Linton Besser

You Can’t Kill Swagger My old corner of The Washington Post raised some of the best journalists in the business.

Shades of the eruptions inside The Sydney Morning Herald in 2012. A must read on the dismantling of the Washington Post: www.theatlantic.com/culture/2026...

Morten Morland at his finest.

A source confirms to me that this disturbing letter from Trump to the Norwegian PM is real.

Re-upping with this, by far the more read thing in my feed lately. By @adambonica.bsky.social

I thought his personal reflection interesting.

Opinion | When A.I. Took My Job, I Bought a Chain Saw

Sobering essay worth the time … www.nytimes.com/2025/12/28/o...

Ghislaine Maxwell lied about Trump never going to Epstein's house (directly contradicted by her email correspondence with Epstein), and she was rewarded for that lie with a transfer to a cushier prison. The coverup is happening in plain sight.

50 years on, the Balibo Five remembered for their courage and conviction - ABC International Development Esteemed Australian journalist and foreign correspondent Matthew Carney reflects on journalism and urges reporters to 'seek truth' at a special event in Timor-Leste, marking the 50th anniversary of th...

On news of Matthew Carney stepping down at Four Corners, it’s worth reading his recent and stirring address on the 50th anniversary of the killing of the Balibo Five: www.abc.net.au/abc-internat...

My prison tips for Sarkozy: keep hush and let the sex jokes slide The Tory ex-minister Jonathan Aitken was jailed for perjury in 1999 — whatever you do, he tells the former French president, don’t sing London’s Burning

Advice to Sarkozy from a fellow traveller: www.thetimes.com/world/europe...

New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Trump foe, is indicted by Trump’s DOJ She has been charged with one count of bank fraud by the same U.S. attorney who brought charges against James Comey.

REAKING: New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Trump foe, is indicted by Trump’s DOJ.

She has been charged with one count of bank fraud by the same U.S. attorney who brought charges against James Comey.

Trump's Crusaders: Christian Nationalists Are Gaining a Solid Foothold in Washington U.S. President Donald Trump has opened the doors of power to far-right Christian nationalists. Their goal: an American theocracy. The separation of church and state in America is at risk.

Fascinating piece on the rise of Christian fundamentalism in Trump’s America: www.spiegel.de/internationa...

What a grim lineup of headlines.

‘This Is Like Something Out Of A David Lynch Film,’ Says Man Driving Car With Headlights On

‘This Is Like Something Out Of A David Lynch Film,’ Says Man Driving Car With Headlights On

Tom Homan was investigated for accepting $50,000 from undercover FBI agents. Trump's DOJ shut it down. The FBI and Justice officials closed the investigation, which a Justice Department appointee had called a “deep state” probe in early 2025.

Criminal justice another of the institutions of state wilting under Trump: ‘On Sept. 20, 2024, with hidden cameras recording the scene at a meeting spot in Texas, Homan accepted $50,000 in bills, according to an internal summary of the case and sources.’ www.msnbc.com/msnbc/news/t...

Opinion | Why Does Everybody Swear All The Time Now?

The most American essay so far this year: www.nytimes.com/2025/09/14/o...

Australia's press gallery has a unique problem with its political coverage The federal press gallery is ceding power to the Albanese government. It needs to take it back.

Fascinating analysis on Canberra’s culture of drops here: www.abc.net.au/news/2025-09...

FOI amendment bill not what John Faulkner, Allan Hawke wanted From cabinet secrecy to “factors against” access, the FOI amendment bill risks undoing gains won under earlier reforms.

From cabinet secrecy to “factors against” access, Australia’s FOI amendment bill risks undoing gains won under earlier reforms www.themandarin.com.au/299152-foi-a...

Revealing, if true.

Well overdue for media to ban “drops” by political parties that insist no third party comment can be sought. Insidious, does not serve readers. (The Age banned them at a state level, or at the very least discloses that that was a condition for the story). Time for it to end in Canberra.

The Spectacular Comeback Tour of a Crypto Convict

Rodney Bridge, a resident of Perth, Australia, whose 16-year-old son took a hallucinogen bought from Silk Road and then jumped off a hotel balcony in 2013, called Mr. Ulbricht’s comeback tour “a disgrace.” www.nytimes.com/2025/09/07/t...

Meanjin's 'financial' shutdown doesn't add up Melbourne University reported a $273 million surplus in 2024 on an operating income of $3.2 billion. It is against these figures that the 'purely financial decision' to close Meanjin has raised eyebro...

www.crikey.com.au/2025/09/08/m...

It is really terribly sad

See: every sector of the economy.

I thought they were excellent, deeply thoughtful questions. Not rude, not one-eyed, but probing.

The Objectively Objectionable Grammatical Pet Peeve A semi-attentive investigation into a confounding sentence type.

A century or so ago, it seems that no writers had this grammatical tic. Now it is everywhere.

This is worth the time

Amazing graph from Semafor -- China now forecast to account for almost 60% of all renewable energy capacity installed worldwide between now and 2030

I hereby formally propose a new term (unless someone already has):

AE

standing for

Automated Enshittification

Revealed: spies for hire used ‘Big Brother’ tactics on salmon farm activists Guardian investigation sheds light on private intelligence industry that runs covert surveillance operations * Is surveillance by private operators legal in the UK? Wildlife activists who exposed horrific conditions at Scottish salmon farms were subjected to “Big Brother” surveillance by spies for hire working for an elite British army veteran. One of the activists believes he was with his young daughter on at least one of the occasions when he was followed and photographed by the former paratrooper Damian Ozenbrook’s operatives. Continue reading...

Revealed: spies for hire used ‘Big Brother’ tactics on salmon farm activists

Worth a watch:

Head of Signal, Meredith Whittaker, on so-called "agentic AI" and the difference between how it's described in the marketing and what access and control it would actually require to work as advertised.