http://www.thepunch.com.au/tags/q&a/ Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. en Copyright 2012 The Punch penberthyd@newsltd.com.au penberthyd@newsltd.com.au Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:40 +0000 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:40 +0000 Politics, opinion, world news, sports news, latest news, views, Barack Obama, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Nathan Rees, Malcolm Turnbull, Peter Garrett, Barnaby Joyce, Australian, federal politics, opinion polls, election, The Punch, thepunch, punch ExpressionEngine 1.6.7 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 15 http://www.thepunch.com.au/images/punch-logo-rss.png http://www.thepunch.com.au/ 144 70 Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. Search The Punch keywords http://www.thepunch.com.au/search/ http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/who-murdered-the-arts-degree/ Have we murdered the liberal arts education? That was the final question on Monday night’s Q&A on ABCTV from one of the best panels they’ve had this year. Jeffrey Eugenides, Glenn Carle, Greg Sheridan, Masha Gessen and Kathy Lette. It’d be hard to find a more erudite and dynamic combination of people, which is what made their unified reponse to this question all the more interesting. Despite different nationalities, backgrounds and histories, all five said hardly anyone is enrolling in Arts degrees at universities anymore and society is paying the price. penberthyd@newsltd.com.au (David Penberthy) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/who-murdered-the-arts-degree/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/who-murdered-the-arts-degree/#item8566 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:40 +0000 Why didn’t the Q&A shoe‑thrower Peter Gray toss former Prime Minister John Howard a lamington instead? Taking his cue from an Iraqi journalist, turned footwear rejecter, who flung his possessions at then‑US President George W Bush, Gray in one unoriginal act exposed the limitations of the Q&A program as an uninhibited experiment in deliberative democracy. According to the program’s website, Q&A aims to place punters, pollies and pundits together to ‘thrash out’ the hot issues of the week. Think of it as the political equivalent of a WWE steel cage match. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/its-better-to-take-qa-as-a-comment-not-democracy/ Why didn’t the Q&A shoe‑thrower Peter Gray toss former Prime Minister John Howard a lamington instead? Taking his cue from an Iraqi journalist, turned footwear rejecter, who flung his possessions at then‑US President George W Bush, Gray in one unoriginal act exposed the limitations of the Q&A program as an uninhibited experiment in deliberative democracy. According to the program’s website, Q&A aims to place punters, pollies and pundits together to ‘thrash out’ the hot issues of the week. Think of it as the political equivalent of a WWE steel cage match. penberthyd@newsltd.com.au (David Penberthy) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/its-better-to-take-qa-as-a-comment-not-democracy/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/its-better-to-take-qa-as-a-comment-not-democracy/#item4337 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:40 +0000 Why didn’t the Q&A shoe‑thrower Peter Gray toss former Prime Minister John Howard a lamington instead? Taking his cue from an Iraqi journalist, turned footwear rejecter, who flung his possessions at then‑US President George W Bush, Gray in one unoriginal act exposed the limitations of the Q&A program as an uninhibited experiment in deliberative democracy. According to the program’s website, Q&A aims to place punters, pollies and pundits together to ‘thrash out’ the hot issues of the week. Think of it as the political equivalent of a WWE steel cage match. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/at-the-end-of-the-day-the-kids-caned-kevin-on-qa/ The showbiz maxim about never working with children or animals was on full display tonight as our Prime Minister arrived for a chummy yarn with a nice bunch of kids only to endure a torrid pummeling about broken promises, weak leadership and political expediency. In a display which put us journalists to shame, a roomful of young adults gave Kevin Rudd one of the toughest grillings of his prime ministership as he agreed to an hour-long solo appearance on the ABC’s Q&A at Old Parliament House, Canberra. You could see the clutch slipping from the start as the first series of questions directly accused Rudd of being more talk than action. His body language was awkward and what he had probably envisaged as a friendly bit of to-and-fro banter looked as uncomfortable as an all-in press conference - only more so, as the kids were so civilised in their pursuit of the PM that he couldn’t cry foul over unfair treatment. penberthyd@newsltd.com.au (David Penberthy) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/at-the-end-of-the-day-the-kids-caned-kevin-on-qa/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/at-the-end-of-the-day-the-kids-caned-kevin-on-qa/#item2345 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:40 +0000 Why didn’t the Q&A shoe‑thrower Peter Gray toss former Prime Minister John Howard a lamington instead? Taking his cue from an Iraqi journalist, turned footwear rejecter, who flung his possessions at then‑US President George W Bush, Gray in one unoriginal act exposed the limitations of the Q&A program as an uninhibited experiment in deliberative democracy. According to the program’s website, Q&A aims to place punters, pollies and pundits together to ‘thrash out’ the hot issues of the week. Think of it as the political equivalent of a WWE steel cage match.