Marcia Langton (@marcialangton) Every politician should read Kos Samaras’ devastating analysis of the waves and cycles of ant-immigrant hatred that stifle Australian social and economic growth. He might have added - but cannot becau...

substack.com/@marcialangt...

The world faces a grim reality, even if Trump exists in a different one The world is stuck watching a performative series of announcements about meetings that could, may, will happen, involving a president not dealing with the reality that he is in a weak and confused bar...

#auspol #Trump #Iran

"This is the reality facing the world at present, even if it may not be the reality existing in the mind of the US president."

Laura Tingle

www.abc.net.au/news/2026-04...

So the US spent billions blowing shit up in Iran, now the rest of the world will spend billions on tolls to move stuff through the straits to rebuild the shit that the US and Israel blew up. Got it. We have to subsidise stupidity

The university where I work pays costly licensing fees to monitor office occupancy with infra red sentinels on the ceiling like you see in some shopping centre car parks to monitor bay availability. This is nuts. Simply encourage staff back into the office to promote the life of the campus.

Ongoing immigration of essential workers to make up shortfalls in caring roles is essential. Many have young families and for the most part Australia hasn’t had to fund the education of the parents who all contribute to Australian society in a multitude of ways.

As other jobs are automated or replaced by AI, and as educational standards rise, personal services will increase as a proportion of total. But this is mostly good, not a need for panic.

With more automation there as well; eg 3 hour contact time - start robot vacuum while doing the clients shopping online whilst handling other important functions that are not automated such as giving the client time for a chat and other activities where human interaction is essential for wellbeing.

If you want to buy bus tickets in Rome you go to a “Tabacchi” shop - seems they’re so entrenched they’ve diversified their function like newsagents here selling Go cards. Not advocating vapes in any way but it is curious how they’ve become so normalised in some countries.

Possibly due to a toxic brew of popular conservatism, a media landscape dominated by politically cunning agendas, and a certain philistine hubris whereupon one cannot comprehend the way in which the humanities provide incalculable benefits to society—notably women /and/ STEM graduates?

How did Australian universities go from free education to $50,000 arts degrees in 50 years?

It also messes with positional memory the way supermarkets do by moving products around. Managers have to work around it by having a particular team at work one day and another team on another day so they can retain a semblance of what worked well before someone decided it should be changed.

And we entrench the culture by decoupling people from the only bit of real estate employees can call their own at work - their own personalised desk - and all the psychological safety benefits that may provide - and force them to share it in ratios that mean they have to work from home some days.

The text says: Orban was also a source of lavish grants and speaking gigs, ultimately paid for by long-suffering EU taxpayers. That’s all over now. Those who have taken those gigs will come under a lot more scrutiny. In Australia they include Tony Abbott, Alexander Downer, Brian Loughnane (former Liberal national director), Greg Sheridan and many less prominent but highly influential figures.

Good piece by John Quiggin on the ousting of Orban, including this observation:
open.substack.com/pub/johnquig...

Qantas cuts domestic flights and raises fares as fuel costs blow out Qantas will cut domestic flights due to higher fuel costs and the uncertainty of the Middle East war, as it flags as much as $800 million in extra fuel costs.

www.abc.net.au/news/2026-04...

Good thing we’ve got intercity high speed rail to keep us moving.

Hey wait a minute…

John Quiggin (@jquiggin) Now that Starmer is linking Trump and Putin in public comments, it’s safe to say that the “special relationship” is over. That means the end of AUKUS.

substack.com/@jquiggin/no...

Trickle down economics is a hoax.

This t-shirt is not.

Get yours today and help me spread the word about this economic myth. https://bit.ly/4v94gzU

Charts showing two columns Adult community & other education industry: wages $3.9bn; profits, $1.7bn Oil and gas industry: wages $4bn, profits $71.6bn

Part 2 in "Just how big is the oil and gas industry".

The private adult education sector pays almost as much in wages as does the gas industry. Profits are a tad different.

live.thepoint.com.au/2026/03/the-...

And they rely absolutely on the uncredited input of those who will have to implement the nonsense they come up with. Change for the sake of change.

All these consultants are value extractors. They speak the language of managerialism. Overpaid vice-chancellors hire them to escape accountability and preserve their obscenely inflated incomes. The losers are our kids.

The consultancy frauds strike yet again. What will it take for the Australian public sector to wake up the fact that these people are overpaid spivs and PowerPoint show ponies? They have no substance whatsoever. #4Corners

Yeah, what’s best about the “Australian way of life” is that we we’ve been quietly confident and skeptical enough of rank political foolishness to avoid turning it into some party political ideology with an ulterior motive.

NACC for Misunderstanding At a tiny natural wine bar in Bologna, a French couple from Paris walked in while I was sat at the counter and struck up a conversation with the Italian server. 'I hate Paris,' he said with a big smile, 'because every time I go there my girlfriend says

Seriously, it's time to scrap NACC. It's clear that nothing done by government ministers or senior bureaucrats is going to meet its threshold for action. The petty corruption it has prosecuted is trivial in relation to its gigantic budget. Ordinary police can handle.

She has a rather narrow viewpoint to assume that longevity equates to an oppressive dependence. It’s also an unhelpful lens through which to view an aging population at risk of decline through non-replacement given the incalculable value many provide in the other direction to family and society.

It’s a tad ironic that the reporter’s surname betrays their viewpoint.

当然！

While #Albo preens himself on throwing kids off social media, his backers make millions out of people who lose more than they can afford. 1000 days and counting. #auspol www.agr.org.au/take-...

Tax the billionaires www.sanders.senate.g...

Fuel price shocks should not be used to justify interest rate increases. RBA is supposed to focus on domestically generated "core inflation", as well as full employment objective. Possibility of global economic crisis suggests rates should be cut, or at least paused, not increased. #auspol

‘We don’t need anyone’s help’: Trump lashes out at NATO allies, Australia over Iran war The president named Australia among the countries whose help he no longer needed in the effort to unblock the crucial Strait of Hormuz, and went as far as saying that the US should rethink its involvement in NATO.

Trump has repudiated alliance with Australia (and all other democracies). Time to reciprocate. #auspol