Counterpoint

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 don't fit in, you're out.

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 Harry Truman and Thomas Dewey? 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 today?

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 ground mummy? What is the Indigenous concept of deep time and how can it help with bushfire and other environmental issues?

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 the middle of a wasteland? Bioacoustics.

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 happened?