With Bardot's passing, the only named individuals in Billy Joel's We Didn't Start The Fire that are still alive are Bob Dylan, Chubby Checker, and Bernie Goetz. The last one standing will claim The Prize.

Current vibe: at home with Ms 17yo, last evening I’ll see her before the new year. Grazing on leftovers, grooving to 80s tunes with the kitchen disco rocking. This, dear reader, is about as good as the festive season gets 💫 [no pics]

Here's a little something I wrote about it a few years back...

The Senate’s year-long inquiry into university governance has delivered its final report — concluding there is “deep mistrust” across Australia’s higher education sector, writes Tim Moore. satpa.pe/43Wqg3j

post a perfect album from the 90s that isn't nirvana, pearl jam, soundgarden, or alice in chains (voted by one music mag 1991’s album of the year, same year Nirvana released Nevermind)

bringing this energy into 2026

Boxing Day Test proves you can have too much of a good thing even in the season of excess | Geoff Lemon

the Poms can have a little meaningless dead rubber test win, as a treat #ashes

The Cure guitarist and keyboard player Perry Bamonte has died aged 65, the legendary British dark rock band announced on Friday.

Our cat, a genius, patiently showing me, a fool, how you’re meant to do Boxing Day #caturday

Cat Clinging To Side Of Christmas Tree Admits That Was Extent Of Plan https://theonion.com/cat-clinging-to-side-of-christmas-tree-admits-that-was-1849899567/

The original Betty Boop, the first four Nancy Drew books and Greta Garbo's first talkie are among the many works from 1930 that will be free to use, share and remake starting on Jan. 1. n.pr/4scrT9d

‘you’re gonna need a bigger esky’

My earlier decision to drink a beer at the fall of every wicket on Boxing Day might just come back to bite me 🥴 #ashes

Right. Lunch break in the cricket so it’s officially time for the first beer of Boxing Day. Which is sorely needed after that first session. Cheers to all watching the test match 🍺 📺

Johnny Mullagh was the best player from the 1868 Aboriginal team that became the first sporting team from Australia to tour internationally.

As Australia and England clash in The Ashes cricket series, Australian War Memorial historians have uncovered two diaries that recount a cricket series played behind barbed wire in prisoner of war camps.

#OtD 25 Dec 1914 100,000 troops during World War I held an unofficial truce and refused to fight one another. German soldiers began singing Silent Night, and were joined by British troops who then met up and exchanged gifts. Learn more in our podcast: workingclasshistory.com/2020/05/26/e...

A very happy Boxing Day test match eve to all who celebrate 🏏 🎄

Second anniversary of our Apple TV’s spectacular attempt to understand me asking for “Hercule Poirot’s Christmas”

As Christmas comes around, many Poles will be nurturing traditions that have remained unchanged for generations, if not centuries. This selection of photographs from before WWII reveals various customs that can still often be observed today.

Thank you for your email. I’m currently caught up in end of year business. If your enquiry is urgent, you’ll find me at my usual table

Seems like it's worth posting this one again.

it is almost Christmas which means it’s Muppet Christmas Carol season and that, in turn, means it is time to revisit this delightful interview with Michael Caine, who loves everything about that movie even more than you do

Richard Warby still remembers the day his local community piled into a mini-bus bound for Long Bay Jail to pay a fine and release his father, who was locked up for the bizarre crime of baking bread on a weekend.

A century on, Battleship Potemkin’s vision of oppression, courage and collective resistance still crackles with an energy that reminds us why cinema matters.

*me, a full-time researcher and redacter of classified government records, observing the constant stream of Redactions Discourse* I never thought my day would come 🥹

I work with declassified CIA files constantly for my research and I can’t remember the last time I came across something this heavily redacted

Some of these redactions are almost like modern art

Australia launches biggest gun buyback in 30 years after Bondi beach terror attack

Australians all, let us rejoice Buddy, hold your horses It's time patriotism was exposed to market forces The love of country may not fit in with efficiency Costs exceeded benefits at Gallipoli

This is the way #Meanjin ends — not with a bang but a whimper. New FOI story from me for @crikey.com.au: www.crikey.com.au/2025/12/17/m...

‘Remember her name’: heartbreak in Bondi as huge crowd mourns Matilda

“We asked the question a little differently: did places with more gun buybacks experience a larger drop in gun homicide and suicide? The answer turned out to be a resounding yes.”

Hard to find words this morning, so will just repost this message from the Jewish Council of Australia.

I had no idea Adelaide Oval had a switchback rollercoaster for about 25 years, where the Riverbank Stand is today

4ZZZ community radio station celebrates 50 years of being Brisbane’s ‘voice against injustice and bullshit’ @4zzzradio.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/media/2025/d...

A moving reflection from Carolyn Fraser on the managerial degradation of the SLV:

Okay, as promised, here are my 25 boardgames that would make good presents for historians or the historically-inclined. - I've played them and enjoyed them - They have to have a historical theme or be related to the practice of history - They were within the first 25 I thought of...

‘Deaths, after deaths, after deaths’: Indigenous deaths in custody reach their highest level since 1980

There are lots of myths about the Australian #SocialMediaBan for under16s. One is that it will stop cyberbullying. It won't. Here's a short, blunt piece from me in @theconversation.com explaining why: theconversation.com/australias-s...

Today's blog post dives into history and looks at how the Coalition has responded to past Labor moves to expand the size of the parliament, why the attitude of the National Party changed between 1948 and 1983, and what that has to do with redistribution rules. #auspol

On a not unrelated note, happy Separation Day / Proclamation Day to all fellow Queenslanders who celebrate 🎉 Still don’t miss you, New South Wales 👋

Counterpoint: the federation needs more states, not fewer Capricornia shall rise again!

Today's blog post is one I've been working on for a while - I have drawn a map of what the electoral map could look like if the Parliament expanded to 16 senators per state and 200 seats in the House. #auspol

FACT OF THE DAY. 8 December 1980. 10:50 PM. John Lennon (aged 40) was shot 4 times in The Dakota entrance area. One bullet missed. John was rushed in a police car to Roosevelt Hospital but in spite of energetic medical efforts to revive him, he was pronounced “Dead on Arrival” (DOA) at 11:15 PM.

Taking a moment to acknowledge that today marks 50 years since Brisbane/meanjin’s original community radio station @4zzzradio.bsky.social began broadcasting from studios at UQ’s St Lucia campus. Brisbane’s thriving music scene and independent news landscape (and my youth) owe a lot to the Zeds 🖤

I wrote this piece for a global look at how we got here on the social media ban. www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

He’ll always have Brisbane: Michael Neser revels in sweet day of Ashes glory | Geoff Lemon