IN THE NEWS
California officials scramble to fight fires with strained resources (The New York Times) — At least five people (at time of writing) have been killed and tens of thousands have been forced to evacuate as out-of-control wildfires continue to rage in the Los Angeles area. The New York Times reports a diminishing water supply and ferocious winds are complicating firefighting efforts as “officials cautioned that the fires that have already reduced more than 1,000 buildings to ash were far from being contained”. One of the fires, named the Palisades fire, began on Tuesday morning and has exploded to nearly 3,000 acres “burning with a volatility that astonished fire officials”.
Germany and France warn Trump over threat to take over Greenland (BBC) — Leaders in Europe have responded to Donald Trump’s comments on Tuesday about his desire to acquire Denmark’s autonomous territory Greenland and unsurprisingly they don’t think much of the idea. The BBC flags German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Wednesday “the principle of the inviolability of borders applies to every country… no matter whether it’s a very small one or a very powerful one”. Meanwhile, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said “there is obviously no question that the European Union would let other nations of the world attack its sovereign borders”. By the way, with regards to Trump’s comments about Canada this week too, no-one seems to have picked up on the fact Canada’s head of state is… King Charles III. Which could rather complicate diplomatic relations.
Appetite for discounting on show in retail figures (AAP) — Yesterday we got the news from the Australian Bureau of Statistics that annual headline inflation had risen from 2.1% to 2.3%, while the Reserve Bank of Australia’s preferred measure, trimmed mean inflation, fell from 3.5% to 3.2%. Today it’s the retail figures being released at 11:30am AEDT which will have the analysts’ attention. “Consumer spending has been trending generally weak, reflecting a barely growing economy and households under pressure from higher mortgage repayments and inflation,” the AAP reminds us. Today’s data will cover the Black Friday sales, with the RBA keeping a keen eye on consumer spending and any potential impact on the inflation battle.
Anthony Albanese’s bid to claim Trump card and China ace (The Australian) — Prime Minister Antony Albanese reckons he is better placed than Coalition leader Peter Dutton to forge a productive relationship with incoming US president Donald Trump, The Australian reports. The PM claims his close ties with Indo-Pacific leaders would be valuable to Trump but also “signalled he would not change his approach with China if Mr Trump launched a trade war, lauding the reopening of trade with Beijing as an economic win for Australia”, the paper reports. The PM continues his nationwide tour today and will unveil a $200 million housing and infrastructure package for Western Australia when he visits later.
Piers Morgan to leave Rupert Murdoch’s News UK in deal over YouTube venture (Sky News) — YouTuber Piers Morgan is going it alone. Sky News reports Morgan is leaving Rupert Murdoch’s British media empire and will take ownership of the Uncensored brand as he tries to expand it in markets such as the US. The move comes after his deal with News UK concluded, although Sky reports a revenue-sharing deal between the two sides will run for another four years.
WHAT NEXT FOR SKY NEWS?
The $3.4 billion sale of Foxtel Group to British streaming giant DAZN raises questions about the future of Rupert Murdoch’s local safe space Sky News Australia. Daany Saeed considers what comes next for Andrew Bolt, Rita Panahi and co, including a potential name change. Could 2025 be the year of Fox News Australia?
ZUCKERBERG’S MILLION-DOLLAR WATCH
You can’t learn everything about a person by the watch they wear. But Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s decision to wear a US$900,000 timepiece while announcing the end of fact-checking on Meta platforms shows the billionaire’s changing relationship to physical displays of power and wealth. Business journalist and watch connoisseur David Adams writes about what’s hanging off the Facebook founder’s wrist.
WHAT I’M READING
Crypto remains something of a mystery to me in my advanced years. I get it, but also at times, I really don’t get it. Hence my interest in reading Joel Khalili’s piece in WIRED on memecoins. It turns out a whole bunch of celebrities have launched them to varying degrees of success, and while 2024 saw the “market for absurdist cryptocurrencies mutated into a hundred-billion-dollar phenomenon”, apparently this year could get even wilder.
“Previously, the cost and complexity of development limited the number of memecoins that made it to market. But in 2024, with the help of Pump.Fun, a platform that lets people issue memecoins almost instantly and at no cost, the floodgates opened: More than 4.7 million unique memecoins have been issued through the platform since its January launch. In aggregate, the memecoin market is now worth more than $100 billion.
“‘I knew it was going to work on the first day we launched,’ one of the three anonymous cofounders of Pump.Fun, who goes by Sapijiju, told WIRED earlier this year. ‘I could just see from the Twitter activity.’ The sudden glut of coins forced creators to come up with ways to differentiate their projects, sometimes going to elaborate and sometimes dangerous lengths to attract attention to their coins and compete with celebrities’ large online followings. One guy ended up catching on fire after a stunt went awry, leaving him with serious burns. The market mutated: In the same way that celebcoins had a moment, so did memecoins inspired by Donald Trump and other political figures, coins promoted by AI chatbots — and even one coin launched by a child.”
On Monday I shared a CNN piece on how Western politicians such as UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer are trying to navigate Elon Musk’s endless posting on X and the potential trouble it brings. Today I’ve been reading this piece in the Financial Times (it has six bylines) on how Musk became so obsessed with UK politics and the handful of accounts that seem to be influencing his posting.
“One person who interacted with Musk this week said he had not been relying on conversations with a UK source for his information, but preferred to do his own research online. Others formerly close to the billionaire said that they believed his outrage was largely driven by posts from social media accounts that Musk does not directly follow, but that appear on his algorithmically curated ‘for you’ feed on X. Questions about which individuals or organisations are colouring Musk’s take on the UK government have also preoccupied some British officials.
“Several believe that a small cast of conservative-leaning British commentators and analysts based in the US are shaping views about the UK among the wider milieu of Trump’s allies. ‘There is a pretty right-wing libertarian UK émigré network in the US who are feeding a lot of this,’ said one British government official, adding that they were free speech advocates linked to right-wing US think tanks that are projecting an image of the UK as ‘uber woke’.”
Finally, I’ve been reading this piece on the BBC about the launch of Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy’s indoor golf league, Tomorrow’s Golf League. I’m reading it because my timeline is full of clips of professional golfers smashing balls into a massive screen but also because I’m trying to work out what on earth the attraction is of watching such a thing.
“During the opening night of the six-team league event, which will take place in Florida each week until a winner is crowned in March, Woods confidently stated they are ‘taking golf into another stratosphere’. Whether that was achieved on day one is a moot point but Woods’ follow-up that this is ‘not traditional golf’ was bang on the mark.
“This was virtual golf fused with real action. There were fantasy holes featuring lava fields and cliff-top island fairways. There was a rotating green that was moved after each hole. There was an attempt at Ryder Cup rivalry. Poor shots were greeted by pantomime boos from the 1,500 or so spectators in the purpose-built Sofi Center. And 15 holes were played in around two hours. Fantasy golf. Made for TV.”
ASSOCIATE EDITOR’S SUMMER MEDIA DIET
In my tab: I like this article from newly launched journalist-owned gaming outlet Aftermath called “The Myth Of The Star Reporter”. What surprises me as someone who now works in the sausage factory is how many people’s work goes into an article that (usually) only has one person’s name on it. Remember that when you read someone’s big scoop (except for mine — they’re all me).
On my bedside table: I’ve just started John Safran’s Squat: A Week Squatting at Kanye’s Mansion and am enjoying it so far.
In my ears: I’ve been listening a lot to the podcast of American tech outlet The Verge’s editor-in-chief Nilay Patel, mostly because he’s a super smart guy with well thought out opinions on tech policy stuff but also because I’m in awe of The Verge’s tech coverage and the way the team there runs their business. Enjoyed his producers grilling him on an end-of-year episode where he explained how the sausage is made.
On my screen: Don’t laugh… but I’ve been comfort-watching a lot of Law & Order: SVU. I used to only watch up until season 11 or 12 when Elliot Stabler, one of the lead characters, leaves the show, but now I’m finally watching the newer stuff and it’s okay. Don’t ask why a procedural about catching child molesters and rapists is relaxing, it just is.
On my plate: I just went to Manila to see family and for some reason I memed myself into trying more outrageous orders from a nearby Starbucks every single day. (For context, I’m usually a double espresso or filter coffee guy). The last day there I got some monstrous iced “Peppermint Mocha Frappuccino Blended Beverage” with extra pumps of syrup and whipped cream and… I can’t say I hated it.
Say What?
There were two muesli bars up there that he had eaten and that’s pretty much all that he’s had to consume over the past two weeks.
Andrew Spliet
The NSW police superintendent was speaking after 23-year-old university student Hadi Nazari was found alive after a 13-day search in the Snowy Mountains.
THE COMMENTARIAT
Hear, hear, Albo: Get these cabana sand-bagsers off our beaches — Michelle Cazzulino (The Sydney Morning Herald): On Tuesday, Albanese decried the practice of sand-bagsing as “not on”, adding that the beach is “a place where every Australian is equal. And that’s a breach of principle, really, to think that you can reserve a little spot as just yours.” (Let’s just pause here to observe that reserving a little spot high in the hills of Copacabana that is just yours is perfectly fine and definitely not a breach of any principle whatsoever. OK, that’s done.)
The point is, Albo is right, not that that makes a blind bit of difference to our absolute waterfront-hogging friends, who hail from a long line of Veruca Salt types invoking the principle of Terra I-Got-Here-Firstus to justify their actions.
Kemi Badenoch was supposed to make the Tories serious again. She has failed — Rafael Behr (The Guardian): The last few days have been a test for Badenoch. She could have opted for serious opposition. She could have understood that her job includes a responsibility not to debase political discourse, not to propagate wild inflammatory rhetoric, not to tacitly endorse calls for the overthrow of the government. Or she could hitch a ride on a far-right internet bandwagon as it rattled past, without pausing to consider where it might carry her or the country. She made her choice.
It was a peculiar decision for the leader of a party that boasts of its organic connection to the institutions and habits of British democracy; the party of Churchill. But that isn’t Badenoch’s party. It just shares the name. Hers is a newer, shorter lineage. She hails from the House of Brexit, the natural successor to Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak in a tradition defined by incoherent bombast, culture war performance, policy as gimmick, intellectual vacuity clad in libertarian verbiage.
Badenoch may not know it, but the pattern of her leadership is set. The trajectory is all too familiar. It is the path of least moral resistance, gravitating inexorably rightwards, laundering fanaticism through the mainstream Conservative brand, striving to make the unacceptable sound respectable.
