April 1 – 7, 2023

News Corp chief executive Rupert Murdoch.

News

Image for article: ‘He’s not Bambi’: How the Liberals lost NSW
Image for article: What’s next for Labor’s housing future fund bill?
Image for article: Homelessness on the rise across Australia
Image for article: China’s economic expansion in Laos
Image for article: Russia moves nukes to Belarus as Ukraine gets tanks

Comment

Letters, Cartoon & Editorial

Cartoon

ReadCartoon image, links to full cartoon page

Editorial
Voice of a coward

Tony Abbott has now made his slithering, onion-skinned contribution to the “No” case for the Voice to Parliament. It is useful in as much as it synthesises the 12 key arguments against the Voice.

Letters

Missed opportunity

I am pleased the Greens came to a deal with Labor on the safeguard mechanism reform because we need to deal with industrial emissions (Mike Seccombe, “IPCC: This is the last chance to avoid catastrophe”, …

Surviving change

I am pleased to note that our government has finally placed limits on emissions and is taking positive steps to reduce human impact on the planet. I have been frustrated by the “numpties” denying our …

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Culture

Books

Book cover: Illustrations of hands and people, all angled to create the shape of a womb.

Isabelle Oderberg
Hard to Bear: Investigating the science and silence of miscarriage

Book cover: two naked bodies entwined. The book title print dow the side.

Viola Di Grado (translated by Jamie Richards)
Blue Hunger

Book cover: Illustration of a woman wearing bright red lipstick and sunglasses, a city reflecting in their shades.

Yan Lianke (translated by Carlos Rojas)
Heart Sutra

Life

Image for article: Cake tin focaccia

Food

Cake tin focaccia

Several people dressed in hazmat suits surround a table on a Shanghai street, organising Covid-19 tests. Several onlookers wearing masks watch in the background.

Life

Living through the Shanghai lockdown

As Melbourne marks the third anniversary of one of the world’s longest lockdowns, the author remembers a year since his own dystopian nightmare began in Shanghai.

Two nomads sit on a verandah, their arms reached towards an elephant that is facing them, its mouth wide.

Technology

The costs of becoming a digital nomad

The tens of thousands of online workers who call Thailand’s Chiang Mai their base are a boon for the local economy, but their lifestyle has its costs, both for the city’s social fabric and the ‘digital nomads’ themselves.

Sport

The hyperbole and hypocrisy of the AOC

Matt Carroll, the latest boss of the Australian Olympic Committee, is out with a begging bowl and spurious claims that funding elite sport lifts community participation.

The AOC’s Matt Carroll addresses the National Press Club

Puzzles

Quotes

Faith

“At the time it seemed like all hell had broken loose within Hillsong Church and I was under immense pressure and emotional strain.”

Brian HoustonThe Hillsong founder confirms he was charged with drink-driving in the United States last year. Say what you will about Brian, he loves the blood of Christ.

Celebrity

“Well, we lost half a day of skiing.”

Gwyneth PaltrowThe actor explains the stakes in her court battle against a retired optometrist who claims she ran into him on a ski slope. Think of it less as a crash and more as unconscious coupling.

Technology

“I see a clear, but difficult, path to a >$250B valuation”

Elon MuskThe billionaire projects a huge increase in the value of Twitter – in a memo that reveals the company is currently worth less than half of what he paid for it. In another embarrassing writedown, he changed his daughter’s name from “Exa Dark Sideræl Musk” to “Y”.

Media

“It never happened. It’s complete BS.”

Richard WilkinsThe reporter says he has contacted lawyers to deal with a faked image of him being arrested in a park. If anyone is going to doctor Wilkins’ face, it clearly already is him.

Politics

“I’ve actually tried to ring Mark, a couple of times, to no avail.”

Pauline HansonThe One Nation leader condemns Mark Latham over a graphically homophobic social media post. Presumably Latham couldn’t take the call because there was a sale on at Rivers.

Law

“Knowing Clive Palmer’s record for paying his workers, I hope Christian Porter asks for his money up front.”

Anthony AlbaneseThe prime minister responds to news the former attorney-general will act for Clive Palmer in a $299 billion lawsuit against Western Australia. If serving in the Morrison government doesn’t prepare you to run interference for a mining interest, nothing will.

ISRAEL–HAMAS WAR