Queen Pauline wins and its a real threat to Labor how they keep taking votes from the Liberal party. For some reason. A big weekend for the populist right, what with Reform UK's massive success in the local elections there, but the two scenarios are very different.

It never ceases to amaze me how entire events will destroy themselves willingly for the Israel lobby. Even with five member nations boycotting the competition, they still wont budge on Israel's participation, and it's all anyone will talk about - alongside the industrial scale cheating that could likely see them win it this time.

Well there are many reasons, but one deal breaker, which for many left or progressive voters is a Rubicon they will no longer cross.

Every. Single. Day.

The current catastrophic Iran war is certainly for Israel, and for the last thirty years America's wars massively focused on the Middle East but were they all fought for Israel? Well, no, but there is an astonishing uptick in turning that into a yes.

Everyone's favorite onward Christian MAGA, West Australian MP Andrew Hastie, was all set to be the most blindly Trumpy - and religious - Liberal party leader yet, but since Angus Taylor took that role, he has behaved bizarrely against type. Standing up for a hate speech bill that cost him the populist right, strongly opposing the war in Iran and even telling conservatives to leave Neo-liberalism behind. Is he now based?!

After decades of peddling influence from the shadows, the events post the October 7th massacre have thrust the Israel lobby into the spotlight. And while they still wield enormous - and illegal - power over Western governments and news media, they have lost the third and most important component forever - the public.

And other stories.