Michael Mangold

Single frame. Image: four people holding up Donald Trump holding up Vladimir Putin who is reclining with crown and sceptre. “I once wrote “The Bad Guys are Winning” And by golly, they certainly are! They’re perverting the order Sowing death and disorder With absolute rule like a tsar Now we’ve layers of bad guys to deal with Bad guys propping up worse guys with zeal They indulge their demands Roll the carpet, shake hands And expect a Nobel for the deal We seem to buy into their fiction Entertaining their delusional lies If we ceased to believe Would they get up and leave? Then the winners wouldn’t be the bad guys.”

Bad guys.
My @smh @theage cartoon.

Waiting them out. Australia’s Greater Sunrise Gas heist - Michael West It’s been a 60-year quest to take Timor’s oil and gas. An invasion didn’t get it. Spying didn’t get it. So now Australia is waiting them out.

It’s been a 60-year quest to take Timor’s oil and gas. An invasion didn’t get it. Spying didn’t get it. So now Australia is waiting them out. @mrrexpatrick.bsky.social reports from Dili #auspol
michaelwest.com.au/timor-austra...

This is what universities send you now…when you agree to donate half a day, unpaid, to review student work. Given the majority of unis can’t seem to pay even their employed staff properly - the idea that they might ‘accidentally’ pay external visitors is risible…

Yay! It arrived today! "Dead Centre – How Political Pragmatism is Killing Us" by @australiainstitute.org.au's @richarddenniss.bsky.social. The sensible centre. Evidence-based policy. These are not the same. In fact, they are at odds with each other. #climate #emissions #AUKUS #NACC #auspol #booksky

Universities such as mine are making poor decisions, and we’re not allowed to know why UTS has announced a “pause” on enrolments in 100 courses. Vacating these critically important areas diminishes not only the brand of UTS but the state it was designed to benefit.

I am so proud of Anna Clark for having the guts to write this.💪
www.smh.com.au/national/nsw...

Two librarians. Dressed as the ‘Very Hungry Caterpillar’ and the butterfly

I love our local librarians

2 very good attacks on Scott Farquhar’s recent pronouncements & the exploitative, dismissive arrogance of big tech.
#Malcolmknox in SMH
& #alisonpennington in @thesaturdaypaper.com.au both spot on dismantling his sense of entitlement to our space, our rights, our intellectual property

Did you mean not giving a Donald duck à l'orange?

And we report on how the US is “disgusted” at our government’s proposed recognition of Palestine.
I think we no longer need to give a …canard what the US thinks.

Stealing from artists is a bad read. By @sophtree.bsky.social & me.

The demise of newscorp can’t come quick enough. What poison.

This 👇🏻 Please support Bookish. It’s a beautiful little shop.

I often sit outside and listen to the quiet which is never as quiet as you think. Where I live, I mostly hear native birds and insects and just now frogs, but underneath I'm always struck by the incessant distant hum of the city, trucks, trains and chainsaws. Humans are so damned noisy.

Thanks Michael. Appreciate your support. Today and all the other days.

You are not alone, I noticed Dr Kerstin Ferguson AM has withdrawn from the Bendigo Writers Festival on the basis of the necessity of ‘…open, honest and necessary dialogue.’

Definitely on the weekend playlist. Vale Mr Stratton.

Uni staff told to 'wash delicates' for stress management as 146 courses suspended The University of Technology Sydney is suspending more than 100 courses as it prepares for a controversial redundancy program to save $100 million.

These repulsive institutions…that have stolen and crushed everything meaningful and wonderful about knowledge and culture…now profoundly harming their people… www.abc.net.au/news/2025-08...

Good for you @mst-writes.bsky.social et al. Another kind of unfair dismissal @joshbornstein.bsky.social

Solidarity to the writers and artists taking a stand

Wonderful readings last night to celebrate the new issue of Coastlines literary magazine. Pretty happy to be included in this great line-up. coastlinesjournal.com/issue-10 #writing #writingcommunity #nonfiction #booksky

Ross Gittins | The Sydney Morning Herald Ross Gittins is the Economics Editor of The Sydney Morning Herald.

So right again Ross & #TheAusInstitute
With gas & pile exploiters paying so little tax, no more bleating that we can’t afford;
-public education
-environmental protection
-housing reform & public & affordable housing
-increase Newstart & pension
So need genuine reforms www.smh.com.au/by/ross-gitt...

New Zealand woman and six-year-old son detained for three weeks by Ice in US enduring ‘terrifying’ ordeal Sarah Shaw, who has a US visa and lives in Washington state, was detained after attempting to re-enter US from Canada

🤯 www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...

Authors warn AI copyright exception a 'free pass' for Big Tech to steal work The Productivity Commission's interim report on AI has triggered a fierce backlash from the literary community.

Pleased to hear Tony Burke's assurances that income theft via AI will not be endorsed by the cureent government but we need action on AI licensing NOW so that people can use it legally and fairly. www.abc.net.au/news/2025-08...

This is an extract of evidence given to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee on 13 August 2025

Donbas, don’t sell

#SoldDownTheRiver #skybooks

Large pink orchid in center of book cover with text: How Flowers Made Our World. The story of nature's revolutionaries. David George Haskell

Coming in March 2026: Flowers! When flowers appeared, nothing was ever the same. They are the world’s great collaborators and creators. Writing this book transformed how I see life’s history and future. Cooperation, beauty, and illusion transform the world. Can't wait to share these stories

Adam Liaw on the soul-crushing humiliation of cooking for children It’s the honesty that hurts most when your kids screw their noses up at your cooking. But there are ways around it.

This is so hilarious and fantastic. And 100 per cent true.

www.smh.com.au/goodfood/tip...

Two scenes. Scene 1: man beside corpse wrapped for burial with PRESS flak jacket on top, Netanyahu on other side. Man says, “Why did you kill him?”.Netanyahu replies, “Because he was Hamas.” Scene 2: same set up, man says, “How do you know he was Hamas?” Netanyahu says, “Because we killed him.”

Killing journalists.
My @smh cartoon.