Hello all – I hope you got some much-needed respite during what turned out to be a January full of grief and turmoil for so many.

I try to ignore the wider world a little in January, but this year it was impossible. Many of you will have noticed we changed course in early January, abandoning plans to publish only a best of 2025 series for the first few weeks of the year. My sincere thanks go to the team, acting Editor Martyn Pearce in particular, for delivering important articles on the issues we could not ignore for readers.

You may also have noted P&I backed the call by the Australians for Humanity earlier this month, culminating in a full-page ad in the Sydney Morning Herald, to withdraw the invitation to the Israeli President to visit our shores. That debate will continue and we will keep you informed.

It is the first week back for many and you will be pleased to see our long-time columnist David Armstrong back in full force today, with his excellent digest of the big issues in our region.

All our regular columnists will be back next week and we will add some fresh faces as the year progresses.

You might also have notice we have moved this column to Saturday, to keep as many readers up to date with what we are doing and thinking as the year unfolds.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s World Economic Forum speech reset global ambitions around the role a middle power can play in the world. The ripples Carney’s gutsy stand made will continue. And this week there is another huge, alliance shifting event, the India-EU trade deal. Make no mistake this is a big deal – both nations have read the global room and have moved. The world is moving away from an unstable US and forging a new network of alliances. We must move, or we will be left behind.

Many of our contributors, led by John, spent their summer considering just that issue: what place Australia can and should occupy in the world, as a prosperous middle power in a world in turmoil. Thus we have started a major series rethinking Australia’s foreign policy. A number of our most experienced and intelligent thinkers on the subject have and will take part. This is a discussion that should be happening inside government, and we will do all we can to lay out the case for change. We will also devote a number of _Pearlcasts_ to the topic, so keep your ears open.

There is so much more that talk about, but we have all year to continue the conversation.

Until next time.