IN THE NEWS
Anthony Albanese switches to election footing with blitz of three marketing campaign battlegrounds (Guardian Australia) — Inevitably we begin 2025 as we completed 2024, with everybody speaking concerning the election. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is outwardly signalling “the unofficial begin of the marketing campaign” with the PM travelling to electorates throughout Queensland, the Northern Territory and Western Australia this week, Guardian Australia reviews. Albanese says the federal election (due by Could this 12 months) is a selection between “constructing Australia’s future” beneath Labor or “taking Australia backwards” beneath the Coalition. Guardian Australia additionally flags that the most recent month-to-month inflation figures are due on Wednesday.
Ukraine launches new assault in Kursk area of western Russia (Reuters) — Ukraine has launched a brand new assault within the western Russian area of Kursk, Moscow mentioned on Sunday. Reuters reviews Andriy Yermak, the pinnacle of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s workplace, posted on Telegram that there was “excellent news” from Kursk, including: “Russia is getting what it deserves.”
Hamas releases video of Israeli hostage Liri Albag as ceasefire talks resume (BBC) — Talks between Israel and Hamas on a ceasefire and hostage launch deal are resuming in Qatar. The BBC reviews Hamas has posted footage of 19-year-old Liri Albag, whereas the Gaza well being ministry claimed 88 individuals had been killed on Sunday by Israeli bombardment.
“A day of affection”: How Trump inverted the violent historical past of Jan 6 (The New York Occasions) ($) — Forward of the anniversary of the January 6 US Capitol assault, and as Donald Trump as soon as once more prepares to take the oath of workplace, The New York Occasions appears to be like at how the president-elect and his allies spent 4 years reinventing what occurred that day.
The Golden Globes are Sunday night time. Listed here are 5 issues to search for and find out how to watch them (The Related Press) — The Golden Globes are happening within the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, California from 12pm AEDT at present. The occasion shall be hosted by comic Nikki Glaser because the awards season swings into gear (for these of you again within the workplace at present, procrastinate with the very best crimson carpet photograph galleries at W journal, Harper’s Bazaar, Vainness Honest and Go Fug Your self.)
WHAT I’M READING
Over right here within the UK, reams of column inches have been dedicated to the meddling of Elon Musk in British politics. Rob Picheta’s piece for CNN, “Britain needs to get near Trump. Will Elon Musk stand in the best way?”, stands out for its perception into simply how baffled Labour MPs are about Musk’s motives.
The world’s richest man generated loads of headlines within the UK on Sunday after posting on his social media platform X that Nigel Farage ought to be changed as chief of the Reform Social gathering. Farage prompt it was due to disagreement over Musk’s help for far-right activist Tommy Robinson.
In his CNN piece, Picheta paperwork Musk’s posts about Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and takes a have a look at how the federal government is attempting to handle its relationship with the billionaire who has the ear of Donald Trump.
“However privately, some Labour MPs are asking themselves an apparent query: why us? Not like in Germany, there is no such thing as a impending parliamentary election by means of which Musk can exert his affect. An election is just not as a result of be held in Britain for greater than 4 years, and Labour’s authorities is comparatively unpopular however, in parliamentary phrases at the least, rock stable.
“And for Starmer, Musk can’t be solely ignored. The prime minister has to this point resisted taking Musk’s bait — the billionaire has accused him of failing to behave towards grooming gangs whereas director of public prosecutions — however MPs will finally wish to see him take a stronger stand, to guard his ministers from torrents of on-line abuse.”
In the meantime, on this completely absorbing essay for The Wall Avenue Journal, Rachel Wolfe takes a deep have a look at the phenomenon of American 30-somethings bypassing the standard milestones of maturity, with economists saying what was as soon as referred to as a lag is now beginning to look extra like a everlasting state of arrested improvement.
“Rising up with much less stress to observe the identical slender path to maturity imposed on their dad and mom and grandparents — a profession, partner, home and children all by age 35 — has raised the bar for what these milestones seem like, in the event that they select to hit them in any respect,” Wolfe writes in “What occurs when an entire era by no means grows up?”
“Stymied by this mixture of excessive expectations and difficult financial circumstances, many 30-somethings sound disoriented and not sure about what it means to be a profitable grownup now.”
And should you can bear to tear your self away from vacation binge-watching, might I counsel studying this Will Tavlin essay for n+1 on the rise and rise of Netflix and the movie trade it decimated alongside the best way. “Informal viewing: Why Netflix appears to be like like that” makes an attempt to carry the lid on the streamer’s enterprise mannequin, clarify why its viewing figures are irrelevant, and spell out why all its movies look precisely the identical.
“Over the previous decade, Netflix, which first emerged as a destroyer of video shops, has developed a strong enterprise mannequin to beat tv, solely to unleash its unusual and harmful energy on the cinema. In doing so, it has introduced Hollywood to the brink of irrelevance. As a result of Netflix doesn’t simply survive when no-one is watching — it thrives.”
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF’S SUMMER MEDIA DIET
In my tabs: At the moment catching up on all of the lengthy reads that I bookmarked throughout the 12 months and didn’t get an opportunity to learn to the tip, together with the horrific prose of *that* Vainness Honest piece on Cormac McCarthy’s “muse” by Vincenzo Barney. Some really terrible sentences (“When she blinks, her massive blue eyes appear to tinkle in crystal delicacy”) — extremely pleasing.
On my bedside desk: I initially gave up on The Bee Sting by Paul Murray about 150 pages in — it was simply too miserable. However in the long run the power of momentum and the sense of impending doom contained on this brick of a ebook received me — like Franzen’s The Corrections, it’s a grim and humorous portrait of a dysfunctional household that regardless of all of it are nonetheless certain by love. A bona fide web page turner. Now immersed in Intermezzo by Sally Rooney. Oddly, one of many primary character’s inside monologue reads just like the voice of Yoda, however Rooney stays excellent at writing concerning the messy awkwardness of affection. Moreover, the quilt received me — it appears to be like good with my seashore towel.
In my ears: The cricket within the background always, nothing beats it as a sleep aide gadget. As for podcasts, I’m belatedly treating myself to Ghost Story. I like the concept of a critical journalist grappling with whether or not to cowl his personal exceptional ghost story regardless that it would make him sound insane. Additionally having fun with the acute Englishness of it.
On my display: Rewatching the Lord of the Rings trilogy with my child. Twenty one thing (!?!?) years later it nonetheless stands up. Now bracing for the collection return of Severance, though it’s not precisely the very best viewing to encourage a return to the workplace…
On my plate: My one signature dish is a cracking pav. This recipe for blackberry pavlova with cardamom is definitely quite simple however appears to be like extremely spectacular. Strive the three tiered model for optimum brownie factors.
Say What?
The month-to-month numbers can bounce round however something with a two in entrance of it on this week’s information will present inflation is way lower than half of what we inherited from the Liberals.
Jim Chalmers
The treasurer tries to set expectations on the inflation information due this week.
THE COMMENTARIAT
Sink or swim: Why victory is a big leap for leaden Albanese and Dutton — Nick Bryant (The Sydney Morning Herald): For Albanese, Trump’s victory over Kamala Harris additionally gives cautionary classes. First, that he can not rely solely on demonising Dutton. Second, that the Liberal chief’s rightward lurch is just not routinely disqualifying. Dutton is as a lot a product of Australia as Trump is of America. Throughout massive swaths of the nation, he’s seen as extra mainstream than Albanese.
My hunch has lengthy been that the prolonged honeymoon Albanese loved for the whole lot of his first 12 months in workplace fuelled a way of hubris, and with it an inflated evaluation of his political presents. It inspired him to consider he might win the Voice referendum with out bipartisan help, emulate Bob Hawke as a beloved unifying chief and dominate Dutton.
An irony is that 2025 might convey to the fore what could also be his true superpower: his ability as a negotiator, numbers man and builder of fragile parliamentary coalitions. As he demonstrated as chief of the Home when Julia Gillard headed a minority authorities, Albanese is a greater backroom deal-maker than front-of-house prime minister. On this age of offended anti-incumbency, will that be sufficient to avoid wasting his beleaguered authorities?
January 6 was a part of an tried coup d’etat in America. Don’t let Trump and his allies let you know in any other case — Arwa Mahdawi (The Guardian): Different polls additionally present that, because the years go by, Republicans are much less prone to consider January 6 contributors had been “largely violent” and that Trump bears duty for the assault. A collective amnesia seems to have set in. Throughout massive swathes of the US, a brazen coup d’etat appears to have been efficiently recharacterised as a protest that simply went a teeny bit awry.
To be clear: after I say “coup” I’m not speaking solely concerning the occasions that unfurled on January 6. One of many key causes, I believe, that Trump’s rebel try is just not taken as severely accurately in some quarters is that also, there may be an excessive amount of concentrate on the riot itself, quite than the broader scheme that it was a part of. And the riot, whereas violent, can simply be characterised as a haphazard, nearly absurd, affair.
One of many poster boys of January 6, in any case, was Jacob Chansley, AKA QAnon Shaman, who ran by means of the US Senate chamber sporting a horned headdress, face paint, and a naked chest. (After being arrested he additionally famously demanded an all-organic food regimen in jail.) It’s tempting to take a look at him and assume: “bunch of weirdos who received uncontrolled”, quite than “complicated rebel try”. However, once more, the riot on the Capitol wasn’t the coup try: it was only one half (albeit probably the most dramatic half) of a broader marketing campaign by Trump and his allies to overturn the outcomes of the 2020 election through misinformation, intimidation and numerous difficult authorized manoeuvres. Somewhat than being spontaneous chaos, January 6 was a part of a calculated plan.
