Thursday, 12 February - Out on the wily windy moors

Good morning, it’s Thursday, 12 February. In your Squiz Today…

• A Libs leadership challenge is imminent

• A rare mass shooting has been carried out in Canada

• And some withering “Wuthering Heights” reviews…

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Squiz the Weather

Squiz Sayings

Said 13yo Austin Appelbee in an extraordinarily calm, clear voice to emergency operators in a Triple-0 call he made after swimming 4 kilometres to get help for his family who’d been swept out to sea in south-west Western Australia. He’s the man you want in a crisis…

Quitting to run

The Squiz

Inspiring anyone who thinks their boss is hopeless, Angus Taylor quit his role as the Coalition’s Defence spokesman last night in anticipation of challenging Sussan Ley for leadership of the federal Liberal Party. He reckons his team needs "strong leadership, clear direction and a courageous focus on our values", and said his priorities for the Australian people will be "protecting our way of life and restoring our standard of living". Ley hasn’t reacted publicly (but she did have time to rehash an old Mark Latham campaign slogan…). Meanwhile, Team Albanese is having a field day… 

Knock me over with a feather… 

You’re right, the move is far from out of the blue... For weeks - scratch that, months - there’s been speculation that Taylor would mount a run. Those whispers turned into shouts in the last couple of weeks as Ley’s polling numbers put the party into record-low territory. Ley was elected leader over Taylor after the Coalition's disaster of an election in May last year by a pretty fine margin - 29-25. Note: three Liberals who voted for Ley in that leadership ballot are no longer in the partyroom. And since then, there have been issues… Ley's handling of the relationship with the Nationals, her demands to recall parliament after the Bondi terror attack only to wobble on the legislative response, and her attack on PM Anthony Albanese over a t-shirt, have made her vulnerable to a challenge. 

So will Taylor win? 

Dunno, but put it this way - you don’t challenge unless you think you can win… Reports this morning say Taylor’s backers reckon he had the numbers, and Ley’s people say it’s close. As for when this might all happen - that’s another dunno… A partyroom meeting to hold a vote has not been scheduled yet, but the thinking is it could happen tonight or Friday. Doing that is not as easy as it sounds - the House of Reps is in session, but the Senate is not. Having said that, a lot of our upper house representatives are in Canberra for estimates hearings (where they grill the bureaucrats on what they’re working on/how they’re spending our money…), but not all of them. So strap yourself in for a day of breathless speculation from (as former PM Tony Abbott used to call it) the madhouse…

Reclaiming the nightly wind-down

Getting the kids to bed each night can become a real power struggle - but did you know your decor might be hindering you? Research suggests children settle best in spaces that reflect their interests rather than a neutral aesthetic. That’s where Jo’s Dreamland comes in… It pairs themed, sensory-friendly bedding with educational booklets to help you and your family find a bit more evening quiet. Check out the full range here.

Squiz the Rest

A mass shooting in Canada…

… has left at least 10 people dead, including the shooter, and over 2 dozen others injured. Police in British Columbia were called around 1.20pm on Tuesday (local time) with reports of a shooting at the Tumbler Ridge Secondary School, about 1,180km north of Vancouver. A female suspect has been ID’ed but hasn’t been named yet… Police say she died from “a self-inflicted injury” at the school, while victims were found dead inside, and 2 others at a nearby home. Local authorities say it’s “sent shockwaves through the community and the entire province” - where, like Oz, mass shootings are rare. This one has been described as one of the deadliest in Canada’s history, with PM Mark Carney saying he’s “devastated” and is “grieving with those whose lives have been changed irreversibly”.

More questions than answers in the Guthrie case

Hours after the FBI released doorbell camera footage of a masked and armed man appearing to disable the security camera on Nancy Guthrie’s Arizona home, officers brought a man in for questioning. Despite searching his house thoroughly, they released him hours later. Afterwards, he spoke to the media and claimed not to know who Guthrie is, saying "I hope they get the suspect, because I'm not it". To recap: the missing 84yo is the mother of Savannah Guthrie, the high-profile host of the US Today show, and police believe that she was kidnapped from her home on 31 January. The case has stumped local authorities and the FBI, and after the deadline on an unverified ransom note passed, the Guthrie family are still pleading for their mother’s safe return…

Hit my bank account one more time

US popstar Britney Spears has reportedly made a tidy $281 million by selling the rights to her back catalogue. That means hits like Oops!… I Did It Again and Gimme More (which might have been said during negotiations) now belong to music publisher Primary Wave. Spears hasn’t released a new song since a 2022 duet with Elton John, and she’s said she’s permanently retired from the music industry following a long and controversial battle over her conservatorship, which ended in 2021. Her payout is about the same amount Justin Bieber sold his catalogue for in 2023, though it’s much less than the nearly $2 billion Sony paid for Queen’s work in 2024. After this sale and her hit memoir The Woman in Me, her bank balance must be significantly Stronger… 

So close…

After leading the pack for most of the competition, Aussie Jakara Anthony finished 8th in the ski mogul final at the Milano-Cortina winter games overnight. The defending champ spun out on her second run, but despite being "bummed" she said it's not the first time and "probably won't be the last … it's just the nature of our sport". The other Aussie in contention was Charlotte Wilson, who finished 6th on her Olympic debut... So it's now fingers (and skis) crossed for Anthony's fellow flagbearer and ski mogler Matt Graham, who's looking to better the silver medal he won in 2018 tonight from 10.15pm AEDT… And the drama hasn't just been on the snow - Norwegian biathlon bronze medalist Holm Lægreid confessed to an affair in a post-race interview, saying “this has been the worst week of my life” after letting “the gold medal” of his girlfriend slip through his fingers. Love might just be tougher than a 20km ski sprint… 

Some withering sites review “Wuthering Heights”

One of the most anticipated movies of the year is out in wide release today, and to say the critics are mixed is an understatement… To give you the backdrop, this adaptation of Emily Brontë’s classic novel is not your typical period drama - it’s from director Emerald Fennell, who made Saltburn, and she’s explained it as more of an adaptation of her memory-based version of the story, rather than the book itself (thus those quotation marks). From the sexy trailer, to the casting of Jacob Elordi and Margot Robbie, to the, uh, emotional press tour of the 2 stars, it’s been a lightning rod for discourse. And that’s how it’s landing with the critics - with The Australian giving it 5 stars, but The Independent giving it one - calling it an “astonishingly hollow work”. Yet still, we can’t wait to see it…

Apropos of Nothing

An Adelaide-based clinical psychologist has created a simplified version of the role-playing game Dungeons and Dragons so neurodivergent kids can get involved. It's called Dragons of the Spectrum, and it's being rolled out nationwide this year - here’s some more info…

A baby chuditch - also known as a Western quoll - has been born in outback NSW for what’s probably the first time in a century. The chuditch used to be extinct in NSW, but it’s back and breeding thanks to the hard work of local conservationists… 

We’re in the lead up to the Oscars, and yesterday the nominated stars gathered in LA for the traditional lunch and ‘class photo’ ahead of the ceremony on 15 March. It’s a bit like playing Where’s Wally?, but we spot Aussies Rose Byrne and Jacob Elordi in the mix…

Squiz the Day

6.00am (AEDT) - Winter Olympics: Earlybirds can catch Aussies Scotty James and Val Guseli in the men's qualification of the snowboard halfpipe, and over at the skating rink, Holly Harris and Jason Chan will perform their free dance in the ice dancing - Cortina and Milan, Italy, watch on 9Now

10.30am (AEDT) - ASX will release its half-year results via webcast 

8.30pm (AEDT) - Singer Tina Arena is performing at Fed Square as part of her Thank You Melbourne tour - Melbourne

10.15pm (AEDT) - Winter Olympics: Aussie Matt Graham is competing in the men’s mogul skiing final - Italy, watch on 9Now

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu is meeting with US President Donald Trump at the White House to discuss nuclear talks with Iran and the next steps in the Gaza ceasefire…

Bangladesh’s general election - this is the country’s first election since the overthrow of then-Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Awami League party in 2024. 

ABS data release: Overseas arrivals and departures (Australia), December quarter

Origin Energy, Pro Medicus, Insurance Australia Group (IAG) and CSL are due to release first-half results, and AMP will share full-year results

The much-anticipated movie“Wuthering Heights” starring Magot Robbie and Jacob Elordi is out in Oz cinemas. The stars will also attend a screening at the State Theatre - Sydney

Darwin Day - a global celebration of the renowned naturalist Charles Darwin

Anniversary of:

• the birthdays of the 16th President of the US Abraham Lincoln and naturalist Charles Darwin (1809)

• Former US President Bill Clinton’s acquittal by the Senate in his impeachment trial (1999)

• the start of the trial of former Yugoslavian President Slobodan Milošević at the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague. He died before its conclusion (2002)