Counterpoint

Richard Branson started it, Jeff Bezos went further and Elon Musk wants to better them both. Billionaires in space, is it a vanity project or something more? How accurate are press releases based on abstracts, especially science abstracts? Can birds help preserve languages and cultures at risk of extinction and why has the Pangkarlangu returned?

When did inequality begin and why has it stayed? The Antarctic Treaty is 60 years old but is it still fit for purpose? Why do we think think that Africa didn't have scripts and what has it got to do with the fall of Carthage? There were large numbers of visitors to our shores before the arrival of Europeans. Recently found rock art explains who they were and why they came.

China has the world's largest economy and it shares a border with three of the world's least developed economies. What does that mean? Have you read many good stories about the COVID-19 pandemic? The are there even in the midst of the gloom. What happens if the ship you are in the Arctic runs aground and what do you know about Operation Barbarossa?

How do you build peace and have you heard of Jetson? It's a new military laser that can identify people by their heartbeat at a distance of 200 meters. How important are black swans to both European and Indigenous history? We are running out of room to bury the dead so what will happen to the bodies of those who die?

Is America really a white supremacist nation or like almost all other countries does it just have a dominant culture? Are we alone? Do you believe? Are UFO's real or just a trick of clever camera work? What was the Black is Beautiful movement and did it achieve what it wanted to do? How much influence did the Mongol Horde have on Russian civilisation? More than you think.