"The way we are being instructed to look at these events, by our political and media establishment, is that peace, however imperfect, is better than war, and there is glory in the pragmatism that delivers it." Bullshit in three ways, suggests @marquelawyers.com.au www.crikey.com.au/2025/10/17/d...

The Shadow Finder: amazing tech from @bellingcat.com

May the force be with you! Amazing performance by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra to accompany a screening of Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

Melbourne by night—wonderful. I’d forgotten! I rarely go into the CBD at night, but had to attend a special concert.

Peter Dutton criticises Welcome to Country ceremonies that he claims are held ‘Before every work meeting’?! No, Peter Dutton, that would be ‘Acknowledgment of Country’, which is very different and takes usually about 10 seconds. How embarrassing that he doesn’t know the difference.

International students are perhaps the most unfairly attacked demographic in all of Australia. We invite them here. The reason they come is to get an education. Most are incredibly nice people who benefit our country in all sorts of ways. They massively cross-subsidise domestic students.

A tricky thing about modern society is that no one has any idea when they don’t die. Like, the number of lives saved by controlling air pollution in America is probably over 200,000 per year, but the number of people who think their life was saved by controlling air pollution is zero.

EU accused of leaving ‘devastating’ copyright loophole in AI Act

Prescient line I just saw from the Dynasty series reboot, dated way back in 2021–series 4, ep 14, Korosh to Jeff Colby: “Someone needs to shut Elon Musk up”. Any further comment from me would be superfluous.

This is what I’m trying to tell students…

What can you do? Don’t give up hope. Dictators feed off your hopelessness. Don’t quit. Dictators want you to give up. Punch back. Dictators are bullies, and bullies are cowards. Stay tethered to the truth. Dictators need you to believe their lies. Resist. Stand with others.

This: Geoffrey Robertson is spot-on in his piece about the absurdity of the inflated and wrongly escalated Kerr case.

All the way with Adam Bandt! Meanwhile, Trump gets money for jam from Australia, and he doesn’t care about the outcome because he’ll be long gone by the time any submarines eventuate. #technofeudalism in action.

Excellent—I love this! Suits are indeed stupid (even though I admit to wearing one sometimes, but no one should have to).

More horror from the US. This is no longer the amazing place where I went to school many years ago. (Literally, as also I lived in Pacific Palisades back then, and the house, street, village, school I remember so fondly were destroyed in the recent fires—speaking of ‘climate’). 😥

Look at this lovely girl! Lucy Locket is 18, but still a little thief, con-artist and main-chancer. #skycats

Finally deactivated my X account, which I’ve been meaning to do for a while—but, out of sight, out of mind. I feel better now!

We laugh till we cry

‘Mass theft’: Thousands of artists call for AI art auction to be cancelled

A great website tracking all the companies that have bent the knee to Trump and eliminated their DEI programs, and all the companies that have stood strong. www.dei.watch

Climate change adaptation will only get harder and more expensive. Me in Crikey today www.crikey.com.au/2025/02/07/q...

I am really frustrated that the press is discussing the destruction of USAID as something that has happened rather than an illegal action that will likely be undone in two weeks when courts tell the world that it was illegal.

🇳🇿 Greetings, my Kiwi friends – as promised, I have a pavlova for #WaitangiDay! www.nigella.com/recipes/lemo...

So, is literally anyone in the Albanese government going to say anything at all about what’s going on in the US? Trump has just announced he wants to ethnically cleanse Gaza, Musk has the codes to the US Treasury, they’ve deleted US AID … meanwhile Albo, Marles and Penny are still mumbling ‘AUKUS’

Canada is not the problem

Someone emailed me to tell me they didn’t like my book because it contained, and I quote: “Historical quotes from people I have never heard of (even centuries old people.)” My sincere apologies.

Broken. My @smh @theage cartoon.

Breaking News: Workers at a Whole Foods in Philadelphia voted to become the first unionized store in the grocery chain, which is owned by Amazon.

Scans for the memories: why old games magazines are a vital source of cultural history – and nostalgia

@natashamay.bsky.social this morning on Australia’s completely cooked dental system: www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

I’ve got a piece up at Crikey today on the NDIS. There’s been a concerted campaign to attack the NDIS in recent months, and it’s been massively dishonest www.crikey.com.au/2025/01/24/b...

My latest artwork, coloured pencils on board, depicting a magpie that visited our courtyard regularly in spring to grab the straw from the hanging baskets for its nest. This small artwork is for the Dandenong 9 x 5 exhibition, February 10-May 2 at the Drum Theatre.

I have updated the Academic Workload Tracker for 2025. I strongly encourage all academics to track how long you actually work, and at what tasks. It's a crucial way to counter the deliberate wage-theft of obfuscatory university workload models. docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

This is a beautiful post about the healing powers of knitting. I knit a little—started again during COVID after decades away from it. For me, my hobby of creating art has a similar calming effect.

Another thing I made this year: Real and implied birds.

Here is the last cartoon for 2024 thanks to everyone who has enjoyed the cartoons this year and also to everyone who has been nice to me I really appreciate it. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

It’s difficult to overstate just how messy higher education policy has become in Australia. Both major parties are falsely blaming the housing crisis on international students, even while international student revenues prop up the entire system. www.theage.com.au/politics/fed...

Day in the city 2/2: NGV’s Cats and Dogs exhibition has a rogue’s gallery, to which visitors can upload their pet’s photo. Lucy Locket featured today. She’s the glowering tortoiseshell, lower left. fedsquare.com/events/cats-...

Today was my 3rd annual ‘day in the city’. I pick a day during my leave, take the train to the CBD, go to an exhibition, lunch, then Christmas shopping. I chose Cats and Dogs at the National Gallery of Victoria (Melbourne), which I loved. And my cat is now famous! (see pic in next post). 1/2

I’m on leave—but I’m so busy, I wonder when I ever have time to work. Summer project 1 was to hang a painting bought in 2023 that has been propped on a shelf. Project 2 was to repurpose a frame for one of my own artworks. Both done! Project 3 is to start a new drawing for a 9x5 exhibition. WIP!

A dear late friend got a cushion made of my cat, Lucy Locket. It still fools us sometimes—and she seems to purposely use it to make us see double trouble! Here she is tonight, with her doppelgänger.