Please Explain: Coronavirus Daily

Once upon a time, incidents like the ones we have seen in the past fortnight might have ended the careers of people involved.

Cardinal George Pell has been found guilty and is set to be jailed for child sexual abuse in the most sensational verdict since the Catholic Church became engulfed in worldwide abuse scandals.

Attempts at election meddling by foreign powers in the 2016 US election has been proven - but after a serious hack of Australia political parties this week, can the public trust the up-coming election? Plus, can the Oscars rehabilitate its image?

On two sides of the world, the same politics are playing out. It's election season in the US and here at home, and immigration is front and centre - yet again.

Australia’s royal commission into misconduct in the banking and financial services sector is officially over. But will it be the great reckoning the public hoped for?

It’s starting to feel a lot like an election season. In the last month, three senior government MPs have declared they will not contest the next election. There’s rumours of more to come. But as the prime minister flew through Queensland this week, he urged political watchers not to underestimate him. Scott Morrison is determined to fight this election on the economy, arguing a Bill Shorten government would drive Australia into recession. The bottom line will certainly be top of mind for most voters, but as this stinking hot January draws to a close, another issue burns. Subscribe to The Age:https://subscribe.theage.com.au/ or The Sydney Morning Herald: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/ How are we doing? Get in touch with the team: pleaseexplain@theage.com.au or pleaseexplain@smh.com.au

The cliches about our identity get rolled out every Australia Day. But in recent times, what, and more importantly, who counts as Australian has been co-opted by far-right fringe groups with a view to exclusion. Undeniably, Australian pride is not as simple as many would like to think. This week on Please Explain, national editor Tory Maguire examines Australian identity in 2019 and how Australians might redefine what it means to be proud of their country. Guests:  Lisa Davies - Editor of the Sydney Morning Herald. Stan Grant - ABC's Global Affairs and Indigenous Affairs analyst. He is about to release his book Australia Day. Michelle Simmons - 2018 Australian of the Year and quantum phsyicist at the University of New South Wales. Subscribe to The Age:https://subscribe.theage.com.au/ or The Sydney Morning Herald: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/ How are we doing? Get in touch with the team: pleaseexplain@theage.com.au or pleaseexplain@smh.com.au  

No deal, no confidence and no plan. On March 29, Britain is scheduled to depart the European Union officially after 46 years. After this week's failed vote, and the clock ticking down to d-day, our latest episode of Please Explain looks at the best - and worst -  case scenario for the Brits, and the EU. Guests: Nick Miller: Europe correspondent, Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. James Chessell: Executive Editor of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age and former London Correspondent for the Australian Financial Review. John McDuling: business, media and technology writer for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. Subscribe to The Age: https://subscribe.theage.com.au/ or The Sydney Morning Herald: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/ How are we doing? Get in touch with the team: pleaseexplain@theage.com.au or pleaseexplain@smh.com.au  

Australian house prices have finally ceased their extraordinary run and started falling back down to earth. Meanwhile, having sat on its hands with interest rates at record lows for more than two years, the Reserve Bank is keeping watch for signs it can begin raising rates to normal levels. This week on Please Explain, guest host Jessica Irving assembles a crack team of economic experts to help you make sense of what’s to come for your wealth, your mortgage and your paypacket. Guests: Ross Gittins,  Economics Editor of The Sydney Morning Herald Shane Wright, senior economics writer in Parliament House, Canberra Martin North, Principal of Digital Finance Analytics Subscribe to The Age: https://subscribe.theage.com.au/ or The Sydney Morning Herald: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/ How are we doing? Get in touch with the team: pleaseexplain@theage.com.au or pleaseexplain@smh.com.au  

It's summer - and that means some serious book time. It just so happens three of our best reporters wrote, or are writing, some great long form yarns. This episode you'll hear three interviews about three huge stories that captured the nation last year. South East Asia correspondent James Massolaand fixer Veena Thoopkrajaetake us behind the scenes of the incredible underground retrieval of 12 Thai boys and their coach, in the book The Great Cave Rescue.  Senior Sydney Morning Herald journalistHelen Pitt won the 2018 Walkley Book Award for her ode to the Sydney Opera House, The House, which was released just in time for the Everest racing scandal debate. And, Walkley award-winning reporter Adele Fergusongives us a sneak peak at her forthcoming book Banking Bad: How greed and broken governance conspired to break our trust in corporate Australia.   Please Explain - from The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, a weekly podcast that cuts through the noise to give you insight into the stories that drive the nation. Subscribe to The Age: https://subscribe.theage.com.au/ or The Sydney Morning Herald: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/ How are we doing? Get in touch with the team: pleaseexplain@theage.com.au or pleaseexplain@smh.com.au  

What stories defined 2018? Listen in to our exclusive subscriber-only events where editors of the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age dissect the news events that shaped the world.

Sued, gagged and broke: nobody does defamation quite like Australia. It has provided some of the best-read and most colourful cases in our legal history - but defamation law is so bedevilled with complexities and anachronisms that it leaves many lawyers and judges shaking their heads. In the latest episode of Please Explain, investigative journalist Kate McClymont, Larina Alick, editorial counsel for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age,  and group executive editor James Chessell delve into the risks of publishing, including the social media dangers that most users of Facebook and Twitter are completely unaware of. Subscribe to The Age: https://subscribe.theage.com.au/ or The Herald: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/ How are we doing? Get in touch with the team: pleaseexplain@theage.com.au or pleaseexplain@smh.com.au  

When it comes to Google and Facebook, you are the commodity.  That's what ACCC chair Rod Sims said of the Australian inquiry into the tech behemoths. "Their business is about gathering data about you and they do that in more ways than you think," he said.  In this episode of Please Explain our panellists national editor Tory Maguire, media and telecommunications reporter Jennifer Duke and technology reporter John McDuling discuss the broad and sweeping changes the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission recommend for the two tech giants. McDuling catches up with Sims himself and foreign and investigations editor Michael Bachelard takes time out while on assignment in Jordan to chat to Please Explain about his experiences in refugee camps near the border of Syria.  Subscribe to The Age: https://subscribe.theage.com.au/ or The Herald: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/ How are we doing? Get in touch with the team: pleaseexplain@theage.com.au or pleaseexplain@smh.com.au  

As the last sitting week ends, the Liberal Party is in a "pretty volatile state".   The minority government has become more minor, it has lost control of the floor and the leadership change has bewildered foreign leaders at the G20 in Buenos Aires. But how far does it need to go to recover, and can it?  In this week's episode of Please Explain, Sydney Morning Herald and The Age's chief political correspondent David Crowe, political and international editor Peter Hartcher and Nine's political editor Chris Uhlmann join Tory Maguire to discuss what has led us to this point, and what we may see from the flailing party in the lead up to a possible May 2019 election. Subscribe to The Age: https://subscribe.theage.com.au/ or The Herald: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/

Whichever way you cut it, the Liberal Party is in serious trouble. With the Victorian Liberals banished to the political wilderness for the next four years, is the Federal Liberal Party doomed to the same fate in the election next May?