November 2020

This series is among the best things I’ve listened to this year. In-depth interviews, field reporting, audio diaries and conversations are expertly weaved together to tell the stories of refugees and asylum seekers stranded in Indonesia. They are without the right to work, study, marry, travel, or even hold a bank account. Many thousands of people are in this situation and the policies of the Australian Government play in important role in their ordeals.

Since the Liberal government ‘stopped the boats’, the plight of asylum seekers in the region has faded from the headlines. The Wait shines a much needed light on the impacts of the government’s policies.

Made by an impressive team led by Nicole Curby and Mozhgan Moarefizadeh, this project was years in the making and you can tell. One particularly moving moment had me sobbing on a sports field during my morning run. Episode one is below. Listen to the whole season.

Everything that’s wrong with the internet in terrifying detail. Some of it you already know, a lot of it you don’t, but all of it well worth listening to. Deibert argues that the internet, especially social media, has an increasingly toxic influence in every aspect of life. The problem is how can we get away from it when we can’t fathom how we ever lived without it….

This lecture is split into six parts and this is the first: Look At That Device In Your Hand.

This potted history of the public concession was published well before the US Election. Considering how it all unfolded, it was eerily prescient.