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Achieving health equity in Australia

The recently launched World Report on the Social Determinants of Health Equity, by the World Health Organisation (WHO, 2025), paints a stark...

latest 9

Pearls and Irritations

Miriam Van Den Berg

The Rainbow Warrior 1985-2025: French state terrorism and the end of innocence Part 1

Immediately after murdering Fernando Pereira and blowing up Greenpeace’s ship the Rainbow Warrior in Auckland harbour, several of the French agents...

latest 10

Pearls and Irritations

Eugene Doyle

Lawsuit aims to end 'systematic' snatching of brown-skinned people by Trump agents

“These guys are popping up, rampant all over the city, just taking people randomly, and we want that particular practice to end,” one attorney in...

latest 9

Pearls and Irritations

Brett Wilkins

Gunning for the Greens over Gaza - Part 2

The Greens have been prominent in condemning Israel’s ongoing mass murder and destruction in Gaza. The federal Labor Government adamantly sits on...

latest 9

Pearls and Irritations

Evan Jones

J’accuse (Part 2) – The Israel lobby

Readers may recall a piece published here on Pearls and Irritations (J’accuse!… the Jew who accuses his fellow Jews of being antisemites on 23...

latest 9

Pearls and Irritations

Jeffrey Loewenstein

Message from the editor

My sincere thanks to all who made a contribution to our June fundraising appeal with the terrific team at the Australian Cultural Fund. As many...

latest 9

Pearls and Irritations

Catriona Jackson

National Anti-Corruption Commission is two years old – Has it restored integrity to federal government?

The  National Anti-Corruption Commission opened its doors two years ago this week amid much fanfare and high expectations. Since then the body has...

latest 9

Pearls and Irritations

A J Brown

MAGA buyers’ remorse and the trouble with Christian nationalism

For those who do begin to question, the challenge is not to nudge them leftward or toward some ideologically approved alternative. The challenge is...

latest 8

Pearls and Irritations

David O&39Halloran

The deep politics behind Trump’s presidency

It is not easy to find a coherent, positive message in the chaos Donald Trump is sowing, but let me try…. There is a perspective, a frame of...

latest 8

Pearls and Irritations

Richard Eckersley

The takeaway from the Venice Biennale saga: the art world faces deep and troubling structural inequality

Creative Australia’s decision earlier this year to rescind the selection of artist Khaled Sabsabi and curator Michael Dagostino as Australia’s 2026...

yesterday 3

Pearls and Irritations

Grace Mcquilten

Mamdani’s magnificent primary win – What follows

People are asking about my reaction to Zohran Mamdani’s spectacular and decisive upset in the Democratic primary victory for Mayor of New York over...

yesterday 3

Pearls and Irritations

Ralph Nader

Environment: Ken Henry and Xi Jinping agree nature is critical to productivity

Ken Henry says high-integrity environmental laws will be the government’s first test but new Labor MPs don’t agree. Great Barrier Reef still...

yesterday 10

Pearls and Irritations

Peter Sainsbury

Spiritual malpractice: The Vatican's dodgy saint-making business

Pope Leo rubberstamps the controversial canonisation of a multimillionaire Italian’s adolescent son. The families of my two grandmothers (both...

yesterday 10

Pearls and Irritations

Robert Mickens

Gunning for the Greens over Gaza - Part 1

After the federal election on 3 May, dissection of the Liberals’ turmoil received top billing. But there has also been a “get the Greens” movement....

yesterday 30

Pearls and Irritations

Evan Jones

What are working with children checks? Why aren’t they keeping kids safe at daycare?

Disturbing allegations have emerged about a Melbourne childcare worker, who has been  charged with more than 70 offences, including sexual assault...

previous day 2

Pearls and Irritations

Rosemary Sheehan

The magic of the mandate: Now you see it, now you don’t

In 2003, then prime minister John Howard committed Australia to the US-led invasion of Iraq. It was one of the most divisive foreign policy...

previous day 2

Pearls and Irritations

Raghid Nahhas

US shift towards Pakistan may unsettle India and the South Asia balance

Islamabad welcomes the opportunity to hedge against China, but New Delhi may well go looking for other, more reliable partners. The recent  White...

previous day 1

Pearls and Irritations

Khushboo Razdan

Ocasio-Cortez calls Trump's budget bill 'deal with the devil'

“It explodes our national debt, it militarises our entire economy, and it strips away healthcare and basic dignity of the American people. For...

previous day 2

Pearls and Irritations

Jake Johnson

World Bank warns that changes are coming in the global economy

The World Bank’s just released flagship report Global Economic Prospects sounds a warning for the global economy, which is projected to slow...

previous day 2

Pearls and Irritations

John Queripel

Fifteen years of UN Women: A call to action, not complacency

Fifteen years ago, UN Women was established with a bold mission: to drive real and lasting change for all women and girls. In that time, the world...

previous day 2

Pearls and Irritations

Simone Clarke

Flood management: Science, technology and people’s responses

To reduce the risks posed by floods requires both scientific input and appropriate community reaction. It is not always clear that both are in...

previous day 2

Pearls and Irritations

Chas Keys

Trump’s Big Ugly Bill is fascism in writing

It establishes an anti-immigrant police state in America, replete with a standing army of ICE agents and a gulag of detention facilities, and it...

previous day 1

Pearls and Irritations

Robert Reich

Trump tariff deals with Japan, India bogged down – Asian Media Report

In Asian media this week: Trade pact sealed with Vietnam. Plus: Dalai Lama at 90 – the institution will continue; Region’s newspapers show disdain...

previous day 2

Pearls and Irritations

David Armstrong

Israel: The true superpower? Journalist exposes global threat in explosive Sydney talk

In a searing address to a sold-out crowd in Sydney on Saturday night 28 June 2025, award-winning Australian investigative journalist Antony...

previous day 2

Pearls and Irritations

Mohamed Ainullah

Dangers of renewed civil war in Syria

With 150 armed groups in Syria, the ruling HTS (al-Qa`idah) doesn’t control the country, while Israeli bombing intends to expose the weaknesses of...

friday 2

Pearls and Irritations

As`ad Abukhalil

'Watershed moment': Big battery storage prices hit record low in huge China auction

The price for big battery storage modules have hit a record low in the latest giant auction in China, where more than 70 bidders competed for 25...

friday 2

Pearls and Irritations

Giles Parkinson

Iran: The things it won’t do to say

If Thomas Friedman’s fairytale world of light-versus-darkness were to evaporate, less noble motives for US and Israeli actions might be revealed....

friday 3

Pearls and Irritations

Kevin Young

The Western allies of the US as vassal states

A vassal state is one that retains some autonomy at home but is effectively dominated by another power in its foreign affairs. By that definition,...

friday 2

Pearls and Irritations

Iyanatul Islam

What are police allowed to do at protests and who keeps them in check?

Earlier this week, former Greens candidate Hannah Thomas was hospitalised with  serious injuries after being arrested at a protest in Sydney. This...

friday 2

Pearls and Irritations

Kelly Hine

China’s rapid adoption of AI demands greater scrutiny of the social impact

In contrast to the perception that Beijing has placed a lot of “guardrails” on AI, China’s AI regulation so far has been limited. The first half of...

friday 5

Pearls and Irritations

Zhou Xin

Food aid or firing squads?

In Gaza today, hunger has a price – and for far too many civilians, that price has been death. The Israeli newspaper, Haaretz, described the Gaza...

friday 2

Pearls and Irritations

Jamal Kanj

Saving the NDIS doesn’t need to cost more money

The Albanese Government has a lot hinging on the successful delivery of savings earmarked from the National Disability Insurance Scheme. Without the...

friday 5

Pearls and Irritations

Sam Bennett

Creative Australia’s backflip on Venice Biennale representatives exposes deep governance failures

The  reinstatement of artist Khaled Sabsabi and curator Michael Dagostino as Australia’s representatives for the 2026 Venice Biennale closes a...

friday 2

Pearls and Irritations

Samuel Cairnduff

Genocide in Gaza: History repeats itself

For the past 21 months, I have endured the painful experience of displacement, moving between tents under relentless bombardment in Gaza. Time and...

friday 1

Pearls and Irritations

Refaat Ibrahim

Australia, the UN and the future of humanity

The Albanese Government is now very well placed to encourage and assist the United Nations, to prevent human extinction, and make our planet...

03.07.2025 3

Pearls and Irritations

Bob Douglas

Israel’s genocide and German Staatsräson: Thwarting a youth’s political sensibilities

It was the third month of Israel’s genocidal onslaught in Gaza, just before the Christmas break in 2023, when my daughter Lelia came home one day...

03.07.2025 1

Pearls and Irritations

Norman Saadi Nikro

I'd rather a bloodied shark than AI

Until recently, I regarded AI as just another technical assist, a natural enhancement of Google where one finds the perfect word to complete a...

03.07.2025 6

Pearls and Irritations

Robert Macklin

India’s state and central governments still aren’t speaking the same language

The first rule of discussing language policy in India is to leave any expectations of a calm conversation at the door. With four major language...

03.07.2025 2

Pearls and Irritations

Alexander Titus

Trump’s worldview is causing a global shift of alliances – what does this mean for nations in the middle?

Since US President Donald Trump took office this year, one theme has come up time and again: his rule is a threat to the US-led international...

03.07.2025 4

Pearls and Irritations

Dilnoza Ubaydullaeva

The devil's dance with Iran

Iran has been on a hit list of seven countries in a geostrategic plan for the reconfiguration of the Middle East first drawn up by the US in 2001...

03.07.2025 2

Pearls and Irritations

Peter Blunt

UN report lists companies complicit in Israel’s ‘genocide’. Who are they?

The United Nations special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) has released a new report...

03.07.2025 3

Pearls and Irritations

Federica Marsi

From globalisation to AI: Why history is about to repeat itself

When globalisation loomed on the horizon in the late 20th century, governments around the world faced a choice: open the economy fully or manage...

03.07.2025 3

Pearls and Irritations

Kos Samaras

So... calling for peace isn’t enough, but dropping bombs gets a free pass?

When China submitted a draft UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Iran, the response wasn’t debate...

03.07.2025 2

Pearls and Irritations

Fred Zhang

The time has arrived for a comprehensive Middle East peace

The attack by Israel and the US on Iran had two significant effects. First, it once again exposed the root cause of turmoil in the region: Israel’s...

03.07.2025 2

Pearls and Irritations

Jeffrey D. Sachs