In the heat of Summer 2023, as tourists swarmed Crete’s postcard-perfect beaches, Greek police raided a fertility clinic  in the port town of Chania. What they uncovered was a sophisticated operation involving illegal surrogacy and human trafficking.  I first heard about the case through the Greek community in Melbourne. Some of the commissioning parents involved were known within those circles and word of the investigation in Crete circulated quickly. At first, the details w

I would describe myself as a cautious monarchist. It is not that I agree with the monarchy as an institution but rather that I fear a President Farage or someone of similar bilious intent. In an alternative world, I would see them consigned to a council estate in Wolverhampton, à la Sue Townsend, but we have to work with the circumstances we have, not the ones we want. The Andrew farce though has really caused me to question my views on monarchy altogether. While Andrew Mount

Europe is sabotaging its own climate goals by prioritising the protection of its car industry over allowing affordable Chinese electric vehicles in. This turns the green transition into a trade dispute with China, whilst risking the green transformation both sides urgently need. Europe doesn’t need a trade war, it needs a strategy. Instead of raising tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles , the EU should establish a Green Trade Truce based on transparency, cooperation and fair

Valencia has been the talk of the town this past year, but perhaps not for the best of reasons. In a period of political instability in Spain, the Valencian Community has stood out for various corruption cases and its worsening housing crisis . Most salient in the social sphere of late has been Valencia, a region of over 2.5 million people, falling silent to pay tribute to the 229 victims who lost their lives to flooding  just over a year ago.  In spite of the outbreak of cri

For context, ‘new left’ encompasses both the recently formed Your Party and the revitalised Green Party under Zack Polanski.  At the moment, these two separate parties have even been campaigning side-by-side, in a somewhat wholesome, but more so politically disconcerting joint campaigning effort that won’t last ten minutes. They appear tethered in a codependent manner, comparable to the graphic horror of Michael Shank’s Together , though they are distinct political entities w