Last updated 1:00pm Monday 25 May 2026 AEDT

Paul J. Berating

Australian Politics, Unfiltered. Sardonic Commentary Inspired By Australia's Greatest PM 🤬🇦🇺


Today's Top Stories

Markets rally on a peace deal that exists mainly in a press release

Oil eases and the ASX lifts on reports the US and Iran are nearing a deal, with tankers exiting the Strait of Hormuz. The market is pricing optimism it cannot verify.

Tankers turn around in the Strait of Hormuz and the ASX claps like a seal at feeding time. The market doesn't price peace — it prices the rumour of peace, then prices the rumour of the rumour. By Thursday Trump will have unnegotiated it on his phone and the same traders will call it a shock.

Brandis nominates the arsonist for fire chief

George Brandis pitches Tony Abbott's return as Liberal Party president as a masterstroke, which tells you everything about the depth of talent on the Liberal bench.

Brandis reckons the man who lost government in 2015 is the Liberals' salvation in 2026 — the arsonist returning with a hose and a humble look. Abbott as president is the party admitting the cupboard's so bare they've gone digging in the bin out the back. Menzies built a movement that outlasted him. This mob can't outlast a news cycle without ringing the bloke they sacked.

Trump says Iran deal 'largely negotiated' — Iran says otherwise

Trump claims a deal with Iran is nearly done. Iran disputes the substance and timeline.

Trump says the deal's 'largely negotiated' and Tehran says it isn't, which means somebody's reading from a different script and the producer hasn't noticed. Largely negotiated is the diplomatic cousin of mostly pregnant. Talleyrand spent twenty years getting Europe to agree on a tablecloth. This bloke's announced the banquet before anyone's sat down.

Change or die: Angus Taylor's high-wire act to save the Liberals

Angus Taylor is trying to win back One Nation defectors without losing the moderate base — a balancing act the post-byelection Liberals can't afford to fumble.

Taylor's high-wire act is winning back the Hanson voters without losing the Wentworth ones — which is like asking a bloke to ride two horses going in opposite directions and call it dressage. The Liberals don't need a leader, they need a coroner. Menzies built a broad church. Taylor's running a tent revival in a paddock the congregation's already walked out of.