Uncommon Sense

Don Watson, acclaimed author and former speechwriter to Paul Keating, speaks in-depth about his Quarterly Essay, High Noon: Trump, Harris and America on the Brink, on the 2024 US Presidential Election and whether the United States of America is disintegrating. He travelled around the country as part of his research for the essay earlier this year.

Amy will also be joined by a special panel with Daniel Boetker-Smith (CCP Director), Catlin Langford (outgoing CCP Curator), Jessie Norman, and Christopher Sutherland, to talk about a brilliant photography prokect and book co-published by Perimeter Editions and the Centre for Contemporary Photography. Auto-Photo: A Life in Portraits tells the story of Alan Adler, a Melbourne man who is likely the the most photographed person in Australia, and is also perhaps the oldest and longest-serving photobooth technician in the world. Alan maintained a suite of photobooths across Melbourne/Naarm for over 50 years – most notably, at Flinders Street Station – and would undertake weekly testing and servicing on each photobooth across his network. Adler would take a seat in the booth and produce a test strip of photographs – these photos from the 1970s to the 2010s – form the basis of the book and a forthcoming exhibition in 2025. In 2018, with the booth at Flinders Street Station facing imminent closure, Christopher Sutherland and Jessie Norman – whose operation later became known as Metro-Auto-Photo – began working with Adler to generate interest in his work and to successfully save his photobooth.

It's Mid-Autumn Festival (also known as Moon Festival) on Tuesday 17th September. Joey Leung, founder of Joy Jaune, an artisan patisserie and dessert shop at the Preston Market, and author and Sinologist Linda Jaivin talk about the significance of Mid-Autumn Festival in China and to many other Asian cultures, including Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, and the Philippines. They talk about the story of the Moon Goddess Chang'e, the traditions around mooncakes, family reunion, and more! Joey sells her beautiful mooncakes every Moon Festival – check out her Instagram!

Amy Mullins chats with Don Watson, acclaimed author and former speechwriter to Paul Keating, about his Quarterly Essay, 'High Noon: Trump, Harris and America on the Brink.' In this historically rich and incisive account, Watson explores Donald Trump, Kamala Harris, and a nation approaching its democratic high noon. As part of his research, Don travelled across the U.S. earlier this year, exploring the question: Is the United States disintegrating? Key themes of his essay include voter suppression, the rise of fascist politics, Australian parallels, and deeply rooted systemic racism, with his queries capturing a critical juncture in history. Furthermore, he says: “The core of the problem lies in their founding documents — the Constitution and Declaration of Independence, as they never began resolving the race debate.”

British philosopher and best-selling author A. C. Grayling joins Amy in the Triple R studios for a very special in-depth conversation. Anthony tells us how we can consciously build our own philosophy of life, and why it is so important that we have one of our own. Grayling doesn't want to be prescriptive, but rather says we should take what's best for us from a range of philosophical schools and ideas. Amy and Anthony discuss free will and Sartre and Beauvoir's concept of existentialism, the key ancient philosophical schools and philosophers, including the Stoics, Cynics, and Epicureans. They also explore universal topics of love, friendship, and what happiness really is today compared with how it was conceived of in the past. He explores these ideas in his recent book, Philosophy And Life: Exploring the Great Questions of How to Live.

A very special interview was brought out of the archives as acclaimed British writer Robert Macfarlane joins Amy for an in-depth conversation about the connections between landscape, language, people, and place. This expansive conversation begins with an exploration of the aspects of nature, landscape, and place that motivate Robert’s writing.

Robert says, “We can think of thought itself as site-specific and as motion sensitive,” and that bodily movement in a particular landscape can prompt transformative thoughts and feelings that are not always accessible outside that place. “There are thoughts I’ve had while climbing mountains that I could not have had at sea-level. There are thoughts that I’ve had while walking 20 to 30 miles a day that were borne of the tiredness in my body and the landscapes through which I was moving at that time,” Robert recounts.

He explains what motivated his inquiry into the underland – that part of the landscape that exists underfoot, and which has long-standing significance for human culture and practices. While writing Underland: A Deep Time Journey, Robert realised this was “a very, very old human story... [and] began from that apparent paradox, why have we gone into the darkness to see things for as long as we’ve been human?”

Amy and Robert also draw on ideas from his past works including, Mountains of the Mind, The Old Ways, and Landmarks. Robert is a Fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge University.

Author and former financier Satyajit Das joins Amy for a long-form conversation about the rise of ecotourism, the joys and wonders of seeing animals "in the wild," along with ecotourism's problematic effects, as explored in his latest book, Wild Quests: Journeys into Ecotourism and the Future for Animals (Monash University Publishing).

Is Das witnessing the end of the natural world as we know it?

Das was named in 2014 by Bloomberg as among the 50 most influential people in financial markets. He has held senior positions in banks and industry and now works as a consultant to investors and corporations globally. His previous books include, Traders, Guns & Money (2006), Extreme Money (2011), A Banquet of Consequences (2015, updated 2021), and Fortune's Fool: Australia's Choices (2022). He is also the author (with Jade Novakovic) of In Search of the Pangolin: The Accidental Eco-Tourist (2006).

Amy Mullins returns to the airwaves. Regular guest Dr Emma Shortis talks all things US politics, including the 2024 Presidential election debate and race. Will Joe Biden drop out of the race to make way for a different Democratic candidate? What is the status of Donald Trump's legal battles? How has the US Supreme Court transformed US government, society, and politics (once again) through its recent decisions on presidential immunity and the Chevron Doctrine? Emma is Senior Researcher, International and Security Affairs Program at The Australia Institute.

Author and Cornell University Professor of philosophy Dr Kate Manne returns to speak in-depth with Amy about her excellent new book, Unshrinking: How To Fight Fatphobia. As Kate describes it; "part memoir, part polemic, and part (all?) philosophy, this book aims to show why fatphobia is a vital social justice issue, and provide an analysis of what fatphobia is and how it works." She proposes "a radical reevaluation of who our bodies exist in the world for: ourselves and no one else." Kate spoke about her previous best-selling books with Amy in 2020 – Down Girl: The Logic of Misogyny and Entitled: How Male Privilege Hurts Women. Interview from 2020 is here: https://www.rrr.org.au/explore/podcasts/uncommon-sense/episodes/4851-kate-manne-on-sexism-misogyny-and-her-book-entitled-how-male-privilege-hurts-women

Professor Andrew Walter dissects the UK election results, which saw the UK Labour Party romp it in, ousting the Tory government and decimating their levels of representation in the British parliament. What does the new Labour government look like and how has the political landscape shifted? Andrew is Professor of International Relations in the School of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Melbourne.

Author and philosopher Dr Kate Manne returns to speak in-depth with Amy about her excellent new book, Unshrinking: How To Fight Fatphobia. As Kate describes it; "part memoir, part polemic, and part (all?) philosophy, this book aims to show why fatphobia is a vital social justice issue, and provide an analysis of what fatphobia is and how it works." She proposes "a radical reevaluation of who our bodies exist in the world for: ourselves and no one else." Kate spoke about her previous best-selling books with Amy in 2020 – Down Girl: The Logic of Misogyny and Entitled: How Male Privilege Hurts Women. Kate Manne is a Professor of Philosophy at Cornell University. Interview from 2020 is here: https://www.rrr.org.au/explore/podcasts/uncommon-sense/episodes/4851-kate-manne-on-sexism-misogyny-and-her-book-entitled-how-male-privilege-hurts-women Broadcast on 9 July 2024.

Dr Bertrand Bourgeois speaks in-depth about the snap French elections for the National Assembly (lower house) called by President Emmanuel Macron. With the far-right National Rally or Rassemblement National (led by Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella) leading in the polls, closely followed by the far left coalition, the New Popular Front or Le Nouveau Front Populaire (comprising La France Insoumise or France Unbowed, the Greens, Communists, and Socialists), and Macron’s centrist coalition Ensemble, including his Renaissance party coming in third – was it a miscalculated gamble to go early? Why is Jean-Luc Mélenchon such a polarising figure? What do the parties and coalitions stand for and why is the far-right becoming “mainstream” in France? Dr Bertrand Bourgeois is a Senior Lecturer in French Studies at the University of Melbourne.

Professor James Curran delves into the discussions and real intentions behind the AUKUS agreement and Australia's plan to obtain nuclear submarines from the US and the UK. How exactly does the US perceive AUKUS? James reveals how the US' view differs greatly from the Australian government's view. With so many practical questions weighing around the delivery of the submarines and the cooperation of the US, UK, and Australian navies, does Australia have a Plan B? James Curran is International Editor of the AFR and Professor of Modern History at the University of Sydney. In our discussion he talks about his essay on AUKUS in the Australian Book Review, 'AUKUS in the Dock: Questions and challenges for the Albanese government.' Read his ABR essay here and his AFR columns here.

Dr Bertrand Bourgeois speaks in-depth about the snap French elections for the National Assembly (lower house) called by President Emmanuel Macron. With the far-right National Rally or Rassemblement National (led by Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella) leading in the polls, closely followed by the far left coalition, the New Popular Front or Le Nouveau Front Populaire (comprising La France Insoumise or France Unbowed, the Greens, Communists, and Socialists), and Macron’s centrist coalition Ensemble, including his Renaissance party coming in third – was it a miscalculated gamble to go early? Why is Jean-Luc Mélenchon such a polarising figure? What do the parties and coalitions stand for and why is the far-right becoming “mainstream” in France? Dr Bertrand Bourgeois is a Senior Lecturer in French Studies at the University of Melbourne.

Alison Croggon, theatre critic and Arts Editor for The Saturday Paper talks with Amy about the state of Australian theatre. Alison writes in The Monthly that, “a generation of small independent theatremakers has been betrayed by government neglect and bad policy, creating a cultural crisis.” Read Alison's essay in The Monthly here.

Acclaimed writer Ceridwen Dovey brings real space objects to life in her new collection of short stories, Only The Astronauts (Penguin Books). Ceridwen reflects on the stories and inner lives she creates for Elon Musk's rocket test mannequin, 'Starman,' as well as the International Space Station, the first sculpture ever taken to the Moon, the Voyager 1 space probe carrying the Golden Record, and more. Ceridwen speaks with Amy in-depth about the restorative effects of reading and writing fiction, as well as her process for writing these wonderful short stories in the form of a fable. Listen to Amy's past interview with Ceridwen on the commercial satellite mega-constellations damaging the night sky: https://soundcloud.com/uncommonsense-rrr/interview-with-ceridwen-dovey-only-the-astronauts

Ceridwen Dovey is an Australian fiction writer, creative non-fiction writer, science writer, and anthropologist based in Sydney.

She is also the author of Blood Kin; Only The Animals; In the Garden of the Fugitives; On J.M. Coetzee: Writers on Writers; Life After Truth; Inner Worlds Outer Spaces; and Mothertongues (with co-writer Eliza Bell and original songs by Keppie Coutts). Ceridwen's science writing has been recognised with an Australian Museum Eureka Award and two UNSW Press Bragg Prizes for Science Writing.