Saturday Extra
Saturday Extra brings you a lively array of stories and features covering a range of topics including international politics and business.
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4 Episodes of this Podcast:
Saturday Extra - 2009-11-07
Published: 2009-11-06 09:00:00Fall of the Berlin Wall: Dr Jens Reich SUMMARY: It was quite literally a world changing event. Twenty years ago on 9 November 1989, the starkest symbol of the Cold War, the 96 miles of the Berlin Wall fell. The Fall of the Berlin Wall: the cultural differences SUMMARY: The cultural differences between what Germans call the `Ossies´ or Easterners and the `Wessies´ or Westerners. Some analysts say that twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, older east Germans continue to find their entry into the West difficult. The Fall of the Berlin Wall: international implications SUMMARY: Well occasionally in history, certain key events really DO change the world around them far beyond what could have been imagined. At the beginning of 1989 the global strategic map looked much like it had since the end of World War II. By the end of 1989 the future would 'be at hand'. The UN: No Enchanted Palace SUMMARY: Mark Mazower highlights the somewhat capricious nature of historical moments in his new book on that labyrinthine organisation the United Nations. He suggests the UN emerged in the aftermath of the Second World War not necessarily as a guardian of a peaceful new world order but was created and developed in the face of sharply conflicting interests. Water Cooler Conversation: Dressing up, dressing down? SUMMARY: Our first Saturday of the month Water Cooler Conversation comes at the end of a week where all things fashion -- both the `glory´ and the `gory'-- have been firmly under the microscope. Racing always gives Australian women the change to strut their best -- and their worst. For particularly young women, there´s much tension around what can be the thin line between presenting as sexy and presenting as quite something else!
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Saturday Extra - 2009-10-31
Published: 2009-10-30 10:00:00Media 140 Sydney SUMMARY: How is the new social media landscape -- like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube -- changing traditional media? Online publications, like Crikey.com, include reporting by professional reporters and user-generated information. But are more fundamental changes for journalism afoot? Australian cities - In trouble? SUMMARY: This week the prime minister, Kevin Rudd, ruffled a few feathers in state parliaments around the country when he announced federal plans for greater involvement in the planning of our cities. His statement came hot on the heels of the speech by the Treasury secretary, Ken Henry, on population growth and city infrastructure. And many wonder just how cities like Sydney and Melbourne can cope with populations of over 7 million apiece. So this is life SUMMARY: In her new book, author Anne Manne remembers the circumstances of her growing up: her family´s momentous split when she was but seven and their subsequent move from suburban Adelaide to rural Victoria. It´s turned into a very impressive memoir. Professor Harvey Chochinov: dignity therapy SUMMARY: Over the years there´s been much research into how people feel and react when death is near. But Professor Harvey Chochinov has put right at the centre of this complex equation another element: medical professionals. Professor Chochinov, from the department of psychiatry at the University Of Manitoba, is known as the founder of Dignity Therapy. Royal Geographical Society SUMMARY: The Royal Geographical Society, whose core activity once upon a time was to run its own data collecting expeditions of world class importance, has in the past decade 'shifted its focus towards academic geography and away from exploration and field research.' Arts round-up: Katrina Strickland SUMMARY: This is the first of Saturday Extra's arts round-ups with the arts editor of The Australian Financial Review, Katrina Strickland. On the last Saturday of the month, Katrina will review some of the best exhibitions and theatre happening around the country.
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Saturday Extra - 2009-10-24
Published: 2009-10-23 10:00:00Telstra split SUMMARY: First this morning, an update on the grand-daddy of negotiations underway in Australia at the moment. It´s ramping up into a genuine high drama, but not one that´s easy to grasp: what will happen to Telstra now that the Government has decided on a new era in our telecommunications via its national broadband project? What will be Telstra´s position? What will happen to its existing pipelines that provide so many of us with our phones, data, music and much that travels across cyber-space? By next year, will the company resemble the one we´ve come to know so well...with its 1.4 million shareholders and presence in virtually all our superannuation holdings? Australia's economy: where to now? SUMMARY: From fearful to positively congratulatory! That, you will have noticed is the mood from within, and without, economic circles caused by `our´ response to and `our´ performance during the Global Financial Crisis. That Australia did well is beyond doubt. Australia´s banks remained sound, by and large people remained in their jobs and there was economic growth -- albeit at a much lower rate. But now a new question: What will the year after the GFC, 2010 look like? Business as usual for an economy which has well-demonstrated its credentials in the resilience stakes, or could we see some profound, deep-seated changes? The Staffordshire Hoard SUMMARY: It is literally the stuff of dreams -- stumbling across a magnificent treasure trove from days long past. But in the West Midlands of Britain, the dream did come true in July when amateur metal detector Terry Herbert unearthed superb gold and silver weapons, crosses and other decorations from the Anglo-Saxon period -- hundreds and hundreds of them. The find has become known as the Staffordshire Hoard. Like all mysteries on a grand scale, The Hoard has ignited intense debate and excitement both inside and outside academic circles. Here´s just one example: Leslie Webster, formerly of the British Museum´s Prehistory Department, says the discovery is `absolutely the equivalent of finding a new Lindisfarne Gospels or Book Of Kells.' But the Staffordshire Hoard is also re-writing the rules of how such `once in a lifetime´ discoveries are handled. Inside the Kingdom SUMMARY: The esteemed British historian and author Robert Lacey is well known for his writing on British royalty...but he found the whole subject of monarchy so rich, he also looked to versions elsewhere...for example the venerable Arab dynasty known as the House of Saud, and produced The Kingdom, which you might recall made considerable waves at the time of its release in 1981. Well he´s now produced the sequel...the product of having lived there for three years to research very much on-the-ground, through the eyes of Saudi citizens and royalty, to produce an utterly absorbing account of life in this what´s usually called a mysterious kingdom. Tranquil Footsteps SUMMARY: The Sydney Morning Herald´s Good Weekend magazine once featured an article about our relationship with elephants. Our fascination with them, it said, 'has influenced our mythology and cultures. Worshipped as gods, regarded as bizarre curiosities, symbols of status and wealth, and used in warfare ... elephants have been exploited throughout history. But the real fascination of elephants lies in their endearingly human traits -- their seeming capacity for grief affection ... and practical jokes.'
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Saturday Extra - 2009-10-17
Published: 2009-10-16 10:00:00Stephen Dupont: embedded in Afghanistan SUMMARY: It is the issue that may well define the presidency of Barack Obama. Can the United States and its allies win the war in Afghanistan? The hardest part about making that judgment is that finding reliable information about the conduct of the war, the way the recent presidential election has been handled and the rebuilding of the country is hard to come by. And the reason is simple. Afghanistan is a dangerous place to get around. In other words first-hand intelligence of what is going on there is difficult to come by unless you embed yourself with a platoon of soldiers and watch what´s happening. That is exactly what Stephen Dupont did. Already recognised as a world-class stills photographer, he went -- with his trusty SLR and his video cameras -- and spent time with a battalion in southern Afghanistan. The Howard Impact SUMMARY: When it comes to former governments, separating myths from realities when it comes to `on the ground performances´ in relation to the economy, health care, employment, infrastructure......and so on, is fraught with difficulties. Just for starters, all Governments take credit for `positive´ trends and all Oppositions seize on bad news - it's their job afterall! But today on Saturday Extra, two brave gentleman who´ve invoked the art (and science) of comparative statistics to evaluate the 'Howard years'. Ross Gittens, The Sydney Morning Herald´s Economics editor and Rodney Tiffen, Sydney University Professor of Government and International Relations, have just published their second edition of `How Australia Compares´. The book compares Australia to 17 other developed democracies on a range of economic and social indicators. And it´s a new chapter titled `The Howard Impact´ which is under Saturday Extra´s spotlight! Modern day slavery SUMMARY: It´s estimated 27 million people across the world could be considered slaves, and the industry of slavery and people trafficking makes $32 billion a year. The question is how can this go on, when you can barely walk to the letterbox without someone reporting your movements. An even bigger question is why it took a musician to make a film about the horrors of the modern slave trade. Dread SUMMARY: Professor Philip Alcabes, author of Dread: How Fear and Fantasy Have Fueled Epidemics from the Black Death to Avian Flu says that epidemics fascinate us. He writes that when we think there is an epidemic, we start rehearsing for it: 'We over-react and start to fear and then governments use this fear to control us and set their political agendas.' True Crime - Colin McLaren SUMMARY: Colin McLaren is a former undercover detective who spent years working on covert operations in Victoria and NSW. And perhaps his most dangerous assignment was infiltrating the mafia in Griffith by posing as a shady art dealer. He´s left the force and taken to writing and has had two books published. The first is a memoir of life undercover and the other a fictional account of what an undercover cop does once his cover is blown - something he himself has had to consider.
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