Launching Pearlcasts
Episode 1 - The 50th Anniversary of the Dismissal of the Whitlam Government
We kick off with a topic close to our hearts, the 50th anniversary of the Dismissal of the Whitlam Government. We have three of the best sources in the nation taking part: our editor-in-chief John Menadue – the living link to the scandal and the nation’s top public servant at the time; Jenny Hocking, author of The Palace Letters and Australia’s pre-eminent Dismissal historian; and Brian Toohey, the journalist who has dug deepest into the darkest elements of the events.
Listen to Pearlcast Episode 1
3 November 2025
A worldwide anti-Israel movement
Catherine Connolly’s rise to the Irish presidency marks a progression in global politics we ought not to miss. A critical mass is gathering against the Zionist state.
3 November 2025
Bewildered in Trumpland
What happens when militaristic shouts of USA USA, are combined with a blatant display of Trumpian boasting in an ersatz Japanese imitation of a 19th century German neo-baroque castle plonked down in a quiet Tokyo suburb?
3 November 2025
Message from the Editor
When I began as editor in early 2025 I was struck by how much great reading P&I offered. Now we are branching out to bring you great listening as well, with a big new project, Pearlcast.
Support our independent media
Pearls and Irritations is funded by our readers through flexible payment options. Choose to make a monthly or one off payment to support our informed commentary
Donate
3 November 2025
‘No restrictions’ and a secret ‘wink’: Inside Israel’s deal with Google, Amazon
To secure the lucrative Project Nimbus contract, the tech giants agreed to disregard their own terms of service and sidestep legal orders by tipping Israel off if a foreign court demands its data, a joint investigation reveals.
3 November 2025
Israel’s repeated ceasefire violations are part of its strategy to keep waging war on Gaza
Here’s Israel's strategy to continue the war on Gaza: find a pretext, no matter how baseless, use it to kill dozens of civilians and fighters, stop fire and claim you’re honouring the ceasefire. Then do it again.
3 November 2025
Will the US do to Venezuela’s Maduro what they did to Gaddafi?
Something truly horrific is being planned for Venezuela. Generals are being bought and paid for, death squads are being organised and a major regime change operation is slowly gathering steam that, if executed, will have catastrophic consequences for the people of Venezuela and possibly the region beyond.
3 November 2025
It’s official! Accounting tricks denied public schools more than $2b in funding in 2023
A new report by the National School Resourcing Board reveals that public schools lost more than $2 billion in funding in 2023 because of accounting tricks used by state governments under the Commonwealth-State funding agreements operating at the time.
3 November 2025
The pearling past and the multicultural present: A story of connection and contribution
In the late 1990s, during a field study in Wyndham, a remote town in Western Australia, I met a small tourism operator whose story has stayed with me ever since.
3 November 2025
Clean your room
During 1937, Lang Hancock from the Mulga Downs pastoral station in Western Australia began mining and milling activities for blue asbestos (crocidolite) at the nearby Yampire Gorge.
3 November 2025
Fatal flaws: what regional Australians need to know about cash plan
There are fatal flaws in the federal government’s draft cash mandate regulations and they can be traced back to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's refusal to respond to Senate recommendations to fix the banking crisis in regional Australia.
3 November 2025
Vaping: A disruptive innovation of smoking and rapidly replacing cigarettes
Recognised as a concept over three decades ago, disruptive innovations are new and improved ways of meeting consumers’ needs that generally sweep away conventional approaches of market-leading firms by a process of creative destruction.
Latest on Palestine and Israel
3 November 2025
Israel’s repeated ceasefire violations are part of its strategy to keep waging war on Gaza
Here’s Israel's strategy to continue the war on Gaza: find a pretext, no matter how baseless, use it to kill dozens of civilians and fighters, stop fire and claim you’re honouring the ceasefire. Then do it again.
2 November 2025
Notice which genocides you are and are not allowed to oppose
Do you notice how nobody’s losing their jobs or getting deported for criticising the genocidal atrocities in Sudan?
2 November 2025
What Israel's genocide has laid bare
Two years into an ongoing genocide — recognised as such by the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, B’Tselem, Physicians for Human Rights, Doctors without Borders, the International Association of Genocide Scholars, the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention, the University Network for Human Rights and countless scholars of international humanitarian law, genocide and Holocaust studies — we are now to normalise the obscene, and move on.
1 November 2025
Australian Palestinian farm in the occupied West Bank raided by Israeli settlers
Australian citizen, Palestinian farmer and vigneron Sari Kassis, whose family company Domaine Kassis wines sells both locally and overseas, has reported that over the past two weeks there has been a rapid increase in destructive raids on his farm by the Israeli “Hilltop Youth”.
31 October 2025
Gaza under siege: The continuation of Zionist demographic cleansing policies since the 19th century
Israeli propaganda tries to present the war on Gaza as a “defensive reaction.” Yet the historical record tells a very different story: systematic genocide, the destruction of civilian life and deliberate attempts to uproot entire populations. All of this is a direct continuation of Zionist colonial policies that began in the late 19th century.
31 October 2025
The leader most capable of governing a future Palestinian state is languishing in an Israeli jail
As the future of Gaza hangs in the balance, the Palestinian Authority needs renewal if it’s to eventually govern the Strip and play a key role in making the two-state solution a reality.
30 October 2025
The easy way or the hard way to the same result
National leaders deceive most people most of the time. Israel’s long, atrocious, US-backed assault on the Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon is the latest example, as are their joint attacks on Syria, Yemen, and Iran.
30 October 2025
Why the annexation of the West Bank matters to all of us
Between 1 January and 30 September 2025, Israeli authorities carried out 1288 demolitions of Palestinian-owned structures in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
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 PDFLatest on China
1 November 2025
Understanding Australia-China research mobility
Australia’s research partnership with China is a significant component of its scientific output, particularly in engineering, technology and applied sciences.
31 October 2025
The ABC and News Corp finally agree on something: China panic
Last week, a friend asked if I was worried about Chinese “nuclear threats.
31 October 2025
Taiwan as an integral part of China: A historical, legal and geopolitical analysis
The status of Taiwan remains one of the most contested topics in modern geopolitics and one of the most misrepresented.
Support our independent media with your donation
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.
DonateMore from Pearls and Irritations
Latest letters to the editor
The quantum leap
Les Macdonald — Balmain NSW 2041
Housing for homes, not profit
Margaret Callinan — Hawthorn VIC 3122
Up the creek
Alyssa Aleksanian — Hazelbrook
In defence of David Marr
Barry Stevens — Tura Beach, NSW 2548