#different

Tuesday 21st July 2026

Editorial

Well where does a desperate Labor MP go when she is trying to dog herself out of polling nightmare? The ABC. Amazing how Bendigo Barbie can drop everything and head off to Southbank, home of the ABC and give old Raf Epstein a few free hits only for him to whack her with a tissue and say thank you so much for coming in. While Raf called bullshit on Karl Stefanovic and his version of journalism, we are calling bullshit on Raf and his weak questioning of the second most toxic premier in the history of the country.

Comm Games anyone? While Allan was talking about how she’s tackling crime and that the state isn’t in the bad a shape after all the Comm Games kick off in Glasgow this week. When asked about them the Bendigo bruiser said? It was the right call to cancel the Games, but nothing about the $400 million we gave the Scot’s to run them. On another state government point it appears the teenagers at the social media department have been out again and this time they obviously told Steve Dimopoulos to get out in the streets to talk about how awesome Melbourne is! You can see the pain on the Labor MP’s face as he reels off how many events Melbourne has and how few empty shops there are…lucky Steve wasn’t hooked up to a lie detector at the time of filming his post.

Donald J Trump, you muppet! But funny muppet! At the end of the World Cup final and as Spain were about to hoist the trophy high, who was standing right in shot? You guessed it, el Presidente! Even the FIFA Boss was like, get out of the way mate! The game itself was fairly one sided and Argentina showed themselves to be absolute arseholes during and after the game. Au revoir Messi.

Mick Malthouse! A legend of the AFL and now of civilian life. The legendary coach was in court to give evidence against the two men that broke into his home with Mick being stabbed several times. Under cross examination it was suggested Mick was too aggressive, that he was the instigator and that he could’ve gone easy on the spirited lads. Mick didn’t really like the line of questioning and said so to defence counsel, but really? It’s all just a pissing contest and Mick should be given a heroes award! Bloody lawyers/Barristers!

And finally the radio bro show that was to feature Karl Stefanovic and Eddie McGuire has been cancelled by ARN. Karl is bad news for ARN given his podcast subject matter and Eddie in his own isn’t going to work so it’s bye bye before it even really began.

Zohran Mamdani with the New York Times

Despite what the right wingers will say I do believe that the New York Times is the best newspaper on the planet. Not only is it the best, but it is the closest thing the world has to an impartial voice, again the right wingers will disagree but hey this is my newspaper.

Lulu Garcia Navarro one of the long time and highly respected journalists from the Times has interviewed New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani for the Daily, the papers podcast, and love or loathe the Mayor of New York it is an interesting insight into a man who could one day run for President.

Mamdani is for me a smiling assassin. A man of Muslim faith who brings to New York, as he said at his inauguration, the warmth of collectivism rather than the pain of individualism and he smiles, a lot. Under the smiles though is a sense of ruthlessness that is indeed needed to run the biggest city on the planet. When the likes of Ed Koch, David Dinkins and Rudi Giuliani (as prosecutor) took on the Mafia they were men of fearlessness, men who were indeed criticised and threatened but for the greater good did the job they believed needed to be done. 

While Mamdani isn’t too concerned about the mafia he presides over a city divided between rich and poor and a city at the forefront of differences of opinion on Israel v Palestine. Mamdani is unquestionably on the side of the poor wanting to offer free or cheap child care, free or cheap public transport and to tax the rich beyond anything ever considered, but it’s on the issue of Israel Palestine the mayor steps right into the fold.

Mamdani is a proud Muslim and as such is on the side of Palestine. In his interview with the Times he suggests that the New York City legal team is investigating whether or not it can legally arrest Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu if he does in fact visit the city any time soon. Mamdani believes Netanyahu should be in Hague on war crimes charges and hold him responsible for the so called genocide in Gaza. 

It’s on the issue of Israel Palestine that the smiles and laughter vanish replaced with the ruthlessness and even anger that the Mayor can turn on when it comes to things he’s deeply upset about. When the Mayor talks about wanting to help those struggling he does it via this open armed generosity as if to say come with me I will make you safe and warm, but ask him about the Jews and it’s go get me a machine gun.

The idea that a councillor can get involved in geo political issues is not new, we have seen it here in Australia but do we need leaders of local community adding their two cents worth into global affairs? In Australia absolutely not, but in New York? Maybe, maybe not. Mamdani presides over a massively diverse community and he needs to be the voice of all of them. He needs to be an impartial voice of reason and yet when it comes to the issue of Gaza he’s anything but.

At 34 Mamdani is but a babe in the woods when it comes to politics so even if he did two terms as Mayor of New York he could still be one of the youngest Presidential candidates in US history and the first Muslim. Would he want to be President? It wasn’t clear in his interview with the Times, but if he ever did get into the Oval Office there’s no doubt who would be on his hit list.

The Winners and losers at the World Cup 

I have to be honest I had forgotten that Trump, before the World Cup final had said he was cancelling all trade with Spain. I only realised after the game and to be fair to the Spanish players that they didn’t snub Trump at the medal and trophy presentation was an absolute credit to them.

So the big winners of the World Cup were undoubtedly Spain. They flew under the radar with ruthless efficiency and were deserved winners. The biggest losers and despite coming runners up were Argentina. Possibly the greatest show of unsportsmanlike conduct ever seen at a global event and I’m sorry but Ronaldo is the GOAT because he would never have allowed a team he was part of to behave the way in which Argentina did. Appalling and disgusting.

Seperate to Spain winning the tournament the team of the Cup was Norway. A team headed by its hero Erling Haaland they played with a spirit of togetherness and determination making their home country proud.

The players of the tournament were obviously those that scored the most goals but Haaland, Jude Bellingham, Lamal, Salah, Ronaldo, Mbappe and Messi were all brilliant and showed why they’re the best players in the world. Some at the beginning of their careers some at the end but all brilliant.

The biggest let down of the tournament I’m sorry but I think was Brazil. The team that went to this World Cup had arguably the best manager in the world in charge, in Carlo Ancelloti and not even he could get Brazil firing. Neymar probably could’ve played more but at this level one man can only do so much. England while finishing third probably had their best chance to win it all since the golden generation of 2002 and 2006 but couldn’t show that killer instinct to win at all costs so they were also a bit of a let down.

And the absolute biggest loser of the World Cup? Donald J Trump. El Presidente had stayed clear of most of the event but at the very end of the whole thing tried to steal some of the limelight from the team that won it all. A team representing a country he had black balled only a few weeks earlier. The half time show was also ridiculous and showed even the Americans can stuff up global entertainment.

A great World Cup though, won by a very deserving team, one that saw Messi and Ronaldo probably take their final bows and left us in no doubt who the GOAT actually is.

Starmer gone, Burnham in and Farage at a by election 

How many PM’s is that now in the UK? Former Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham is now the Prime Minister of England. Is the revolving door at Number 10 good for democracy? Ahhh no it’s not and you have to wonder if Burnham will be any different but I suspect he’s going to go all in on trying to unite and fix the UK.

In his first speech as PM Burnham has said he plans profound changes to the UK to unite it and fix it. Now when a PM says things like that it doesn’t mean he’s just going to shift around a few chairs it means major change, but what? Well he’s sort of spoilt for choice as to where he should start given the issues in the UK but it’s fair to think he’s going to have to tackle immigration, debt, unity and the welfare system.

Arguably the most contentious issue in the UK is immigration and while Labour will want immigration to keep moving forward Burnham knows he has to do something about the issues around it. A better border security plan? Better screening? No more free healthcare for migrants or illegal migrants? It remains to be seen but if he can meet the issues around immigration head on and make real change then he could stave off Reform.

Like Mamdani in New York, like Trump, like Netanyahu even like Mark Carney in Canada Burnham needs to get some mongrel about him. He needs to be a strong ruthless leader that can say the country is going this way because I believe it’s the right way for England. If there has been a common thread lacking in all of the last 8 UK PM’s it’s a ruthless commitment to their goals. Starmer was probably the weakest of the lot and showed absolutely no backbone so this is where Burnham can make a statement, he can stand up and say follow me.

Will Andy survive? Gees your think Labour would want to hold onto him til the election but hey this is UK politics and the revolving door on Number 10 has just been serviced.

Channel 7 follow up on their own performance 

Does anyone else think that Channel 7 didn’t see their Spotlight interview with Pauline Hanson go the way they wanted? Now yes they would have edited it to make things go where they wanted but if the channel 7 news report on their own interview tried to highlight inconsistencies in Pauline’s comments you’d have to suggest they didn’t really get what they wanted out of the whole exercise.

We discussed the interview at length yesterday but for channel 7 itself to be clarifying comments made by Hanson it seems they want to be the news and then comment on it as well. Mark Riley the networks main political analyst made the point that Hanson has missed nearly a full year of Senate sitting days during her time in parliament and never attends senate hearings. And? I’m sorry Mark but if that’s the best 7 can come up with off the back of their own interview with the woman herself then the interview didn’t go the way the network wanted it to go.

Pauline Hanson has been dealing with the media and it’s stitch up mentality for decades so she would’ve seen Liam Bartlett coming from last year, but the question the media aren’t asking is how is Hanson so popular? The media, 7 included aren’t asking people why they’re walking away from the major parties instead they’re going after One Nation in particular as the racist ranters of mis information and doom. The anti migration bigots who think there are only two genders and who want to ruin the country.

Pauline Hanson and One Nation who could soon add Alex Antic to their armoury probably hope that the media keeps going after them as racist bigots because the more they do, the more the major parties keep saying no to One Nation the more the movement towards them grows.

The point Mark Riley made on the news last night was that the One Nation numbers basically aren’t great but Mark, Albo got less than 35% of the public vote at the last election and won. Yes he got preferences along the way to form government but that One Nation already have a larger primary vote than the government is testament to the fact people have had enough and right now no one in the media or government is acknowledging why. It is for the moment still easier for mainstream media outlets and the government to label One Nation as racist bigots rather than actually understanding the shift, but they all need to change their tune because if they don’t it’ll be Prime Minister Hanson before they know what hit them.