Watching Always Was Tonight in iview Tony Armstrong truth telling through humour. The closing song says it all. #auspol #RaiseTheAge

'An astonishing note' Faisal Islam tells #BBCBreakfast about a 'truly extraordinary' exchange of letters between Donald Trump and the leaders of Norway and Finland

We couldn’t possibly change the date. It’s just not something we do.

AUSTRALIA Weekly COVID Update: 16 Jan 2026 🔹WA: Up (+45%) Avg 20/day in hospital 🔹SA: Up (+25%) 🔹NSW: Up (+10%) ▫️QLD: 380 new cases. 34 in hospital (First full week of data) 🔸VIC: Next update: 23 Jan 🔸TAS: Next update: 6 Feb 🔹Aged Care: No data published today — last update was 19 Dec 2025

Territorial integrity and sovereignty are fundamental principles of international law. They are essential for Europe and for the international community as a whole.

Ken Howery (below) is Trump’s ambassador to Denmark. He: Co-founded PayPal & The Founders Fund w/ Peter Thiel & attended the Jan 2025 inauguration party at Thiel’s mansion. Thiel’s Oct 2024 Hereticon event included a talk titled: “Manifest Destiny: Greenland, Cuba, & the New American Colony” 1/

“Three women close to Epstein – Masha Bucher, her sister Victoria Drokova, and model-turned-entrepreneur Lana Pozhidaeva – built venture-capital empires in Silicon Valley while maintaining hidden financial ties to Russian oligarchs, documents obtained by Byline Times show.” 10/20/25 … 1/

Trump's thugs are going hog wild and tossing gas around in one of the busiest commercial districts in Minneapolis, just a mile or so from where I live. Complete insanity. (vid via Ford Fischer on X)

"Basic literacy, however, is not enough. We need to remember how to read again. And that’s a different prospect entirely." | Peter Biles https://thedispatch.com/article/literacy-reading-social-media-focus-solitude-attention/

Trump tells Hannity he will accept Machado’s Nobel Prize when she gives it to him. So embarrassing.

Pastor: I said to this ICE agent, 'Take me, stop harassing her.' The agent got in my face, pointed a gun at me, and said, 'Are you afraid now?' To which I said, 'I am not afraid.'

The paragraph just before this one goes particularly hard: “Vance knows. He doesn't care. Vance’s twisted and wrongheaded view of Christianity has been repudiated by two popes. His Catholicism seems to be little more than a political prop, a tool only for his career ambitions and desire for power.”

🧵 #auspol

No Adelaide Writers Week for me. I can’t in any good conscience now appear at a festival seeking to mute a very necessary public conversation … Randa Abdel-Fattah is an important voice. Here’s something I published from her on, guess what, Palestinian marginalisation. meanjin.com.au/latest/the-g...

A decade apart. Same politician. You couldn’t script a sharper reversal on free speech.

Usman Khawaja’s farewell speech went for <7mins. The press conference goes for almost and hour. It’s spectacular. I encourage anyone into cricket, politics, equality, justice, and all the things to take the time to watch it. All of it. I’m sobbing. What a legend. youtu.be/J7kfFY1X6cM?...

This @nytimes.com account of the Trump administration's chaotic & disastrous Ukraine policy is great journalism; but for European readers, it shd end any lingering idea that we cd rely on the US if Russia attacked us: no-one around Trump cares about European security. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Trump granted clemency to the biggest Medicare fraudster in history. Well, the guy was just re-arrested and charged with domestic violence. Here, via @motherjones.com, is the wild, sordid tale of how Phil Esformes made a fortune screwing taxpayers and nursing home residents.

The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command. And if all others accepted the lie, if all records told the same tale, then the lie passed into history and became truth. George Orwell, 1984

Melissa Hortman Died in a Shocking Act of Political Violence. This Is the Story of Her Life The Minnesota Speaker’s closest friends and family open up for the first time. Read @stephenrodrick.bsky.social's exclusive: www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...

Well.. as a non-golfer and golf-ignoramus, I was t going to read this.. But I did (thanks Texican) and it was totally worth it.

A sad and lovely piece co-authored by my UNSW colleague Rob Brooks on the recent passing of marine scientist and research leader Prof Emma Johnston AO. theconversation.com/emma-johnsto...

‘Since Australia…barred children under 16 from using social media, parents around the world have been debating at school drop-offs & playgrounds, & on group chats & online forums, whether similarly tough action is needed in their own countries.’ Gift article: www.nytimes.com/2025/12/27/w...

Zuckerberg settles $8 billion lawsuit over Cambridge Analytica scandal, avoids testifying www.france24.com/en/americas/... @carolecadwalla.bsky.social

Earlier this month, eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said connected cars were becoming sophisticated surveillance devices. #national #nsw

Incredibly moving interview with Sydney philosophy professor Peter Slezak, son of Holocaust survivors. “Recognising Palestine was the right thing to do - in fact it was long overdue. How on earth can that be connected to two mass murders who commit an atrocity?”

This is what I don’t understand. I don’t know where the fuck everyone is either. I honestly thought Trump and his evil stooges would have been taken out by the military by now. I’m kind of shocked actually. We’ve always claimed to be the most powerful country, but nobody has any balls. NOBODY!!

"7 in 10 Americans say they're barely able to pay their bills." www.npr.org/2025/12/18/n...

So spare me any National or Bob Katter daring to criticise anyone else for Bondi. Thanks to the ABC’s Matt Bevan, I now know better. Akram had what are called straight-pull shotguns that slid through the politicians and captured regulators from about 2018. #auspol

Being able to identify hoaxes, avoid scams & debunk propaganda is a civic skill required in today's information society. That's why curriculum for students in Finland includes media literacy lessons, aimed at safeguarding a precious resource: the truth. youtu.be/UZV9uw4usEE?...

“Australia’s race discrimination commissioner says social media companies have allowed racist & antisemitic hate to flow “unchecked & warned of an imminent outbreak of racially motivated violence “…unfortunately, racism & hate can be profitable”” www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

Prof Julianne Schultz's powerful reflection on the horrific Bondi attack and its fraught political aftermath: 'a targeted killing of Jewish Australians and an attack on the very idea of the nation as an inclusive society of fairness and tolerance' #auspol www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

We continue to mourn for the victims of the antisemitic attack in Australia. Our hearts remain with the victims, their families, and the entire Australian Jewish community whose lives are forever changed. (1/8)

www.abc.net.au/news/2019-03... reminder, this is what we are up against, if we dont want to become america "One Nation wanted millions from the NRA while planning to soften Australia's gun laws" #auspol

We are horrified and shaken in the wake of the mass shooting at a Chanukah event in Bondi this evening, which has left at least ten people dead and injured many more. This is the first night of Chanukah when we gather with loved ones and friends to light the Chanukiah. 1/4

"So, what's going on? On Friday, the bloc fined Musk's X platform 120 million euros ($210 million) for breaching the Digital Services Act, a key piece of legislation aimed at curbing harmful online content."

#auspol #defencecontract

Great culture can save lives. Literally. Amazing letter in today’s @thetimes.com about Tom Stoppard

All 88 internationally recognised constellations have European origins. But First Nations astronomy tells older, beautiful stories that contain invaluable lessons and knowledge.

The parent of an 11-year-old trans child impacted by the restriction called for the Vine Review to be publicly released. “If the Crisafulli government suppresses their own evidence review, we can only draw the logical conclusion that they fear what it says," she said” www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11...

Garry Kasparov @garrykasparov.bsky.social: Four years Ukraine is fighting for the whole Europe. NATO was built to fight only one war, not to go to Afghanistan, not to go to Syria. One war to save free Europe from Russian aggression.

🚨 NEW/EXCLUSIVE: The FBI turned over dozens of emails to me in response to my #FOIA request that provides a behind-the-scenes look at discussions involving the review and redaction of the Epstein files www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...