The Political Compass

One of the world’s foremost authorities on the catastrophic consequences of nuclear war warns of the growing likelihood of it happening .

With the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists  placing the hands of the Doomsday Clock dangerously close to midnight, we ask Dr. Tilman Ruff what a nuclear war would mean to humankind. 

Distrust and scorn towards intellectuals has always been a powerful force in the United States, according to a Pulitzer Prize-winning book written 62 years ago by Richard Hofstadter,

Anti-Intellectualism in American Life. Many other academics have looked at this question over the years, contrasting the widespread American attitude to that of the Europeans.

 Now a fascinating new book from Oxford University Press takes up the theme.  Anti Scientific Americans is written by Boston University Professor Matthew Motta. Wayne Brittenden discusses with him the social and political factors that have brought this about. 

Are the Green Parties doing too little too late? Have they shrunk from telling the voters the full extent of the bad news because it's electorally unappealling? Or has their time come at last? The former leader of the Green Party of Malta, Harry Vassallo, has  a background with green politics in the European Union. Also a human rights and animal rights lawyer , he's well qualified to give us a Green overview and to answer key questions: Was it a mistake for the Greens to engage in the parliamentary process, rather than to remain apolitical activists lobbying all parties for the urgent changes that are long overdue? Might this have been a more successful means of giving the public the unvarnished ecological truths?

We’ve all experienced it! The mental conflict that comes when new information threatens your beliefs, assumptions or actions.

Professor Daniel Meegan of Guelph University, Ontario, Canada, explains the defensive mind manoeuvres that we’re likely to make when such mental conflicts occur. In our present age of troubling uncertainties and existential crises, cognitive dissonance is also common among politicians.

Is  it necessary for our sanity, or a potentially dangerous cop-out? Professor Meegan takes an unblinkered look at how we phase out unwelcome information.

Australia’s shelling out a staggering $268 billion - $368 billion (expect the larger figure) on a nuclear powered submarine fleet , capable of  easy conversion to nuclear arms.

Experts like Dr. Tilman Ruff insist that it will inevitably threaten rather than enhance Pacific security.

He’s at the forefront of two Nobel Peace Prize- winning organisations, and raises in this podcast alarming aspects of the US – Australia deal that haven’t appeared in the mainstream press – least of all in Australia. 

All you need to know about the making and meaning of national songs!
Erik Levi , Professor of Music at Royal Holloway, University of London, talks about the musical devices that stir emotions in patriotic songs and takes a critical look at some interesting examples.

Wall Street has created a class of stocks aimed at controlling the earth’s natural resources – water, wildlife, forests, minerals and farmland. William T. Hathaway explains.

The Spirit Level, published in 2009 to international acclaim. It’s more relevant than ever, as national and global rich-poor gaps expand. The authors, epidemiologists Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett, argued that the countries with the greatest inequalities ultimately fare worst. Professor Wilkinson talks about his findings.

Some of our most celebrated heroes have had dark sides that history’s air-brushed out in order to exaggerate their virtues. Wayne Brittenden discusses heroes and our apparent need for them with Dr.Binoy Kampmark of RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia.

Are you caught in it without even knowing?

Erudite and provocative  blogger, Professor Ugo Bardi from the University of Florence, argues that the more we’re educated the more we’re vulnerable to propaganda.