The Nakba did not end in 1948: how the bet on erasing Palestinian memory failed
Refaat Ibrahim

The Nakba did not end in 1948: how the bet on erasing Palestinian memory failed

The Nakba is not simply an historical event but an ongoing system of displacement, erasure and resistance that continues to shape Palestinian identity and political life generations later.

How credible is the Liberal’s economic strategy?
Michael Keating

How credible is the Liberal’s economic strategy?

Angus Taylor’s budget reply speech may appeal to One Nation supporters, but it doesn’t provide credible answers to the nation’s problems.

A small but definite step for a timid prime minister, a tiny jump for Labor
Jack Waterford

A small but definite step for a timid prime minister, a tiny jump for Labor

The 2026 Budget marks a rare moment where Labor showed some willingness to confront inequality and tax reform, but the government still shrank from the scale of change the moment demanded.


WHO declares Ebola outbreak in Congo and Uganda a global health emergency
Al Jazeera Staff

WHO declares Ebola outbreak in Congo and Uganda a global health emergency

The World Health Organization has declared the latest Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda a global health emergency after the virus spread across borders and killed nearly 90 people.

Trump’s aid cuts are pushing more Americans to food banks
Brett Wilkins

Trump’s aid cuts are pushing more Americans to food banks

Food banks across the United States are reporting surging demand as cuts to food assistance, rising prices and inflation leave millions of vulnerable Americans struggling to afford groceries.

India is no longer resisting globalisation – it is shaping it
Shashi Tharoor

India is no longer resisting globalisation – it is shaping it

India has shifted from decades of economic protectionism to an outward-looking strategy built on trade, investment and global integration, transforming its role in the world economy.

A man-made comet is striking the Earth
Julian Cribb

A man-made comet is striking the Earth

From climate change and extinction to groundwater depletion and chemical pollution, human activity is now transforming the Earth on a geological scale with potentially catastrophic consequences for civilisation and life itself.


John Menadue

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Pearls and Irritations leads the way in raising and analysing vital issues often neglected in mainstream media. Your contribution supports our independence and quality commentary on matters importance to Australia and our region.

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The weaponisation of antisemitism by the Zionist lobby hides the genocide
John Menadue

The weaponisation of antisemitism by the Zionist lobby hides the genocide

In a personal submission to the Antisemitism Royal Commission, P&I founder John Menadue argues that it is impossible to separate increasing rates of antisemitism from the way Israel has conducted its genocide in Gaza.

Support for impeaching Trump is now firmly mainstream
Noel Turnbull

Support for impeaching Trump is now firmly mainstream

Polling suggests support for impeaching Donald Trump has returned to levels seen during Watergate and Trump’s first presidency, even as the US political system still makes removal from office highly unlikely.

What is a healthy forest?
David Lindenmayer

What is a healthy forest?

Many proposals to create so-called 'healthy forests' through thinning and repeated burning risk further damaging Australian ecosystems already degraded by logging, clearing and over-management.

The US and Iran are trapped in a dangerous cycle of escalation
Connie Peck

The US and Iran are trapped in a dangerous cycle of escalation

The war between the US and Iran is increasingly being driven by the self-reinforcing dynamics of escalation, retaliation and mistrust that make de-escalation politically and strategically difficult.

Labor has backed away from meaningful gambling reform
Charles Livingstone

Labor has backed away from meaningful gambling reform

The government’s long-awaited response to the Murphy inquiry into online wagering falls short of the reforms needed to reduce gambling harm, particularly among young Australians.

New Zealand PM ignores a terrorist attack on his own citizens
Eugene Doyle

New Zealand PM ignores a terrorist attack on his own citizens

The Israeli assault on the Gaza-bound Global Sumud flotilla has sparked accusations that New Zealand’s government abandoned its own citizens and failed its most basic obligations under international law.

The West is no innocent in international politics
Scott Burchill

The West is no innocent in international politics

Western powers have repeatedly backed or empowered religious extremists when it suited strategic interests, while undermining secular nationalist movements across the Middle East and Central Asia.

America’s suicide pact
Chris Hedges

America’s suicide pact

Donald Trump is not an aberration but the culmination of decades of political decay, elite corruption, corporate power and democratic collapse within the United States.

The battle for human attention is becoming a battle for democracy
Jacques Attali

Reclaiming Democracy

The battle for human attention is becoming a battle for democracy

After US courts found Meta and YouTube liable for deliberately addicting young users, attention is increasingly being recognised not as a private commodity, but as a strategic resource shaping democracy, public debate and social stability.

Renewables have won the electricity battle but not the climate war
Ralph Evans

Renewables have won the electricity battle but not the climate war

Renewable electricity is taking over. But this does not mean the end of global warming. We may need a shock to take the climate problem seriously and strive for negative greenhouse gas emissions.

Siri Hustvedt’s Ghost Stories will make you cry
Julienne van Loon

Siri Hustvedt’s Ghost Stories will make you cry

Siri Hustvedt’s memoir 'Ghost Stories' chronicles the illness and death of her husband Paul Auster while exploring grief, memory, selfhood and the emotional architecture of long relationships.

Indonesia’s fear of the ‘J word’ reveals a deeper intolerance
Duncan Graham

Indonesia’s fear of the ‘J word’ reveals a deeper intolerance

Indonesia’s response to the Bondi shootings and the royal commission hearings exposed a deeper unease – one where fear, politics and prejudice still shape how Judaism and Israel are discussed in public life.

The second-last budget reply – delivered by a Liberal MP
Kos Samaras

The second-last budget reply – delivered by a Liberal MP

The Coalition’s plan to strip permanent residents of access to welfare payments risks detonating support across Australia’s outer-suburban migrant households, where families consisting of citizens and non-citizens live, work and vote together.

Cannes and the courts deliver a sharp rebuke to political silencing – Message from the Editor
Catriona Jackson

Cannes and the courts deliver a sharp rebuke to political silencing – Message from the Editor

Two seemingly unconnected things happened this week, one at the Cannes film festival on the French Riviera, the other in the US District Court in Washington. The events concerned two women – Susan Sarandon and Francesca Albanese. So what connects an icon of the screen with an Italian human-rights lawyer, and why does it matter?

Judge blocks Trump sanctions on UN Palestine special rapporteur Francesca Albanese
Jake Johnson

Judge blocks Trump sanctions on UN Palestine special rapporteur Francesca Albanese

A US federal judge has temporarily blocked Trump administration sanctions against UN Palestine expert Francesca Albanese, ruling the measures likely violated constitutional free speech protections.

Why slums persist
Luciene Pereira

Why slums persist

Research from Brazil suggests informal settlements persist not because people want to live in them, but because cities continue to fail on affordable housing, education and access to work.

John Menadue's book on Israel's war against Gaza

Israel's war against Gaza

Media coverage of the war in Gaza since October 2023 has spread a series of lies propagated by Israel and the United States. This publication presents information, analysis, clarification, views and perspectives largely unavailable in mainstream media in Australia and elsewhere.

Download the PDF

Latest letters to the editor

Albo not listening to voters

Richard Llewellyn — Colo Vale

Sophie Vorrath’s article raises the rationale for a sensible rate of taxation on exported LPNG. Albanese supplicates the gas extraction industry. His obduracy is contemptible: 75 per cent of Australians (who vote, Anthony) want the proposed tax; the voting power of the gas industry is miniscule. Albanese’s judgement that Australians (who vote, Anthony) will ignore that he sells them out for a mess of pottage will come back to bite him spectacularly. The argument for the tax generally quote a loss of revenue to Australia of around $19 billion annually. Few commentators have taken a deep dive into the impact...
Buget for social division

David Griffiths — Mordialloc, Victoria 3195

I agree with the need of a broad vision for social cohesion but this not reflected in the Federal Budget. Approximately $600 million has been allocated to fight antisemitism. What is defined as antisemitism is to be determined but the indication from the Royal Commission is worrying i.e. criticism of Israel is antisemitism. There was no funding in the budget to fight Islamophobia. The Special Envoy to combat Islamophobia submitted a report to the Federal Government in September last year. The Government is giving it careful consideration. Presumably priority careful consideration was given to the $600 million. According to the...
Ideology or a response to electorate demographics?

Benjamin Jones — Tuggerah NSW

The positive and negative reactions to this budget suggest that it represents ideological changes in the government and a sign of changing wealth distribution to workers and active earners instead of passive earners with established liquidity. I'm not sure how cynical it might be to suggest this is actually more simply just a realpolitik reaction to demographic shifts in the electorate. As the boomer has always been the primary target audience because of their purchasing power. The grandfathering of the tax reforms suggests that there will still be a status quo and a gradual change over the course of time,...
Community independents as the next opposition

Margaret Callinan — Hawthorn VIC 3122

Kos Samaras' description of migrant family situations taught me, a fifth generation Australian, much. I also saw from a new angle what I've known for a long time: career politicians via family connections, party think tanks, or volunteering/staffing from a young age, are less than they could and should be because of their narrow experience. However, I challenge the idea that PHON is the Opposition of the future. Parties are not required by the constitution. Why not a coalition or consensus of Community Independents? They, along with the cross bench, were the effective opposition in the 47th Parliament, not that...
Help turn climate anxiety into climate action

Ray Peck — Hawthorn Vic

I was saddened to read that a 2021 survey of 10,000 young people aged 16–25 across ten countries found 59 per cent were very or extremely worried about climate change and governments’ responses, while 75 per cent agreed the “future is frightening”. The countries surveyed were Australia, Brazil, Finland, France, India, Nigeria, the Philippines, Portugal, the UK and the USA. Unsurprisingly, concern was highest in the Philippines (84 per cent) and India (68 per cent), where communities are already experiencing severe climate impacts. Since 2021, with an even hotter planet and the election of a climate-wrecking US president, eco-anxiety has...
Keating on the budget

Vikein Mouradian — Melbourne Victoria

I always like reading Keating's articles as he always provides measured comments to the political issues of the day. His statement about resources companies paying little or no tax particularly resonates with me. These companies should be made to pay much higher taxes now. They deplete Australia's natural resources to their advantage depriving the opportunity of ordinary Australians enjoying a much higher standard of life – such as free universities, public housing and the rejuvenation of our cities which is urgently needed. I think what remains of Australia is one big farm that is being exploited by foreign multinationals. I...
Human rights act for Australia not needed

Vikein Mouradian — Melbourne Victoria

I am totally opposed to a human rights act for Australia. Human rights do not come from a piece of paper written by lawyers and interpreted by the courts. They come from instituting better welfare provision. Such as a UBI universal basic income and the building of public housing. Abolishing work for the dole the job network. Expanding the NDIS and taking it away from private hands making all of its employees federal public servants. Stopping the privitisation of government services. I figure the legal profession as it is presently constituted is slanted towards the protection and preservation of private...
Brilliant analysis

Les Macdonald — Balmain NSW 2041

Chris Hedges can be seen as a modern day exemplar of the parade of great civilisational thinkers from Polybius in Ancient Rome to Oswald Spengler in the 19th Century to Peter Turchin and Jarad Diamond in the Twentieth Century who have set out the inevitability of civilisational decline. Hedges' wonderfully analytical mind has distilled this line of intellectual thought into a coruscating prediction of the currently evolving fall of the US empire. Nearly all of these prophets have focused upon severe economic inequality, weakened social cohesion, unchecked elite competition, unsustainable resource use and a loss of the ability to adapt...