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Pearls and Irritations

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This one’s on Netanyahu, not Albanese

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Pearls and Irritations

Jack Waterford

Australia’s roads are full of giant cars, and everyone pays the price

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Pearls and Irritations

Milad Haghani

Ten threats, one emergency: how to become Earth Citizens

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Pearls and Irritations

Julian Cribb

Message from the Editor

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Pearls and Irritations

Catriona Jackson

Cost of wind and batteries fall as CSIRO finds new way to show renewables are cheapest

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Pearls and Irritations

Sophie Vorrath

Vulnerability at the heart of Christmas

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Pearls and Irritations

Bill Uren

New Year’s Day and the promise that does not last

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Pearls and Irritations

Adrian Rosenfeldt

What Australia’s teen social media ban could mean for reading

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Pearls and Irritations

Bec Kavanagh

Holding on to hope – a Christmas reflection

Holding on to hope – a Christmas reflection

In the shadow of the Bondi massacre, Christmas and Hanukkah sit side by side this year. Acts of courage and faith remind us how light is kept alive...

latest 10

Pearls and Irritations

Frank Brennan

How much does it cost to end rough sleeping? An Australian-first study may have just found out

How much does it cost to end rough sleeping? An Australian-first study may have just found out

Homelessness in Australia is worsening, with services stuck in crisis mode. Evidence from Finland – and new research in SA and WA – shows a...

yesterday 10

Pearls and Irritations

Katrina Raynor

Environment: More good recycling is needed – emphasis on good

Environment: More good recycling is needed – emphasis on good

Low levels of plastic recycling are bad for human health and the environment. For lead, high levels of dangerous recycling are doing the damage....

yesterday 10

Pearls and Irritations

Peter Sainsbury

Assange sues Nobel Foundation to stop war-promoting Machado from receiving Peace prize cash

Assange sues Nobel Foundation to stop war-promoting Machado from receiving Peace prize cash

Julian Assange has filed a legal complaint seeking to block Nobel Peace Prize funds from being paid to Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina...

yesterday 9

Pearls and Irritations

Brad Reed

A defence of 'doing nothing'

A defence of 'doing nothing'

Public safety can be strengthened without turning fear into a political performance. When protection becomes theatre, institutions weaken and...

yesterday 10

Pearls and Irritations

Sasha Klumov Attard

Bondi demands answers – and a Royal Commission

Bondi demands answers – and a Royal Commission

Revelations about overseas training, intelligence failures and police responses raise urgent questions that cannot be left to internal reviews. In...

yesterday 7

Pearls and Irritations

Greg Barns

Chile swerves to the right and into the past

Chile swerves to the right and into the past

José Antonio Kast’s election marks the first time since Chile’s return to democracy that an admirer of the dictatorship has reached the presidency....

previous day 2

Pearls and Irritations

Ariel Dorfman

Bondi raises questions about ASIO’s community intelligence reach

Bondi raises questions about ASIO’s community intelligence reach

The Bondi attack has renewed scrutiny of whether Australia’s domestic intelligence agencies have sufficient cultural reach and human intelligence...

previous day 3

Pearls and Irritations

Bernard Collaery

Shrinking East Asia needs a safety net

Shrinking East Asia needs a safety net

East Asia has led the global recovery since the pandemic, but deep welfare imbalances are now threatening the sustainability of its growth model....

previous day 2

Pearls and Irritations

Arvid Lukauskas

Why are you still using Microsoft Windows?

Why are you still using Microsoft Windows?

The ACCC’s case against Microsoft raises questions about market power and consumer transparency – but it also highlights how dependence on bundled...

previous day 2

Pearls and Irritations

Dan Wild

Why did Trump send his warships to Venezuela?

Why did Trump send his warships to Venezuela?

As US pressure on Venezuela intensifies, Washington is reviving an openly interventionist approach to Latin America. The targets extend beyond...

previous day 3

Pearls and Irritations

Vijay Prashad

What the Bondi Beach tragedy reveals about Australia’s political faultlines

What the Bondi Beach tragedy reveals about Australia’s political faultlines

In the aftermath of the Bondi Beach attack, grief was quickly accompanied by political demands that blurred the line between combating antisemitism...

previous day 4

Pearls and Irritations

Raghid Nahhas

Choosing hope in an uncertain world

Choosing hope in an uncertain world

In an age of political, ecological and social strain, hope is often mistaken for denial. But real hope is neither passive nor naïve – it is a...

previous day 3

Pearls and Irritations

Stewart Sweeney

Beijing makes domestic spending its top priority – Asian Media Report

Beijing makes domestic spending its top priority – Asian Media Report

From China’s new investing in people strategy to Thailand’s threat to continue border fighting, revelations about Korea’s martial law bid, South...

previous day 4

Pearls and Irritations

David Armstrong

China has neither the intent nor the capability to attack us

China has neither the intent nor the capability to attack us

Australia faces no credible military threat from China. The real danger lies in uncritical alignment with US strategy, fear-driven rhetoric and the...

previous day 3

Pearls and Irritations

John Menadue

The Bondi Beach massacre: exploiting tragedy

The Bondi Beach massacre: exploiting tragedy

The tragic massacre at a Hanukkah celebration in Bondi was followed by a rush to assign blame, inflame fear and curtail dissent. My wife and I were...

thursday 3

Pearls and Irritations

Stefan Moore

Australia’s school attendance crisis needs urgent national action

Australia’s school attendance crisis needs urgent national action

School attendance has been sliding for more than a decade, with more than a million Australian students now missing significant classroom time....

thursday 1

Pearls and Irritations

Amy Haywood

Storms expose Gaza’s humanitarian collapse

Storms expose Gaza’s humanitarian collapse

Heavy rains and gale-force winds have turned life-threatening for Palestinians in Gaza, where the destruction of housing and restrictions on aid...

thursday 2

Pearls and Irritations

Stephen Prager

2025 in Review: Palestine, international law and Australia’s silence

2025 in Review: Palestine, international law and Australia’s silence

In 2025, the crisis in Palestine brought international law to a breaking point. Australia’s response, marked by caution and inaction, raises hard...

thursday 1

Pearls and Irritations

Paul Heywood-Smith

MYEFO leaves the hard work on inflation, debt and budget repair undone

MYEFO leaves the hard work on inflation, debt and budget repair undone

The latest MYEFO shows only marginal improvement in the budget outlook, while deficits persist and fiscal settings continue to complicate the...

thursday 4

Pearls and Irritations

Saul Eslake

Radar lock or editorial block? The ABC's China-Japan report has blind spot

Radar lock or editorial block? The ABC's China-Japan report has blind spot

A story published by the ABC framed a military encounter as an act of aggression. But subsequent details told a more complicated story that...

thursday 3

Pearls and Irritations

Fred Zhang

Pearlcast: a year that overturned the old certainties

As 2025 draws to a close, the temptation is to look for neat summaries and settled conclusions. But in the latest episode of our podcast Pearlcast,...

thursday 1

Pearls and Irritations

Catriona Jackson

A better symbol

A better symbol

After the Bondi massacre, grief was swiftly overtaken by politics. Public mourning and the misuse of symbols raise hard questions about solidarity,...

thursday 2

Pearls and Irritations

Sara Dowse

Looking for the wrong things: peace, power and the meaning of Christmas

Looking for the wrong things: peace, power and the meaning of Christmas

As another bruising year ends, Christmas offers a reminder that peace is not found in power, wealth or spectacle, but in inner integrity, humility...

thursday 1

Pearls and Irritations

George Browning

2025 in Review: What this year taught us about life, loss and shared humanity

2025 in Review: What this year taught us about life, loss and shared humanity

Amid violence, war and deepening polarisation, 2025 has shown that despair and passivity are choices too – and that human survival depends on...

17.12.2025 1

Pearls and Irritations

Stephanie Dowrick

AI policy is stuck on productivity – and democracy is paying the price

AI policy is stuck on productivity – and democracy is paying the price

Artificial intelligence is increasingly framed in terms of efficiency and growth. But that framing sidelines harder questions about power, choice...

17.12.2025 3

Pearls and Irritations

John H Howard

Cutting the Internet in Afghanistan is gender-based violence

Cutting the Internet in Afghanistan is gender-based violence

The Taliban’s September Internet blackouts were not a technical disruption but a deliberate act of control. By cutting digital access, Afghan women...

17.12.2025 3

Pearls and Irritations

Bree Benbow

Niki Savva’s Earthquake is a damning account of the election that shook Australia

Niki Savva’s Earthquake is a damning account of the election that shook Australia

In ‘Earthquake: The Election that Shook Australia’, Niki Savva dissects a federal election result that all but erased the Liberal Party from...

17.12.2025 4

Pearls and Irritations

Mark Kenny

India and China in deep water over Himalayan hydropower

India and China in deep water over Himalayan hydropower

India and China are racing to build vast hydropower projects in the Himalayas. Framed as clean energy, the dams are also about territorial control,...

17.12.2025 1

Pearls and Irritations

Jianli Yang

What Australia’s gun law response means for New Zealand

What Australia’s gun law response means for New Zealand

Australia is moving toward its biggest overhaul of firearms regulation since Port Arthur. For New Zealand, the lessons may be uncomfortable – and...

17.12.2025 1

Pearls and Irritations

Alexander Gillespie

Climate hot takes for 2025

Climate hot takes for 2025

Scientific evidence in 2025 showed global warming accelerating faster than expected, while emissions continued to rise and climate policy lagged...

17.12.2025 2

Pearls and Irritations

David Spratt