Ben Eltham

I've just told the boiler service man that we can’t pay him for repairing our boiler and that he should do it purely for the exposure since that’s just the way things work nowadays.

I am reminded that a startling number of people believe that if you’re a member of the military and you don’t like something your government did, you can just throw up your hands and quit the next day like any other job.

It Does Not Work That Way

Hero

Heroic Chicago trans comedian recalls saving infant from ice-cold Lake Michigan: ‘I guess I’m going in’ “The most important part of this entire story is that the baby is okay,” Lio Cundiff told The Advocate.

“I just experienced this trauma. I wanted this cheeseburger.” www.advocate.com/news/people/...

Secret Lib review slams ‘captain and ballboy’ Peter Dutton A leaked copy of the Liberal Party’s 2025 election review reveals the relationship between Peter Dutton and his campaign director broke down before the campaign began.

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Of course the suppressed Liberal Party election fail review has been leaked already.

thenightly.com.au/politics/aus...

What Amy says

The most important story you didn't know you need to read this week.

U.S. Still Enjoying Small But Loyal Following WASHINGTON—While the nation’s mainstream popularity has largely diminished in recent years, sources confirmed this week that the United States still retains a passionate fan base composed of a few ext...

U.S. Still Enjoying Small But Loyal Following

In short, the US and Israel have started this war with vague and unachievable objectives, with no int law base, and little or no support from Gulf states or other US allies. If Iran succeeds in hitting US/Israeli targets or disrupts oil exports, Trump will find using mil force is not risk free. End

Soft tinkly rain at my place … you don’t have to scroll

James Butler | Just Voting The Green Party’s Hannah Spencer has won the Gorton and Denton by-election with 41 per cent of the vote. Progressive...

James Butler on the Gorton and Denton by/election in the UK www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2026/fe...

a picture of Hayao Miyazaki looking exasperated and smoking

the scotus tariff decision was only a week ago

This week's #SundayShot has @lucyham.bsky.social to give us a peek into the Advance conference, @davemilbo.bsky.social & @boganintel.bsky.social asking "How fascist are our times?" + Anne Twomey enlightening us on the Anti Hate laws.

(and @ronnisalt.bsky.social has done us another great promo vid!)

Have a good friend who is a sex abuse survivor who swears by it

Saw this bloke down at Northlands the other day

This job ad for a new Woodside CEO is surprisingly honest

Hello darkness my old friend...

Labour's swing toward racism is perhaps the biggest unforced error in British political history; burnt their base to ashes and won them not a single vote on the right.

You’re goddam right we are

Green majority of more than 4500, Labour in third place. Absolute calamity for Keir Starmer.

And a complete failure of McSweeney’s electoral philosophy. The idea of relying on an anti-Reform vote coalescing behind Labour just collapsed entirely.

Gorton and Denton by-election result:

GRN: 40.7% (+27.5)
REF: 28.7% (+14.7)
LAB: 25.4% (-25.3)
CON: 1.9% (-6.0)
LDEM: 1.8% (-2.1)

Green GAIN from Labour.

I know it’s difficult right now, but I insist that you seek and enjoy beautiful things, even if it seems frivolous or irresponsible in the face of overwhelming horror. I want you to feed yourself artistically, spiritually, and literally, because you can’t Do The Work when you’re starving.

‘We think the Greens have won,’ said one senior MP as votes were counted in Gorton and Denton, a constituency that had been a Labour stronghold for nearly a century. ft.trib.al/9KvIlpN

The new Ellison-controlled media combine will check the boxes for all three types of capture: capitalistic, oligarchic, and authoritarian.
lpeproject.org/blog/the-ame...

Let the memes commence

Ooooft

Emerald Fennell’s ‘Smooth-Brained’ Wuthering Heights is the face of our modern literacy crisis Emerald Fennell’s “Wuthering Heights” was inspired by the Saltburn director’s first adolescent experience of reading Emily Brontë’s 1847 classic. For Macquarie University historical fiction researcher...

I absolutely hated Fennell's Wuthering Heights and I talked about it here: lighthouse.mq.edu.au/article/2026...

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Committee to Protect Journalists Reports a Record 129 Journalists Killed in 2025 For both 2024 and 2025, the Israeli military was responsible for two-thirds of all press killings.

A record 129 press workers were killed worldwide in 2025, more in one year than in any of the previous three decades. The previous record was set in 2024. For both 2024 and 2025, the Israeli military was responsible for two-thirds of all press killings.