ABC Radio National

Features

• What Robinson Crusoe can teach us about Brexit

  Wednesday 23 November 2016

  

  Security and sovereignty were central questions in the Brexit debate, but they are issues that have long occupied the English consciousness, writes naval historian Andrew Lambert.

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• Why do we find clowns so creepy?

  Wednesday 28 September 2016

  

  Clowns generally pose no threat to human safety, so why do they rank as the most creepy profession?

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• How living in America changed Sayyid Qutb

  Wednesday 31 August 2016

  

  Fifty years ago this week, the godfather of Islamic fundamentalism was executed in Egypt. But to truly understand Qutb's trajectory to radicalism, one author says it is important to take note of his experiences 15 years earlier, when he visited the United States.

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• What Australia could have learnt from Norway's sovereign wealth bonanza

  Wednesday 31 August 2016

  

  Australia should have followed Norway's example in creating a sovereign wealth fund with the money from the mining boom, writes Paul Cleary.

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• Saving the Australian truffle

  Friday 22 July 2016

  

  Native Australian truffles don't taste very good, but they're crucial for the health of the environment. Unfortunately, they're under threat. Scientists Todd Elliott and James Trappe give their advice on how Australia can save its truffles.

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• 'I'm optimistic about young Muslims': Ziauddin Sardar

  Tuesday 19 July 2016

  

  Many moderate Muslims are just as bewildered as everyone else about the rise of ISIS, says British intellectual Ziauddin Sardar. And he says a new brand of Muslims—young, critical thinking, and often female—give him hope for the future.

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• How Pauline Hanson has changed in 20 years

  Monday 11 July 2016

  

  After almost 20 years trying to re-enter politics, it looks like Pauline Hanson has finally secured a seat in the Senate. Kathleen Calderwood investigates how the One Nation leader and her policies have changed since 1996.

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• Why Britain's boarding schools might be to blame for Brexit

  Friday 8 July 2016

  

  Britain's elite have been sending their children to boarding schools for centuries. But one psychotherapist says these students actually grow up into terrible leaders—and now Britain's economy is paying for it.

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• How to be an animal

  Wednesday 29 June 2016

  

  Anybody who lives alongside animals wonders from time to time what they think about and how they see the world. Author Charles Foster decided the only way to find out was to become the animals that so intrigued him.

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• Breaking down Russia's culture of fake degrees

  Wednesday 8 June 2016

  

  When a prominent member of Vladimir Putin's party was accused of plagiarism, Russian-born journalist Leon Neyfakh was prompted to investigate Russia's massive black market in plagiarism.

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