Margaret Barbalet
@margaretbarbalet.bsky.social
Writer, grandmother, former diplomat
Reposted by Margaret Barbalet
"In the event, Brexit has failed to enable either of these two conflicting visions. Instead, we’ve ended up with the worst of both worlds."
November 29, 2025 at 8:59 PM
"In the event, Brexit has failed to enable either of these two conflicting visions. Instead, we’ve ended up with the worst of both worlds."
More and more evidence
The Telegraph's Jeremy Warner:
Time to admit the truth: Brexit has been an unmitigated economic failure
archive.ph/X9Wpb#select...
Time to admit the truth: Brexit has been an unmitigated economic failure
archive.ph/X9Wpb#select...
archive.ph
November 29, 2025 at 11:27 PM
More and more evidence
Reposted by Margaret Barbalet
The president has illegally declared war to stop fentanyl trafficking from a country that does not traffic that drug, claiming its leader is trafficking drugs himself, the day after pardoning a former leader of a country who is a convicted drug trafficker.
Just to level set
Just to level set
November 29, 2025 at 4:47 PM
The president has illegally declared war to stop fentanyl trafficking from a country that does not traffic that drug, claiming its leader is trafficking drugs himself, the day after pardoning a former leader of a country who is a convicted drug trafficker.
Just to level set
Just to level set
Reposted by Margaret Barbalet
As one who worries about our water levels, I'm happy we've had a wet spring. But it does make gardening either messy or impossible. Between showers this morning, I managed to empty & spread the worm castings, prune things that were getting out of hand, & prep beds for new plantings 😌
November 29, 2025 at 9:55 PM
As one who worries about our water levels, I'm happy we've had a wet spring. But it does make gardening either messy or impossible. Between showers this morning, I managed to empty & spread the worm castings, prune things that were getting out of hand, & prep beds for new plantings 😌
Greenwich Point, Sydney
November 29, 2025 at 11:20 PM
Greenwich Point, Sydney
Reposted by Margaret Barbalet
I get the feeling that and here I struggle with the appropriate metaphor…
The wheels have come off
The brakes have failed
The pot is boiling over
All bets are off
It feels like the chaos is spreading and there don’t seem to be any limiting factors anymore
Except, there are
There is us
Yes us
The wheels have come off
The brakes have failed
The pot is boiling over
All bets are off
It feels like the chaos is spreading and there don’t seem to be any limiting factors anymore
Except, there are
There is us
Yes us
a woman is holding a cup of coffee and asking us
Alt: a woman is holding a cup of coffee and asking us
media.tenor.com
November 28, 2025 at 11:54 PM
I get the feeling that and here I struggle with the appropriate metaphor…
The wheels have come off
The brakes have failed
The pot is boiling over
All bets are off
It feels like the chaos is spreading and there don’t seem to be any limiting factors anymore
Except, there are
There is us
Yes us
The wheels have come off
The brakes have failed
The pot is boiling over
All bets are off
It feels like the chaos is spreading and there don’t seem to be any limiting factors anymore
Except, there are
There is us
Yes us
Gutless
Once again, not a single member of the press corps stands up for their female colleague being verbally abused by the President.
Trump is a historic disgrace, but every single person in that room standing in compliant silence is complicit.
Trump is a historic disgrace, but every single person in that room standing in compliant silence is complicit.
“You’re a stupid person” — Trump lashes out at a reporter who presses him on the fact that the suspected DC shooter was actually thoroughly vetted before he was let in the US from Afghanistan
November 28, 2025 at 12:07 PM
Gutless
Reposted by Margaret Barbalet
90 dead in Indonesia
56 in Sri Lanka
56 in Sri Lanka
Asia extreme weather: Ninety dead in Indonesia floods as cyclone displaces thousands in Sri Lanka
Extreme weather across several parts of Asia has impacted millions of people in recent days.
www.bbc.com
November 28, 2025 at 8:39 AM
90 dead in Indonesia
56 in Sri Lanka
56 in Sri Lanka
Reposted by Margaret Barbalet
Senile Satan, Con Junior and Fredo announced their phone in June, promising delivery in August to commemorate a decade since Satan came down the escalator. Not one phone has been delivered and good luck getting a refund. They took 590,000 deposits totaling $59 million.
November 28, 2025 at 2:05 AM
Senile Satan, Con Junior and Fredo announced their phone in June, promising delivery in August to commemorate a decade since Satan came down the escalator. Not one phone has been delivered and good luck getting a refund. They took 590,000 deposits totaling $59 million.
Reposted by Margaret Barbalet
Despite living in the Perth Hills for nearly 20 yrs, I still come across native species I’ve not noticed before… like this lovely Darling Range Beaufortia (Beaufortia macrostemon) which is currently in flower
#ozflora #wildoz #nativeplants #inaturalist
#ozflora #wildoz #nativeplants #inaturalist
November 28, 2025 at 2:01 AM
Despite living in the Perth Hills for nearly 20 yrs, I still come across native species I’ve not noticed before… like this lovely Darling Range Beaufortia (Beaufortia macrostemon) which is currently in flower
#ozflora #wildoz #nativeplants #inaturalist
#ozflora #wildoz #nativeplants #inaturalist
Reposted by Margaret Barbalet
This stupendous achievement will go up online with zero fanfare but I have to read 15 articles a week about how some chud thinks he reinvented hieroglyphics via conversation with ChatGPT
700 Years of Persian Manuscripts Now Digitized & Free Online
700 Years of Persian Manuscripts Now Digitized & Free Online
Too often those in power lump thousands of years of Middle Eastern religion and culture into monolithic entities to be feared or persecuted. But at least one government institution is doing exactly th...
www.openculture.com
November 26, 2025 at 3:35 AM
This stupendous achievement will go up online with zero fanfare but I have to read 15 articles a week about how some chud thinks he reinvented hieroglyphics via conversation with ChatGPT
Reposted by Margaret Barbalet
Reposted by Margaret Barbalet
Come and say "Hi!" this Friday twilight at the Mary MacKillop Christmas Market at Kincumber South. I'll be sharing a stall with fellow middle grade author Fiona Lloyd, and it's the perfect time to grab some bookish Christmas gifts! And Santa will be there!
Scan the QR code for more details.
🎄 🎅
Scan the QR code for more details.
🎄 🎅
November 26, 2025 at 5:10 AM
Come and say "Hi!" this Friday twilight at the Mary MacKillop Christmas Market at Kincumber South. I'll be sharing a stall with fellow middle grade author Fiona Lloyd, and it's the perfect time to grab some bookish Christmas gifts! And Santa will be there!
Scan the QR code for more details.
🎄 🎅
Scan the QR code for more details.
🎄 🎅
Giramondo, ginormous!
Books we’ve published in 2025 ❤️
Giramondo subscribers will have received these titles in their mailbox before anyone else. Consider subscribing for yourself, or for a loved one who needs more quality literature in their life.
Learn more: giramondopublishing.com/subscribe
Giramondo subscribers will have received these titles in their mailbox before anyone else. Consider subscribing for yourself, or for a loved one who needs more quality literature in their life.
Learn more: giramondopublishing.com/subscribe
November 25, 2025 at 12:45 AM
Giramondo, ginormous!
Ben Gvir - needing to harass children.
Israel’s National Security Minister Ben-Gvir ordered that a performance by children in the Palestinian National Theatre be raided and closed down just before the children were due to perform.
November 24, 2025 at 4:41 AM
Ben Gvir - needing to harass children.
Reposted by Margaret Barbalet
David Pocock arguing in the #Senate against the cancelling of Centrelink benefits pending criminal prosecution. This is what an ethical equality warrior looks like. We need 20 more like him in the halls of power and hope we get them in the next election. He makes me proud to be Australian. #auspol
November 24, 2025 at 12:08 AM
Reposted by Margaret Barbalet
We saw it with big tobacco, we saw it with the fossil fuels industry. When their own internal research showed the harm from their product, the defunded the research and attacked independent researchers coming to the very same conclusions.
#ScienceUnderSiege
#ScienceUnderSiege
Meta halted internal research that purportedly showed (young) people who stopped using Facebook became less depressed and anxious, according to an unredacted legal filing released on Friday. www.cnbc.com/2025/11/23/m...
Meta halted internal research suggesting social media harm, court filing alleges
Meta is alleged to have halted internal research suggesting social media harm, according to court documents.
www.cnbc.com
November 24, 2025 at 1:59 AM
We saw it with big tobacco, we saw it with the fossil fuels industry. When their own internal research showed the harm from their product, the defunded the research and attacked independent researchers coming to the very same conclusions.
#ScienceUnderSiege
#ScienceUnderSiege
Great!
I can see at least three independent fires raging in the Shatura power plant in the Moscow region. Especially the last explosion in this footage shows a direct hit, causing a huge fireball. I assume that the local natural gas storage was hit.
November 23, 2025 at 12:27 PM
Great!
Reposted by Margaret Barbalet
A billion journeys will benefit from the freeze - saving passengers a total of £600m, Labour says
inews.co.uk/news/rail-fa...
inews.co.uk/news/rail-fa...
Rail fares to be frozen after 30 years of increases
A billion journeys will benefit from the freeze - saving passengers a total of £600m, Labour says
inews.co.uk
November 23, 2025 at 9:43 AM
A billion journeys will benefit from the freeze - saving passengers a total of £600m, Labour says
inews.co.uk/news/rail-fa...
inews.co.uk/news/rail-fa...
Reposted by Margaret Barbalet
We need to stop calling it a ‘peace plan,’ even with sarcastic quotes around it. Call it the US-Kremlin plan or similar.
‘US-Kremlin plan’ shames the US and makes it sound deeply unappealing to the broader US and European publics.
‘US-Kremlin plan’ shames the US and makes it sound deeply unappealing to the broader US and European publics.
November 21, 2025 at 9:18 PM
We need to stop calling it a ‘peace plan,’ even with sarcastic quotes around it. Call it the US-Kremlin plan or similar.
‘US-Kremlin plan’ shames the US and makes it sound deeply unappealing to the broader US and European publics.
‘US-Kremlin plan’ shames the US and makes it sound deeply unappealing to the broader US and European publics.
Ha!
Twitter implemented a new feature last night that displayed the country an account is in. So many of the ‘America First’ accounts were from foreign countries that they had to disable the feature within hours. 🙄
November 23, 2025 at 12:24 PM
Ha!
Oh, I love that lazy paw.
'By the Fireside' by contemporary printmaker Ann Tout #ReframingWomenPrintmakers
November 23, 2025 at 6:30 AM
Oh, I love that lazy paw.
Hurrah!
Like FPV drones taking down Russian helicopters was not enough, the Ukrainian SOF have taken it even further.
For the first time in history, a Russian military Mi-8 helicopter has been shot down by a guided deep-strike drone FP-1. 200km from the frontline, Kuteinikovo Rostov region of Russia.
For the first time in history, a Russian military Mi-8 helicopter has been shot down by a guided deep-strike drone FP-1. 200km from the frontline, Kuteinikovo Rostov region of Russia.
November 22, 2025 at 10:09 PM
Hurrah!
Reposted by Margaret Barbalet
Odesa, people on the beach watch and cheer for the work of the Ukrainian air defence
November 22, 2025 at 4:06 PM
Odesa, people on the beach watch and cheer for the work of the Ukrainian air defence
Reposted by Margaret Barbalet
She left the price sticker on the book?? Aside from that, fine choice MJ! @minon.bsky.social knocked it out of the park on debut this year!
Book 5/30. First Name Second Name, Steve MinOn. Another flight of glorious imaginative fancy - a peripatetic odyssey - reaching back through our peppered Australian past with the undead jianghsi as our wry guide. Superb. Deserving of all its awards and accolades.
November 22, 2025 at 4:52 PM
She left the price sticker on the book?? Aside from that, fine choice MJ! @minon.bsky.social knocked it out of the park on debut this year!