of how and when life returns to normal?

Featured:

Professor Tony Blakely, Epidemiologist, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne

No-one knows what exactly comes next for Afghanistan.

The country has fallen to the Taliban, nearly 20 years after the US and its allies first drove them from power.

When fighters arrived in Kabul yesterday, as in almost every other part of the country that the Taliban have retaken, the transition was far swifter than anyone expected.

Today on The Signal, as thousands scramble to flee their homeland by car, plane or on foot, we head to Kabul to hear from those preparing for a return to life under Taliban control.

Featured:

Obaidullah Baheer, Lecturer, American University of Afghanistan, Kabul

A month ago, people across England were celebrating 'Freedom Day'.

Initially, it seemed the British Government's high-stakes gamble was paying off: despite all COVID restrictions in England being lifted, case numbers across the country briefly went down.

But a few weeks in, they're again on the rise, with similar patterns in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales.

So has Britain's latest COVID experiment failed?

And with governments here aiming to reopen once 80 per cent of Australian adults are vaccinated, what's Britain's lesson for us?

Featured:

Dr Christina Pagel, Professor of Operational Research, Department of Mathematics, University College London