7 July 2025
National Anti-Corruption Commission is two years old – Has it restored integrity to federal government?
The National Anti-Corruption Commission opened its doors two years ago this week amid much fanfare and high expectations.
7 July 2025
Message from the editor
My sincere thanks to all who made a contribution to our June fundraising appeal with the terrific team at the Australian Cultural Fund.
7 July 2025
J’accuse (Part 2) – The Israel lobby
Readers may recall a piece published here on Pearls and Irritations (J’accuse!... the Jew who accuses his fellow Jews of being antisemites on 23 February, 2025 — in which I wrote about an offensive tweet Mark Leibler (lawyer and leader of AIJAC) posted on X — in which, amongst other things, he described those Jews criticising Israel as “vicious antisemites”.
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7 July 2025
Gunning for the Greens over Gaza - Part 2
The Greens have been prominent in condemning Israel’s ongoing mass murder and destruction in Gaza. The federal Labor Government adamantly sits on its hands while condemning the Greens. Whence the absence of principle and courage on the government’s benches?
7 July 2025
Lawsuit aims to end 'systematic' snatching of brown-skinned people by Trump agents
These guys are popping up, rampant all over the city, just taking people randomly, and we want that particular practice to end, one attorney in the case said of Department of Homeland Security agents.
7 July 2025
The Rainbow Warrior 1985-2025: French state terrorism and the end of innocence Part 1
Immediately after murdering Fernando Pereira and blowing up Greenpeace’s ship the Rainbow Warrior in Auckland harbour, several of the French agents went on a ski holiday in New Zealand’s South Island to celebrate.
7 July 2025
Achieving health equity in Australia
The recently launched World Report on the Social Determinants of Health Equity, by the World Health Organisation (WHO, 2025), paints a stark picture of the differences in ill-health, poor well-being, disease and mortality within and between countries, that arise from unfair and avoidable social conditions.
7 July 2025
The deep politics behind Trump’s presidency
It is not easy to find a coherent, positive message in the chaos Donald Trump is sowing, but let me try….
7 July 2025
MAGA buyers’ remorse and the trouble with Christian nationalism
For those who do begin to question, the challenge is not to nudge them leftward or toward some ideologically approved alternative. The challenge is simply to stay in the discomfort long enough for something more honest to emerge.
6 July 2025
Gunning for the Greens over Gaza - Part 1
After the federal election on 3 May, dissection of the Liberals’ turmoil received top billing.
6 July 2025
Spiritual malpractice: The Vatican's dodgy saint-making business
Pope Leo rubberstamps the controversial canonisation of a multimillionaire Italian's adolescent son.
Latest on Palestine and Israel
7 July 2025
J’accuse (Part 2) – The Israel lobby
Readers may recall a piece published here on Pearls and Irritations (J’accuse!... the Jew who accuses his fellow Jews of being antisemites on 23 February, 2025 — in which I wrote about an offensive tweet Mark Leibler (lawyer and leader of AIJAC) posted on X — in which, amongst other things, he described those Jews criticising Israel as “vicious antisemites”.
6 July 2025
Gunning for the Greens over Gaza - Part 1
After the federal election on 3 May, dissection of the Liberals’ turmoil received top billing.
4 July 2025
Genocide in Gaza: History repeats itself
For the past 21 months, I have endured the painful experience of displacement, moving between tents under relentless bombardment in Gaza.
4 July 2025
Food aid or firing squads?
In Gaza today, hunger has a price – and for far too many civilians, that price has been death.
3 July 2025
UN report lists companies complicit in Israel’s ‘genocide’. Who are they?
The United Nations special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) has released a new report mapping the corporations aiding Israel in the displacement of Palestinians and its genocidal war on Gaza, in breach of international law.
3 July 2025
Israel’s genocide and German Staatsräson: Thwarting a youth’s political sensibilities
It was the third month of Israel’s genocidal onslaught in Gaza, just before the Christmas break in 2023, when my daughter Lelia came home one day and mentioned an unhappy confrontation with one of the directors of her school, the Freie Waldorfschule Berlin Mitte.
2 July 2025
Gaza’s Hunger Games
Israel is weaponising starvation. The objective is to dismantle all remnants of civil society and reduce Palestinians to herds of desperate scavengers who can be driven from historic Palestine.
2 July 2025
Flour instead of homeland: manufacturing the crisis and the end of the Palestinian dream
Since 4:00 p.m. on 14 May 1948, the Palestinian cause has been one of a homeland seized by force, a land torn from its people by Zionism through weapons and terror.
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
4 July 2025
China’s rapid adoption of AI demands greater scrutiny of the social impact
In contrast to the perception that Beijing has placed a lot of guardrails on AI, China’s AI regulation so far has been limited.
30 June 2025
China is taking Silicon Valley’s market ‘hacks’ to a whole new level
From blitzscaling to leveraging network effects, China is using the same methods to dominate supply chain and disrupt markets.
28 June 2025
No time to dye: ABC’s China bias is licensed to kill credibility
The ABC has long held a reputation as Australia’s sober, publicly-funded bulwark against tabloid sensationalism – the broadcaster you turn to when you want analysis, not alarmism.
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Latest letters to the editor
International law: Who in Australia cares?
John Queripel — Newcastle
Gaza genocide
Dieter Barkhoff — Victoria
Chilling words
Tom Knowles — Parkville Vic
No mention of lobbyists?
Glenda Jones — Carlton 3053