What is the relationship between depression and digital technology?

Digital technology is a new tool to mitigate loneliness amount older people. And find out about the risk associated with data "re-identification".

After more than four decades of dominance, free-market capitalism is facing a challenge. Its rival, the rather blandly named Modern Monetary Theory, promises to return economic planning to a less ideological footing. It’s also keen to strike a blow against the “surplus fetish” that many economists now blame for declining public services and growing inequality.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, NATO, has seen better days. Historian and military analyst, Andrew Bacevich, once described it as an organisation that privileges “nostalgia over self-awareness”. But most critics, Bacevich included, want NATO refocused and retooled. So what needs to change in order to restore the alliance as an effective military force? What role should the United States play in such a reshaping? And how can NATO be strengthened without increasing tensions with Russia?

In this episode, we look ahead to the news and broader media environment in 2020 and pressing issues for local content in a globalised world. We also hear about the need to “decomputerise” in order to decarbonise. 

The dystopian best-seller 1984 was published exactly seventy years ago. Its influence has been profound. But does it really speak to today’s politico-cultural environment?

Why do we see the past through rose-coloured glasses, but not the future? Psychologists tell us that human beings have a tendency to be fearful and pessimistic about the future, while simultaneously romanticising the past. If the theory is true, it might help explain the difficulties we often have in making informed decisions and effectively planning for the future.

Critics say that the proliferation of modern, wafer-thin skyscrapers are symbols of rising urban inequality. Also: Are levels of density in our cities making us ill? And what's the impact of short-term letting on urban affordability? 

Countercultural movements, like Occupy Wall Street, are meant to be future-focussed — revolutionary even. So why do they often fade into commercialism? Are they simply a function of consumer capitalism? If so, what future do they have? And must they always be progressive?

Competition is often seen almost as a universal good. But economist Nicholas Gruen says a slavish adherence to making everything a competition is damaging our trust in public institutions. Also, the Belgian community trialling an ancient form of democracy. And if big data is made collectively, would nationalising it help to ensure the benefits are widely distributed?

Water banking involves the deliberate injection of surplus water into known aquifers. The idea is to repurpose the world’s many artesian basins as giant sustainable storage tanks - ones that can readily be drawn upon in times of drought. It’s just one of the ideas we explore in the second instalment of our two-part series on water conflict and management – the politics, the problems and the potential solutions.

Political campaigning is fast changing in the digital era.  Elections are now being contested with data and algorithms.  Parties see it as a great opportunity. Others see it as a threat to democracy.  And the changes are now playing out in real time in the United States. Barack Obama was often referred to as the first Internet president, but Donald Trump is fast becoming the king of social media. 

Blockchain is a much-hyped technology that underpins the cryptocurrency Bitcoin.  Enthusiasts believe its potential to transform other areas of business is huge. But what if Blockchain is really just a solution in search of a problem? Also in this episode: are businesses becoming political advocates? And why are we seeing a return from algorithmic to human curation?

Many Australians are dissatisfied with the narrow economic focus of politics, research by the University of Melbourne’s ANDI Project confirms. They want the progress of their society to be measured by a much broader range of factors, like health, environmental standards and youth wellbeing. They’re not alone. Across the globe there’s a growing movement to move “beyond GDP”, to start planning for the future based on wider models of societal progress.

Queenslander launches campaign to get grey nomads and truckies on the same page, and bring down the road toll.

NSW makes a massive seven changes for the must-win Origin II in Perth on Sunday, led by the return of James Maloney to the halves while injury forces two changes for Queensland.

In a shock announcement, former minister Philip Dalidakis resigns from the Victorian Parliament, effective immediately, to take a senior position at Australia Post.

A South Australian judge has given a stark warning to a street-level drug dealer about the horrors of ice, saying it causes people to snap in bars, coward punch strangers, neglect their children and even kill.

Coroner Barry King warns police of probable adverse findings against them for their incompetence during the initial investigation into the 1975 killing of Perth brothel madam Shirley Finn, as he closes an inquest into her murder which he says will likely remain unsolved.

A proposed $2 billion Indigenous-led coal-fired power station in Collinsville in North Queensland developed by Brisbane-based Indigenous company Shine Energy and headed by traditional Biri man Ashley Dodd is set to revive one of the country's oldest coal towns.

A Queensland primary school teacher has shocked his students and jumped into a wrestling ring to live out a lifelong dream.

MORNING BRIEFING: Today's State Budget will include funding for extra teachers, health workers and police as well as a public transport boost, while the homicide squad is investigating the death of a woman who was found on a Sydney footpath.

The crown alleges Mark Jones waterboarded Bradley Breward with a hand towel, by placing it over his face and pouring water over it, and also put a plastic shopping bag over his head twice for 40 seconds each time.

The biggest league match of the year rolling into Perth this week will inevitably trigger discussions about whether WA should have its own NRL side, but that decision depends on something far more important than crowd sizes, writes Tom Wildie.

It's the system they have in London and Chicago, it's being trialled in New York, and soon it will allow people in Cairns, Mackay and Townsville to pay for trains and buses with their credit cards and mobile phones.

The NSW Treasurer delivers a surplus of around half that expected this time last year, but is forecasting blue skies ahead. He's optimistic despite doubts circulating about the domestic and global economies, Ian Verrender says.

Queensland Environment Minister Leeanne Enoch's comments at an Indigenous festival reveal Labor is divided on the Adani mine's recent approval, the State Opposition says.

If you look up to the eastern sky tonight, you're likely to spot one of the biggest planets at its brightest. Jupiter, the fifth planet from the sun and largest in our solar system, is visible to stargazers this month.

Funding flows for low-income earners to buy a home and a new Women's and Children's Hospital are on the cards in South Australia's 2019 budget. Find out how the budget will impact you.

A new video shows Environment Minister Leeanne Enoch telling a room full of people she has shed tears over the approval of Adani's Carmichael coal mine, while also saying current environmental legislation is flawed.

Former drug squad detective Paul Dale wanted to speak to gangland bosses Tony Mokbel and Carl Williams nine days after he was arrested for the burglary of a drug house, the royal commission hears.

Police arrest a woman they had urged to come forward to authorities after a 23-year-old plunged to her death at a high-rise complex in Sydney's inner east.

The Queensland Supreme Court will decide whether to allow a widow to use her dead husband's sperm to give her young son a sibling, as they were planning to do so before he died.

Kelly says the way police handled the investigation into her alleged assault "has been the most devastating part of it" after she was told her rape kit was destroyed and then never existed at all.

Consumers are pushing demand for alternative mushrooms to new highs as plant-based diets become increasingly popular and people seek nutritious meat substitutes.

Narooma is a haven for holidaymakers and sea-changers, but many young people are finding it impossible to rent in their own home town.

More than 12 tonnes of dead fish have been buried after a council on the New South Wales north coast bowed to public pressure and opened a lagoon.

At age seven, Lisa Millar was singing the ABC News theme and practising her interview technique on her little sister. After 25 years of reporting in Australia and overseas, she's now looking forward to the challenge of co-hosting a daily morning television program.

Amid plans for a five-star hotel for Canberra's centre, some of the city's biggest music success stories plot to save its nightlife, claiming currently unenforced noise limits could kick into effect and threaten venues when the hotel starts hosting guests.

An Adelaide Hills man charged with unlawful firearms possession as well as engaging in indecent filming is granted bail by a magistrate but prosecutors say they will seek a review of that decision.