Edward Carr, Foreign editor of The Economist takes us through his brilliant special report on US foreign policy. He argues that inspite of a dreadful decade abroad, Americans are unduly pessimistic about their place in the world. The rise of China as a formidable player in world affairs is undisputed, but its economic heft does not yet qualify it to be a geopolitical influence that America wields. In this podcast he talks about some of important keywords that have bothered US in the last few months. Syria, spying, counter insurgency and what are some of the alternatives, if any, to an American dominated international world order. And he does incredibly well in the rapid fire round, right at the end, which is reserved for our friends at The Economist.

The Point Blank Show

A conversation with Edward Carr, Foreign editor of The Economist on US foreign policy

In this podcast, Jon Fasman of The Economist talks about his on ground experience of covering the US presidential elections. Over the past few months Jon travelled across the country, attended rallies, conducted interviews, met strangers, filed articles, wrote online, did live blogging, recorded podcasts and met crazy deadlines. To report the greatest political event on the planet, a little bit of insomnia came in handy too. Given a chance, would he do it again. In a heartbeat, he says.

Jon Fasman of The Economist on his experience of covering the US presidential elections

Paul Markillie, the Innovation Editor at The Economist joins us to talk about the magical world of digital manufacturing, the subject of his special report which was published earlier this year. In this 20 minute chat Paul shares his experiences which took him to some interesting places across the world. This third revolution has already taken off. For instance, in 2008 at the Beijing Olympics, 23 of the 25 world records in swimming were broken not just because the players trained hard, but they wore body suits which mimicked shark skin making them more hydro-dynamic. It had a lot to do with the new-age manufacturing process which has sprung up new kinds of materials. They help make groundbreaking products cheaply. Although the concept of 3D printing is relatively new, Paul reckons that we may soon see service engineers not having to scratch their heads for that elusive spare part which can fix your washing machine. They could just print that piece of plastic or metal to the exact specifications and get your machine up and running in a jiffy. From making high end jewellery to popping small food filaments for icing your cake, digital manufacturing is an exciting new domain.

A Conversation with Paul Markillie of The Economist on Digital Manufacturing

The Economists deputy news editor, Simon Wright is so good at dismembering jargons that you might even start to care about knowing a little something about natural gas, the subject of his special report that was published this month. In this podcast, Simon gives us a crash course in Shale gas and explains why is it a big deal that America has started to mine more of it in the last few years. He reckons that it may still take a while for developing countries to get their hands on it, but this discovery could lead to some interesting political repercussions in world economy.

A Conversation with Simon Wright of The Economist on Natural Gas

Jon Fasman knows what it takes to be a New York Times best selling author. His book, Geographer's Library published in 2005 has been released into more than a dozen languages and his more recent novel, The Unpossessed City is a major hit. At The Economist, he covers a diverse range of subjects like food, music, chopsticks, politics, Tiger Woods, Dominique Strauss Kahn, global warming and a lot more. In this podcast, talks about American politics, drugs and Atlanta. Incidentally, Jon was working in a building close to the twin towers on September 11, 2001 and he shares his thoughts about where USA stands today, in the midst of very high unemployment rates and terror strikes. For the ones interested to know more about drugs, skip to the 12th minute to hear this father of two young kids having a refreshingly liberal attitude towards solving the problem of drug abuse which plagues not just America, but many other nations.

A Conversation with Jon Fasman of The Economist on American Economy, Drugs and Journalism

Philip Coggan, the Capital Markets Editor of The Economist joins us to talk about his special report on Pensions. Things have changed quite a bit since the first pension scheme was introduced by Otto Von Bismarck back in the 19th century. As people in developed countries are living longer, the pressure on the working population is mounting steadily to support the greying economies. In this podcast, Philip suggests different ways to tackle this problem by citing examples of governments which are doing it right and a few others which aren't.

Philip Coggan on his Special Report on Pensions

Robert Lane Greene, the International Correspondent of The Economist has released his first book titled, You Are What You Speak. In this podcast, Lane clearly distinguishes the sticklers from the linguists. While he supports those who strive to write and talk by making use of correct grammar, he is against the mindless infatuation with the subject. He also tells us a bit about the process of writing his book while juggling between a day job and learning new languages while at it.

Lane Greene of The Economist on his book, You are What You Speak

In our film industry, what Amitabh Bachchan or Dilip Kumar is to acting, Nitin Chandrakant Desai is to art direction. The winner of four national awards and many successful movies such as Lagaan, Devdas, Jodha Akbar, Hum Dil Dechuke Sanam, Munnabhai, etc talks about his craft and the challenges of his everyday job. He takes us through his experiece of working with directors like Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Sanjay Leela Bhansai, Danny Boyle and Ashutosh Gowarikar. His job demands him to think on his feet and deliver results in open sets where temperature can soar up to 45 degrees.This podcast charts the journey of the man who once lived in a 10X10 Worli chawl and today is Indias most respected Art Director who still maintains the modesty of a newcomer.

Point Blank with Nitin Chandrakant Desai

Kenneth Cukier is Japan Business and Finance correspondent of The Economist, but in the last couple of weeks, Kenn has stared at one of the most grueling assignments of his career. He is covering Japans largest earthquake, visiting disaster zones and making sense of the mayhem. In this podcast, Kenneth who is at ground zero salutes the spirit of the Japanese who are ploughing through the crisis with aplomb. He does not mince words while criticizing the Tokyo Electric Power Company which is at the core of the nuclear reactor crisis.

Kenneth Cukier from The Economist on the Japan crisis from Ground Zero

Prof Kanu Doshi and his quintessential humour join us by branding this years Union budget as an Accountants budget which is neither beneficial for the khaas aadmi nor the aam aadmi. Kanu bhai takes us through the different benefits that the common man can enjoy until the Direct Tax Code is introduced in the coming year. This podcast decodes jargons like AMT, LLP, DDT and many more. The Finance Minister lay special thrust on infrastructure by alloting more than Rs. 2000 crore for development of roadways, etc. Inviting foreign companies to invest in the infrastructure bonds by increasing the ceiling limit from 5 billion USD to 25 billion USD is one of the highlights of this year's budget and Kanu bhai tells us why.

Prof Kanu Doshi on the Union Budget 2011

Its hard to believe that a fearless competitor who would charge at lightning speed towards his opponents to tackle a ball which can sometimes fly at 150 miles per hour can be so modest and down to earth with his words. Viren Rasquinha talks about his experience as Indian hockey team captain, the challenges plaguing Indian hockey and the demands of playing an international sport. As a merit ranker in school and an international level sportsman, Viren had the pick of jobs at the Indian School of Business, where he was pursuing his MBA. Instead, he chose to roll up his sleeves and get down to resolving the issues challenging Indian sports players by joining Olympic Gold Quest as COO. Olympic Gold Quest is an organization founded by Geet Seethi and Prakash Padukone that supports top-notch Indian players with the most potential of winning an Olympic Gold medal for India. 1 billion people in India and only 1 individual Olympic gold - Olympic Gold Quest aims to change this. Support Olympic Gold Quest at http://www.olympicgoldquest.in

Point Blank with Viren Rasquinha

It was a big surprise when I found out that the lyricist for 3 Idiots and Lage Raho Munnbhai was the same person. Now, in the list of the above two movies, add Parineeta, Khoya Khoya Chand, Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi and the reason to have Swanand Kirkire on Point Blank is obvious. His abilities are not restricted to song writing. He has been an Assistant director, dialogue writer, music director, and an accomplished singer (think Baanwara Mann). I got a chance to spend some time and record a very candid podcast with Swanand at a farm house. That will explain the occasional buffalo moos, crows cawing and a train passing by.

Point Blank with Swanand Kirkire

In this podcast, Rajdeep Sardesai takes us back to his school days and talks passionately about his cricket, table tennis and quizzing before drifting into journalism after studying Law at Oxford University. His dad, Dilip Sardesai, comes to life in the conversation when Rajdeep talks fondly about the values that he grew up on. Rajdeep started his career at a time when Television was yet to make its debut and in his words, Journalism was not as glamourous as it is today. There was a lot of drudgery involved. Rajdeep reasons out why the quality of modern journalism has been in decadence. Yet he is hopeful that this only presents an opportunity for some interesting stories to be told. He believes that news channels will soon be judged on their credibility and integrity and not on how much noise they can make. He also uses strong words against the Quick Fix journalism that Indian media indulges in under the veil of investigative journalism. Like an experienced test match opening batsman, Rajdeep Sardesai plays it safe in the V until the 9th minute and then cuts lose without mincing words in the slog overs right until the last minute.

Point Blank with Rajdeep Sardesai

The Point Blank Show is an excuse to spend sometime with people having immense insights and significant achievements. The guests on the show range from entrepreneurs, artists, business leaders, writer, sports personality etc. Each show attempts to bring out insights and often making us think about things that aren't obvious.

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The Point Blank Show

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