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 - 2009-11-14
Published: 2009-11-13 09:00:00The Fort Hood shooting SUMMARY: Major Nidal Malik Hassan has been charged with 13 murders at the Fort Hood army base. There are obvious casualties, the dead and wounded plus their families---and maybe also a less obvious casualty, pluralism in the US Armed Forces. Kevin Sheedy: Western Sydney, here I come... SUMMARY: We meet a sporting man (think Aussie Rules) who -- at the tender age of 61 -- continues to push hard his professional boundaries. The announcement this week that Kevin Sheedy, the former star Richmond player and legendary Essendon coach, was drafting himself right into the heart of Rugby League territory, Sydney´s western suburbs, surprised many. On the other hand, the move is true to 'Sheedy' form: gutsy and flamboyant. Kevin Sheedy has, to say the least, a challenging three years ahead of him. His job? Coaching a second Sydney AFL team all the way into its first season in 2012. Video: The Future of Coal SUMMARY: A special Saturday Extra forum on the future for Australian coal. Coal is a crucial fuel and it´s growing in importance even though it is one of the key emitters of greenhouse gases. So how do we simultaneously invest in a safe climate, keep the lights burning here and elsewhere, keep Australians working, and ensure we don´t send the problem to others to fix up? It´s what they call a `wicked´ problem, whenever you come up with a solution, it seems to present other problems.
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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: Now to an overview of the knitting of the two societies, rejoined after the Wall´s fall. Yes both German...but to all intents and purposes, quite separate communities in many, many ways.....over the last 20 years, it´s bit a bit like an anthropological experiment-in-action...and by all accounts, it´s very much a work-in-progress. 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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