A very Australian development is getting a fairly good op-ed raising awareness about rising insurance premiums from "extreme weather" but no mention of climate change or the underlying cause of this crisis.

Moreover, even in times of lawlessness, or periods where the ability to enforce law is strained, being able to object to an action and having a baseline on which it is possible to judge it when things stabilise is important. At the Nuremberg trials, the ability to hold Nazi war criminals...

to account when there was no written law outlawing their actions was partly the existence of people, even peers, who objected or set a standard against which their actions could be measured. Law and the exercise of law is important even in times of apparent lawlessness.

‘Terrible things are happening outside… Families are torn apart; men, women and children are separated. Children come home from school to find that their parents have disappeared. Women return… to find their families gone.’ Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will skip the signing of US President Donald Trump’s “Board of Peace” in Davos after Switzerland confirmed it would enforce the ICC arrest warrant over war crimes in Gaza.

Apparently we have to destroy the arts to save them. Though as we all know by now after more than a decade of hostile arts policy, what "we" want is a culture with no memory, no freedom and no conscience, endless reruns of a starveling so-called western canon, background noise for the suits

This is just the start of the backlash

Just want to share with my American friends how the Australians respond to a shooting tragedy. Action, rather than thoughts and prayers.

The actor and director Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele, have died. The police are investigating what they described as an apparent homicide at the Reiners’ home. Follow live updates. www.nytimes.com/live/2025/12...

The definitive stories of some of the astonishing travesties at the State Library of Victoria in recent years, from its former Chief Curator. I witnessed some of it first hand. Rally 12.30 today at the Library. www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/comment/topi...

Just gunna repost this everyday until the rally to save the State Library of Victoria. Do try to come. I will draw you a Hermoine the Modern Girl if you ask me nicely at the rally. For ID purposes, this is a photo of me:

Every day this government is more of a disappointment thepoint.com.au/opinions/251...

Listening to @amyremeikis.bsky.social talk to @seankelly.bsky.social about how Albanese pretty much prevents cabinet ministers from doing anything he doesn’t want…. And pondering how long they will allow that to keep happening

Royce Kurmelovs is one of our best indie journalists. He is on the ground in Belem reporting on Australia’s reasonably pathetic efforts at COP reneweconomy.com.au/after-a-delu...

In August a workshop for @byronwritersfestival couldn’t go ahead. We’re trying again this Saturday and spots still available. Great advice for prepping your submission over summer! shorturl.at/CylkH #amwriting

The Australian Government makes more money from HECS repayments than it does from the PRRT. ‘Norway taxes its fossil fuel industry and gives their kids free higher education… we subsidise our fossil fuel industry and we charge our kids a fortune to go to uni.’ @richarddenniss.bsky.social #auspol

Google Books. It's still going on. Still new libraries working on it. 📚 (Tennessee) newsonline.library.vanderbilt.edu/2025/09/2600...

The numbers speak volumes. www.killyourdarlings.com.au/article/the-...

And in other good news, Slick has made the long list at The Nibs:

What’s all that noise? 💥🎧 Ah, I know: it’s the whirring of printers and riffling of pages for a final edit before submitting when our window reopens on 15 August. Got to website, check requirements & use Query portal. Looking forward to some quality reading! 📚📖

WTF? I was quoted in this story but I have never spoken to the reporter nor would I have said those things. Is everything just generated by LLMs these days? cosmosmagazine.com/earth/oceans...

Hi, I worked at USAID. 👋 Airdrops are universally acknowledged as probably the worst and least efficient way to get aid to people. You airdrop when you a) want to want to so something but can’t, or b) you don’t want to do anything but want to look like you are.

Are you working on a manuscript and unsure what comes next?🤔 Live around Byron? Maybe come to my workshop, a fortnight away today, at #ByronBayWritersFestival for guidance on editing and pitching to agents and publishers. #amwriting

EPSTEIN FILES

In all serious, this moment is more profound than the invasion of Iraq. What we appear to be watching is the end of a commitment by these nations, even token, to the "rules based international order" and an embrace of "might makes right" in defence of an illegal act of aggression.

Slick has been given a reprint --now with a fancy sticker on the cover. If you want to understand Why We Are Like This on climate change, or read about things like that one time the oil and gas industry spied on the son of a prime minister, and you haven't picked up a copy, now's your chance!

Aviva Tuffield is my publisher. She commissioned both Just Money and Slick. She is a mensch. I stand by her without reservation or qualification.

Good news, @drilledmedia.bsky.social now has a BlueSky account. Act accordingly.

Just a reminder that you still have two days to help Slick do better than Peter Dutton at this recent federal election and win the People's Choice category at the NSW Literary awards. Go vote - and then get all your friends to vote.

Just a reminder to vote early, vote often - including the People's Choice category at the NSW Literary Awards.

Oh baby you haven’t even touched yr deformed dinner

Happy publication day to the most charming family saga of the year! @sarahmclutton @allenandunwin 👏👏🫶🏼

Introducing The 113th Assistant Librarian: Lost in a Book! It's being released on 30 September 2025, and pre-orders are available now! (link in bio). The stunning artwork is by Federica Frenna and the design is by unparalleled Kristy Lund-White and I can't wait to have it in my hands!

Thirty-eight of 43 experts cut last month from the boards that review the science and research that happens in laboratories at the National Institutes of Health are female, Black or Hispanic, according to an analysis by the chairs of a dozen of the boards.

Pretty cool how generative AI can be bad for the environment, put people out of work, utilize plagiarism, and be totally worthless creatively and uninteresting all at the same time.

A quick reminder that our submissions window is closing on 30 April for some months. Fortify yourself with hot cross buns over Easter to get your mss to us in time, but do please follow the guidelines: melanieostell.com.au/contact 🤞

He literally tweeted: This is a great time to BUY! Just hours ago. And then he paused tariffs. He’s literally committing crimes in front of the entire world. 😳

Happy publication day to #BARRENCAPE Brilliant review just in: rb.gy/xtaaj8

I spoke with Daniel Browning at RN about Meta’s theft of authors’ work to train its AI and the implications/ next steps for Australian authors. We need AI legislation to protect creators! @asauthors.bsky.social www.abc.net.au/listen/progr...

Ossoff: He’s so consumed by his efforts to secure revenge, crush his enemies, and conquer Greenland that he’s doing nothing for the people who elected him. His entire domestic agenda is tax breaks for the wealthy, rounding up immigrants, revenge, and centralizing as much power as he can..

If you find your work has been included in this dataset please complete our form below! We need this information to demonstrate the scale of the impact upon creators and to advocate to Government on creators' behalves. docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

❗️Authors and illustrators: have your books been used to train AI? Today the Atlantic published a search tool allowing authors to search for their books in the LibGen dataset, which has been used to train Meta's AI system. Search here: www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...

If you have 10 mins and want to watch real Edwardian women talk about their experiences of being teenagers at the turn of the century, then this is for you. youtu.be/pv6V1yHvJyo?...

really good sign when the photographs of powerless people take on an undifferentiated quality, of bodies become repetitions of organic forms and not individuals.

Writing about university governance bits and bobs this week - fun! - and have plenty to get on with but am reminded of how deeply cooked this sector is and have an ongoing interest in covering it properly. Especially re: institutional governance. Tips etc: [email protected]

Well that’s a headline I did not except to see. Ever.

We need to remember what we’re capable of. Every day let your mind be blown by something you do, read, listen to, or create. That is one way we get through this—to remain open to everything that is wondrous in the world. www.marytrump.org/p/what-it-co...

Should you have any thoughts about the Creative Australia board's recent decision: [email protected]

Remembering Grant McLennan on his birthday. Here's a glorious Go-Betweens performance filmed for Australian TV in 1987. It boasts their best line-up and a short-but-sweet set including Cattle and Cane, Bye Bye Pride, Right Here, Cut It Out, Spring Rain... youtu.be/4ALbPfCFfkQ