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Pearls and Irritations![]() |
Imagine a “Lego city,” swiftly assembled yet unshakeably strong, its steel modules secured to solid foundations and reinforced with seismic...
On a quiet Wednesday night in Adelaide recently about 50 people met in a church hall to share concerns about the militarisation of their schools...
The direct impact of the extraordinary, “Liberation Day” US tariff regime is bad for Taiwan. The indirect effects may prove to be graphically...
P&I readers don’t need to be told that Defence Minister Richard Marles is floundering when trying to make security links with Indonesia seem as...
Jacqui Lambie is no Cameron Diaz but the title of one of Diaz’s most loved films, There’s Something about Mary, might be a useful way of thinking...
The appointment of Steven Kennedy to PM&C and Jenny Wilkinson to Treasury is welcome news for several reasons. These are two high-calibre career...
It has been a big couple of weeks at Pearls and Irritations, featuring some of the biggest issues we have pursued strongly in the past few years:...
Australia’s symbolic actions on Palestine may not change the course of the conflict, but they matter deeply at home. As Gaza reshapes public...
Malcolm Turnbull’s recent Foreign Affairs essay, America’s Allies Must Save Themselves, is a good intervention in the debate about Donald Trump’s...
“Trump must act immediately to suspend all military support to Israel and stop allowing US arms to fuel war crimes, mass civilian death, and...
It now seems taken for granted that Australia needs to spend a lot more on its military. Fortunately, if needed, Australia could increase its...
Albanese government eager to support WA’s gas addiction. Tasmania’s natural environment trashed by deer and loggers. Globally, one square...
Alas and alack! Woe be unto us, for we have sinned: Five countries have imposed sanctions on Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National...
The Virgina class submarine has been repurposed since the Republicans took the White House. So, Australia’s biggest ever military project has...
But his record does not give grounds for confidence. In his National Press Club address, PM Albanese referred to the “trust deficit” in other...
Our business sector lacks the skills to do business in Asia. And instead of improving, the situation is getting markedly worse. With the...
Now that the dust has settled on the 2024 City of Melbourne council elections, what lessons can be learned? I stood for deputy lord mayor and lost,...
Reports by invested parties of battlefield success in most wars — and the war between Russian and Ukraine is an exemplary case — are best read when...
In 1760, the newly established Qing Dynasty was looking to expand Chinese territory by claiming the region of Xinjiang. Many Chinese intellectuals...
Chris Murphy’s article in The Conversation on 3 June calling for a rethink of superannuation tax arrangements misrepresents the Henry Review’s...
Last week, President Donald Trump ordered an investigation into “who ran the United States while President Biden was in office”, alleging top...
Israel has been itching for years to attack Iran, citing its nuclear facilities as an existential threat. On Friday the 13th, it made good on its...
It’s rare that the biggest news in Australian politics emanates from Tasmania. But mixture of minority government, a no-confidence motion and an...
Twice a year Government House issues a list of those awarded an honour within the Australian Honours system. The vast majority of those awarded are...
Having been fortunate enough to have made three separate trips to Xinjiang over 15 years, I believe some observations may be of interest to P&I...
Recently, I lost a Facebook account I’d had for 17 years. It wasn’t just a social media profile — it was a living archive of my life. It held...
In honour of a brave Gazan fisherwoman Madleen Kulab, the international aid boat of the same name was turned back to an Israeli port. Naval ships...
Mohammed El-Kurd is a poet, writer, journalist and organiser from Jerusalem in occupied Palestine. Named by TIME magazine in 2021 as among the...
China is likely to leverage advanced technology to boost manufacturing, achieving self-sufficiency while becoming an indispensable exporter....
It’s hard to explain to a young person how the Albanese Government could possibly have approved the North West Shelf gas project expansion last...
When the government wants to cut back the massive tax concessions the rich receive on their superannuation, the media is full of it for weeks. ...
There’s a certain frisson as well as tension to this time of the year (June). It’s the time when those of us lucky enough (with enough) to have to...
The decision by the United States to initiate a review of the AUKUS agreement might very well be the moment Washington saves Australia from itself....
Three months have passed since the National Anti-Corruption Commission promised an “impartial and fair investigation” into Robodebt. Nothing has...
After a decades-long fight, Prime Minister Starmer in late May gave up Britain’s possession of the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean, while...
Lee Jae-myung has to deal with a North Korea emboldened by strengthened ties with Russia and must consider the stances of the US, Japan and China....
Australia occupies a unique position in the global landscape, bridging East and West both geographically and culturally. Yet it continues to...
As another anniversary of my husband’s death approaches, I’ve been wondering if I want AI to “resurrect” him. An AI clone of him could move,...
In the context of President Donald Trump’s all-embracing appetites and hatreds, Harvard being under attack by his administration should, almost...
The video of a Los Angeles police officer shooting a rubber bullet at Channel Nine reporter Lauren Tomasi is as shocking as it is revealing. In her...
In his new Quarterly Essay, Hard New World, Hugh White delivers a devastating attack on Australia’s current defence policies. Wider than a critique...
Is documentation enough to achieve justice? Since the onset of the Israeli war on Gaza in October 2023, human rights organisations have...
When Tony Abbott brought Malcolm Turnbull back into his shadow cabinet as communications spokesman in 2010, the then Opposition leader mocked...
This is the end. The final blood-soaked chapter of the genocide. It will be over soon. Weeks. At most. Two million people are camped out among the...