Big Ideas

English singer-songwriter, and political activist, Billy Bragg, talks to Paul Barclay about politics, BREXIT, his book -'The Three Dimensions of Freedom', life under COVID19 lockdown, and music.

Accountants are unlikely revolutionaries, but according to author Jane Gleeson-White, they’re leading the charge in reforming the global economy for the good of us all. An international movement has begun in the finance world.

Global companies are looking at how to include nature and society in the costs of production. The triple bottom line: profit, people and the planet. Jane says that double-entry bookkeeping revolutionised accounting five hundred years ago and in the twenty-first century accountants can help us to make critical decisions about climate change by putting a value on the social and environmental impact of capitalism.

Humans are an inventive lot and science and technology has transformed our lives. There's a dark side to some of the ways we use science but there's also hope that it will solve some of our most pressing problems such as climate change and genetic diseases. Scientists on the cutting edge in a range of disciplines imagine how their discoveries will be put to use to solve the problems of the future. They discuss the future of genetics, climate change modelling and materials science and artificial intelligence.

Haben Girma is a success .She graduated from an elite law school. But unlike her fellow students,  Haben is deaf-blind. She speaks to the ABC's Disability Affairs Reporter, blind journalist and newsreader Nas Campanella, about how she gained her law degree from Harvard and her advocacy for disability rights. And we hear from disability advocates about the need to design inclusive technology which is able to be used by all people, regardless of their disability.

The Murray Darling Basin is our food bowl. It covers 4 states. And it has been in poor shape for a long time. Margaret Simons travelled through the basin, talking to locals, irrigators, bureaucrats, and scientists, to get the lowdown.

This COVID-19 lockdown period heightens the risk of domestic violence.

Perpetrators as well as victims are more invisible. And while help is still available, accessing it is more difficult. Bystanders like friends and neighbours now have a bigger role to play.

Support services are reporting a significant rise in the number of cases, and the acts are becoming more violent in this time of crisis.

So how to keep domestic violence ‘in view’? How can accountability be maintained?

Restrictions are easing but we still can’t relax. The Covid virus has taken its toll on mental health and the future is uncertain. So public health messages need to walk the line between calming our fears while being honest about the risks. This conversation looks at how best to reduce fear and anxiety. And if a Covid vaccine is developed quickly how can we make it accessible to everyone and reassure those worried about the safety of vaccines?

Are we losing our ability to write well and is it because we don’t follow the rules? Professor Steven Pinker says loosen up, rules are made to be broken. But he takes aim at writing which confuses rather than informs . Why is it so difficult to read the writing of lawyers, academics and bureaucrats? The techniques of classic style are a good start for improving the quality of writing.

The partition of India, after the British left, in 1947, triggered a huge and violent mass migration. More than a million people died. The trauma and legacy of this event lives on today.

Our economy is locked down because of the Coronavirus and it’s a similar story around the world. When will the clouds lift and the global economy recover from this virus? The former Bank of England Governor Lord Mervyn King says policy-makers are working in unchartered waters. He says governments must make decisions in a time of radical uncertainty.