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China’s solar space station: A game-changer in renewable energy

China’s solar space station: A game-changer in renewable energy

China is making the once sci-fi dream of space-based solar power a reality and leaving the West scrambling to keep up. Imagine a kilometre-wide...

latest 8

Pearls and Irritations

James Wood

When war is around be careful what you wish for!

When war is around be careful what you wish for!

If anyone is yet to be disgusted with war and the reckless use of armed force, recent news from Gaza and Ukraine will change your mind. We have...

latest 7

Pearls and Irritations

Andrew Farran

What the polls are and aren’t telling us

What the polls are and aren’t telling us

Political junkies and the media are obsessed with opinion polls on the relative standings of the political parties. Movements within standard...

latest 7

Pearls and Irritations

Noel Turnbull

‘Never happened before’: WMO finds past 10 years have been 10 hottest on record

‘Never happened before’: WMO finds past 10 years have been 10 hottest on record

“While a single year above 1.5°C of warming does not indicate that the long-term temperature goals of the Paris agreement are out of reach, it is a...

latest 7

Pearls and Irritations

Eloise Goldsmith

The science of being absolutely wrong

The science of being absolutely wrong

Scientists, who generally wear white laboratory jackets so they are not confused with economists, have a canon of sacred texts. Pride of place is...

latest 7

Pearls and Irritations

Stan Glaser

Voters starting to turn away from Dutton as the election nears

Voters starting to turn away from Dutton as the election nears

There are signs that voters are turning towards Albanese and Labor and away from Dutton and the Coalition. Even Michelle Grattan, renowned for her...

latest 7

Pearls and Irritations

Ian Mcauley

We can’t unscramble the AUKUS and ANZUS eggs

We can’t unscramble the AUKUS and ANZUS eggs

Before this election is much older, Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton are going to have to determine where they stand on all the important issues....

latest 7

Pearls and Irritations

Jack Waterford

Devaluing Australian citizenship

Devaluing Australian citizenship

Public commentary on Peter Dutton’s possible referendum on a ministerial discretion to deprive dual nationals of their Australian citizenship has...

latest 7

Pearls and Irritations

Peter Hughes

A moral precipice challenge – Vote for humanity

A moral precipice challenge – Vote for humanity

Response to the latest Israeli/US slaughter in Gaza shows the world’s citizens looking into a moral precipice. How will they act? Will they ponder...

yesterday 60

Pearls and Irritations

Stuart Rees

A five-minute scroll

A five-minute scroll

ABC’s Jane Norman is called out for repeating Coalition talking points with Jim Chalmers. Overnight reports claim Israel has killed senior Hamas...

yesterday 10

Pearls and Irritations

Pearls And Irritations

Defending human rights will win the hearts of the Chinese people

Defending human rights will win the hearts of the Chinese people

I recently read Jerry Grey’s 8 March 2025 article and I was disappointed by the false and misleading statements made. I would like to participate...

yesterday 20

Pearls and Irritations

Albert Roman

Where are the honest and critical reports?

Where are the honest and critical reports?

Can any self-respecting journalist or political commentator inform me and many Australians as to why they continue to bolster the Australia/United...

yesterday 40

Pearls and Irritations

Leonie Liveris

Questions to ask political candidates about peace

Questions to ask political candidates about peace

What does it take to build peace in Australia and the world today? This is a question that has occupied the minds of a group of peace practitioners...

yesterday 10

Pearls and Irritations

Christopher Walker

Zionism, anti-Zionism, and the role of psychological coping strategies

Zionism, anti-Zionism, and the role of psychological coping strategies

As both the actively enabled genocide against Palestinians in Gaza and the sanctioning of those who protest it continue, the associated...

yesterday 10

Pearls and Irritations

Pam Stavropoulos

Dutton blames renewables for rising power prices, but bills would be much higher without them

Dutton blames renewables for rising power prices, but bills would be much higher without them

Australia’s shift to wind, solar and battery storage has shielded households and businesses from much higher power bills than they would otherwise...

yesterday 10

Pearls and Irritations

Sophie Vorrath

Active Management – Rethinking our approach to forest stewardship

Active Management – Rethinking our approach to forest stewardship

Our recent research raises an important and challenging question: Are our well-intentioned management interventions like thinning in high...

yesterday 9

Pearls and Irritations

David Lindenmayer

Message from the editor

Message from the editor

A week into the job and I am deeply impressed by the strength and vigour of the community John has built around Pearls and Irritations. So many of...

yesterday 8

Pearls and Irritations

Catriona Jackson

The sacralisation of history: The Holocaust as state legitimation

The sacralisation of history: The Holocaust as state legitimation

There is a cruel historical irony in Israel’s genocidal war on the besieged Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank: the brutal suppression of the...

previous day 2

Pearls and Irritations

Roger Markwick

Chief justice rebukes Trump over calls to impeach judges who rule against him

Chief justice rebukes Trump over calls to impeach judges who rule against him

“For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial...

previous day 8

Pearls and Irritations

Jake Johnson

Payman’s Australia’s Voice: We’re in it to win it!

Payman’s Australia’s Voice: We’re in it to win it!

Senator Fatima Payman has launched her political party, Australia’s Voice, with candidates selected to compete in key Federal senate seats across...

previous day 9

Pearls and Irritations

Manarul Islam

Environment: Building nuclear involves killing more people

Environment: Building nuclear involves killing more people

Building nuclear power plants requires keeping air-polluting coal power going for an extra 25 years and killing 3000-10,000 Australians. Which milk...

previous day 9

Pearls and Irritations

Peter Sainsbury

Universal early learning and the three-day guarantee

Universal early learning and the three-day guarantee

The passing of the Early Childhood Education and Care (Three-Day Guarantee) Bill 2025 marks a major shift in Australia’s early childhood education...

previous day 9

Pearls and Irritations

Adelajda Soltysik

Tensions over Taiwan

Tensions over Taiwan

Ma Ying-jeou warns that William Ching-te Lai is leading cross-strait relations into “a major crisis”. Taiwanese leader William Ching-te Lai...

saturday 10

Pearls and Irritations

Zichen Wang

The limits of diplomacy

The limits of diplomacy

We live in a global community, and many of us enjoy the benefits. A far greater number have no such enjoyment, existing in disadvantage; in...

saturday 2

Pearls and Irritations

John White

Israel, not Hamas, Is derailing the Gaza ceasefire and preventing the hostages’ return

Israel, not Hamas, Is derailing the Gaza ceasefire and preventing the hostages’ return

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu paid the asking price for Itamar Ben-Gvir’s return to the government in advance. Not out of his own...

saturday 2

Pearls and Irritations

Haaretz Editorial

Will Walter Sofronoff be prosecuted?

Will Walter Sofronoff be prosecuted?

Maybe what Lehrmann Board of Inquiry chair Walter Sofronoff KC did was “serious corrupt conduct”, as the ACT Integrity Commission alleges. Or...

saturday 10

Pearls and Irritations

Andrew Fraser

Giant eight-hour battery project changes hands as storage costs plunge 40%

Giant eight-hour battery project changes hands as storage costs plunge 40%

A giant eight-hour battery project in New South Wales has changed hands in a deal that also confirms that battery storage costs — a critical part...

saturday 1

Pearls and Irritations

Giles Parkinson

The outlook for house insurance is much worse than we’re being told

The outlook for house insurance is much worse than we’re being told

The big news on house insurance this week was the response of the insurance industry’s peak body to a parliamentary committee’s extensive...

saturday 10

Pearls and Irritations

Ross Gittins

Beijing gambles on plan to boost people’s spending – Asian Media Report

Beijing gambles on plan to boost people’s spending – Asian Media Report

In Asian media this week: AI, green appliances to lead shift to consumption economy. Plus: Myanmar resistance rewrites rules of insurgency; Trump...

saturday 2

Pearls and Irritations

David Armstrong

Kim Beazley bombs out

Kim Beazley bombs out

March hasn’t been one of the better months for Kim Beazley, the former Hawke and Keating Government minister, leader of the federal ALP and...

saturday 10

Pearls and Irritations

Paddy Gourley

Democracy and our avoidable crises: Politicians disingenuous or undeterrably self-interested

Democracy and our avoidable crises: Politicians disingenuous or undeterrably self-interested

Home ownership has almost become an impossible dream in Australia and other Western capitalist countries. Governing authorities struggle in vain to...

21.03.2025 3

Pearls and Irritations

John White

Gazan Ark: Reproductive violence and the right to life and death

Gazan Ark: Reproductive violence and the right to life and death

While the biblical story of Noah’s Ark is certainly not the only ancient account of a devastating flood (the preceding Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh,...

21.03.2025 2

Pearls and Irritations

Norman Saadi Nikro

Queensland’s autocratic ALP premier and Australia’s only Communist Party MP: The St Patrick’s Day bash

Queensland’s autocratic ALP premier and Australia’s only Communist Party MP: The St Patrick’s Day bash

History and politics buffs should either be made aware, or be given cause to remember, that in Brisbane, on St Patrick’s Day 1948, Australia’s only...

21.03.2025 1

Pearls and Irritations

Ross Fitzgerald

Federal-state politics: Western Australia’s election – why we need proportional representation

Federal-state politics: Western Australia’s election – why we need proportional representation

Because what is bad for the Coalition is usually good for Australia, Labor’s thumping win in Western Australia must be seen as a good outcome, but...

21.03.2025 2

Pearls and Irritations

Ian Mcauley

New report reveals Islamophobia in Australia reaching crisis levels

New report reveals Islamophobia in Australia reaching crisis levels

The Islamophobia Register Australia officially launched its latest report, Islamophobia in Australia Report 5, on 13 March in Sydney to mark the...

21.03.2025 2

Pearls and Irritations

Amust Media

Three reasons Victoria has joined Tasmania, SA as a beggar state

Three reasons Victoria has joined Tasmania, SA as a beggar state

The Commonwealth Grants Commission’s annual updates of its recommendations as to how the revenue from the GST should be carved up among the states...

21.03.2025 1

Pearls and Irritations

Saul Eslake

Misinformation in politics: Anti-China Media Watch

Misinformation in politics: Anti-China Media Watch

The ABC reveals Chinese social media is again facilitating foreign interference in our elections, Dutton is the true champion of China relations,...

21.03.2025 2

Pearls and Irritations

Marcus Reubenstein

The Coalition MP who tried to stop the solar farm that will help save thousands of local jobs

The Coalition MP who tried to stop the solar farm that will help save thousands of local jobs

If you ever need an example of the idiocy and the ignorance behind the Coalition and LNP campaign against renewable energy in Australia, a good...

21.03.2025 1

Pearls and Irritations

Giles Parkinson

Trump is surveying Australian academics about gender diversity and China – what does this mean for unis and their research?

Trump is surveying Australian academics about gender diversity and China – what does this mean for unis and their research?

Shortly after taking office, US President Donald Trump issued executive orders banning federal funding on so-called “woke” research. This is...

20.03.2025 20

Pearls and Irritations

Brendan Walker-Munro