Is this the moment that will define cricket's future?
Chas Keys

Is this the moment that will define cricket's future?

On 8 October, what may turn out to be a huge moment for the game of cricket hit the news: Australian Test captain Pat Cummins and all-format Australian player Travis Head were reported to have been offered nearly $10 million each a few months ago to join cricket’s international T20 circuit.

The UN in Trump’s world and the implications for Australia’s independence
Ronald C. Keith

The UN in Trump’s world and the implications for Australia’s independence

Unfair criticism has often been levelled at the UN. None has been so gratuitously nasty than President Trump’s 23 September 2025 General Assembly address.

Australia’s climate assessment fails on sea-level rise risks and vulnerable communities
David Spratt

Australia’s climate assessment fails on sea-level rise risks and vulnerable communities

Australia’s first climate risk assessment has the stated purpose of guiding adaptation responses to protect people and property in a  heating climate, but what happens if the reality is worse than some low-ball projections of future risks?


Donate

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

Universal Jurisdiction: Australia’s crucial role in international criminal justice
Samar Batool Athar

YOUNG GLOBAL LEADERS

Universal Jurisdiction: Australia’s crucial role in international criminal justice

Samar Batool Athar is one of six talented young Australians who will travel to the UN General Assembly in New York next week as part of the Global Voices project.

Bruce Beresford’s The Travellers blends opera and the outback in a heartfelt story about homecoming
Ruari Elkington

Bruce Beresford’s The Travellers blends opera and the outback in a heartfelt story about homecoming

Famed Australian director Bruce Beresford loves opera. If you weren’t aware of this before watching his new film, The Travellers, you most likely will be by the time the credits roll.

Omar Yaghi: Refugee from Gaza wins 2025 Nobel Prize in chemistry
Mohamed Ainullah

Omar Yaghi: Refugee from Gaza wins 2025 Nobel Prize in chemistry

Born in a one-room home on the outskirts of Amman, the son of illiterate Palestinian refugees from Gaza, Professor Omar Yaghi has risen from the hardships of displacement to the highest pinnacle of scientific achievement by winning the 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

Celebrate the ceasefire, but don’t forget: Gaza survived on its own
Ahmad Ibsais

Celebrate the ceasefire, but don’t forget: Gaza survived on its own

Western leaders now claim credit for peace, but Gaza’s survival belongs to its people alone.

Judge allows Kostakidis ‘antisemitism’ case to proceed
Joe Lauria

Judge allows Kostakidis ‘antisemitism’ case to proceed

Justice Stephen McDonald told the court, in the course of a six-minute hearing on Thursday, that the contention the Zionist Federation of Australia had no case against journalist Mary Kostakidis had to be determined at trial, reports Joe Lauria.

Price rally fuels surge in Southeast Asia gold businesses – Asian Media Report
David Armstrong

Price rally fuels surge in Southeast Asia gold businesses – Asian Media Report

In Asian media this week: Beijing in 11-month gold-buying streak. Plus: Takaichi the most conservative leadership choice; US looks to delegate Taiwan defence; Prabowo holds massive military parade; South Korea’s Lee challenges US wartime control; China’s harsh times feed a spiritual economy.

Almost no Australians study Chinese any more. That’s a problem
Michael Read

Almost no Australians study Chinese any more. That’s a problem

Fewer than five Australians per year are graduating from honours programs in Chinese studies with language, raising fears the nation is losing the expertise needed to navigate its most complex foreign relationship.

‘We must keep the pressure on’: Humanitarians say ceasefire doesn’t erase Gaza genocide
Stephen Prager

‘We must keep the pressure on’: Humanitarians say ceasefire doesn’t erase Gaza genocide

“This much-needed and welcomed ceasefire does not change the simple fact that Israel has just committed a genocide in Gaza,” wrote the co-founder of European Jews for Palestine.

Latest on Palestine and Israel

Celebrate the ceasefire, but don’t forget: Gaza survived on its own
Ahmad Ibsais

Celebrate the ceasefire, but don’t forget: Gaza survived on its own

Western leaders now claim credit for peace, but Gaza’s survival belongs to its people alone.

‘We must keep the pressure on’: Humanitarians say ceasefire doesn’t erase Gaza genocide
Stephen Prager

‘We must keep the pressure on’: Humanitarians say ceasefire doesn’t erase Gaza genocide

“This much-needed and welcomed ceasefire does not change the simple fact that Israel has just committed a genocide in Gaza,” wrote the co-founder of European Jews for Palestine.

Van Jones and the moral vacancy of American commentary on Gaza
Ziyad Motala

Van Jones and the moral vacancy of American commentary on Gaza

The US pundit’s dead Gaza baby joke was not a slip of the tongue, but a window into a media culture that trivialises Palestinian suffering and deflects responsibility.

How the West will package the genocide after Netanyahu
Jaron Sutton

How the West will package the genocide after Netanyahu

In the not-too-distant future, the Netanyahu Government will fall. When this happens, it will become politically fashionable (and indeed necessary) for Western leaders outside the US to intellectually “package” the genocide in Gaza.

Trump says Israel and Hamas sign off on first phase of Gaza ceasefire plan
Al Jazeera and news agencies

Trump says Israel and Hamas sign off on first phase of Gaza ceasefire plan

Mediator Qatar said more details of the agreement would be announced at a later date.

Jeffrey Sachs: Twenty-point plan minus the US-UK colonialism
Jeffrey D. Sachs,  Sybil Fares

Jeffrey Sachs: Twenty-point plan minus the US-UK colonialism

Jeffrey D. Sachs and Sybil Fares offer a revised version of the Trump plan for an end of the war in Gaza and the occupation of the West Bank.

Is Greta Thunberg the lone voice for justice in our world?
Wayne McMillan

Is Greta Thunberg the lone voice for justice in our world?

As the world moves from one crisis to another and our politicians ignore the immense injustices that are happening in their nation and in the world, what do ordinary non-violent citizens do to let their politicians know they aren’t happy with their lack of moral and ethical fortitude?

Do you see me? Do you hear me? Does what I say matter?
Sue Barrett

Do you see me? Do you hear me? Does what I say matter?

In an age when millions feel invisible to those in power, these aren't rhetorical questions. They're the foundational need that either builds democracies or tears them apart.


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 on China

Almost no Australians study Chinese any more. That’s a problem
Michael Read

Almost no Australians study Chinese any more. That’s a problem

Fewer than five Australians per year are graduating from honours programs in Chinese studies with language, raising fears the nation is losing the expertise needed to navigate its most complex foreign relationship.

A masterclass in agency: What Singapore can teach Australia about China
Fred Zhang

ANTI-CHINA MEDIA WATCH

A masterclass in agency: What Singapore can teach Australia about China

Singapore’s new Prime Minister Lawrence Wong sat down with the ABC on 2 October and offered something rare in Australia’s China debate: clarity, confidence, and a middle-power strategy that doesn’t involve shouting or submission.

South Korea’s anti-China protests
Jeffrey Robertson

South Korea’s anti-China protests

This week, South Korean authorities expressed concern regarding the potential impact of anti-China protests during APEC.


John Menadue

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.

Donate

More from Pearls and Irritations


Latest letters to the editor

Singapore does it right

Les Macdonald — Balmain NSW 2041

Singapore has been getting it right for many decades now, standing up for yourself, not unnecessarily making enemies and dealing with all on an equal basis. If we could only stop learning our lessons on power, diplomacy and geopolitics from the dying empire and get with the rising one!
Security through diplomacy

Les Macdonald — Balmain NSW 2041

Security for Australia within Asia is really quite simple. Join BRICS and the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation. We already have membership in the New Development Bank and the Reserve Contingent Arrangement. This will integrate us into the region which will dominate the world this century. Membership of all these guarantees our security in the region. Then all we have to do is navigate the US covert and criminal efforts, as in 1975 with Gough, to overturn our government and bring us back into being another bitch for the US!
Shark nets save lives

John Dengate — Sydney

Graeme Stewart is absolutely right on shark nets. My long career as an environmentalist has convinced me that sharks don’t want to eat you. But attacks do happen – with terrifying results. It concerns me that nets are a blunt instrument that catches other sea creatures as well as sharks. But it also concerns me that people are killed by sharks. The current orchestrated campaign against nets claims they don’t work and even that nets attract sharks. Professor Stewart has cut through this debate with an excellent summary of the scientific evidence – which clearly shows that shark nets...
Graffiti is a hate crime too

Simon Tatz — Melbourne

Jerry Cartwright thinks pro-terrorist graffiti is a trivial matter. Imagine if, after the Bali bombings, similar messages supporting those who killed many Australians were sprayed around our cities? Perhaps Cartwright would find it confected outrage if messages supporting domestic violence and killing of women were painted near his home, or support for child sexual abuse. Would that elicit confected outrage too? Here's a truth bomb – it's only people who will never experience antisemitism, Islamophobia or racism who dismiss vilification as trivial.



Latest from Al Jazeera

UK, US, NATO flew 12-hour patrol on Russian border amid Ukraine war
Allied forces launch joint patrols near Russia after reports of drone incursions into allied airspace.
RSF drone strike kills dozens in Sudan’s war-ravaged el-Fasher
Doctors' group says 53 killed as RSF attacks displacement shelter and university grounds in besieged area in Darfur.
RSF drone strike kills dozens in Sudan’s war-ravaged el-Fasher: Activists
Activists say 60 killed as RSF attacks displacement shelter and university grounds in besieged area in Darfur.
Intensive Israeli air strikes kill one, injure seven in southern Lebanon
Lebanese president condemns Israeli attack on Msayleh as a 'blatant aggression' against civilian infrastructure.
First US flight with third-country deportees arrives in Guatemala
The flight brought three Hondurans and 56 Guatemalan nationals, according to Guatemala’s IGM migration agency.
Seychelles votes in closely contested presidential run-off election
African island nation decides its future as Wavel Ramkalawan seeks a second term against Patrick Herminie.