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Pearls and Irritations @johnmenadue.com · 10h

As democracies falter under the rise of demagogues, its about whether we can build the civic infrastructure to resist authoritarianism and create resilient communities capable of solving complex problems together. #auspol #activism

Do you see me? Do you hear me? Does what I say matter?

In an age when millions feel invisible to those in power, these aren't rhetorical questions. They're the foundational need that either builds democracies or tears them apart.

johnmenadue.com

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Pearls and Irritations @johnmenadue.com · 10h

Deforestation is a global catastrophe in slow motion. Despite the good intentions of many, it is still accelerating, as humans continue to gnaw, like termites, at the very foundations of the Earth’s life support system. @JulianCribb #TheHumanFuture #deforestation

The Earth uncloaked – A catastrophe in slow motion

Woodman, spare that tree! Touch not a single bough! In youth it sheltered me, And I'll protect it now. – GP Morris 1837

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Pearls and Irritations @johnmenadue.com · 11h

The proposed deal with the Trump administration requires that universities abolish institutions on campus that “purposefully punish, belittle, and even spark violence against conservative ideas”, quashing university freedom. #auspol #USpolitics

Campus leaders mobilise to battle Trump’s anti-education ‘Compact’ tooth and nail

“Workers, students, campus community members across this great country are coming together to fight for a higher education system that actually works for all – one that is affordable, strengthens freedom and democracy, and stands up to its public mission.”

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Pearls and Irritations @johnmenadue.com · 11h

The days of “she‘ll be right, mate” are over, and all thinking Australians need to take action against ecocide and genocide and not let one 22-year-old woman take the burden of the crises of the world on her shoulders. #auspol #GretaThunberg #Gaza

Is Greta Thunberg the lone voice for justice in our world?

As the world moves from one crisis to another and our politicians ignore the immense injustices that are happening in their nation and in the world, what do ordinary non-violent citizens do to let their politicians know they aren’t happy with their lack of moral and ethical fortitude?

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Pearls and Irritations @johnmenadue.com · 11h

By telling the story of phone hacking and dramatising the human face of the disorienting, corrosive effect this has on people, the program aims to fill the void left by the many out-of-court settlements News reached with victims. #auyspol #TheHack

Journos as heroes and villains - 'The Hack' reviewed - Part 2

The Hack is rare among films and television programs for showing journalists doing journalism to other journalists.

johnmenadue.com

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Pearls and Irritations @johnmenadue.com · 11h

Trump's peace plan is marred by an unmistakable colonial framework. A real peace plan must eliminate the colonial scaffolding. It should restore Palestinian sovereignty by addressing the central issue: Palestinian statehood. #auspol #Gaza #PeacePlan

Jeffrey Sachs: Twenty-point plan minus the US-UK colonialism

Jeffrey D. Sachs and Sybil Fares offer a revised version of the Trump plan for an end of the war in Gaza and the occupation of the West Bank.

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Pearls and Irritations @johnmenadue.com · 12h

Albanese has ruled out any moves towards a republic. He may have read the room correctly. There is no agreement on what could replace the present arrangement. Trump's impact on Australian politics also throttles the agenda. #auspol #USpolitics #republic

Our American obsession

I have spent seven years of my life in the United States and much of my writing has been influenced by the US.

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Pearls and Irritations @johnmenadue.com · 12h

Wong, a masterclass on China: "build real defence ties, do tech and logistics with friends, don’t pick fights for fun, and — the killer line — don’t get dragged into “what-if” games about Taiwan. “We don’t talk about hypotheticals,”. #auspol #Chinathreat

A masterclass in agency: What Singapore can teach Australia about China

Singapore’s new Prime Minister Lawrence Wong sat down with the ABC on 2 October and offered something rare in Australia’s China debate: clarity, confidence, and a middle-power strategy that doesn’t involve shouting or submission.

johnmenadue.com

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Pearls and Irritations @johnmenadue.com · 12h

Given that Australia enjoys a huge trade surplus with China and a trade deficit with the US, Australia at first glance has nothing to gain from conciliating the president and appeasing his global trade and tariff war. #auspol #ASEAN

Australia’s next big bet lies East, not West

It is in Asia where Australia’s bread is buttered. And Canberra needs a strategy on the security impact that is a gathering tide from the economic impact of Trump’s tariffs on our interests there.

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Pearls and Irritations @johnmenadue.com · 13h

Gaza Government Media Office on Wednesday said Israel carried out 271 air and artillery strikes over the past five days, despite US calls to stop the bombardment. #auspol #PeacePlan #Israel #Palestine

Trump says Israel and Hamas sign off on first phase of Gaza ceasefire plan

Mediator Qatar said more details of the agreement would be announced at a later date.

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Pearls and Irritations @johnmenadue.com · 1d

Unless politicians, the media, the corporate world and managers of universities take the trouble to revise their understanding of history, this massive deception about October 7 will continue. #auspol #israel #palestine

A century of deceit: Towards a new understanding of the colonisation of Palestine

Political and media commentary on the Hamas killings of October 2023 have been preoccupied with claims that these were not only the worst terrorists but that their actions were without precedent.

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Pearls and Irritations @johnmenadue.com · 1d

AFOPA urges the president and board of the National Press Club to reconsider their cancellation of #ChrisLynnHedges appearance on 20 October and to honour the commitment they made. #auspol #NPC #media

Statement on cancellation of Chris Hedges’ confirmed appearance at the National Press Club of Australia

AFOPA is responding to the statement published on 4 October 2025 by the National Press Club of Australia in relation to their cancellation of Chris Hedges’ confirmed appearance at the National Press Club on 20 October 2025.

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Pearls and Irritations @johnmenadue.com · 1d

McEwan's futuristic novel What We Can Know with its sights set firmly on the present might take its place among those chronicling a world in crisis as it reached a series of unprecedented tipping points. #auspol #bookreview

Ian McEwan’s new novel explores resentment and vengeance in a fractured world

Ian McEwan’s new novel, his 18th in a long career of writing books that play with startling premises, bold ideas and big dilemmas, begins as a work of futurist fiction set in 2119.

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Pearls and Irritations @johnmenadue.com · 1d

The appeal from the fired Texas A&M professor may eventually lead to court rulings that clarify how people’s First Amendment protections apply in today’s disputes over curriculum and teaching. #auspol #USpolitics #Genderidentity

Shadow of McCarthyism looms over controversial firing of Texas professor who taught about gender identity

Texas A&M University announced the resignation of its president, Mark A. Welsh III, on 18 September 2025, following a controversial decision earlier in the month to fire a professor over a classroom exchange with a student about gender identity.

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Pearls and Irritations @johnmenadue.com · 1d

A hard-right politician, at her first press conference as new LDP leader that we discovered Takaichi was no shrinking violet, particularly in the skill and confidence with which she could handle a range of economic questions. #auspol #japan

Japan's likely new leader is a surprise, and not just because she is a woman

In the recent election held by Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party to find a new leader following the assassination of former prime minister, Shinzo Abe, an unlikely name to emerge was that of Sanae Takaichi.

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Pearls and Irritations @johnmenadue.com · 1d

We need, more than ever, to hear from and about courageous journalists who put their lives on the line to bring us truth. The unbalanced position of the #NPC in cancelling @ChrisLynnHedges is part of an ongoing undermining of free speech. #auspol #media

Cancelling Chris Hedges: What price balance?

On its homepage you will read that “The National Press Club (NPC) is a vigorous champion of media freedom and a home away from home for journalists”.

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Pearls and Irritations @johnmenadue.com · 1d

The seven-part series The Hack recently released on Stan, is about the phone hacking scandal in the United Kingdom. It has a stellar cast and explores the complexities of journalism. Written by Jack Thorne, Emmy winner for Adolescence. #auspol #journalism

Journos as heroes and villans - 'The Hack' reviewed - Part 1

In films and on the small screen, journalists are portrayed as heroes or villains. In The Hack they are both. Does this reflect the diminished, benighted standing journalists hold in society today or is it a step forward in showing the complexities of the work?

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Pearls and Irritations @johnmenadue.com · 1d

The plan says those who leave will be free to return. Can we trust them? An emphatic "No". Trump changes his mind between breakfast and afternoon tea. Israel didn't get to expand its 1948 borders to today by keeping its word. #auspol #USIsrael #palestine

A time to redouble our efforts for Palestine

Daniel Levy, who knows a thing or two about peace negotiations, warns us that, The plan is being used to push back against the momentum behind holding Israel accountable, the thing that could actually produce positive change.

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Pearls and Irritations @johnmenadue.com · 1d

The term "disaster season" is a shorthand. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it would be unfortunate if shorthand led people to think that weather-related disasters can occur only in a brief period in a location. #auspol #climatechange

‘Disaster season’: What is that?

Anika Wells, in announcing a meeting with three telco giants to discuss Optus’s Triple Zero emergency call system catastrophe in September, referred to the need for Australians to have confidence in the system before the coming disaster season. By that she meant summer. Is there really such a season?

johnmenadue.com

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Pearls and Irritations @johnmenadue.com · 1d

Ruwaida’s book, Stories from the War on Gaza, provides a moving account of daily life in Gaza during the present conflict, with its pain, heroism, desperation and hope. Published by Palaver Books, available as a free download. #auspol #Gaza #Books

Between two wounds: Gaza confronts Trump's plan to end the war

On a cold morning in central Gaza City, Nevin Al-Barbari, 35, sat in what remained of her family home, watching her two-year-old daughter, Reem, explore the rooms she had only recently come to know.

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Pearls and Irritations @johnmenadue.com · 2d

If Labor wishes to reclaim its moral authority, it must break with the consultant paradigm: rebuild public governance, fund socially vital disciplines and restore universities as places of learning, not revenue streams. #auspol #universitiesAU

How the ALP outsourced the soul of higher education

For most of its history, the Australian Labor Party spoke of education as a public good, the light on the hill, a vision of collective progress through strong institutions, universal access, and the elevation of ordinary citizens.

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Pearls and Irritations @johnmenadue.com · 2d

Australia has VAD. Three-quarters of respondents to a UK public poll reportedly said they’d “support making it lawful for someone to seek assisted dying,”. In the House of Commons, 314 MPs voted in favour and 291 against. #auspol #UkPoltics #VAD

Do politicians ever listen to the people or only the powerful?

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.’ Welsh word-wiz Dylan Thomas’ angry poem to his dying dad implied that the older man resisted passing. But for others, the end is welcome.

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Pearls and Irritations @johnmenadue.com · 2d

Public schools will be heavily underfunded in each year until 2034. The cumulative underfunding is estimated at a massive $34.6 billion. #auspol #schoolfunding

New school funding agreements deny full funding for public schools

The claim by the prime minister, premiers and their education ministers that public schools will be fully funded by 2034 is a blatant falsehood.

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Pearls and Irritations @johnmenadue.com · 2d

Experts say Labour came into power unprepared. The party had a plan to win, but not to govern. A negative narrative is on, even in areas where that might be unfair. #auspol #UKpolitics #Starmer

UK polls suggest Starmer is deeply unpopular. Can he survive another year?

Having led Labour to victory last year, the premier is struggling to build trust with his voters.

johnmenadue.com

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Pearls and Irritations @johnmenadue.com · 2d

It is telling that #Hamas has said it would welcome an international inquiry while the powerful white Western countries and #Israel would see hell freeze over before they allow their leaders to face independent judicial scrutiny.@BobbobNZ #auspol #Oct7

7 October 2023: Return of the Hannibal Directive and the genocide starts now - Part 2

By noon on 7 October 2023, news of Palestinians taking hostages grip the attention of Israel’s top military and political leadership who are gathered in the “Pit”, the Kirya bunker in Tel Aviv.

johnmenadue.com

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