I have an exclusive in today's Observer. Four women who allege they were trafficked by Mohamed Al Fayed are filing complaints with the police watchdog over the Met's handling of their cases. observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

The heat in Paris this week has been unbearable and inescapable. rick-morton.ghost.io/canic-at-the...

oh do fuck off

well well well

This morning in Paris: a woman collapsed at the social security office from the heat. At xhildcare centres with reflective recovery blankets taped to their windows, staff are hosing down toddlers in a baking courtyard. Children everywhere as schools are closed.

It’s like some mind parasite epidemic

Tonight! Starting at 7pm! Join us + @squigglyrick.bsky.social for an online event about the employment services / welfare compliance scandal: events.humanitix.com/profit-from-...

hurts that they’re using a photo from the sunflower festival in my home for this garbage

Join us for this event tomorrow night, it's going to be awesome. Auslan interpretation and live captioning will be available. REGISTER: bit.ly/PFP-online

I've been in Paris for a year. The mind boggles. rick-morton.ghost.io/525-600-minu...

In which we reveal that the NACC Commissioner was in breach of his own Integrity Policy (a policy which it kept very, very quiet)

If you want to hear about what the media *isn't* covering, and learn about what's going on with the legal crisis the system is in, join us for an online event led by and for people in poverty, and hosted by @squigglyrick.bsky.social – someone who knows their way around a welfare scandal RSVP:

I asked the outgoing NACC Commissioner whether he accepts responsibility for keeping his own CEO in the dark about his ongoing defence work. His answer was that his CEO had no business knowing what he was doing on the side 🤯🤯🤯 They just don't think the rules apply to them!

I die for him

Having thoroughly trashed the reputation of the organisation by refusing to resign when it first became obvious that he should, Brereton has managed to do even more damage. He lasted until just after the Robodebt findings, too. Shocked I say.

FIND THEM THE DOG

we have a trainee metro driver and he’s going so hard on the brakes at each station it’s reminding me of learning to drive manual, bless him

Stone lied to a federal court and remained in his job. Now he’s leaving under a new CEO.

So here for this from the legend (Daniel)

Shocked, shocked I’m telling you

One of these politicians reportedly said ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘Gas them’ and the other believes Palestinians are human beings. Guess who the Board of Deputies invited to join a rally against antisemitism

how the fuck do sick leave entitlements count as income support

The article should be pulled entirely, it's basically an ad for the life insurance industry. It took them over five hours to edit the article to reflect the interests of CALI's members, and it still does not quote an independent source on their claims. bsky.app/profile/maxi...

neither here nor there but i keep hearing this dude’s name to the tune of 🎶Jason Derulo🎶 and that’s about the best to be said of his contributions, of which I have more to say here rick-morton.ghost.io/immoral-rear...

I've covered NDIS since it began, more than any other subject in my career. There are indeed original flaws in the way it was introduced but to punish disabled people for failures of successive governments is not good policy. Policy weaklings, indeed. www.crikey.com.au/2026/04/28/j...

I experienced something very similar (at a much smaller scale) when I shifted from Substack to Ghost. Substack is a parasite and I am still glad to be gone. Don't start anything there if you can avoid it!

This is a truly eye opening read. And I’ve been following this stuff pretty closely, so I mean that!

Best* part about doing your very overdue tax return is taking a stroll down memory lane, for instance the emergency vet bill from the time your dog was bitten by a paralysis tick and almost died (this is half the total bill lol)

Working on a piece about the NDIS announcement. Taking my time to get my thoughts in order but the one thing I know for sure is that all the realpolitik of 'financial management' now means sweet FA to people who watched existing services disappear in favour of a promise made to them. Now what?

Just saw one of those painted human statue dudes, made out to look like a coal miner, off on his way to work up the stairs to the Sacre Cœur, just walking normally before clocking on with his bucket of fake spray painted coal

A run of sun and warm days sent everyone mad, myself included. It was a collective psychosis the likes of which I've never experienced. Plus my advice on making friends in Paris: just stay still. rick-morton.ghost.io/thirst-du-so...

Judgment of the NSW Court of Appeal declaring that anti-protest laws introduced by the NSW Government in the wake of the Bondi Massacre impermissibly burden the implied freedom of political communication #auslaw #nswpol www.caselaw.nsw.gov.au/decision/19d...

I wrote about Orbán's hideous global legacy. www.crikey.com.au/2026/04/14/v...

what a cluster, in other words

why did I think this photo was of philomena cunk

even if I somehow figured out I was very, very good at rowing (perhaps by trying it once?) or even the world’s BEST rower, I would never do it on account of the men’s uniforms

albo yelling that there is NO fire in a crowded theatre, chuckling to himself at his ingenuity

I had genuinely forgotten this precise moment and it brings me JOY now

That last line 👏

Not only is it sustainable anything else is a non-starter. Jo Tarnawsky is not a journalist and clearly doesn't get that using AI 'to check and refine' her work IS A HUGE PROBLEM. The work IS the work ffs

Queensland cops are investigating an artist

👀👀👀

In which I continue to have thoughts (a lot, as it turns out) about the NACC and that porridge-brain robodebt report. The NACC is an expensive exercise in lickspittle. Also: assorted goings on. Sign up to my newsletter, if you dare! rick-morton.ghost.io/nacc-for-mis...

Whoa

So, @pennyallmanpayne.com & @antipovertycentre.org wrote to the government, urging them to stop forcing welfare recipients into these stupid activities during a fuel crisis. Government response? "Just contact your job provider" Story here: www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...

funniest thumbnail art

You can hear the fear in him. Rare.

This dude is pretty much the sole reason I moved my newsletter off Substack. He’s a ghoul.

another fucked up kennedy

Saw a guy who looked and dressed disturbingly like Sean Penn in One Battle After Another almost running through a nest of medieval churches in Bologna and quickly filming each relic / painting before running to the next one and then leaving.