Oxfam spokesperson details heartbreaking reality of life on the ground in Gaza amid on-going aid distribution scandal
Reading
After Betsy
Every night a drove of us leaves
Our work building
And clot the lot’s exit up
Till emptied and distant,
No different when I’m stuck
With my key in the ignition,
Not yielding in spite
Of my turning, and as now
The only person
Except for me here, a man
Has knocked on my windshield,
Assuming I’m stuck and asks
To enter my car. He starts it
As if he freed the key
And looks at me
And says I’m a car thief.
To get home safely,
You’ll need me.
I agree.
I may stop somewhere
Away from work
Or stall, on that clotted street
Where everyone’s gone.
- - -
Read other poems, plus interviews, essays, advice columns, reviews, and more over at The Believer.
Want to get drinks next week? I know everything’s kind of crazy right now, so no pressure. There’s a cool new bar I read about—fine, saw a TikTok for—that just opened downtown.
The Gilded Beak, have you heard of it?
“Urban aviary meets al fresco pretension,” the website says. Sounds cute.
The cocktail menu looks pretty spectacular too. Lots of drinks with artisanal ice cubes, questionably sourced rim accoutrement, and six-to-twelve ingredients never before seen in libations, all served in kitschy glassware shaped like “mini bird baths.” (One reviewer said they’re “just coup glasses”—but okay, still fun!)
The signature drink everyone’s been raving about is the Owl Fashioned. It’s thirty-four dollars, but you can tell it’s worth it because they gave it a punny name; plus, it’s served with complementary nuts and seeds, and a two-ply napkin. I love thoughtful touches.
They also have a twenty-nine-dollar Macaw-garita. I know you love tequila. And for five dollars more, they’ll even add it in.
The summit’s optics could reshape alliances, potentially moving the US closer to Russia, and sidelines Europe at a moment when transatlantic unity is critical, writes Zarina Zebrisky
There now follows a short public information film containing particulars of Brian Bilston and The Catenary Wires’ autumn tour. Brian Bilston tour diary You can find more particulars here, in particular: https://brianbilston.com/events/
Stella Maris seeks apology and damages after drawn-out ordeal which saw her dismissed then reinstated over all-student email on Palestine
From public support for progressive policies to the courage of Palestine Action defenders, signs of a better future are emerging despite Labour's authoritarian drift, argues Compass director Neal Lawson
Tim Walker predicts that Indhu Rubasingham's time as artistic director at the institution will be anything but boring
“This milestone reaffirms what the Pacific has always known: that our voices, cultures and futures matter! That international law can, and must, protect people and the planet.”
Anthony Albanese’s decision to recognise a Palestinian state is a cover for his ongoing refusal to impose sanctions on Israel.
The post Recognition a cover for Albanese’s failure to act on genocide first appeared on Solidarity Online.
The virtual world of the internet depends on massive data centres in the real world. In 2024 Australia was one of the top five data centre hubs in the world.
The post Why Big Tech drives energy-hungry data centre boom first appeared on Solidarity Online.
- - -
Some people think this map looks gerrymandered, but we don’t see it. We also don’t see the innovation, economic growth, and kick-ass food scene that exists in this country, largely thanks to immigrants. Everyone, get your guns: Let’s kick out all the foreigners and shoot ourselves in the foot.
- - -
District 2 aims to “Keep Austin Weird” by taking away all of its voting power. But at least urban liberals and rural conservatives now share something in common: one representative to do Trump’s bidding in Congress.
- - -
Making friends with a wolf pack
The post I Could Smell Their Breath appeared first on Nautilus.
Chemical fingerprints point to reason for collapse
The post Stalagmites Offer Clues to Maya Mystery appeared first on Nautilus.
The State Department’s new reports whitewash the records of some of the world’s most notorious nations and targets Trump’s enemies.
The post The Incredible Disappearing Human Rights Reports appeared first on The Intercept.
Early in President Trump’s first term, McSweeney’s editors began to catalog the head-spinning number of misdeeds coming from his administration. We called this list a collection of Trump’s cruelties, collusions, corruptions, and crimes, and it felt urgent to track them, to ensure these horrors—happening almost daily—would not be forgotten. Now that Trump has returned to office, amid civil rights, humanitarian, economic, and constitutional crises, we felt it critical to make an inventory of this new round of horrors. This list will be updated monthly between now and the end of Donald Trump’s second term.
EXCLUSIVE: One leading 'Safeguard Force' figure previously expressed hope Reform would "set the world on fire" if elected. Another shared anti-migrant memes featuring weapons
I am the Overtourist. I’m here to overtour your picturesque town or world-class city. Shooting water pistols at me only hydrates and emboldens me.
I have no idea how anything works here. I will pause in the middle of crowded sidewalks, amble in rushing zones, and fail to possess the correct app, ticket, identification, or change. I will wait to decide my deli order until I’m at the front of the line so I can ask the sandwich maker to explain the difference between mortadella, soppressata, and capicola, and that’s before I start asking him about the bread options.
I am here to sample the substances you’ve recently legalized: psychedelic mushrooms, raw milk, and Indiana Pacers jerseys. I will try all of them at once and hallucinate while vomiting in my Pacers jersey at the precise intersection whose closure most disrupts your morning commute.
Where are your public toilets? I have come to make their lines so long you will never be able to pee again. This might be the way you die, like a cartoon character, the whites of your eyes filling from the bottom with yellow.
A Conservative Member of Parliament and KC is helping a coal mining firm to sue the British Government in a controversial international court
Activists want blue states to stop handing out cash to Avelo, the airline that operated 10 percent of ICE’s deportation flights.
The post ICE Deportation Airline Avelo Relies on Blue-State Subsidies. Will Dem Governors Do Anything About It? appeared first on The Intercept.
Some activists demand greater say in new left-wing group amid claims of top-down approach ahead of inaugural conference, reports Adrian Goldberg
A group representing 350 Palestinian families living in Britain have called on the PM to condemn Israel's 'systematic assault on the press' and back an inquiry
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) released the latest labour force data today (August 14, 2025) – Labour Force, Australia – for July 2025, which reveals that last month’s gloom might not have been the start of a downward trend. The current data has blurred that outlook and the best we can say is that…
There is substantial evidence that the degree of competition in the Australian economy has declined over the decade or so leading up to the COVID-19 pandemic. This has the potential to weigh on productivity, and in turn incomes, and so the welfare of the Australian people. In this paper we calibrate the general equilibrium model from Edmond, Midrigan and Xu (2023) to Australian microdata to answer the following question: If the degree of competition in the Australian economy had not declined from mid-2000s levels, how much higher would aggregate productivity and GDP be due to resources being better allocated across firms throughout the economy? The answer, according to this model, is 1–3 per cent. The model also suggests even larger economic costs once we account for other channels through which rising mark-ups affect the economy, though these are less precisely estimated.