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There is a salamander so rare, you can find it only in the Ozarks. It is born wide-eyed and willing, eager to explore its surroundings: blue streams, green forests.

One day, the salamander wanders into a crack in the earth. This is the most fateful decision it will make. The world darkens, but the salamander keeps going: down, down, down, until no light remains. Over time, its skin begins to mutate. A film grows over its eyelids and fuses them shut.

The salamander is now blind. But it does not know. It will live, and die, in the eternal darkness of a subterranean cave.

I spent No Kings Day in a cave because I wanted to see the salamander. But I also wanted to ensure no film comes to cover my own eyes. A cave 250 feet underground has no cell service and no surveillance. It has no AI or GPS. Lone light shines from lanterns held by humans. They reveal a labyrinthine land of stone, not dead but slow growing. I go to caves to reset my senses. They show me the peace I am missing.

On the drive to the Ozarks, I saw a photo on social media. A protester held a handmade sign with a warning I wrote years ago: “THIS IS A TRANSNATIONAL CRIME SYNDICATE MASQUERADING AS A GOVERNMENT.”

Sam is a research and evaluation expert with experience in the charity sector. Currently working within the Insights team at Youth Music, he collects and analyses data from the grassroots music network. These findings are used to evaluate impact and reinforce evidence-led decision making, with the aim of supporting marginalised young people to make and […]

The post Sam Williams appeared first on Equality Trust.

Samia Khatun is an INGO, Social Justice and Global Health professional with extensive senior leadership, organisational governance and executive management experience. She currently works as Head of Programmes at King’s Global Health Partnerships where she is responsible for the overall strategic direction and management of its programmes, partnerships and operations which includes the London based […]

The post Samia Khatun appeared first on Equality Trust.

Aliyah Green is a racial and environmental justice facilitator, interested in justice movements and anti-oppression work generally. With a focus on empowering young people, Aliyah supports the development of their campaigning skills and delivers political education programs designed to inspire and equip participants with the knowledge and skills needed to make systemic change. She is […]

The post Aliyah Green appeared first on Equality Trust.

Prior to qualifying in Community Development Chris worked with homeless people and did youth work. Since 1990 Chris has focussed on equality working in and running Race Equality Councils and setting up and running health advocacy projects. Chris joined the Commission for Racial Equality in 2002 before moving to the Disability Rights Commission where he […]

The post Chris Oswald appeared first on Equality Trust.

I am a civil servant living in London since 2017, with a focus on climate and people. I am Franco-American, but have recently become a UK citizen, and very keen to partake in making this country and more equal and inclusive place. I have been lucky to mentor many colleagues, improve D&I in the civil […]

The post Rosanne Fienga appeared first on Equality Trust.

On this episode of Dollars & Sense, Greg and Elinor discuss Australia’s growing wealth gap, what Australians think about the government’s proposed superannuation tax changes, and what the escalating conflict in the Middle East means for the global economy.

This discussion was recorded on Wednesday 18 June 2025 and things may have changed since recording.

Our independence is our strength – and only you can make that possible. By donating to the Australia Institute’s End of Financial Year appeal today, you’ll help fund the research changing Australia for the better.

Host: Greg Jericho, Chief Economist, the Australia Institute and Centre for Future Work // @grogsgamut

Host: Elinor Johnston-Leek, Senior Content Producer, the Australia Institute // @elinorjohnstonleek

Show notes:

Wealthy Australians are worried we might realise how rigged the system is in their favour by Greg Jericho, Guardian Australia (June 2025)

Hannah is a Senior Lecturer in Public Health at the University of Sheffield, where her research critically examines socially patterned inequities in health and wellbeing, with a particular focus on children, young people, and families. She is driven by a commitment to understanding and addressing the environmental, social, and political factors that influence health. This […]

The post Hannah Fairbrother appeared first on Equality Trust.

Milla is Head of Maths at the London Screen Academy, a film and TV sixth form college dedicated to increasing diversity and access to opportunity in the creative industries. Having trained through Teach First, she entered the teaching profession with a hope to tackle education inequalities in the classroom, and continues this work as a […]

The post Milla Lupton appeared first on Equality Trust.

Every human deserves a good life and I am dedicated to fighting for this. At University, I studied Sociology with a specialism in Race and Global Politics, which refined by critical analysis skills. Society is increasingly suffocating for marginalised groups, while those in power hoard resources. Things need to change today. I currently work in […]

The post Dianne Danquah appeared first on Equality Trust.

Rosie Murphy is a midwife with expertise in tackling inequalities of care in NHS maternity services and across the wider NHS system. Rosie graduated as a midwife from Leeds University in 2009 and her first midwifery posts were in London. It was the contrast in population needs and service provision that first highlighted to her […]

The post Rosie Murphy appeared first on Equality Trust.

Jacob Smith is a housing-finance specialist at Bristol City Council, where he uses data to keep rents fair and strengthen social housing. As Treasurer of his local party he manages budgets that power grassroots campaigns and brings evidence on wealth inequality to doorsteps and community halls. A regular speaker on the human cost of austerity, […]

The post Jacob Smith appeared first on Equality Trust.

To many Americans, the riots in Los Angeles look like another chapter in the history of the country’s race riots, going from the “long, hot summer of 1967” to the George Floyd riots of 2020. But the 2025 L.A. riots are different. The figure who helps us see that is Vice President Dan Quayle, the man who covered up the true causes of another infamous series of riots in Los Angeles.

In the spring of 1992, riots began after the verdict was announced in the Rodney King case. When the LAPD lost control of the streets, President George H.W. Bush declared a state of emergency and sent in the National Guard. Shortly thereafter, in a speech that became famous for Quayle criticizing the TV character Murphy Brown, the vice president provided an ingenious reframing of the disturbances. He used the riots to pronounce the central credo of his era:

From the perspective of many Japanese, the ethnic diversity of our culture is a weakness compared to their homogeneous society. I beg to differ with my host. I explained that our diversity is our strength and I explained that the immigrants who come to our shores have made and continue to make vast contributions to our culture and to our economy.

The Wrap with Amy Remeikis

One of the problems with hope is that it’s often left to fend for itself. People might work to maintain their hope that things will get better, but hope without action is essentially just delusion.

When hopes are dashed, the flip side is usually despair.

Which makes sense – you don’t have to do anything to despair. You just kind of slide into it.

It’s easy to hope. It’s just as easy to despair. Neither truly require you do anything except throw your hands up in the air and hope that someone will do something. And if that person who does the thing, does the wrong thing, well then you can despair. You had hope, it was dashed. Now you can be bitter. Despair. Because obviously you can’t do something. Right?

Recently I underwent surgery and when I came to, sore and hazed, my mind feeling as though it was coated in molasses, muscle memory had me reaching for my phone. I saw two things. Anthony Albanese again refusing to sanction Israel, despite rightly acknowledging Israel’s on-going blockade of aid to Gaza as an “outrage” and Labor approving the North West Shelf extension.

I did not feel despair. I felt rage. Not because I didn’t see it coming, but because we know they know better.

Despite being the official measure of price changes, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) is not useful for tracking changes in housing costs or rent increases. It does not include land prices or mortgage payments, and significantly underestimates rent increases.

The post Silly Housing Statistics 3: The CPI – Official silliness, or just misunderstood and misused data? appeared first on Greg Ogle's After Dinner Political Economy.

"Priced Out", the Everybody's Home Coalition report on rental affordability is based in part on a flawed comparison of low incomes and median rents. This is a silly housing statistic which risks undermining the important advocacy of the report and the campaign.

The post Silly Housing Statistics 2: I am Priced Out of a renting a beachside house appeared first on Greg Ogle's After Dinner Political Economy.

Media reports that Adelaide rents have surpassed those in Melbourne are based on silly statistics, but the reasons why they are silly reveal a lot about how we (mis)understand (and misuse) basic housing data on rents, rent prices and asking rents.

The post Silly Housing Statistics: Is it more expensive to rent in Adelaide than in Melbourne? appeared first on Greg Ogle's After Dinner Political Economy.

Marianne Faithfull's classic song, The Ballad of Lucy Jordan, has been critiqued for its attack on the role of a housewife. Yet what is more remarkable is that such critiques have little place in a modern economy - and the question is why? A victory for feminism, or of neoliberalism?

The post The Political Economy of Lucy Jordan appeared first on Greg Ogle's After Dinner Political Economy.

For Anti-Poverty Week 2024, I invented "the Vegemite Curve", a graph plotting unit prices of an iconic Australian brand to demonstrate a poverty premium and how it costs more to be poor.

The post The Vegemite Curve: A curve becomes an index becomes a policy appeared first on Greg Ogle's After Dinner Political Economy.

Profits and operational surpluses are treated very differently in these two government-created "markets", with the result that NFP social service providers have limited ability to invest in organisational development and struggle with sustainability.

The post Social Services and Energy Distribution: The Treatment of Surpluses and Profits in Pseudo Markets appeared first on Greg Ogle's After Dinner Political Economy.

The most recent SA state budget shows interest payments increasing as a proportion of government expenditure, creating an opportunity cost for other expenditure possibilities. This should create an argument for tax reform to increase the revenue base, but the historic record for change is not good.

The post State Tax Reform: A South Australian Perspective appeared first on Greg Ogle's After Dinner Political Economy.