Swim between the flags, the sign says… Amazingly, the flags that have been working for 100 years are now confusing if you believe the Aussie media…
Unfortunate satire by Gus Leonisky
2025 turned out to be a banner year in the great steel crash. As of the November data, Chinese output was down 4% year-to-date. With a generous extrapolation for December, Chinese steel output will have shrunk well below one billion tonnes in 2025, approaching 2018 levels. Leading CISA data confirms no late-year rebound for China.
On Friday 2 January 2026 every major media outlet in the country was running the news that 120 Australian Business leaders were calling for the Federal Government to call a Commonwealth Royal Commission into the Bondi Shootings and Anti-Semitism in Australia. Australia’s biggest industry groups demand an antisemitism royal commission – The Age Australia’s biggest
US President Donald Trump has warned Iran's authorities against killing peaceful protesters, saying Washington "will come to their rescue".
In a brief post on social media, he wrote: "We are locked and loaded and ready to go," but gave no further details.
Hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on December 26 that Israel recognizes Somaliland as an independent state, US President Donald Trump was asked whether the United States would follow suit, especially given the talk of a plan to relocate Gazans to the newly formed state. Trump replied, “That’s an important question.”
MOSCOW (Sputnik) - US President Donald Trump said on Friday that White House doctors had informed him that he was in "perfect health" and that he had "aced" cognitive test for the third consecutive time.
Yellow Robin with katydid in Broulee Courtesy Geoff McVeigh Global Macro Five charts that explain the global economic outlook for 2026 – Guardian Oil prices record steepest annual fall since Covid pandemic – Guardian The 2025 energy transition in eight charts: clean wins, dirty setbacks – Reuters Commodities buffeted by Trump whirlwind seek relief
Today the NY Times published a long piece on the relations between the Trump administration and the government of Ukraine.
The Separation: Inside the Unraveling U.S.-Ukraine Partnership (archived) – NY Times, Dec 30 2025
On 5 December, tens of thousands of high school students demonstrated against conscription and war in around 90 German cities. On the same day, the German Bundestag passed a law on military service that moves towards conscription and ignores the concerns of schoolchildren.
I saw a short video where a UK policeman was arresting someone for supporting Palestine Action, an organisation which is all about trying to prevent the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. The person being arrested asked if it was because she supported Palestinians, and the copper said that it was. She also asked if she would be arrested if she supported Israel and the copper replied that she wouldn’t.
“Heaven is high and the emperor is far away.” So did Chinese peasants celebrate their distance from the Forbidden City over many centuries now past. I imagine a similar sentiment may prevail in the hyper-centralized People’s Republic.
When power is to one or another degree autocratic, power is best when power is distant. So it was for me, if briefly, as 2025 drew to a close.
THANK YOU CATHY... THANK YOU THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD FOR REMINDING US THAT PUTIN IS THE BAD GUY IN UKRAINE... I NEVER KNEW.... AND I STAND CORRECTED. I NOW REALISE THAT HISTORY STARTED IN FEBRUARY 2022...
Seriously though, cartoons such as the one by Cathy Wilcox should be thrown in the trash NEVER TO BE SEEN AGAIN....
NUF' said....
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