Directness is a virtue and subtlety is lost

Exclusive: Senator accused of bringing social club into disrepute after raising concerns about its association with betting lobby Independent ACT senator David Pocock – a former Wallabies captain – been banned from attending parliament house’s social sports club after raising concern about its sponsorship by the gambling industry. The former rugby star was on Thursday night told he was no longer welcome at Australian Parliament Sports Club events, and accused of politicising the organisation. He has been removed from group chats discussing its events. Continue reading...

Communication must be freed from clickbait and misguided thinking, head of Catholic church tells journalists The pope has condemned clickbait as a “degrading” part of journalism, at a private audience with global newswires. Australian media representatives were among those to hear directly from Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican on Thursday with about 150 members of newswire alliance Minds International. Continue reading...

    What immediate challenges did the governments concerned face for their dockyards and shipyards? What long-term impacts resonate for them today? Signifying personal and international interest and legacy: USS Salem, US 6th Fleet flagship being lifted by AFD 35 in Grand Harbour Malta, 1956, just before the Suez crisis. Decommissioned, now at US Naval and Shipbuilding Museum, Quincy, Massachusetts, https://www.uss-salem.org/. Photo Roger Bendall, 1956. Writing a decade after the Suez crisis, one contemporary politician dismissed the affair as merely ‘the dying convulsion of the British Empire.’ This view is still widely held today, but how authentic is that interpretation in hindsight? How did the Suez crisis redefine Britain’s international identity and economic profile and its relationship with former colonies and ongoing allies? And how did it influence attitudes among Britain’s allies, including France and Israel, who had taken part, and the United States who had forced an early end to the action? Critically, how did the Suez aftermath and its often bitter recriminations shape future British naval policy on home and overseas dockyards and shipyards and their communities? Conference themes will include: Overview of how the Suez crisis shaped subsequent British and Allied naval strategy and deployment in the Cold War Political, local, social and economic effects of Suez on dockyards and shipyards globally Global strategic threats and opportunities arising from Suez Suez accelerated the global power shift from Britain to the United States – evidence? If your proposal is accepted, you will present in-person or online. We shall refund UK/European travel fares to the conference (other overseas: travel from UK airport to Greenwich), your fee, lunch and contribute to accommodation, publish your paper and give you a journal volume. Your talk will be c.30 minutes, the printed paper 6–10k words, due 31 June 2026. Send your title, a 300-word synopsis and a 100-word biography by 15 December 2025 or earlier to Roger Bendall [email protected] and Dr Ann Coats [email protected] N.B. The proposal should present original research. https://navaldockyards.org/conferences/ https://navaldockyards.org/ Facebook: NavalDockyardsSociety   Nutting, Anthony. No End of a Lesson. Constable, 1967. p. 108. A noted Arabist, Nutting resigned as Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs in protest at the invasion of Egypt.