How we emerge from the pandemic and who we elect to lead us there is top of my mind as I take over as host of RN Drive from this Monday.
As one listener wrote me over the summer, "Don't treat this election like another horse race". They are right; it's too important a time, domestically and internationally, to be treated as another triennial circus of rubbery figures and reductionist soundbites.
Sir David King, the UK's former foreign secretary's special representative for climate change, told me in
an interview for ABC TV's 7.30 last year that the "decisions made this decade will affect the next thousand years".
I think of my own daughter, who starts school on Monday. The decade will elapse before she graduates.
Suffice to say, 2022 matters and we need the kind of conversation to match. It might even allow us to connect and share a laugh about the weird times we've inherited.
Join me on RN Drive for an intelligent, thoughtful and human take on the day's events and so much more.
Plus, with the advent of a new year, why not get inspired by
reading recommendations from some of Australia's top authors? Myself, I've been enjoying Into the Rip by the New York Times correspondent, Damien Cave.
And, although we've sadly
farewelled RN's beloved nature podcast, Off Track, you can tune in to a brand new podcast with Dr Ann Jones, launching this week.
What The Duck?! explores the wonders and weirdness of nature, with experts and ordinary Aussies alike.
See you on the radio,
Andy Park, host of RN Drive
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