queensland bush fire
(Image: AAP/Aleksandar Romanov)

BAD PEOPLE AT WORK AND PLAY

Israeli spyware is the go-to software for the world’s worst regimes looking to spy on activists, journalists and NGOs. The idea that big social media companies should be regulated like utilities confuses some basic legal principles.

You want to see entitlement? Check out the entitlement of demanding a platform. What, if anything, do the torrent of new books on Trump tells us that we didn’t already know?

And journalists who hold back “explosive” stories for books are doing a disservice to readers — at a time when we’re overloaded with misinformation.

SLOPPY THINKING

The luxury doomsday prep market turned out not to be quite as lucrative as some hoped. Only one fifth of Japanese people support the Olympics. The US Navy generously decides to stop conflating socialists with terrorists. Look out for the coming Russian attack on Ukraine.

How the Israeli reaction to Ben & Jerry’s decision demonstrates the exact problem its boycott is aimed at — an Israeli annexation of the West Bank.

ETHICS, TRUTH AND PRIVILEGE

Celeste Liddle on the urgent need to raise the age of criminal responsibility. A white supremacist plot to kidnap the Michigan governor was riddled with FBI informants — and some of them did a lot more than just inform.

The way forward on addressing the crisis in “truth” is about ethics (which of course are not in short supply at all in politics). Why Emmanuel Macron is pushing what is effectively a vaccine passport.

And, finally, you can read a Spectator piece you will agree with: shut up Harry you privileged git.

THE FOUR PS

 

(Image: Adobe)

Paranoia: re-reading Hofstadter, author of one of the key works analysing the role of paranoia in the history of US politics, which still has much to offer nearly 60 years go.

Panic: the rotten science behind the fear of widespread panic.

Proselytism: how do Jehovah’s Witnesses manage in a pandemic?

Paris: corporate greenhouse emissions will exceed Paris Agreement targets by 2027, mainly thanks to developing economy mega-corporations.

CLIMATE

The European floods were as much a communication as a climate disaster. Europe is expected to suffer more of the same intense, slow-moving storms that killed hundreds, climate modelling shows. Extreme weather has been responsible for nearly 10% of all deaths over the last decade, according to a new study.

From the Eyes-Rolling-Like-Poker-Machines Department: to stop melting permafrost that threatens an Alaskan gas pipeline, they’re artificially freezing the ground. Meantime, the media still fails to cover climate change properly.

SCIENCE

Why spooky action at a distance must be true (still, I wish someone would explain how it happens).

Women haven’t always lived longer than men, but their genes are helping them maintain a substantial life expectancy gap in modern economies. Alchemists were a lot smarter and more scientific than their reputation suggests (and check out the guy who, Blackadder-style, managed to make “black”).

And nuclear power becomes less and less reliable as global warming accelerates.

FINALLY

Throw yourself on the turf and writhe hysterically over John Lanchester’s guide to cheating in soccer, cycling, rugby and cricket. Space Jam is the future of film, and it sucks a lot. And, of course, some high-quality canine content.