Radio Australia Today
Lord Christopher Monckton, climate change sceptic
9 February 2010
The UK's most prominent climate change sceptic, the former Margaret Thatcher adviser Lord Christopher Monckton is in Australia on a speaking tour, and has been arguing against the view that humans cause global warming. Phil Kafcaloudes speaks with him here.
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Australia's Immigration minister on new migration laws
8 February 2010
There's a big change in Australia's immigration rules from today. These include giving preference to needed skills like doctoring, nursing and mining. Also migrants will have to prove they have English skills. Immigration Minister Chris Evans joins Phil Kafcaloudes here to discuss the changes.
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Harnessing brainwaves. It's been done!
5 February 2010
A respected US neuroscientist has revealed that brainwaves have been harnessed and paralysed people are moving their limbs in tests. The breakthrough has been given the science fiction-type name: BrainGate, and uses a brain computer interface. Inventor Professor John Donoghue tells Phil Kafcaloudes how it works.
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The death of John McCallum, the man behind Skippy
4 February 2010
The doyen of Australian acting, and one of the people behind the TV series Skippy The Bush Kangaroo, has died aged 92. John McCallum was trained in Australia, and went to London to became a star of stage and film. His good friend Roland Rocchiccioli speaks here with Phil Kafcaloudes.
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John Maynard Keynes and F.A. Hayek go rappin'.
3 February 2010
Filmmaker John Papola has made a video which is a rap-off between two of the world's most opposed economists: J. M. Keynes, the stimulus spender, and F.A. Hayek, who opposed government interference. "Fear The Boom and Bust" got 450,000 YouTube hits in its first week. Phil Kafcaloudes speaks here to John Papola.
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Australia's Animal Whisperer. Can you talk to the furries?
2 February 2010
Trisha McCagh says that she has been able to communicate with dogs, cats and horses, and has put some of her stories down in a book: Stories from "The Animal Whisperer. What Your Pet Is Thinking and Trying to Tell You". She speaks here with Phil Kafcaloudes.
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A soldier tells a tale of East Timor
1 February 2010
Former Australian soldier and UN Peacekeeper in East Timor, Steven Horne, has written a novel about East Timor. "The Devil's Tears" tells of a local family broken up when the Indonesians invaded the country in 1975. He tells Radio Australia's Phil Kafcaloudes that although the characters are fictional, there's a lot of truth to the story.
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Barack Obama's State of the Union resuscitation
29 January 2010
US President Barack Obama has delivered his first State of the Union address, a feisty speech that drew huge TV ratings, but is it enough to help him get the votes back for the Democrats? Phil Kafcaloudes speaks here with US behavioral psychologist Professor Liz Ossoff and politics professor Peter May from the University of Washington for their assessment.
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The World's Most Expensive Cities: they're in Australia.
28 January 2010
A report into worldwide housing affordability has found houses are becoming harder to buy, especially if you live in Australia. In fact Australia has the second, third and fourth most expensive cities for home ownership in the world. U.S. statistician Wendell Cox, who conducted the survey, told Phil Kafcaloudes how he ranked the cities.
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The Iraq Invasion. A criminal act?
27 January 2010
The British enquiry into the 2003 Iraq war has been hearing evidence damning how the Blair government ignored legal advice when deciding to invade. Australian law lecturer Professor Donald Rothwell tells Radio Australia's Phil Kafcaloudes there are legal consequences facing the politicians involved in the decision.
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