Yes, Rayner does have an X factor but she’s still being investigated for avoiding tax or something so she’s out I’d have thought until that’s over. I think Ed Miliband has been leader before, after Brown. Another person is Yvette Cooper, Foreign Secretary, seems to be highly regarded.

As you’d know there’s no obvious successor though. I think Wes Streeting is pretty good but many wouldn’t. Angela Rayner doesn’t have broad appeal either IMO. Most likely is Andy Burnham but he’s not a MP. What do you think?

Trump steers America into a ditch but shush, don’t tell the media…

Why are US shares so unbothered by what’s going on in Iran? Isn’t that odd? TIA.

Please can you tell me if the new IMF forecast is getting any media coverage there? TIA.

www.theguardian.com/business/2026/apr/14/ira...

This week's edition of the UK's New Statesman magazine isn't pulling its punches.

A political cartoon by Megan Herbert showing the Earth in a hospital bed, hooked up to a monitor and a drip. The monitor, measuring adrenaline and cortisol, the stress hormones registers erratic dips, troughs and spikes which are a match for President Trump's signature. The IV drip, labelled "patience" is running out. Over Iran and the Straight of Hormuz are a couple of basic bandaids, labelled "2 weeks". Not pictured is anyone in a position of authority doing anything meaningful to fix the root cause of the ailment.

Hypertension.
My cartoon in today's @theageaustralia.bsky.social and @sydmorningherald.bsky.social

So good!! What we’re all feeling.

Wow! I can’t help thinking Tories see the writing on the wall that cozying up to Trump doesn’t bode well for them either.

Good.

And when is King Charles due to go there?

You’re not the only one. We have lots of leverage so why don’t we just use it?

Wow. Thanks for sharing. Truly scary. All Trump’s talk of US independence not true then. I hope someone has told him.

Yes, that’s right. I expect other States and Territories will soon follow suit. Seems sensible to me.

Pretty amazing really!
Thanks Kevin.

True but he is a benign King. I can’t see us going republic any time soon either.

Excellent!
And thanks for all your work, much appreciated.

Reap what you sow.

If it’s any consolation Australia’s farmers aren’t happy either, so maybe it’s about right?

I hope they’re not using AI? Surely not.

I was listening at the time and was so pleased to hear what Andrew Hastie said, surprised, but very pleased.
He deserves praise for it IMO.

I’ve read similar posts from USA commentators.

Sky News here (after dark) is pretty bad but probably not as bad as GB News or Fox, thankfully!

It’s exhausting what’s happening elsewhere so I concur!
It is fairly boring here though but it does have its moments.

Our PM is also extremely boring, maybe Starmer on steroids?

Yes, we turned the boats back.

You shouldn’t speak too soon. In South Australia we have a State Election tomorrow. Our populist party One Nation is on the ballot. They may get a couple of seats in our Lower House and possibly more in our Upper House but essentially it’s expected to be a very big Labor victory!

Murdoch print media is ~70%. My State, South Australia is 100%.
Yes, you read that right. They also have a large share in Sky News here. Sky during the day is good. Sky After Dark another matter. All right wing nut jobs host these shows.

Thanks for that.
I didn’t realise there’d be a difference between state and federal polls, I do now though!

The margin of error seems quite large doesn’t it?