Articles from THE BLOT REPORT

Back in late 2017, I wrote an item about sea level rise and how climate change deniers lie about it1. At the time, the mean sea level rise for the interval between 1993 and 2015 was 3.3 millimetres (mm) per annum2. The data used, as noted, only went up to 2015. However, since then, the rate of sea level rise has increased, and it seems that rate is itself increasing. The average sea level rise in the interval between 2013 and 2022 was 4.62 mm per annum.

The Law and Justice Party (Prawo i Sprawiedliwość, PiS for short) is a right wing nationalist populist party which has been in national government in Poland since 2015. It has often been considered a Christian nationalist party, and a de facto political proxy of the Polish Catholic Church. Like Christian nationalist parties in other countries, it is decidedly authoritarian and illiberal; and like them it has attempted to dismantle democratic checks and balances1.

After the racists and their fellow travellers ‘won’ the Voice to Parliament referendum vote by lying to the Australian populace in support of the No campaign1-3, it was predicted by many people that this would embolden said racists and that they would start attacking things such as ‘Welcome to Country’ ceremonies.

It is always difficult when a close relative dies, but when they are in their late eighties and have had a good, happy life, it is not so hard to bear. One of ours died in late July and while there were many tears shed, there was a cremation and a memorial service to organise in another city, because many of her friends and family were, like her, too old to travel. So we, with her ashes, travelled to them.