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Pearls and Irritations![]() |
The recently launched World Report on the Social Determinants of Health Equity, by the World Health Organisation (WHO, 2025), paints a stark...
Immediately after murdering Fernando Pereira and blowing up Greenpeace’s ship the Rainbow Warrior in Auckland harbour, several of the French 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...
The Greens have been prominent in condemning Israel’s ongoing mass murder and destruction in Gaza. The federal Labor Government adamantly sits on...
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...
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...
The National Anti-Corruption Commission opened its doors two years ago this week amid much fanfare and high expectations. Since then the body has...
For those who do begin to question, the challenge is not to nudge them leftward or toward some ideologically approved alternative. The challenge is...
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...
Creative Australia’s decision earlier this year to rescind the selection of artist Khaled Sabsabi and curator Michael Dagostino as Australia’s 2026...
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...
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...
Pope Leo rubberstamps the controversial canonisation of a multimillionaire Italian’s adolescent son. The families of my two grandmothers (both...
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....
Disturbing allegations have emerged about a Melbourne childcare worker, who has been charged with more than 70 offences, including sexual assault...
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...
Islamabad welcomes the opportunity to hedge against China, but New Delhi may well go looking for other, more reliable partners. The recent White...
“It explodes our national debt, it militarises our entire economy, and it strips away healthcare and basic dignity of the American people. For...
The World Bank’s just released flagship report Global Economic Prospects sounds a warning for the global economy, which is projected to slow...
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...
To reduce the risks posed by floods requires both scientific input and appropriate community reaction. It is not always clear that both are in...
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...
In Asian media this week: Trade pact sealed with Vietnam. Plus: Dalai Lama at 90 – the institution will continue; Region’s newspapers show disdain...
In a searing address to a sold-out crowd in Sydney on Saturday night 28 June 2025, award-winning Australian investigative journalist Antony...
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...
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...
If Thomas Friedman’s fairytale world of light-versus-darkness were to evaporate, less noble motives for US and Israeli actions might be revealed....
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,...
Earlier this week, former Greens candidate Hannah Thomas was hospitalised with serious injuries after being arrested at a protest in Sydney. This...
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...
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...
The Albanese Government has a lot hinging on the successful delivery of savings earmarked from the National Disability Insurance Scheme. Without the...
The reinstatement of artist Khaled Sabsabi and curator Michael Dagostino as Australia’s representatives for the 2026 Venice Biennale closes a...
For the past 21 months, I have endured the painful experience of displacement, moving between tents under relentless bombardment in Gaza. Time and...
The Albanese Government is now very well placed to encourage and assist the United Nations, to prevent human extinction, and make our planet...
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...
Until recently, I regarded AI as just another technical assist, a natural enhancement of Google where one finds the perfect word to complete a...
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...
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...
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...
The United Nations special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) has released a new report...
When globalisation loomed on the horizon in the late 20th century, governments around the world faced a choice: open the economy fully or manage...
When China submitted a draft UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Iran, the response wasn’t debate...
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...