The 2011 tsunami in Japan (Image: WikiCommons)

CLIMATE OF STUPIDITY

Where else to start this week but climate? Icebergs aren’t just a shipping hazard, they can cause tsunamis, new research shows. How the media failed in its recent coverage of US heatwaves. How far have we got to go in transforming global energy use? A long way to go — maybe a good idea if we start sooner rather than later.

Is it time for climate activists to escalate to sabotage? An ethical and moral dilemma discussed in a 2020 book. And are these the new coal miners? What happens to meat industry workers if we swap to slaughter-free meat?

BAD CHAPS, BAD GOVERNMENT

The “good chaps” theory of the UK constitution gets a detailed and sceptical examination from two new pieces by Robert Saunders and Gavin Esler. How American power failed in Afghanistan.

Sorry, but Xi isn’t about to invade Taiwan anytime soon. How Obama and Biden administration figures cosied up to disgusting Israeli spyware manufacturer NSO Group

THE PAST IS ANOTHER COUNTRY…

How American progressives’ attempt to co-opt the bicentennial and the founding of the United States failed. Plus ça change — how early federation health debates are eerily familiar to pandemic-era Australia.

For such a staggeringly awful president, George W Bush has gotten off very lightly from Hollywood (pro tip for bad presidents: make sure your party goes absolutely insane after you leave office — your once-bitter enemies will come to see your disastrous term in roseate hues).

THE MEDIUM IS THE MASSAGE

Why did so many people in Joplin, Missouri, die in a tornado a decade ago? Turns out the media had a role in making a terrible situation much worse.

Damage in Joplin, Missouri (Image: WikiMedia/Bob Webster)

Statistical noise is far larger than actual bias in decision-making. How do we reduce it? There’s a growing group of Americans who reject germ theory (where else but on Facebook).

In the latest “welcome to your dystopia” moment, a vigilante app hires users to chase car crashes (next step, of course, causing accidents — although what’s that Python sketch where an eminent surgeon laments the lack of donors but says it’s both unethical and time-consuming to go out and cause accidents?)

RELATIONS WITH FOREIGN POWERS

A history of academic freedom in Hungary, and how it has been progressively crushed under successive regimes. Influencers in the Asia-Pacific: a new study from ASPI.

A (surprisingly nuanced, given it’s in The Spectator) take on Foucault’s alleged paedophilia, and why the philosopher loved California and its cult of self.

An attempt to suppress independent media by the Polish regime has led to the downfall of its right-wing government.

FINALLY

A little bit of good news out of the horrific fires in Greece. And a possible resolution of the issue vexing us all in the wake of the Olympics — why you can’t outrun your cat.