Future Tense

The dystopian best-seller 1984 was published exactly seventy years ago. Its influence has been profound. But does it really speak to today’s politico-cultural environment?

Street artists are busy commandeering as many city surfaces as their paints will allow, authorities are trying to neutralise the threat, while advertising agencies are keen to clone the potency of hand painted art.

In this episode, we look ahead to the news and broader media environment in 2020 and pressing issues for local content in a globalised world.

We also hear about the need to “decomputerise” in order to decarbonise. 

The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, NATO, has seen better days. Historian and military analyst, Andrew Bacevich, once described it as an organisation that privileges “nostalgia over self-awareness”.

But most critics, Bacevich included, want NATO refocused and retooled. So what needs to change in order to restore the alliance as an effective military force?

What role should the United States play in such a reshaping? And how can NATO be strengthened without increasing tensions with Russia?

After more than four decades of dominance, free-market capitalism is facing a challenge.

Its rival, the rather blandly named Modern Monetary Theory, promises to return economic planning to a less ideological footing.

It’s also keen to strike a blow against the “surplus fetish” that many economists now blame for declining public services and growing inequality.