Barely Gettin' By

Join a live recording of the podcast Barely Gettin’ By as host Emma Shortis and special guests Jeff Sparrow and Mittul Vahanvati discuss the necessity of imagining different futures, local activism, action-based research and governments’ roles.

Be part of the audience for a live recording of the podcast Barely Gettin’ By, hosted by Emma Shortis and featuring special guests: James Blackwell, Mittul Vahanvati and Jeff Sparrow. Forming part of Barely Getting By’s fourth season, “Up in Flames”, this event will examine climate policy as a global modern imperative. Tue 10 May - 6pm – 7pm The Capitol – RMIT 113 Swanston Street Melbourne 3000 Tickets are free and available here:...

Barely Gettin' By might be on a lockdown hiatus, but the climate news keeps coming. In the lead up to the all-important COP26 Climate Summit in Glasgow, this special episode examines the historic relationship between Australia and the United States when it comes to climate change. Emma reads an extract from her book, Our Exceptional Friend: Australia’s Fatal Alliance with the United States, and asks what that relationship might mean for Glasgow, and the future. Reading Emma Shortis, Our...

With Melbourne in the midst of Lockdown 5.0, we will be taking a short break until we can get back in to the studio again.

Donald Trump is gone, the pandemic is getting under control (in some places, maybe?), and all is well. Not.

After a long 2020 (and a very long January 2021) Joe Biden will be inaugurated as the 46th President of the United States on the morning Thursday, 21 January (Australian time). What does a Presidential Inauguration look like when it’s overshadowed by a pandemic and threat of insurrectionist violence? Chloe and Emma talk about what what we can expect on Thursday, how Australia’s relationship with the USA will change after Donald Trump, what the violence on 6 January means, and what the...

In the last episode of the season, Emma and Chloe reflect on Joe Biden’s victory and Trump’s refusal to concede. They look at how institutions and people are responding to Trump, and whether Fox News has finally seen the light. They ask if Trump is in fact attempting a coup, whether it will be successful, and whether fascism has to be successful in order to be called “fascism”. They then turn to the levers of power, looking at what will happen in Georgia and what that says about the future...

A very tired Emma and Chloe regroup, two days after polls closed to discuss the election. Were the polls wrong? What does Georgia say about American democracy? What next for the Democratic Party? A lot of things are still uncertain—and will remain so for the coming days and weeks—but one thing is clear: Donald Trump’s vote isn’t going away, even if he leaves the White...

In this bonus, pre-election episode, Chloe and Emma speak to Matt Bevan, ABC Radio journalist and host of the America, If You’re Listening Podcast, about the past four years of the Trump Presidency, the relationship between journalism and history, and whether it’s possible—or desirable—to predict an outcome in the 2020 Presidential Election. Chloe and Emma then pick up their conversation about contingency in history and why caring about the election is part of, not a distraction from,...

In this episode, Chloe and Emma welcome a very special guest - Dr Elizabeth Ingelson, Henry Chauncey Jr. ’57 Postdoctoral Associate at Yale University. Joining them from New Haven, Connecticut, Lizzie discusses what it is like to live in Trump’s America. They cover how the United States is responding to pandemic, Lizzie’s experience in rural Pennsylvania, and the volatile state of American politics. They then turn to Lizzie’s expertise—the history of the United States and China. Lizzie...

In this episode, Chloe and Emma talk about how Joe Biden has linked the personal and the political throughout a long and successful career. But could the 2020 election force the two apart? They also speak to special guest, press gallery legend Barrie Cassidy, about past presidencies, this year’s election, and what it all means for Australia. Finally, Emma answers a question that still worries us: Despite Biden’s seemingly secure position in polls, what if Donald Trump refuses to leave...

This week, Chloe and Emma try (and fail) to lighten things up with a discussion of the young, progressive congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, shoes … and fracking. They also talk about the first ‘television president’ and why JFK’s Presidency might be a weird mirror for Donald Trump’s. And, in a week where polls seem to show Joe Biden set for victory, they discuss the history and the so-called “science” of polling, where pollsters went wrong in 2016 and whether they can redeem themselves...

This week, we can’t not talk about the President of the United States contracting coronavirus. But instead of speculating about Trump’s illness and what it might mean, Emma and Chloe discuss what it reveals about American healthcare. They also take a look at the Senate, and how some previously safe seats like Lindsay Graham’s in South Carolina have some Republicans worried this election cycle. They also take a look at the role of the media in US politics, and the legacy of the Watergate...

Chloe and Emma discuss how Aaron Sorkin’s the West Wing went from an alternate-world liberal consolation prize in the early 2000s, to playbook for the Obama White House, and now back again in the age of Trump. They also talk through what might happen if (when?) Trump contests the 2020 election, and how the Republican Party took advantage of an unclear result in 2000, leading to George W. Bush’s victory in the Supreme Court. They also explore the Electoral College, and its origins in 19th...

In the first episode of Season 3, This American Carnage, Emma looks at the way climate change and the West Coast fires are covered by the New York Times, while Chloe looks at vaccine nationalism and the politics of Big Pharma. They discuss the much-mythologized New Deal and whether President Joe Biden would be the new Franklin Roosevelt. And finally, they explain the powers the President holds and their limits. This time around, Emma and Chloe are adding something new: a weekly newsletter...

In the year 2020 where everything seems to have gone wrong, your often confused, occasionally insightful and (sometimes) optimistic hosts Emma and Chloe are once again making sense of the present by looking at the past. In season three our historical experts go back four years, to when the world turned on its head when Donald Trump won the US Presidential election and set the stage for the now tumultuous present the United States finds itself in. This season, Shortis and Ward are using...

11.1 Battle for Seattle 11.2 the Algebra of Infinite Justice 11.3 Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) In this final episode, Chloe and Emma look at two, possible end dates for the 1990s: the 1999 Battle for Seattle, and 9/11. They then explore how Francis Fukuyama’s ‘End of History’ was replaced by a ‘Clash of Civilisations’, what other stories they could have told about the 1990s, and try to answer the question of whether the long 1990s ever ended? Links Harry Cheadle, How Seattle Police...

11.1 Battle for Seattle 11.2 the Algebra of Infinite Justice 11.3 Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) In this final episode, Chloe and Emma look at two, possible end dates for the 1990s: the 1999 Battle for Seattle, and 9/11. They then explore how Francis Fukuyama’s ‘End of History’ was replaced by a ‘Clash of Civilisations’, what other stories they could have told about the 1990s, and try to answer the question of whether the long 1990s ever ended? Links Harry Cheadle, How Seattle Police...

11.1 Battle for Seattle 11.2 the Algebra of Infinite Justice 11.3 Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) In this final episode, Chloe and Emma look at two, possible end dates for the 1990s: the 1999 Battle for Seattle, and 9/11. They then explore how Francis Fukuyama’s ‘End of History’ was replaced by a ‘Clash of Civilisations’, what other stories they could have told about the 1990s, and try to answer the question of whether the long 1990s ever ended? Links Harry Cheadle, How Seattle Police...

Episode 10: The Palace Letters It’s a historical emergency! With the release of the ‘Palace Letters’ this week historians and journalists are promising answers to decades of questions about the 1975 Dismissal of the Australian Prime Minister, Gough Whitlam. Chloe and Emma aren’t so sure. In this episode, they explain why the Palace Letters are important, how the media got the story wrong, and how historians can approach this new information. Links Jenny Hocking, ‘The big reveal: Jenny...