The only surprise is they admit it

The coverage and response from the commentariat and our political leadership to the pipe bomb attack at the Invasion Day rally was so muted, that even I didn’t find out about until the next day. But I know about it now and what it says about us a country, so I’ve written about it here for Crikey.

More great coverage for Constellations / Not Writers Week, feat. special guest star Willow (who will not be appearing) www.theguardian.com/books/2026/j...

“Governments have created a system where landlords can charge record rents for homes that trap heat, leak air and offer no protection from extreme weather.” www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

The heatwave in Australia is beyond belief. And it's caused by people making decisions to burn coal, oil and gas when there's so many other options available.

The Advertiser has the letter Malinauskas wrote to the board of Adelaide Festival. It is very hard to see how this is not a direction to remove Abdel-Fattah, despite a line saying board decisions are independent. drive.google.com/file/d/169Pi...

My grandfather handed this carving through the barbed wire at Beaune La Rolande to my father who was 14 . They would never see each other again . My grandfather was then deported to Birkenau where he died. As a secular Jew he recognised the scourge of antisemitism. That is my inheritance.

From a conversation with the mighty @roycerk2.bsky.social at the most excellent Byron Bay Writers Festival:

"I’ve been on arts organisations’ boards, and one thing I learnt really thoroughly from that experience was if you’re on the board then you back the artistic director in particular 100%" @janecaro.bsky.social www.mediaweek.com.au/the-death-of...

At 25 hours in, the final chapter of the Moby Dick marathon was read by actor Steven Weber (who I used to watch every week in WINGS). Gave me chills. This event drew 3,100 people. Hundreds stayed all 25 hours. And it’s free! Mark your calendar for January 9 & 10, 2027. 🔗 in threads for deets

I read American Canto and I think it’s wonderful. haha jk

Nice tribute to the late Chris Wallace-Crabbe by David McCooey theconversation.com/chris-wallac...

‘The people running the library seem not to see their institution as a library at all, in the sense of furthering the diffusion of knowledge or the nourishment of community.’ www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

The Ryan Lizza installments will continue until morale improves

The abrupt and indefensible closure of Meanjin makes me ask, what can be done to shore up the future of literary journals in this country? How about funding the arts to the OECD average. That would mean an extra $5b per year. With thanks to @jocaseau.bsky.social for her ever-excellent edits on this

New York City helped my mother become the artist she is today. The next generation deserves a City Hall that lifts up tomorrow's artists as well.

And that's a wrap on Australia's COP31 bid.

Curious about what's happening at #COP30? @roycerk2.bsky.social and I recapped the first week for @drilledmedia.bsky.social drilled.media/news/COP30-w...

I'm on the ground here in Belem at COP30. Here is a quick video of part of the performance by Wiradjuri man Benjamin Thomson and Germaine Paulson gave after a press conference yesterday morning by civil society groups pressing the case for Australia to host the conference next year.

How Australia’s national security chief used AI to write speeches and ‘personnel communications’ Pretty wild story from @cameronwilson.bsky.social who has done the first chatbot FOI in Australia (possibly the world??) www.crikey.com.au/2025/11/12/a...

A brilliant appointment in @jennifermills.net.au! www.asauthors.org.au/news/asa-wel...

As #COP30 officially starts today, a look at how various actors try to obstruct UN climate processes, with @cssn.org's Kari de Pryck and Eduardo Viola drilled.media/podcasts/dri...

ICYMI: Microsoft’s charge “implies a more than $12 billion quarterly loss at OpenAI, said Firoz Valliji, an analyst at Bernstein.” That “would mark one of the largest single-quarter losses for a tech company in history.” @jessefelder.bsky.social $MSFT www.wsj.com/livecoverage...

I do not regret to inform you that we are going to win

Drilled was asked to promote a new pro-nuclear book. When we found it contained a conspiracy alleging the oil industry funded environmental groups to kill the nuclear industry -- and that it didn't stack up -- it turned into an investigation. New from me in @drilledmedia.bsky.social:

Krasznahorkai has said of his work: ‘You will never go wrong anticipating doom in my books, any more than you’ll go wrong in anticipating doom in ordinary life.’ In 2012, we recorded a 94-minute conversation with Colm Tóibín for our Bookshop podcast: www.londonreviewbookshop.co.uk/podcasts-vid...

For every €1 provided through a Basic Income For Artists pilot program in Ireland, the government got €1.46 back. So it’s being made permanent. Over and over we see it. It saves public money to provide public housing. And it makes public money to provide basic income. We can’t afford to NOT do it.

This is the biggest, toughest article I’ve done about so-called “AI psychosis.” It’s the story of a man who committed a horrific crime in his youth but served his time and against all odds found love and a new life—one that completely unraveled after he started talking to Google’s Gemini chatbot.

Tonight on Spin Cycle, @roycerk2.bsky.social on the woeful climate discourse we must endure while the world burns. Plus news of the week. With @rachelwithers.bsky.social and @theshufflediary.bsky.social. Tune into @3rrrfm.bsky.social from 7pm. Then we are off to stare at walls for three weeks.

"Common decency stigmatizes people that do not participate in it—removes them from voluntary association. We indeed have to live with one another, but terms and conditions apply." me on why Ezra Klein should be ashamed / why shame is Good Actually www.bostonreview.net/articles/how...

incredible detail: ‘Even Geoffrey Hinton, a Nobel Prize-winning computer scientist known as a "Godfather of AI" recently conceded that his girlfriend had broken up with him using ChatGPT.’

As venues close and festivals cancel, our artists and arts sector is in desperate need of support. We've just published a submission with 3 key ideas to save our arts industry. • Culture passes • Book bounty • Remove tax on art prizes & grants We've got five ideas for how to pay for it too. ⤵️

Sydney book launch, Tues September 30 @ Gleebooks, in conversation with Helen Sullivan 🦋🍷 Tickos: gleebooks.com.au/event/walter...

Meanjin’s performance and sustainability were the focus of a review commissioned by MUP in February. The final recommendations of the report, which was never released publicly, did not include closing Meanjin.

From “One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This” by Omar El Akkad.

The Trump administration appears to be trying to make a global war on renewables. I spoke to @mkblyth.bsky.social for @drilledmedia.bsky.social about the strategy of carbon dominance, how this is shaping politics not just in the US but everywhere, and what that means for the future.

The meaning and value of culture cannot be captured in market terms, and the cultural loss of Meanjin will far exceed what can be measured on a balance sheet. (2/4)

Byron Writers Festival is deeply concerned by the shuttering of Meanjin, one of Australia's oldest, most revered and influential literary magazines, for 'financial' reasons. (1/4)

What exactly happened to Meanjin? And why in this manner? Some excellent observations (and questions) from @catrionamp.bsky.social over on @crikey.com.au: www.crikey.com.au/2025/09/08/m...

“Literary journals have never been a commercial enterprise, they have been a cultural enterprise ... To talk about the ‘problem’ of Meanjin as being a commercial one is to disavow the purpose of a university.” @sophtree.bsky.social

This is so deeply troubling. For a university/publisher to cite 'viability' concerns over a cultural endeavour – the leading literary publication in the country, no less – and do so one month after the long-awaited launch of Writing Australia body raises many questions.

This, from Jonathan Green, pretty much sums it up: “Meanjin’s financial demand is trivial … a few hundred thousand dollars … the cultural loss of its death is as significant as it is tragic.” www.crikey.com.au/2025/09/04/m...

“This was not a protest hijacked by the far-right, it was far-right from inception to execution.”

Listen back www.3cr.org.au/theblackblock to today’s show with Robbie Thorpe and guests #AlwaysWasAlwaysWillBe #communityradio

Statement: The Jewish Council of Australia stands with First Nations people after the cowardly Nazi attack on Camp Sovereignty. Our struggles against racism, fascism and the ongoing colonisation of this land are bound together. Always was, always will be, Aboriginal land.

Robbie Thorpe asking all to tune into 3CR's The Black Block @3crmelbourne.bsky.social this morning from 11am for updates on yesterday's horrifying neo-Nazi attack on Camp Sovereignty www.3cr.org.au

The start of the algal bloom off the South Australian coast began like a horror film and only grew worse from there. I took a direct look at the role of climate change in making this disaster in my home state for @drilledmedia.bsky.social.

They're here, everyone! This isn't like "sorry for those polluted US towns but we're built different" We have RECENT LIVING MEMORY of awful bushfires & drought restrictions, yet just 1 of these proposed data centres' usage could supply 66k Melburnians with water for a YEAR 7 of them want permits

‘There’s no room to grow’: Aunty Donna on why Australian TV comedy needs a massive shake-up