As I look out of my window this morning, I can see a very small proportion of the 34 million people who live in Delhi, 6.5 million more than inhabit the whole of Australia.

One of the most alive, and complex, and chaotic, and wonderful places on earth, it is full of young people. It is said that around a million Indians turn 18 each month. That extraordinary figure never ceases to set me back in my seat. The challenge of educating that population and structuring an economy and a set of international relationships, that facilitates that, will be one of the topics on my agenda for the week-long trip.

I will be in Delhi and Mumbai as part of the advisory board for the Centre for Australia India Relations, and look forward to sharing my impressions with you when I return.

Meanwhile, next week we will launch our exciting new venture, Pearlcast. When I began as editor seven months ago I was seriously impressed by how many terrific authors and articles P&I offered. Ever since then we have been searching for new ways to take advantage of the expertise and deep knowledge of our authors. So that brings us to Pearlcast, a podcast that will draw together the most authoritative leaders on the topics you care most about.

For our first, three-part series, we tackle 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. No matter our political convictions, we all remember where we were when we heard that Whitlam had been sacked. Fifty years later, we still don’t have all the facts. I look forward to joining you on Pearlcast.

We are growing used to AI as it enters almost every part of our daily lives, even if we are not aware of it. Now it seems it will do the shopping for us as well. (((LINK PLS Monday piece from Vibn )))

Rumblings about a recession in the US are growing louder in the wake of tariffs and other acts of economic and democratic vandalism from the US president. And make sure you didn’t miss Mike Gilligan on national security and the personalities behind the policies.

Please also make sure you tune in to the Australians for Humanity webinar this coming Friday on what Australia must do next on Palestine.

Until next time