John Birmingham presents a pithy and amusing Australian perspective on the Clacton by-election bsky.app/profile/birm...

Saw a meme of GenZ baffled by how pre-internet travel worked, and realized we’ve crossed an enshittification threshold where IRL services that once seemed outdated, like travel agents, now seem luxurious: “You meet with a human expert who plans out your whole trip with you” sounds incredible now tbh

Replace the horse racing and greyhound racing industries in Australia with spider racing. It's unaustralian to object to this

Hello. I am posting the Taskmaster Australia Season 6 cast reveal video for, probably, obvious reasons. it will go to air next year youtu.be/dCG-wpR6_dY?...

You could definitely give these people a Trojan Horse and they’d be like “wow a big horse thank you” www.nytimes.com/2026/07/09/u...

the internet is about to look very different, and it’s happening a lot faster than folks outside media think

Today it got so absurdly awful, Policer Scotland got the tenants to agree to let some of the crowd INTO THEIR HOMES to see they are not in fact a ISIS operation of groomer rapists hell bent on molesting white women and girls in South Glasgow. Yes, the cops showed the violent racist mob around.

A great interview. There are some stars you'd want to go down the pub with just for the craic.

In 2024, I was at the Hay Festival, and so was Ukrainian author and public intellectual Andrei Kurkov, author of Death and the Penguin. Also appearing at the festival was Bonnie Tyler. They were in the green room at the same time, so the event photographer snapped a picture of the pair of them.

Alexis Petridis summing up everything that's magnificent about Total Eclipse of the Heart. www.theguardian.com/music/2026/j...

Don´t know why, but we have a giant rhino in our church St. Moritz, Halle Saale. 🤔😇

Having failed to interest any papers in this story, I resorted to writing a letter to The Times, like in olden times. So when all that's left to watch is NASCAR racing sponsored by Cheetos, I can at least say I tried. #ITV #Sky #Comcast

Science Alert: "Scientists Discover a Potential Driver of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Hiding Deep in The Brain" 'Researchers in Australia have now found that the brain scans of CFS/ME patients also show signs of reduced glymphatic function.' www.sciencealert.com/scientists-d...

Neil the Seal has made "Scientific American". www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-...

So when the coal tits decide they want more sunflower seeds, they send in their leader to sort out supply issues.

Is 'tribber' really the word you wanted to use there? :D

This is interesting. I kinda understand the desire to believe that you're really living in 2006 rather than 2026, Telstra firmware, I really do. #telstra

“I tried to prove that ABC jerk wrong about EVs. It didn’t go to plan…” by @birmo.bsky.social www.crikey.com.au/2026/07/08/e...

Glad you asked!!! Look for The Book of Notable Sandwiches: A Lunchtime History of the World next summer!!!

Okay I tried the beef lemonade

NOCK LOOSE has been shortlisted for the Western Australian Premier's Book Awards reminder: i'm still looking for an agent / home for my 4 other (kinda better!) books

Losing my mind at this Murder, She Wrote promo

Two papers pin the introduction of smallpox on British colonists and suggest that Australia held far more people than previously believed. Learn more: https://scim.ag/3R2lLmf

Tomorrow’s World is 61 years old today, so it’s the perfect opportunity to show one of the most terrifying book covers of all time.

I just sold my first print on demand t-shirt to a stranger in North America! And it was one of these! I now have a whole range of print on demand t-shirts that you can order from my shop to be printed and delivered pretty much anywhere in the world! www.leoboyd.com/product-cate... #godzilla #art

Trump's Fete Worse Than Death, and philistines vs art. open.substack.com/pub/joelmorr...

Still, at least when this World Cup is over nobody is going to remember how this attempt to use political pressure for sporting gain catastrophically backfired, what with football fans having legendarily short memories and limited capacity for malice.

At the end of the term I asked my college creative wriing students to submit anonymous thoughts on AI. No real surprises: Mood ranges from resignation to despair, capitulation from embittered erosion of standards to total, feelings of betrayal from deep to furious. 1/

Because you need to gaze upon a newborn whitecoat harp seal. 🤭🥰

great. now im gonna have intrusive 3am thoughts about dying in a crabalanche

IT'S UP! Here's the article about the rain-soaked disaster that was July 4th in Washington, including all the videos the Internet wouldn't let me upload and some stories that didn't make the thread. Please check it out if you would like to!

My interview: “I came to this country as an infant and became a U.S. citizen,” Roswell Encina said. “So sitting there, on the Fourth of July, I couldn’t help but think about the promise of America and the work still required to protect it.” www.advocate.com/news/people/...

My mother (unburdened by the limitations of conventional thinking) was worried the cat might be too hot so she gave him a slice of bread from the freezer and we shared a private, knowing look

This is wonderful... 2 languages = brains appear 6 years younger 3 languages = 7 years 4 languages = 13 years Plus the the many cultural & psychological benefits! I might start studying a 4th soon. Maybe... Irish? www.theguardian.com/education/20...

Incredibly on-brand Australian politics story.

Many reasons why this is a dubious take, but the chief among them is that, despite what the Mexican Food Understander here seems to think, Mexicans do indeed eat black/ blood pudding. In fact, they’ll put them in a taco. A++ concept, would definitely order mexicanfoodmemories.co.uk/2017/01/20/t...

Australia's Space agency says beach objects likely fuel pressure vessels from launch vehicle

Quick @brisbane28.org get someone local there to cover this amazing publicity generator!

Maga taking shelter in the National Museum of African-American History And Culture!

Being from the UK and a member of the late part of Generation X means having to live with the fact that every photo from your childhood resembles a still from a cultishly acclaimed but commercially disappointing folk horror film. ESPECIALLY IF THEY ACTUALLY ARE: www.tom-cox.com/some-photos-...

Being literally the actual real-life white guy who made it so nobody can afford a home and trying to blame it on immigrants is insane.

this contains one of the wildest paragraphs I’ve ever written www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/...

Saw this ad for a goat on Facebook. It’s perhaps the greatest advert I’ve ever read. It’s just superb.

I have such an expertly curated algorithm that I'm seeing posts from Mexican street food restaurants in the US and this is how they're advertising the game tomorrow night. "Good vibes"

This an official Vatican photograph of Leo at Lampedusa, Italy - one of the world’s heaviest migrant sites - where he went this morning to pray for migrants who died at sea. This is after turning down the offer to come to the United States.

Hi hello I was going to do a full thread on the Great American State Fair later but it seems I'm starting early: why in the fuck are PragerU, Patriot Academy, and other far right groups the ENTIRETY of the Department of Education booth

NYT reporting hundreds of people are refusing Secret Service orders to leave, one is blaming liberals in the weather service

THAT WOULD BE AN ECUMENICAL MATTER.

I was trying to make this case to folks the other night. What a gift to see every team with a diasporic rooting section.

I am THRILLED to announce that BBC Radio 3 have let me make 5 whole episodes w the incredibly talented producer Becky on prehistoric instruments. They are ‘sound illustrated’ contemplations, so they are wild and personal as well as archaeological. And I get to open with my amazing uncle singing :)