IN THE NEWS
PM blitz to fireside up assault on Coalition’s nuclear plan (AAP) — Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is starting his day in Rockhampton as his tour of electorates in Queensland, the Northern Territory and Western Australia continues. The AAP experiences the PM will as soon as once more criticise the Coalition’s nuclear energy plans with Treasurer Jim Chalmers calling it “financial insanity” and claiming it might depart Queensland’s households worse off. Yesterday Albanese introduced $7.2 billion in funding to improve the 1,600km-long Bruce Freeway within the state. The opposition stated the pledge confirmed the PM solely cared about Queensland’s regional infrastructure when an election was looming, the AAP provides.
Justin Trudeau stepping down as Liberal chief, to remain on as PM for now (CTV Information) — On Monday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau introduced he was stepping down as chief of the governing Liberal Celebration after virtually a decade as PM. “Final night time over dinner, I informed my youngsters concerning the determination I’m sharing with you right this moment,” the 53-year-old stated at a press convention exterior his official Rideau Cottage residence. “This nation deserves an actual selection within the subsequent election, and it has develop into clear to me that if I’m having to battle inner battles, I can’t be the most suitable choice in that election.” CTV Information experiences he additionally introduced Parliament could be prorogued till March because the Liberal Celebration searches for his alternative. Trudeau says he plans to remain on as PM till a successor is discovered. Trudeau had been below rising strain to step down and the resignation of his key deputy, former finance minister Chrystia Freeland, final month seems to have lastly ended his time in energy.
Starmer assaults unfold of “lies” on grooming gangs as he hits again at Musk (BBC) — UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer on Monday attacked politicians and activists “spreading lies and misinformation” over grooming gangs, the BBC experiences. It comes after billionaire Elon Musk posted numerous messages on his social media platform X criticising Starmer’s time as director of public prosecutions between 2008 and 2013, claiming the PM had did not sort out the problem. In response, Starmer stated the net debate round grooming gangs had “crossed a line”. “We’ve seen this playbook many instances – whipping up of intimidation and of threats of violence, hoping that the media will amplify it. Those that are spreading lies and misinformation as far and as vast as doable should not excited by victims, they’re excited by themselves.” The BBC experiences the federal government has been urged to summon the US ambassador over Musk’s feedback, given the billionaire’s position within the upcoming Donald Trump administration.
Congress certifies Trump’s 2024 election win (CNN) — US Vice President Kamala Harris had the moderately unenviable job of formally confirming her defeat in final yr’s election. CNN experiences “the electoral school vote depend went easily and no objections or disturbances occurred”, with Harris presiding over proceedings. Harris introduced the certification of the depend and subsequently Donald Trump’s victory on Monday afternoon. He might be sworn in as president on January 20.
High flight: Australia, England, India in talks to separate Assessments in two (The Sydney Morning Herald) — Shortly after Australia’s lauded 3-1 Take a look at collection victory over India comes the information “Australia, England, India and the Worldwide Cricket Council’s new chair Jay Shah are in talks to separate Take a look at cricket into two divisions so the large three nations can play one another extra typically”, the SMH experiences. Cricket Australia chair Mike Baird and England Cricket Board chair Richard Thompson are set to satisfy with Shah later this month with the thought of a two-tier construction for Take a look at cricket “firmly on the agenda”, the paper cites sources as claiming.
WHAT I’M READING
Congress has now formally licensed Donald Trump’s election victory and in two weeks we’ll get his second inauguration. As we await that spectacle, Semafor has been wanting into the information that director Brett Ratner, who was “compelled out of Hollywood on the peak of the #MeToo motion”, will direct a documentary about First Girl Melania Trump for Amazon.
“Amazon’s buy of the Melania Trump documentary is the most recent entry in an escalating, head-snapping bidding struggle by the enormous tech platforms to ingratiate themselves with an incoming president their executives had, previously, criticised. Amazon founder and Washington Submit proprietor Jeff Bezos had positioned himself as a Trump critic earlier than swiveling to help the president-elect this fall.
“However the documentary, and Ratner’s return, additionally signify a modified cultural second, during which the values and icons of Trump’s MAGA motion are making their method ‘upstream’ from politics into mass American tradition, because the conservative media activist Andrew Breitbart used to place it. And the tradition’s new gatekeepers — the tech platforms, initially — are rejecting progressive judgments on individuals and content material.”
Elsewhere, Harper’s Journal has printed an extract from Liz Pelly’s upcoming e-book on the rise of Spotify. On this explicit part, Pelly seems at how common playlists are allegedly populated with low-cost inventory music, and the affect that’s having on the music business.
“In a Slack channel devoted to discussing the ethics of streaming, Spotify’s personal workers debated the equity of the PFC [Perfect Fit Content] program. ‘I ponder how a lot these performs ‘steal’ from precise ‘regular’ artists,’ one worker requested. And but so far as the general public was involved, the corporate had gone to nice lengths to maintain the initiative below wraps.
“Maybe Spotify understood the stakes — that when it eliminated actual classical, jazz, and ambient artists from common playlists and changed them with low-budget inventory muzak, it was steamrolling actual music cultures, precise traditions inside which artists have been making an attempt to make a residing. Or maybe the corporate was conscious that this venture to cheapen music contradicted so lots of the beliefs upon which its model had been constructed. Spotify had lengthy marketed itself as the last word platform for discovery — and who was going to get enthusiastic about ‘discovering’ a bunch of inventory music? Artists had been bought the concept streaming was the last word meritocracy — that one of the best would rise to the highest as a result of customers voted by listening.”
Confession time. I’m an absolute sucker for Netflix sports activities documentaries (see yesterday’s Summer season Worm for some very fascinating reporting on the methods the streamer feeds us all content material). My newest obsession is Beginning 5, which follows basketball superstars Jimmy Butler, Anthony Edwards, LeBron James, Domantas Sabonis and Jayson Tatum via the 2023-24 NBA season. I used to be already a basketball fan however the improve in my studying led me to this intriguing piece in The Atlantic by Marcus Thompson II final month on Edwards’ new leap shot this season. The piece seems at how Minnesota Timberwolves assistant coach Chris Hines and 23-year-old Edwards developed his recreation.
“Ant-Man has authored one other avenue for awe. One of many league’s most charming gamers added to a bag of brilliance already brimming with character. ‘It’s not the prettiest,’ he declared, giving the nod to Kevin Durant, Steph Curry and Klay Thompson. ‘They’ve obtained some pretty-ass jumpers. I’m not making an attempt to have the prettiest jumper. I simply need it to go in. Yeah, it seems good. However so long as it goes in, it seems higher.’
“Nevertheless, magnificence comes with a value. For Edwards, it was paid via a course of as methodical because it has been relentless. Hines and Edwards pieced it collectively as a long-term venture. Like a lot with Edwards, his capability was apparent. The expertise drips off him like Jheri curl juice. The final 4 years have been devoted to harnessing his all-world talents, as would be the subsequent 10 years.”
POLITICS REPORTER’S SUMMER MEDIA DIET
In my ears: This summer time vacation I’ve been going via one other critical Brian Wilson section, returning to the Seashore Boys songwriter’s music time and again and over. I’ve been particularly hooked on 1971’s Surf’s Up, a Seashore Boys album whose title observe is a pop masterpiece initially supposed for the deserted and legendary 1967 psychedelic idea album Smile. Have a hearken to the vocal melodies on that tune, after which take a look at the hauntingly unhappy “‘Til I die”, from the identical album: “I’m a cork on the ocean/Floating over the raging sea/How deep is the ocean?/How deep is the ocean?/I misplaced my method/Hey, hey, hey”” How’s that for an uplifting summer time tune? Smile, Wilson’s magnum opus, was lastly completed in 2004, and I’ve been obsessive about that file as effectively. There’s a documentary on the abandonment of the unique album and the completion of the modern-day model titled Stunning Dreamer, which is offered to observe on YouTube, for many who need to discover out why Wilson is taken into account by many to be one of many biggest pop composers of all time.
On my display screen: After being urged for months to take a look at the British spy collection Gradual Horses I lastly obtained round to it over the break, and I used to be instantly hooked. Gary Oldman is superb because the impolite and slovenly Jackson Lamb, the boss of a workforce of MI5 rejects. The most recent and fourth season premiered final September and the collection has been renewed for an additional two seasons, so it’s not too late to get onboard the hype prepare. The basic Christmas motion pictures didn’t hit as arduous this yr as they often do. Am I simply choosing the flawed ones? How the Grinch Stole Christmas, the 2000 Jim Carrey flick, I discovered principally unwatchable. Was it at all times so annoying, or have I simply grown previous and changed into a Grinch myself?
At my breakfast desk: I’ve principally solely opened the newspapers to do the cryptic crosswords. My favorite setter is Liam Runnalls, also called LR, whose cryptics seem on Tuesdays in The Sydney Morning Herald and on Saturdays in The Saturday Paper. The Weekend Australian’s cryptic crossword — syndicated through The Occasions and infrequently fairly clearly written for a UK viewers — is a enjoyable and infrequently troublesome one as effectively. For worldwide information, I at all times go to the Related Press. The US newswire is famend for its accuracy, globe-spanning community of reporters, and its breadth of protection, and the content material is completely free. Once I’ve headed off to the seaside I’ve packed both Self-importance Honest or Thrasher Journal.
On my plate: Christmas is a superb time to get pleasure from Swedish meals. Not like Australians, Swedes have a tendency to stay to at least one fairly particular menu for Christmas, and it’s an enormous one: the normal “Christmas desk” contains dishes like cured salmon, pickled herring, glazed ham, meatballs, pate, potato bakes, sausages and spiced bread. There are even particular comfortable drinks and beers which might be solely consumed at Christmas. Organisations like Swedes in Sydney and SWEA Melbourne, and eateries like Fika Swedish Eatery in Manly, NSW prepare yearly feasts, and it’s effectively price a strive in case you’ve by no means had the total expertise.
Say What?
No matter who’s in energy in Canberra, Victorians deserve their justifiable share of infrastructure funding.
Jacinta Allan
In unsurprising information, after Anthony Albanese pledged billions to improve Queensland roads on his not-yet-the-election-campaign-tour, Victoria, NSW and Western Australia instantly referred to as for extra federal funding too.
THE COMMENTARIAT
Sorry Tony, however the one individual it’s a must to blame for being booted out of workplace is your self — Malcolm Farr (Guardian Australia): It wasn’t a deep state or tyrannical public service that introduced [former prime minister Tony Abbott] down.
Voters had cheered him into workplace to develop into their voice. That help collapsed when voters realised he had stopped listening to something however the cheers.
One consequence of politicians blaming different parts of presidency for their very own failures is that it will probably encourage individuals who need to dismantle these parts, a lot of which assist safeguard democracy. We must always all take as a warning Trump’s harmful risk to the US Justice Division — hostile as a result of it has executed its job — as a kind of penalties.
Abolish the Golden Globes — Anna Marks, Adam Sternbergh and Jessica Grose (The New York Occasions):
Sternbergh: Maybe one other path to relevance for the Globes could be embracing an activist political position. An activist Globes would have extra overtly celebrated “The Apprentice,” moderately than leaving it for Sebastian Stan to say in an acceptance speech for an award he gained for a special film. The massive wins for “Emilia Pérez” did really feel considerably political, on condition that its material — gender transition — has develop into so politically charged.
Marks: That movie’s lead actress, Karla Sofía Gascón, gave essentially the most overtly political speech of the night time. Maybe it was so private that it didn’t really feel misplaced. Is the important thing to politics at awards reveals that essentially the most highly effective and rich individuals who attend even have a stake within the challenge at hand?
Grose: Yeah, most likely — in any other case it simply seems like wealthy individuals cosplaying as social justice warriors for an evening earlier than returning to their mansions. No-one desires to listen to celebrities speaking about politics straight anymore.
