jaspercliffordsmith

Every World Cup #FIFA gets more brazen: the gouging, the sportswashing, the Macca's hydration break 70 minutes in. The rot isn't a scandal anymore. It's the business model. So why has nobody built an alternative? Turns out, someone could. jaspercliffordsmith.substack.com/p/project-pa... #WorldCup

Every World Cup #FIFA gets more brazen: the gouging, the sportswashing, the Macca's hydration break 70 minutes in. The rot isn't a scandal anymore. It's the business model. So why has nobody built an alternative? Turns out, someone could. jaspercliffordsmith.substack.com/p/project-pa... #WorldCup

open.substack.com/pub/jaspercl... Forming a centrist party in 2026 is like opening a Blockbuster. The world has moved on. The teals don't want to dismantle the system. They want to decarbonise it. New piece on why that's not enough. #auspol #teals #centrism #climate

open.substack.com/pub/jaspercl... I founded a startup. Never once thought about the CGT discount. I built it because I wanted to solve a problem. The LinkedIn backlash isn't about innovation. It's about the tax treatment of venture returns. New piece. #auspol #cgt #startups #budget2026

James Talarico won the Texas Democratic Senate primary by talking about Jesus. The actual Jesus. The one who threw money-changers out of the temple, not the one with a private jet. New piece on faith, power and the left. #christianity #talarico #faith #politics open.substack.com/pub/jaspercl...

No blog today. #COYG

open.substack.com/pub/jaspercl... Voting One Nation is common sense. Voting Green is virtue signalling. That asymmetry is manufactured. New piece on how Stevenson and Mamdani are breaking the frame by talking about eggs and rent instead of ideology. #auspol #greens #politics

The Coalition polled 21% in Farrer. The Tories polled 20% in England. The fusionist right is dying everywhere. New piece on the only path back for the Liberals and why Hastie is the only one who can walk it. #auspol #liberalparty #farrer open.substack.com/pub/jaspercl...

open.substack.com/pub/jaspercl... Found out y'day that Labor 'released' their report into gambling during the budget lockup. New piece on government cashing in on sports gambling and why have zero interest in upholding a duty of care if a lobby group tells them not to. #auspol #labor #gambling

open.substack.com/pub/jaspercl... Two companies control 90% of Australian newspaper circulation. They endorsed the loser in the last two elections. The audience has moved. New piece on where it went, who's filling the gap, and why Karl Stefanovic is not the answer. #auspol #media #journalism

open.substack.com/pub/jaspercl... 160,000 people are about to lose their NDIS support. No grandfathering. HECS students copped 7.1% indexation overnight. Pension age went from 65 to 67. But property investors? They'd "made decisions." New piece. #auspol #budget2026 #ndis #negativegearing

Labor grandfathering negative gearing and the capital gains tax discount in the name of “generational equity” is so funny

open.substack.com/pub/jaspercl... $650 billion is being poured into AI data centres globally. Half the US builds are delayed or cancelled. Your Australian super fund is invested in the companies building them. Nobody told you. New piece. #auspol #AI #datacentres #superannuation #tech

open.substack.com/pub/jaspercl... The Liberals polled 20% in Farrer on Saturday. The Conservatives polled 20% in England on Thursday. One Nation won. Reform won. Same week. Same collapse. New piece on what the centre right is actually even for. #auspol #ukpol #farrer #onenation

War. Famine. Pestilence. Death. One administration produced all four. In order. Each one feeding the next. New piece. open.substack.com/pub/jaspercliffordsmith/p/the-four-horsemen #auspol #trump #iranwar #hantavirus #geopolitics

jaspercliffordsmith.substack.com/p/pea-shoote... The US launched Project Freedom on Monday. Paused it Tuesday. Destroyed 158 ships and still can't open a 34km strait. Even Newsmax asked "when did the president decide to capitulate?" New piece. #iranwar #hormuz #auspol #projectfreedom

open.substack.com/pub/jaspercl... The RBA raised rates again. Their own statement says the inflation is driven by the war. So why are mortgage holders paying for it? New piece on who benefits and what they could be doing instead. #auspol #rba #costofliving

open.substack.com/pub/jaspercl... It brings me absolutely no joy to say this, but I can't hold my nose and watch this #worldcup - new piece on the upcoming tournament and how #FIFA has gone from very corrupt to nominees for The Hague since #Infantino took over.

jaspercliffordsmith.substack.com/p/the-moveme... Mick Lynch says he still believes in a Labour movement. So do I. But Santos donated shitloads to the ALP and now they won't tax gas exports. The movement is alive. The party is the problem. New piece. #auspol #labor #greens #micklynch

open.substack.com/pub/jaspercl... Inflation hit 4.6%. Fuel up 32.8% in a month. That's $3,600 more a year for the same life. Angus Taylor closed four refineries and stored our reserves in America. He doesn't get to complain. #auspol #inflation #costofliving

open.substack.com/pub/jaspercl... Nationalism loves the flag. Patriotism loves the country. One serves the powerful. The other demands better. New piece inspired by Louisa Munch on Freire and why this distinction matters. #auspol #freire #patriotism #nationalism

open.substack.com/pub/jaspercl... What does Australian politics look like in 2036? I wrote a speculative letter from the future. The Greens have more seats than the Liberals. Pauline Hanson is dead. We have a new flag. It's satire. Mostly. #auspol #australia #politicalsatire #geopolitics

open.substack.com/pub/jaspercl... I grew up in Dulwich Hill in the 90s. Kids from fifteen countries playing soccer on the same oval. Multiculturalism wasn't a policy. It was Tuesday. New piece on what I love about this country and why it's worth fighting for. #auspol #australia #multiculturalism

If only we had a Labor Govt…

open.substack.com/pub/jaspercl... An accused war criminal got selfies. An Indigenous veteran whose grandfather rode at Beersheba got booed. New piece on what ANZAC Day has become. #auspol #anzacday #lestweforget

Fossil fuel producers should pay for the damage they’re causing, not Australians. Add your name to the petition to support a climate disaster levy: https://nb.australiainstitute.org.au/climatedisasterlevy

jaspercliffordsmith.substack.com/p/sixty-one-... 61% of Australians support a gas export tax. 5% oppose it. It would raise $17B a year. Albanese has ruled it out of the budget while cutting the NDIS. He's saving it for the election. New piece on why. #auspol #gastax #budget2026 #albanese #ndis

No excuse for not taxing gas super profits, cutting the CGT and -ve gearing on housing and abandoning the madness of spending $368B on nuclear subs. Cutting NDIS expenditure, subsidising multinationals, rich investors and the arms industry is not my understanding of Labor values!

I was four when the Berlin Wall came down. I was furious because it interrupted my cartoons. I'm 40 now and I think I'm watching the same kind of moment. New piece on what it feels like to live inside a system that's ending. #neoliberalism #auspol #trump #politics open.substack.com/pub/jaspercl...

It'll be dressed up as generational reform, but that's only half the story. Labor's scrapping of #CGT and #NegativeGearing is both a concession to what they slated the Greens for not long ago, and a (preemptive) depression-era cash grab. New post up now. #auspol open.substack.com/pub/jaspercl...

Today's post is about the government to weapons industry career pipeline and how, in my opinion, Richard Marles may be making huge decisions based on his future job prospects and not in the interests of the country. #auspol open.substack.com/pub/jaspercl...

Today's piece is about how even the most AIPAC-coded #Democrat is distancing himself from #Israel and why #Labor are still too scared to take a clear and principled position on the issue. #auspol open.substack.com/pub/jaspercl...

Wrote a piece about yesterday's mayoral election in #Newcastle and why it matters. #auspol #nswpol open.substack.com/pub/jaspercl...

Something for the weekend..here's a painting I did recently called "The Couple". Acrylic and pastel on A1 paper. An attempt to capture the moment you get stuck chatting to a couple at a party and you all realise you have nothing in common. #art #painting #australianartist

July 21 1935: The Führer orders a new reception hall and ballroom to "entertain foreign diplomats" at the Chancellery. Underneath the dance floor is an air raid shelter. A 2nd deeper bunker is built next to this in 1944, where he would spend his last days as the Reich collapsed.

Damn straight Minns needs to resign. No consultation, no holistic approach, legislating against lawful assembly to fight for humanity. Get out and go fight for your pay masters. www.abc.net.au/news/2026-04...

Wrote something about Angus Taylor's ridiculously insane strategy to get the LNP back to its glory days by aping One Nation. Truly one of the dumbest political moves I've ever seen, mostly because we've seen how this strategy played out in the UK.. #auspol #LNP open.substack.com/pub/jaspercl...

Posting something tomorrow about Angus Taylor's plan to win power by aping One Nation. Spoiler: it's a really dumb strategy. Wrote about Hastie a couple of weeks ago, who is being a bit smarter about things. Read it here👇 #Auspol #LNP #AndrewHastie #AngusTaylor open.substack.com/pub/jaspercl...

Two things happened yesterday that would've really given Gina Rinehart the shits, and having a court tell her she owes $1.5b isn't even the most serious one. Check my article on the situation 👇 #Auspol #OneNation #GinaRinehart open.substack.com/pub/jaspercl...

posted this on substack a couple of weeks ago but it's going to be relevant until this clown is either dead or in prison. #auspol #onenation #paulinehanson open.substack.com/pub/jaspercl...

Wrote some words about the actual facts around the Ben Roberts-Smith case and how the right wing culture wars are really struggling to appear coherent these days.. #auspol #benrobertssmith #substack open.substack.com/pub/jaspercl...