This week in the coverage of the conflict between Israel and Palestine there’s been a shift. After the initial bloody attacks from Hamas fighters against civilian Israelis, the Sydney Harbour Bridge was lit up blue and white in support of Israel. But as the Palestinian civilian death toll has ticked up through a breath-taking bombing response; as Gaza has been besieged even more than usual generating millions of displaced people within the city; and the boots-on-the-ground counter-offensive hasn’t begun yet, some of our political leaders are beginning to ask, “Should we be completely behind Israel on this?”

Have you seen the new coin design with the King on the back? It’ll start being circulated very soon and will gradually make their way into our spare change in the next year or so. I understand that monarchs take approving this image of themselves very seriously – this portrait image is selected by the king himself at the Royal Mint in the UK and then that image is on-distributed to Commonwealth countries for use.

 A little over a week ago the Bureau of Meteorology announced that we’ve moved back in to an El Niño weather pattern. The tropical waters North-East of Australia are cooler than normal, meaning there’s less evaporation and so less clouds across Eastern Australia.

Have you ever received an SMS telling you to urgently pay a toll? An email informing you of an incredible investment opportunity? An unsolicited telephone call apparently from a reputable organisation asking for your personal details? Or a Facebook friend request from someone whose name you don’t know and whose somewhat provocative profile photo you suspect is probably not a photo of them at all? If so, you have almost definitely been the target of a scam.