Best of 2025 - My one hope – to meet my wife and daughters again
Hamed Al-Mansi is a physical education teacher and farmer from Gaza. He is now alone in Gaza and his dearest wish is to reunite with his family. He has allowed us to publish an extract of his diary.
Recent articles in Our Top Five Each Week
17 January 2026
Best of 2025 - Assessing the Liberal Party's policy-making capacity
Good policy should be evidence-based. But this is not the case with the Liberals energy policy and seems unlikely with their migration policy.
17 January 2026
Best of 2025 - Democracies good, China bad – and history not required
Japan and China both have legitimate security concerns. But an informed debate needs major media outlets to stop systematically erasing the historical context that shapes how the region understands current events.
17 January 2026
Best of 2025 - Five reasons Trump’s economy stinks and 10 things the Dems should do about It
The Trump economy is truly awful for most Americans. Democrats need to show America that they can be better trusted to bring prices down and real wages up.
17 January 2026
Best of 2025 - Working with PM Fraser - the changeover - Part 1
John Menadue stayed on as the most senior public servant in the land, after the trauma of the Dismissal. In this 5-part series he details what life was like working with PM Fraser. Given his closeness to Whitlam, some of his conclusions are surprising.
17 January 2026
Best of 2025 - Coalition politicians who can't accept the threat of climate change should resign
Politicians who cannot accept climate change is humanity's greatest threat should have no place in the Australian parliament.
17 January 2026
Best of 2025 - Richo’s grave should be extra deep
Graham Richardson was a very successful operator of the Labor Party from the late 1970s who was distinctly short on redeeming virtues.
17 January 2026
Best of 2025 - Sudan cannot be an invisible tragedy
The end of violence must be a first step in the Sudan Civil War. And Australia has a key role to play.
17 January 2026
Best of 2025 - How did Australian universities go from free education to $50,000 arts degrees in 50 years?
Australians think students are being asked to pay far too much for their degrees. Just under half (47%) of Australians surveyed by YouGov in June 2025 believe a worker on an average income should be able to pay off the debt for a standard three-year degree within five years. When it comes to the cost of a degree, 58% believe a student should pay $5000 or less per year – less than a third of what arts students now pay.
16 January 2026
Best of 2025 - The boy who cried antisemitism
For two years, we’ve been told Australia is drowning in antisemitism. Every protest for Palestinian human rights, every mural, every chant criticising Israel has been hauled up as “evidence.”
16 January 2026
Best of 2025 - Rising electricity prices have nothing to do with renewables
Electricity prices are elevated, but anyone who claims renewable energy has driven the rise is either uninformed or is deliberately lying.
16 January 2026
Best of 2025 - Another RSL dope wants to draw us into a major war
It beggars belief that the outgoing head of the RSL, Greg Melick, has abused the quiet solemnity of Remembrance Day to lecture and berate the Albanese government on its defence policy.
16 January 2026
Best of 2025 - ASIO's Mike Burgess and a lust for the limelight
In succumbing to a lust for the limelight, the ASIO director, Mike Burgess, is not making it easier for the government and citizens to retain confidence in him and the organisation he’s trying to run.
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More from Our Top Five Each Week
15 January 2026
Best of 2025 - In memoriam: The slow death of the Quad
14 January 2026
Best of 2025 - Gunboat hypocrisy in the Caribbean
14 January 2026
Best of 2025 - Trump’s risky American economy
