Thursday, 22 May - Tell me somethin’ I don’t know

May 22, 2025

Good morning, it’s Thursday, 22 May. In your Squiz Today…

  • The NSW Mid North Coast and Hunter regions are facing a flood emergency

  • Jelena Dokic’s father Damir has died

  • And a sneaky peek at a Parks & Rec spin off…

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The 2025 Squiz Survey is up and running, and we want to hear from you. Your feedback is what has helped us grow over the last 8 years, and this time around we have some specific questions that will help us make some decisions about what comes next. We really can’t do this without you. Soz if we’re giving you needy vibes, but this survey is a big deal for us…

Squiz the Weather

Squiz Sayings

“Never arguing with anyone, I listen and I do what I like.”

Said British woman Ethel Caterham, sharing her recipe for long life. The 115yo Brit is now officially the world’s oldest living person, and growing up with 8 siblings means she's held her tongue for a long time…

When it rains, it pours…

The Squiz

The Australian Defence Force troops have been called in to help with rescues from rooftops and cars in the NSW Hunter and Mid North Coast regions as floodwaters continue to rise. As of last night, at least 48,800 people and 23,200 dwellings were isolated by floodwaters. More than 400 rescues were carried out yesterday, and more were expected overnight - particularly at Glenthorne, about 165km north of Newcastle, where reports say dozens of people were trapped. The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) says the heavy rain and thunderstorms are being caused by a coastal trough off the Mid North Coast - and they’re expected to continue today.

How bad is it?

It’s been described as a one-in-500-year flood for at least one area - along the Manning River at Taree, one of the worst-hit towns. About 20km east, the floodwaters were so strong that several cows had to be rescued from the surf after being washed down Khappinghat Creek onto Wallabi Beach. As of last night, 24 emergency flood warnings and 64 watch and act warnings were in place across the Hunter and Mid North Coast regions, where up to 280mm of rain has fallen in some parts over 24 hours. Authorities don't have a number of the houses/properties impacted yet, but there’s likely to be a lot of damage if the pictures are anything to go by… It’s also far from over - today, emergency crews are focusing further north, with towns like Kempsey, Gladstone and Smithtown in their sights.

Anything else?

Well, if you're further south in drought-affected parts of Victoria/South Australia, you might be hoping for some flow-on effects from the deluge in NSW, but reports say it might not have much impact. Farmers in inland NSW, however, are likely to benefit. And speaking of farmers - freight subsidies have been announced by the NSW and federal governments to help them move livestock and fodder as part of the disaster relief packages on offer across the flooded regions. But some locals are calling for more help, including cash grants to help in the immediate aftermath.

More than an energy thought bubble…

If you’re on a mission to cut your energy bills, Origin’s podcast So Watt? is here to give you a steer. Episode 8 is out now, and it’s particularly handy for the cold winter months on the way in Oz, with some top tips on staying snuggly in the bedroom. It might be time to switch on the electric blanket and grab a hot chocolate… You can find out more on that here, or listen to the episode in your favourite podcast player now.

Squiz the Rest

Pressure on Israel grows

After hitting pause on a trade deal with Israel, leaders in the UK are growing increasingly vocal about Israel’s new offensive in Gaza, with Foreign Secretary David Lammy saying the “morally unjustifiable” military action is bringing the war into “a dark new phase”. He and UK PM Keir Starmer are demanding Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu pull back on strikes across the Strip but in a press conference overnight, the Israeli leader said the operation was intended to "complete the war, the job" and that he wouldn't be able to get the remaining hostages out "without military measures". For context, several aid agencies say many civilians in Gaza are at high risk of starvation after Israel's 11-week blockade of food and aid. Israel says about 100 trucks were allowed into Gaza this week, but the UN says a "long, complex" security clearance process is causing distribution problems.

Getting the band back together

Just one day after the National and Liberal parties decided to call it quits, a reconciliation has been floated… Nationals MP Darren Chester says he’s already talking to colleagues about bringing the artists formerly known as the Coalition back together - maybe in as little as a few weeks. Chester says he's concerned about giving the Albanese Government a "free pass" if the 2 parties don't manage to sort out their differences before parliament kicks off. But it might not be all that easy - during the ABC's 7:30 last night, Liberal leader Sussan Ley’s office was texting presenter Sarah Ferguson while she was on air to dispute claims made by Nats Senator Bridget McKenzie over the reasons for the split. Like a lot of breakups, things can get messy before they get better…

Hosting 7:30 can provide some unexpected moments - as we spoke to Sarah Ferguson about on our Newsmakers series…

Damir Dokic dies

Aussie tennis player and commentator Jelena Dokic confirmed her father died on 16 May in a social media post yesterday. The Dokic family came to Australia as refugees in 1994, and Damir was Jelena's coach during her tennis career (she reached a rank of #4 in the world). In 2017, she published her autobiography Unbreakable, where she wrote about the emotional and physical abuse that Damir had inflicted on her during her life. Revealing the news of his death, Jelena said "my relationship with my father has been difficult and painful and with a lot of history", but it was "never easy losing a parent … even one you are estranged from". If you want to get across Jelena's story, this interview is a sad but compelling listen…

Google me, baby

The days of typing "easy chocolate cake recipe no mess" into Google and having a bunch of websites come up may be numbered - it's going all in on artificial intelligence and chatbot tech. At a conference yesterday, the company launched something called "AI Mode" (available only in the US for now), which will make Google's search engine work more like a chatbot. It says it'll be like "having a conversation with an expert". That's just one of the company's suite of new AI initiatives, which includes another swing at 'smart' glasses after the first crack in 2013 with Google Glass didn’t go so well. Maybe this time they can see their way clear of glitches...

A side project years in the making

For years, fans of the US sitcom Parks and Recreation have been hearing about a mysterious fake legal drama some of the cast filmed as a side project, which has been a pop culture secret for 10 years - until now. As part of her new podcast Good Hang, series lead Amy Poehler has put the full trailer online for the mock legal drama Philly Justice. Inspired by shows like Boston Legal (not hard to draw a thread between those titles…), the trailer stars Poehler and some of her Parks & Rec co-stars, including Adam Scott, Kathryn Hahn and - in a surprise cameo - Dylan McDermott, who knows a thing or two about a good legal drama. If you watched it and wanted more, bad news - the team says the 2-minute trailer was the only usable footage…

Apropos of Nothing

For the first time, a short story collection has taken out the International Booker Prize - an award for fiction translated into English. Heart Lamp - written by Banu Mushtaq and translated by Deepa Bhasthi - features 12 stories of women in Southern India, and sounds like one to keep an eye out for on your next bookshop visit…

A 75yo South Korean woman makes aged soy sauce that’s so good it’s been served to US Presidents and is protected by the UN. Ki Soon-do is known as the Grandmaster of Aged Soy Sauce and her sauce - called jinjang - can take up to 5 years to make, so it seems she’s also mastered patience…

And a judge in a town in New Hampshire has ruled in favour of a local bakery after town officials tried to make it take down its shopfront painting of sunbeams shining down on doughnuts and other pastries. The owner, Sean Young, says it’s a win for free speech, but we just like the look of those baked goods - maybe it’s the lighting…

Squiz the Day

5.00am (AEST) - Soccer: The Europa League final will be played between Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United - Bilbao, Spain, and watch on Stan Sport (this is a make or break match for Spurs’ Aussie coach Ange Postecoglou - here’s the background)

6.00am (AEST) - Australian entrepreneur Aron D’Souza and Australian Olympic Swimmer James Magnussen will launch the Enhanced Games, an Olympic-style event for drug-taking athletes - Las Vegas, US

12.00pm (AEST) - Bowerbird Blues will be read across Australia for National Simultaneous Storytime

6.30pm (AEST) - RBA Deputy Governor Andrew Hauser will deliver an address on the Australia-China economic relationship at the Lowy Institute - Sydney

6.30pm (AEST) - AFL: The second round of Sir Doug Nicholls Indigenous Round gets underway, with Geelong v Bulldogs - Geelong, watch it on Kayo

ABS Data Release - Labour Force, April 2025

Nine Perfect Strangers season 2 comes out on Prime Video, starring Nicole Kidman

🔍 Sherlock Holmes Day

Birthdays for former model Naomi Campbell (1970) and tennis pro Novak Đjoković (1987)

Anniversary of:

  • the abolishment of the transportation of British convicts to NSW (1840)

  • the founding of the non-profit news organisation Associated Press (1846)

  • the first modern sighting of the Loch Ness Monster by Aldie and John Mackay, who saw "something resembling a whale" (1933)

  • Ireland becoming the first country in the world to legalise same-sex marriage by popular vote (2015)

  • the Manchester Arena bombing, which killed 22 (2017)