I have been working on this for a little while now. It’s a story that stunned me when I heard it and showed the contours of a problem that is deep and structural. Please read 🩷 www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

This is quite a story by @gingerandhoney.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

We asked a passing bird to tell us. We asked the face we see in the mirror. We cut each page into many pieces, looked for pieces containing the word ‘truth’ and fed them to a goat. The next day the goat said, ‘Probably. Or maybe not.’ We smiled and told each other: ‘Time will tell.’

Forgive me for sharing this again, but the Kyle Hudson inquest was incredibly affecting – and revealing – about the depth of harm gambling can cause to a young man with no adverse circumstances, the info betting companies have, and crucially, what they do with it. www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

Flagged for winning, inducements when losing: how betting firms watched a Melbourne man gamble $895,000 before his death at 22

22yo Kyle Hudson’s brother, Ryan, told the coroner this week that his family had no idea of the depth of Kyle’s gambling. He was the last person any of them thought was at risk of suicide. But the betting companies did know about his gambling. What did they do? www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

Today in "you're never too old to learn that thing": women aged 39 to 75 told me about how they felt getting back on a bicycle for the first time in decades – and some for the first time ever. www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

Ah, but do we not all, in some way, remain Barry Jones in the process?

Gawenda has responded to this in the comments section. So has Jeff in turn. Hoo boy.

If you'll permit me, a thread: On the weekend, former Age editor Michael Gawenda had a crack at @jeffsparrow1.bsky.social via The Australian. Jeff's supposed crime was organising and publishing an anti-genocide letter in 2023 while editor of Overland and senior lecturer in journalism at UniMelb.

They seem to have removed this embed now, which is good, but yikes

I realise this is a story about racism, but I don't think the ABC ought to be embedding social media posts by an actual neo-Nazi publication without telling readers what that publication is. This is not just any "announcement" news. www.abc.net.au/news/2026-04...

I went hunting for Australia's oldest playable musical instrument. Here's what I found.

And not a book in sight.

move slow and repair things

Good piece by @index.lamestream.com.au.ap.brid.gy about the strike at the ABC. www.lamestream.com.au/express-your... Stuff like this is almost breathtaking, if unsurprising:

#ABC #QualityNewsQualityJobs #Bendigo

The If You're Listening team is striking today, calling for fair pay and conditions, particularly for casual and fixed term staff. I'm lucky enough to have an ongoing role - many of my colleagues don't. As a result, this week's Thursday episode will be released on Friday.

I'm begging people to click through and look at this man with his cat if nothing else

I've known Wallace Kirsop since I was a child. He and my father were keen book collectors, bibliophiles. They'd met in the 1950s. A nice profile of a lovely man, with some astute observations on our public libraries @humanitiesau.bsky.social

Sometimes the origin of a story is just a passing comment, like a casual mention of the 92yo rare books expert who often just drops by the State Library with an extremely valuable book in his pocket to donate. I was very taken by this, so I found the guy. www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

The really insane thing about arts funding cuts like the ones currently devastating Victoria is how small the savings are. Jacinta Allen is presiding over generational damage to the arts scene, for a saving of around 1 day of transport infrastructure spending

One longtime Victorian arts leader tells the Guardian: “I think the wider cultural shock is [Melbourne] is going to go from the cultural capital to the least funded city in Australia.” New from me today:

I spoke to @gingerandhoney.bsky.social this week about the cuts to Victoria’s arts funding ecosystem. The cuts, the uncertainty and lack of transparency have left a cloud over what was Australia’s creative heart. The Melbourne Advantage is over. We’ll see if other cities pick up the pieces.

A look at sombre times in Melbourne’s arts scene via @gingerandhoney.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

Such a pleasure to have a major news outlet doing these sorts of stories about the much ignored west of Victoria.

Continuing my little run of stories about overlooked places in far north-western Victoria: this story was a joy to write but Stu Walmsley’s pics really make it sing www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

"QUT will become the new custodian of Meanjin, Australia's most eminent literary journal, bringing the publication back to Brisbane 80 years after it relocated to Melbourne." So um, what the fuck was all that about then, UniMelb? www.qut.edu.au/news?id=203300

If you’re even asking the question at this point, you’re on the wrong side, jfc

Vale to an amazing man and legendary, brilliant cartoonist. The cartooning community is in mourning today.

Where it all went wrong: the case against John Howard is available for pre-order and you should get it just because it is going to make Alexander Downer very mad 😇 (You can also ask for it at your library 💖) You can pre-order it at any of your faves www.readings.com.au/product/9781...

Wrote a piece for @crikey.com.au on how the media stopped discussing climate change www.crikey.com.au/2026/02/02/c...

I’ve been in north-west Victoria reporting on the heatwave, but this one is a bit more personal www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Kare 11 local news just read, in full, this statement from Michael and Susan Pretti, the parents of Alex Pretti. "Please get the truth out about our son."

You have to read this. Firsthand affidavit from one of the women who was there and recording the video. She talks about how Alex Pretti was directing traffic when she arrived. She watched him be killed in front of her. She's afraid to go home, worried she'll be arrested.

I met an absolutely lovely academic who asked whether my department back home is affected by ICE -- a question dramatizing how little info is getting out. For the record, the small example I chose: My dept has a carpool to pick up grad students of color who can't safely commute to campus alone.

🚨 “The entire Israeli regime is complicit,” and the international community bears responsibility for “enabling the systemic torture” of Palestinians in Israel’s prison system, B’Tselem charges in Living Hell, its new report, which details life for Palestinians in Israel’s “network of torture...

Ah yes, famously events with interstate attendees, book sales, coffee carts, wine bars, hundreds of employed artists, dozens of staffers, thousands of daily visitors to the city and, yes, ticketed events, generate "zero revenue". www.indailysa.com.au/news/just-in...

Pulp have shared a statement on Adelaide Festival. They told organisers they would be withdrawing, were asked to delay their announcement, and are now satisfied that they will participate in this year's Festival.

From fires to floods. Just evacuated (and safe) from flash flooding in a caravan park at Wye River. No new coal and gas. thepoint.com.au/opinions/260...

We are calling on the Federal Parliament to reject the Federal Government's new proposed legislation, the Combatting Antisemitism, Hate and Extremism Bill 2026. Read more: bit.ly/49kBGTu

Sharing my submission to the committee overseeing the rushed hate speech bill. I encourage you to submit by 4pm today(!). www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentar...

The new Adelaide Festival board has: - retracted the previous board’s statement about Randa Abdel-Fattah - rescinded her exclusion and invited her to the 2027 festival - apologised to Louise Adler - rescinded the decision to have a subcommittee review AWW operations

I gotta say, I'm not jazzed by the apology for "how the decision was represented" and "the distress this decision has caused" rather than apologising for the decision itself www.adelaidefestival.com.au/news/2025/ad...

The details in this piece from @instanterudite.bsky.social are quite something theshot.net.au/uncategorize...

In addition to supporting Palestinian writers like Randa Abdel-Fattah, and authors and artists who withdrew from AWW in solidarity, spare a thought for the "little" magazines like @overlandjournal.bsky.social, who have relentlessly stood up for Palestine and have been comprehensively defunded for it

No notes All the power and love to @cathywilcox.bsky.social

I wrote for @crikey.com.au on the Wilcox stuff www.crikey.com.au/2026/01/12/t...