In 1959 a flight to London took days and cost half a year’s average salary.  But things were changing rapidly. The invention of the Concorde meant that you could fly from Adelaide to London in just under seven hours.  Travel was getting faster and many expected we’d be routinely zipping around the world and travelling to other planets in no time. But now, aside from planes, most of our transport is not much faster than it was back then, so why are we still so slow? 

Matt and Kara delve deeper into the story of town planner Alex Ramsay, and the bizarre deal he struck to purchase the land that would become Elizabeth, SA. 

This episode is connected to episode two of the Black Swans series, all concerning predictions of Australia's future, and how we got it so wrong.

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In the 1950s three quarters of Australians were homeowners,  most lived on a quarter-acre block, with a mortgage that could be covered with one income while someone stayed at home to look after the children.  Nowadays, house prices have sky rocketed and younger generations largely feel locked out. So where did it all go wrong?

Until recently people were scared our planet would be outstripped by the weight of a colossal population. Experts feared that by 2026, there would be so many people that we would be starved of resources, and eat ourselves to death. Ironically we now find ourselves in a world where we’re not scared about having too many babies, but rather too few. So what happened?

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Kara and Matt take you behind the scenes of putting the series together, and how hard it is to find an iron when you need one.

The Black Swans series kicks off this Thursday 8th January on podcast, and hits television on Saturday 10th January.

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In a post on Truth Social, US President Trump announced that he had captured the Venezuelan president, Nicolas Maduro and his wife, and that the pair would face drug charges in New York. The legality of this seizure is certainly questionable, but surprisingly, an operation like this is not entirely unprecedented. 

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The massive infrastructure project NEOM sits in the Saudi Arabian desert, and the jewel in its crown is The Line, a futuristic city which looks insane. The AI-generated ads depict a car-free city, for 9 million people housed between two mirrors, stretching along the desert. Despite promises of millions of residents by 2030, the project has been scaled back by 98 per cent. The Line will be more like a dot. So what the hell happened? And was it all just a scam?

This episode was originally broadcast in September 2024

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Putting fluoride in drinking water has often been called one of the most successful public health measures in human history. But since the very beginning of fluoridation programs in the 1940s, it’s been plagued by misinformation and furious opposition.

Now with Robert F Kennedy Jr at the helm of the US Department of Health, the Trump Administration is leading the charge to get states to ban the use of fluoride in water - and he’s succeeded in Utah and Florida. So when did this anti-fluoride scepticism kick off? And can it be stopped?

This episode was originally broadcast in June 2025

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Australians are very proud of our gun laws, and we have good reason to be. The laws are world famous and frequently referenced in the wake of almost every mass shooting in the United States. And yet, we have now seen two men terrorise Australia’s Jewish community at a Hanukkah event at Bondi beach with legally-owned high-powered guns. 

Despite almost universal support for stricter gun control, there are more guns in Australia now than there were before the famous gun laws were introduced. 

So, what are the specifics of Australia's laws? Are they really as water-tight as we all like to believe? And if they are about to change what will that actually accomplish?

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On Sunday the 14th of December, two men; a father and son, used a range of firearms to attack a large Hanukkah celebration at Bondi Beach playground. At least 16 people were killed, including one of the two gunmen, and a ten year old girl. 

It was Australia’s worst ever terrorist attack, and its second-deadliest mass shooting. The local and global Jewish community are horrified and frightened, by the events. 

Australia is in shock, it’s left people wondering what could have been done to prevent this attack, and what needs to be done now. 

Perry Duffin is the Sydney Morning Herald’s senior crime reporter, and has broken multiple stories about the seemingly escalating violence and anti-Semitism in Sydney. For the last 24 hours - virtually without sleeping - he’s been covering the early investigations into the events in Bondi.

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During a 15 minute phone call, US President Donald Trump offered the Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro safe passage for him and his family to the country of their choice, if they left Venezuela immediately. The deal seems to have fallen through and now Maduro is in hiding, and for the last few weeks, Maduro has reportedly slept in a different house every night. So why is the country with the most proven oil reserves on the planet enduring an economic meltdown that is so grave the President is now on the run?   

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