The great human brain fade
Julian Cribb

The great human brain fade

Evidence is piling up that the human brain can no longer keep up with the overshoot crisis which human greed has engendered.

Dates are 'luxury' – and other ways Israel hinders aid trucks from reaching starving Gazans
Nir Hasson,  Sheren Falah Saab,  Avi Scharf

Dates are 'luxury' – and other ways Israel hinders aid trucks from reaching starving Gazans

From restricting truck crossings to preventing proper cargo securing, Israel has imposed layers of bureaucratic and physical obstacles that hinder every stage of delivering food and medical supplies to Gaza.

Albanese is crying poor, but we’re losing billions a year from untaxed gas
Ross Gittins

Albanese is crying poor, but we’re losing billions a year from untaxed gas

It’s likely much will be said, but little done, at next week’s economic roundtable.


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Israel bars entry of specialist medical teams into Gaza
Helen McCue

Israel bars entry of specialist medical teams into Gaza

As the world leaders produce yet more words and pass yet more resolutions on the genocide on Gaza, more than 12,000 children now are severely, dangerously malnourished as Israel continues to deny sufficient food into the Strip.

Open letter to Israeli foreign minister Sa’ar
Jeffrey D. Sachs

Open letter to Israeli foreign minister Sa’ar

The great threat to Israel’s survival is not the Arab nations, the Palestinians, or Iran, but the policies of Israel’s extremist government.

Burning wood for power Is a dangerous step backward
David Lindenmayer,  Heather Keith,  Brendan Mackey

Burning wood for power Is a dangerous step backward

The NSW Independent Planning Commission is currently considering an application to reopen the Redbank Power Station near Singleton.

China’s consumption weighed down by weak expectations
Yang Yao

China’s consumption weighed down by weak expectations

China’s economy registered a respectable GDP growth rate of 5.3% in the first half of 2025.

Recognition of Palestine: UN challenges
Ian Dudgeon

Recognition of Palestine: UN challenges

During the past weeks, media coverage of Israel’s conduct of the war in Gaza, including the creation of widespread famine and instances of starvation, has motivated a majority of Western countries to support a permanent end to the war in Gaza, potentially through a UNGA-endorsed Palestine/Israeli two-state solution.

How transparent is Australian aid?
Terence Wood,  Estelle Stambolie

How transparent is Australian aid?

Aid, by its very nature, is harder to monitor than domestic spending. This makes transparency integral to good aid practice. Transparency makes it easier for the donor public to track how their taxes are being spent.

The sham of Australia's recognition of Palestine: Hope, but light on glory
Daryl Guppy

The sham of Australia's recognition of Palestine: Hope, but light on glory

Australia’s recognition of Palestine, like that of other Western countries, is a step in the right direction, but it remains a sham.

Tributes, condemnation pour in over slain Al Jazeera journalists in Gaza
Al Jazeera Staff

Tributes, condemnation pour in over slain Al Jazeera journalists in Gaza

Israel’s killing of five Al Jazeera staff in Gaza prompts global outrage and calls for accountability.

Latest on Palestine and Israel

Dates are 'luxury' – and other ways Israel hinders aid trucks from reaching starving Gazans
Nir Hasson,  Sheren Falah Saab,  Avi Scharf

Dates are 'luxury' – and other ways Israel hinders aid trucks from reaching starving Gazans

From restricting truck crossings to preventing proper cargo securing, Israel has imposed layers of bureaucratic and physical obstacles that hinder every stage of delivering food and medical supplies to Gaza.

Israel bars entry of specialist medical teams into Gaza
Helen McCue

Israel bars entry of specialist medical teams into Gaza

As the world leaders produce yet more words and pass yet more resolutions on the genocide on Gaza, more than 12,000 children now are severely, dangerously malnourished as Israel continues to deny sufficient food into the Strip.

Open letter to Israeli foreign minister Sa’ar
Jeffrey D. Sachs

Open letter to Israeli foreign minister Sa’ar

The great threat to Israel’s survival is not the Arab nations, the Palestinians, or Iran, but the policies of Israel’s extremist government.

Recognition of Palestine: UN challenges
Ian Dudgeon

Recognition of Palestine: UN challenges

During the past weeks, media coverage of Israel’s conduct of the war in Gaza, including the creation of widespread famine and instances of starvation, has motivated a majority of Western countries to support a permanent end to the war in Gaza, potentially through a UNGA-endorsed Palestine/Israeli two-state solution.

The sham of Australia's recognition of Palestine: Hope, but light on glory
Daryl Guppy

The sham of Australia's recognition of Palestine: Hope, but light on glory

Australia’s recognition of Palestine, like that of other Western countries, is a step in the right direction, but it remains a sham.

Tributes, condemnation pour in over slain Al Jazeera journalists in Gaza
Al Jazeera Staff

Tributes, condemnation pour in over slain Al Jazeera journalists in Gaza

Israel’s killing of five Al Jazeera staff in Gaza prompts global outrage and calls for accountability.

What will Australia's recognition of Palestine mean in practical terms?
Chris Sidoti,  Sally Sara

What will Australia's recognition of Palestine mean in practical terms?

In an interview with the ABC, Chris Sidoti, Commissioner on the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, said the decision on recognition of Palestine was necessary, but not sufficient in and of itself.

‘I entrust you with Palestine’: The final testament of Anas al-Sharif
Palestine Chronicle Staff

‘I entrust you with Palestine’: The final testament of Anas al-Sharif

Anas al-Sharif, killed in an Israeli strike in Gaza, left behind a powerful farewell message – his final testament to his people, his family and the world.


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

China’s consumption weighed down by weak expectations
Yang Yao

China’s consumption weighed down by weak expectations

China’s economy registered a respectable GDP growth rate of 5.3% in the first half of 2025.

Why Western hegemony is over
Jeffrey D. Sachs,  Josephine Ma

Why Western hegemony is over

The tariff truce between China and the United States is set to end in August. What do you forecast will happen after that? And what will happen to trade relations between China and the US for the rest of US President Donald Trump’s second term?

Beijing steps up as Washington steps back
Jiao Wang

Beijing steps up as Washington steps back

US President Donald Trump’s tariffs are having two broad impacts on the global economy – they are eroding international confidence in US leadership and disrupting global supply chains, and causing rapid geographic restructuring of international trade.


John Menadue

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More from Pearls and Irritations


Latest letters to the editor

The defusing of political anger

Peter Blunt — Siem Reap

It was with a sense of resigned dismay that I read the prim statement about Gaza in the Sidoti interview you posted on 13 August: Well, so far we’ve not used the term genocide. This is an issue that we’re looking at. I take it that we refers to the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, of which Sidoti is the commissioner. It reminded me of something that Arundhati Roy said some years ago about NGOs, which are meant to act independently of governments. Her comments apply with even greater force to inter-governmental...
Low fertility and national happiness aligned

Jenny Goldie — Cooma NSW

Thanks to Noel Turnbull for directing attention to the annual UN-backed World Happiness Report. It's worthwhile going to the bottom of the table and comparing the ten unhappiest with the ten happiest at the top. Just as happiness appears to be associated with a cold climate, unhappiness could be loosely associated with a hot one. Nevertheless, a closer association can be found with fertility rates (the number of children per woman). With the exception of Israel, (2.92), all the happiest countries have fertility rates between 1.43 (Costa Rica) and 1.97 (Iceland). Apart from Israel, all are below replacement (2.1)...
Cut the Yanks loose!

Doug Foskey — Tregeagle

As Michael intimated, I feel the US economy has been bankrupt (in more ways than one!) for some time. The US has proven that it does not want any other currency to be elevated (eg oil sales in euros instead of US dollars). However, I feel the world will experience instability until a form of international currency that is not dependent on the American dollar (or any other country's currency) is generated. The dollar would then float and settle to a level that was sustainable. Until that time, the US can print money that devalues dollars held by other...
Bear witness: Remembering heroic Anas al-Sharif

Gideon Polya — Macleod, Melbourne, Victoria

Heroic Palestinian journalist Anas al-Sharif was recently martyred in Gaza with four other journalist colleagues and left us a final inspiring message: “Yet I never stopped telling the truth as it is, without falsification or distortion – so that God may bear witness over those who stayed silent, accepted our killing, and did nothing to stop the massacre our people have endured for more than a year and a half”. Similarly, the key imperatives from the WW2 Jewish Holocaust and indeed from all genocide and holocaust atrocities are “zero tolerance for lying”, “zero tolerance for racism”, “bear witness” and...



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