What is it with billionaires and islands? Donald Trump wants to resurrect the notorious prison island of Alcatraz to house ‘America’s most ruthless and violent offenders’. Perhaps subconsciously he is preparing his future island residence.  The sordid Epstein network is divided into those who did and did not travel to Epstein Island where, undoubtedly, heinous crimes occurred.

It feels as if AI is everywhere – whether it’s those intrusive bots on every website or every headline about how it’s either going to be a boon for humanity, or end us.

Desperate to distract attention from the Epstein files, and retain his faltering grip on domestic power, US 'Peace President' Donald Trump has attacked another sovereign country, and murdered its leader, along with numerous others, and Australia's prime minister is apparently fine with that.

More than 10,000 troops marched through Tiananmen Square in Beijing last week, accompanied by a large number of advanced weapons, supposedly to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of the second world war, but actually to demonstrate China's transformation from the sick man of Asia to an emerging superpower.

Last week Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles and his red tie flew to Washington to spend some time in the vicinity of several members of Donald Trump's alarming inner circle. Was this an official meeting or just a random encounter on the way to the men's room? Was anything of substance discussed? Who would know?

In 1953 the democratically elected Prime Minister of Iran, Mohammad Mosaddegh, was overthrown by international oil interests, with the assistance of MI6 and the CIA.

In the USA, senior Democratic senator Cory Booker from New Jersey has been on his feet and speaking continuously for more than 24 hours, in opposition to the regime of Donald Trump and Elon Musk's DOGE.

As the USA slides into ultra right wing despotism, with the rule of law being abandoned and billionaires allowed free rein, one surprising benefactor has been centrist and more progressive political parties elsewhere in the world.

Are you also reeling and feeling bewildered and shocked by the chaos of the times we are living through?

Coinciding with the return of Donald Trump to the US presidency, Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp has announced it's abandoning the independent fact-checking processes set up in 2016 in favour of a 'community notes' program, as used on Elon Musk's X platform, where the community decides which posts are misleading or need more context.