Calls and text messages have flooded me in the last 72 hours from friends and colleagues in Sierra Leone and elsewhere: Are my meds going to be cut off? Am I going to die? I don't know what to tell them. I don't know what to tell anyone. Hope is my whole jam, but I feel very distant from it.

I'm so sick of people who lack empathy. The "I'm not going through it so it's not real" vibe was big in 2024 and I don't think it's going to get much better this year.

I have never seen anyone flip as quickly as Robert F. Kennedy did on the question of whether a woman has the right to control her own body.

Reckon there might be a few people from UK, Canada, South Africa, US and elsewhere who might like this. The huge problem may be the timezone. www.abc.net.au/news/2025-01...

Frangipani flowers are one of my favorites in my garden, they smell divine. Harry as usual has to be in the picture. #garden #australia #dogsofbluesky

Waiting on people to get back to me, but in case there’s any climate protesters in Australia happy to speak to me for a story please let me know (ideally looking for people who have been arrested in non-violent protests). Ta #climate #Australia #journorequest

Everyone interested in campaigning and social change should know that gun organiser @sharna.bsky.social is here. Most of the time great organising work isn’t publicly seen, and that’s deliberate, and it works. X

"I remember going to see a play at the Royal Court in which a character fell into homelessness and thinking: 'I’m one screw up away from this, this slipping off the face of the earth.'" hannahbetts.substack.com/p/loving-thy...

I know I am a natural helper, and I know I'm not the only one to feel like this, but do get sick of doing things for other people at times and then when you need something back they don't do the same.

What a toxic site X is. I went back on to DM someone about something for work and I noticed I had a reply to a homophobe from something I posted in December 2023. Such desperados 🤣

Every morning we wake up to more horror – but worse than that, more people who are seemingly indifferent to it. Compassion burnout is real, but it is also what power wants. Empathy keeps us human and yes, it is heavy, but it's a burden worth holding ♥️

Just about sums it up

Withdrawing US funding from the World Health Organization is a potential disaster for public health worldwide, due to the impact it will have on the important work the WHO does. Preventing the CDC from even *talking* with WHO personnel is a step much farther toward undermining global health & safety

Thank god for a cooler day, although have loved the sunshine.

Got a few free Substack subscriptions to give away atm after I subscribed to some newsletters (not mine! Mostly women writers and journos from UK) so if any one wants me to send them one, particularly any freelancers, please let me know. Good for a month.

Best of 2024: Reflections on Aroona Dam near Leigh Creek.

Waiting on people to get back to me, but in case there’s any climate protesters in Australia happy to speak to me for a story please let me know (ideally looking for people who have been arrested in non-violent protests). Ta #climate #Australia #journorequest

Wow. Caroline Kennedy breaks her silence on RFK Jr in a message to Senators: “We grew up together. It’s no surprise that he keeps birds of prey as pets because Bobby himself is a predator. He enjoyed showing off by putting baby chickens & mice in a blender to feed to his hawks.”

The Government’s own shocking data shows a staggering 97% of new patients who try to get an NHS dental appointment fail to get one We all need to back the @thebda.bsky.social in its call for urgent action to save NHS dentistry youtu.be/UtqAtGAnuC0?...

I know someone will @ me about this, but sick of stuff like this by JSO now (although not as bad as four days of highway disruption). www.theguardian.com/environment/...

On the topic of dentists in Oz, the UK and elsewhere, here's something interesting I learnt and got shown when I recently went on the #Katoomba Story Walking Tour (which btw I highly recommend): it's an 1886 ad feature. Apparently the dentist used to do monthly sessions here. #Australia

Days are getting longer! Lake Ontario,Toronto.

Just a quick update from my publishers today for those having problems buying the book version of #Gunnawah Apparently the 2nd print run has also sold out They're doing another print run as we speak & it should be back in all good bookstores and online in about a week'ish. Thx for your patience🙏🏽

Sounds like a plan

I love flowers

True, although am also happy to not have to pull out my own teeth or stand in a queue of hundreds where the cops are called for a dentist like the Brits. (Maybe that's a warning sign for us and of course things could always be better). www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

OMG it’s a sizzler. The pool later or else 🌅

Bluesky ❤️☀️

That surreal feeling when an Australian of the Year wears your website's merch to meet the Prime Minister

“Terrible things are happening outside. Poor helpless people are being dragged out of their homes. Families are torn apart. Men, women, and children are separated. Children come home from school to find that their parents have disappeared.” Diary of Anne Frank January 13, 1943

Bundjalung country. The beautiful NSW north coast.

Posted a link to a news story on Sudan and someone said what about Palestine? Gotta love it. Please don't let more of these people come over here from X.

The horror continues in eastern Congo — yes, mineral-rich eastern Congo. Rwanda-backed M23 fighters have taken Goma, a city of a million people. Water & power cut off. Thousands are fleeing. Over a dozen UN peacekeepers killed. Those minerals? Some are probably in the phone you're holding.

This is great to know about. (Incidentally I just signed up for the paid newsletter the other week). freelancewritingjobs.substack.com/p/the-freela...

"Is it time to start using the word “addiction” to describe our phone-induced solitude? It might help nudge us in the direction of treating the problem." www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

@craig-805.bsky.social your photography is lovely. Here is a sunset shot from the west coast 🇨🇦

This is so scary and England is one of the countries where the trend is particularly concerning (along with NZ, Chile and Puerto Rico). www.theguardian.com/science/2025...