Bias on ABC Radio National

History, Australian - a play about Albert Namatjira that was then on.

Sport - Ian Thorpe on his ideas

Australian memoirs - Alice Oxley, age 101

Books - First part of Mahfouz's Cairo Trilogy, recent history of Egypt in a novel; Max Barry the Machine Man; Michael Pollan, The Omnivore's Dilemma – tracing origins of his food; Tom Keneally donates his library

Children - Children's minds - Professor Alison Gopnik

Comedy - BBC half hour

Add the architects, designers, philosophers, dramatists, poets, religious thinkers, linguists, and travellers, in programs on other six days of the week, I have a pretty rich diet. World experts are happy to speak on Radio National, where they might not be available on other radio or TV channels.

The presenters and producers of the programs which give these experts to us are mostly anonymous as to their political opinions. Others do drop hints about what they think themselves. Philip Adams, former member of the Communist Party, ALP, and film promoter, likes to portray himself as agin the currents, and brings in his mates for a chinwag now and then, but the range and quality of the other speakers roped in to his show is extraordinary, from every country. Michael Duffy and Paul Comrie-Thomson are conservative, though many of their themes and interviewees are not political. Geraldine Doogue – tending to conservative. Robyn Williams is openly a climate-change scientist, but brings us every facet of modern science, and hosts a magnificent array of scientists.

As for the others – I cannot see how they vote. Although I listen daily, I cannot classify them. Only 16 of the 62 programs are political and economic. Paul Barclay? Peter Mares ? Richard Aedy? Fran Kelly ?' Ramona Koval? Norman Swan? Michael Cathcart & Michael Mackenzie, Eleanor Hall, Alan Saunders, Elizabeth Jackson, Mark Colvin, Damien Browning, Damien Carrick, Rachael Kohn, Amanda Smith, Natasha Mitchell, Annabelle Quince, Anthony Funnell, Mike Ladd, Maria Zijtlstra, David Rutledge, Florence Spurling . . .

The listeners who respond on comments pages online, or ring in on talk-backs seem a fair cross-section of the courteous listening audience. The rude people who inhabit the Internet are not given space.

'However what we found, almost with out exception recently, was that when a topic where we had real expertise was examined we all found the same thing. Most of what was stated as fact was mostly poppycock. It appeared that the problems were equally divided between presenters who did not have a clue, & where propaganda was being presented as fact.' An online commenter – who as usual did not give an example of the poppycock.

Unless people give examples of bias and poppycock, their claims are worthless.

The most dangerous thing that could happen to our airwaves would be the loss of Radio National. How much would we be able to hear of all this on other stations?