247 episodes

Feed your mind. Be provoked. One big idea at a time. Your brain will love you for it. Grab your front row seat to the best live forums and festivals with Natasha Mitchell.

Big Ideas ABC listen

    • Society & Culture
    • 4.4 • 60 Ratings

Feed your mind. Be provoked. One big idea at a time. Your brain will love you for it. Grab your front row seat to the best live forums and festivals with Natasha Mitchell.

    Superpowers and superpeacemakers — your guide to the key players with John Lyons, Sam Roggeveen & Ilaria Walker

    Superpowers and superpeacemakers — your guide to the key players with John Lyons, Sam Roggeveen & Ilaria Walker

    Smaller conflicts than we're witnessing in the world right now have set off world wars. Who will be the crucial superpowers and super peacemakers in the next five years?

    • 53 min
    Helen Clark on how to build a healthier future for all

    Helen Clark on how to build a healthier future for all

    We are living in an "age of crises," says former New Zealand prime minister, Helen Clark. With her leadership experience and expertise in governance, politics, and policy, Helen Clark and a panel of health and international relation experts explore the challenges facing the world today and what is needed to achieve a healthier and thriving future for all. While it's easy to feel overwhelmed by complex problems, speaking up about inequality can make a difference. Helen Clark urged everyone to "raise the issues, never give up, and relentlessly campaign".

    • 53 min
    Tenacity and two squat houses — how an Australian movement was born for women leaving violence

    Tenacity and two squat houses — how an Australian movement was born for women leaving violence

    Women’s refuges are now a central part of our response to family violence, with hundreds operating across Australia. But that hasn't always been the case.

    • 53 min
    Donald Trump, American authoritarianism and how journalists should cover it

    Donald Trump, American authoritarianism and how journalists should cover it

    As Donald Trump makes his case for re-election in 2024, under a cloud of criminal prosecutions, how can journalists better cover such a norm-busting and rule-breaking political figure?

    • 53 min
    Jonathan Rosen — friendship, madness and the tragedy of good intentions

    Jonathan Rosen — friendship, madness and the tragedy of good intentions

    New York writer Jonathan Rosen’s memoir The Best Minds: a story of friendship, madness, and the tragedy of good intentions is a story of tenderness, heartache, and horror as he explores the vexed tensions between civil rights, medical power, and the complexities of recognising and treating severe psychotic illness. He joined Natasha Mitchell with psychiatrist Patrick McGorry for a powerful conversation at the 2024 Adelaide Writers Week. In light of the recent Bondi shopping centre killings, this discussion recorded just prior was sadly prescient, but deeply insightful. 

    • 53 min
    Slowing down fast fashion with Aja Barber

    Slowing down fast fashion with Aja Barber

    You don't need that dress, you need a hug. Or so says fashion activist and writer, Aja Barber.

    • 53 min

Customer Reviews

4.4 out of 5
60 Ratings

60 Ratings

rromarrio ,

Great Podcast

Great topics. Mind provoking. Always insightful. I enjoy it daily…

Cozzum ,

Eclectic, Cosmopolitan yet very Aussie

A true treasure from down under to help fill in some of the gaps in my understanding of how the world works. Somehow life got very complex along the way and keeping up with the barrage of changes is a monumental chore at times. I never dreamed that discussions, lectures, debates and so on, from half way around the world, would help keep me oriented towards a realistic perspective on the world's events and issues. Recommended for anyone who craves something more from somewhere else.

Many Thanks to all the staff who make this program possible. To speak in the parlance of the zeitgeist
"You're Awesome!"

Ogilbeats ,

Deep dive into Woke ideology

There are some scientifically rigorous and interesting talks, but most speakers chosen are aimed at getting all the brownie points from the far left identity politics movement. How we must now focus on “age-ist discrimination” has been the straw that’s broken the camels back for me.

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