Rear Vision — How History Shaped Today

The crisis in the Middle East has once again thrown a spotlight on the Houthis, a militia group from Yemen who, in conjunction with Iran, have been disrupting international shipping and global supply chains. The Houthis have long been derided as an Iranian "proxy", but their recent attacks against Saudi Arabia and capture of the Strait of Bab el-Mandeb show they are a formidable force in their own right. In this episode we examine the Houthis origins and rising influence.
Jane Kinninmont - Middle East specialist, United Nations Association, UK 
Baraa Shaban - Associate Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute
Martin Smith - Producer and correspondent for PBS
Isel van Zyl – Coordinator of the AVERT Research Network, Deakin University

More than 30 years after apartheid ended in South Africa, why is it still the most unequal country in the world?Guests:
Bulelwa Mabasa - Director and Head of Land Reform, Werksmans Attorneys
Professor Ruth Hall  - Director, Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies at University of the Western Cape
Wandile Sihlobo - Chief Economist, Agricultural Business Chamber of South Africa and South Africa’s Presidential Envoy on Agriculture and Land

The English language is dotted with expressions that betray a distrust of time – we talk of “racing against time” or we express a frustration that “time is not on our side”. In this episode of Rear Vision, we look at the history of time as a concept. Why time from the Industrial Revolution onwards became wedded to ideas of progress and productivity. And how at both a personal and societal level time became a means of constraint as much as organisation.
Guests:
Dr Adrian Bardon – Professor of Philosophy, Wake Forest University 
Dr Emily Thomas – Professor and Head of the Department of Philosophy, Durham University
Dr Iwan Rhys Morus – Professor of History and Welsh History, Aberystwyth University
Judith Shulevitz – American journalist, editor and culture critic
Dr David Henkin – Professor of History, University of California, Berkeley
Tom Greene – Atlanta-based syndicated columnist and podcaster

Depending on who you talk to the American Israel Lobby is either one of the most powerful forces in US politics or an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory.
In this Rear Vision we explore the history and ask if the Israel Lobby exist? And if it does what impact it may have had on US politics and US foreign policy in the Middle East.

Once again communities in Central Africa are plagued by Ebola and the current outbreak shows no sign of being brought under control any time soon. What have medical researchers and practitioners learnt about the nature of the virus over its fifty-year history and just as importantly, how it’s spread? Given its deadly nature, why isn’t there more concern about the possibility of global transmission?
Guests:
Dr Holly Seale – Professor of Social Science, School of Population Health, University of New South Wales 
Dr Seth Judson - Assistant Professor-in-Residence, Division of Infectious Diseases, University of California Los Angelos
Dr Paul Griffin – Professor of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology, University of Queensland