They say ‘start as you mean to go on’, and if that’s true, anyone hoping the new year would bring in peace, cooperation and kindness might now be wondering if we can wind the clock back to 1 January and give it another go.

The turmoil that characterised 2025 has picked itself up, dusted off its jacket, and walked with purpose into the new year.

That new year is only a few weeks old, but the persistent challenges facing the world – tackling the climate crisis, ending the devastation in Gaza, defending the idea that international rules and institutions should matter, and more – are still with us. So is the annual culture-war machinery that fires up around today’s public holiday, as Marian Sawer so expertly details. And on top of all those, fresh problems have arrived with a thud.

From Donald Trump rattling cages with threats over Greenland, to the kind of rushed federal lawmaking that should make all of us uneasy, the pace is relentless. Greg Barns’ warning about new “antisemitism, hate and extremism” legislation pushed through parliament in under 24 hours is a sharp reminder that in anxious times, governments often reach for force and symbolism first – and safeguards second.

It’s exactly in moments like this that Pearls and Irritations does what it does best.

Our authors don’t just react. They analyse, clarify, question assumptions, and follow consequences all the way down to where real people live. They call out nonsense, expose hypocrisy, test policy against evidence, and insist on standards that shouldn’t be negotiable – fairness, accountability, competence, and human rights.

And while it can feel as though the global story is gloomily stuck on repeat, there are still reasons to be optimistic. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s speech at the World Economic Forum is one example – a clear-eyed assessment and a rallying call for countries to stop pretending, stop performing compliance, and start building the coalitions and resilience needed to withstand coercion.

It is a reminder that politics can still be honest, and that leadership can still be serious.

P&I will be with you all the way through what comes in the year ahead – and there has rarely been a more important time to support independent media that isn’t chasing clicks or taking instructions.

Wherever you are today – and however you’re spending your day – thank you for reading.