The British media has always been populated by larger than life figures – from Northcliffe to Maxwell, Beaverbrook to Harmsworth, Barclay to Lebedev and, of course Rupert Murdoch.
They have used their power to undermine or promote governments; create scare campaigns; and use their power to enrich themselves or others. They have been scandal ridden and the huge phone tapping saga from a decade or so ago, for instance, embroiled many media companies.
In between blogging and other things the blog sometimes writes letters to the editor of various papers. Unlike a prolific neighbour the letters are rarely published but sometimes they are. The worst strike rate is on matters to do with Gaza and the Palestinian genocide.
But here a couple from this year a couple of which have been published. The first in The Age; the second in The Economist and the third was sent to the Weekend FT with no results.
What do Finland, Denmark, Iceland and Sweden have in common?
Well, there are many answers to that. First, they rank from first to fourth in the annual UN-Backed world-happiness-report-2025.pdf
Of course, they all get very cold but seem to get joy from winter activities. Second, they have very enlightened policies on Indigenous people and Sami and other groups wander across borders. The education systems are robust and Finland has probably the best musical education for children in the world.
The blog is taking a break for a while. Back on deck next month.
The US was already having problems with the performance of US academic institutions in scientific areas when Donald Trump arrived with the mission to nobble universities.
The extent of the problem is highlighted by the latest Nature Index of Research Leaders which ranks leading academic institutions based on Nature data (11/6) about publications and other measures. In the latest 2025 table Harvard is ranked number one (the rankings are based on 2024 counts of papers and other criteria with the next highest US ranking being Stanford 12th followed by MIT and Oxford. All in all 14 of the top 20 universities are Chinese.
While the Murdoch media – and most of the pontificators writing op eds for the rest of our news outlets – are having conniptions about whether and when Albanese might get a meeting with Trump is all happening at a time when the Australian public have little trust in the US and even less in Donald Trump.
The massive almost universal support nations have provided Israel since the Hamas attacks is eroding around the world and new research indicates that most people surveyed over 24 countries now have negative views of Israel and Netanyahu.
The Pew Research Center (3/6) found that in 20 of the 24 countries surveyed around half of adults or more have an unfavourable view of Israel.
It’s early days on what the world thinks of Trump and his war on Iran and then his ceasefire agreement – although as would be expected Israel and Australia have leapt to say they agree with it.
Trump is probably hoping this will be enough to ensure his long-yearned for Nobel Peace Prize but the judges will probably wait a little while given his unpredictability and whether the ceasefire is real and enduring.
Donald Trump is definitely exceptional – so exceptional that he is now the most unpopular President in the history of Presidential polling.
When asked in a Quinnipiac poll if they approved or disapproved of the way Trump was handling his job as President, a majority (52%) said they disapproved while just 38% approved and 8% said they didn’t know.
For some time I’ve been contemplating writing something on whether Trump was a fascist or not. Part of the problem is that fascist has become such an over-used term of abuse that it has become almost meaningless. But a group of Nobel Prize winners and scholars of fascism have produced a joint letter about Trump’s fascist threat to the US. They single out for comparison with Trump not Hitler but Mussolini. Mussolini is a good comparison in one way because Trump’s posture is very reminiscent of Mussolini – particularly the way Trump holds his head. Compare photos of both of them and the similarity is striking. Trump will not end hanged upside down by partisans as Mussolini was but history will probably judge him as being a fascist and wannabe dictator. This is what they said.