Tuesday, 20 May - Hooked on semicolons

Good morning, it’s Tuesday, 20 May. In your Squiz Today…

• Trump and Putin talk peace on the phone

• A photo-finish in the Sydney seat of Bradfield

• And a passé punctuation mark…

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Before we get started, we’ve got a favour to ask…

It’s 2025 Squiz Survey time... Your responses give us the chance to get to know you better, hear what you think we’re doing well/can improve, and find out what else you may want from us. It will take you about 10 minutes, and to show our appreciation, there’s a $250 gift voucher up for grabs. Please and thank you…

Squiz the Weather

Squiz Sayings

Said the narrator in a new ‘Australian bogan’ translation of Leo Tolstoy’s epic novel War and Peace. It’s a project by Melbourne man Anders Louis to turn the Russian novel into a story you could tell down the pub - and heads up, that means a Ford Falcon-load of swearing…

A high-stakes chat

The Squiz

After a 2-hour phone call this morning, both US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin say a ceasefire in Russia's war with Ukraine is on the cards - though they differ a bit on the timeline. After the conversation, Trump posted that ceasefire negotiations would start immediately, whereas Putin said that "Russia is ready to work with Ukraine" on "a possible ceasefire for a certain period of time". 

So it’s still up in the air… 

There’s still a lot to be worked out, and neither leader spoke about specifics after the call this morning but they were both pretty chipper about how it went - Putin called it “informative and frank” and Trump said the “tone and spirit of the conversation were excellent”. After the call with Putin, Trump also rang a bunch of European leaders - including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky - to update them on how it went. Despite the flurry of activity, we still don’t know exactly when any direct talks between Russia and Ukraine might happen, but Trump did have a suggestion for where - he says The Vatican has offered to host the negotiations. He signed off his update on Truth Social with, “Let the process begin!”

Anything else going on in the US?

You might have seen the news yesterday that former President Joe Biden has been diagnosed with prostate cancer, and he sent out a thanks overnight to everyone who has wished him well. The 82yo and his family are talking with his doctors on the best way to tackle the cancer, which has metastasised - aka spread from its original location - to the bone. His well-wishers included a letter from King Charles, who is dealing with his own cancer diagnosis and Trump, who wished Biden “a fast and successful recovery”. Excluding non-melanoma skin cancer, prostate cancer is the most common form of cancer amongst men - if you’re a bloke over 50 or you know one, here’s some info on the symptoms and how doctors screen for it.

Summer in the Mediterranean awaits…

If escaping the Aussie winter is on your bucket list for 2025, a Silversea cruise might be the way to go… Just imagine - you, a cocktail and a book in hand as you sail between iconic cities and remote locales in the Mediterranean. Better yet, Silversea is offering up to $7,000 off its ultra-luxury voyages, with up to $500 in bonus credit to spend onboard the ship, for those who book by 31 May with a 10% deposit. To find out more and book your cruise, visit the Silversea website or call 1300 306 872.

Squiz the Rest

A sky-high penalty on the cards

The Federal Court is hearing a case this week to decide whether the Flying Kangaroo will have to cough up more than $121 million in fines for illegally firing about 1,700 ground staff during the COVID pandemic. For background: the Transport Workers Union (TWU) took legal action against Qantas, and the Federal Court found the airline had acted illegally in sacking the staff. Now, they're back in court for a 3-day hearing that started yesterday to work out what penalty Qantas will face. Its People Manager Catherine Walsh apologised to the workers, saying she understands it has been a "very lengthy and no doubt tiring process for many people". TWU boss Michael Kaine described it as “an appalling act to get rid of a loyal workforce”. The hearing continues today…

Are we there yet?

Nearly… After a nerve-wracking weekend for candidates in the Sydney seat of Bradfield, Teal Nicolette Boele has edged ahead of Liberal Gisele Kapterian by the thinnest of margins, winning the seat provisionally by just 39 votes. The Electoral Commission will formally distribute preferences, and if the margin is less than 100 votes, a full recount will be ordered. It comes as a bit of a shock for the seat’s 120,000 residents, who last week were on track to elect Kapterian, but Boele was put back in the game after a surge of support in absentee and postal votes. Things are also tight in the Melbourne seat of Goldstein, with Teal Zoe Daniel catching up to Liberal Tim Wilson, who at last update was 206 votes up… All up, the hot tip is Labor will end up with 93 seats, the Coalition with 42 seats, the Greens have one, and independents will land with 12 seats. 

A week of wild weather

Emergency Services have rescued at least 20 people, including a kite surfer blown onto powerlines, as flash flooding causes havoc along the coast of NSW. While Sydney's been hit by heavy rain and winds, evacuation orders are in place for the mid-North Coast as the deluge that's moving over the Central Coast and Hunter regions heads north. It's a very different picture across Victoria and SA - where farmers in parts of those states are calling for more government help after struggling with 18 months of drought. And if all of that wasn’t enough, there’s a big problem brewing off the WA coast - dugongs are struggling because a marine heatwave has been killing off some of their favoured ocean snacks… 

The Origin drums are beating

If your friends are suddenly calling each other “cane toad” and “cockroach” with increased frequency, it’s (probably) because the men’s State of Origin series will kick off next Wednesday night at Suncorp Stadium in Brissie. Or they’re just mean… Both Queensland and NSW have named their Game 1 sides, and while last year’s champs NSW have kept things steady, Queensland have been smashed by injury and will be naming 3 players who will make their series debut. If you’re not a league person, Origin is one of the biggest sporting events on the domestic calendar - last year’s Game 1 was one of the highest-rating shows of the year, with 3.4 million people tuning in. If they see anything like these tries scored over the weekend by Xavier Coates and Mark Nawaqanitawase, they’ll be going home happy… 

The semicolon's struggle is real; it's dying a slow death

Jane Austen and Charles Dickens might have embraced it, but modern authors and students reckon one of the English language's most misused punctuation marks can get in the bin. A study has found two-thirds of British kids never use the semicolon, and its use in books has nearly halved in 20 years. The dictionary tells us it should be used "between two main clauses", where the pause "is more pronounced than indicated by a comma". And while writer EL James copped it from grammar experts over her use of commas over semis in the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy - we don't know who was paying attention to the punctuation - one of her fellow authors reckons "writers hooked on semicolons become an embarrassment to their families and friends". You might have guessed we're partial to a dash and an ellipsis…

Apropos of Nothing

Queen Camilla has been showing off her new rescue dog called Moley, which her Maj reckons is “a bit of everything” and got his name because he “looks just like a mole”. Royal pooches Moley, Bluebell, and Snuff have a special honour at the Chelsea Flower Show this year, where the HRHs were snapped overnight with another sort of British royalty, Becks… 

The Cannes film festival ruffled some feathers last week for banning red carpet nudity - but bird costumes seem to have flown under the radar after. One man dressed up as a condor to promote his documentary "I Love Peru", which features the birds a lot. Hopefully the movie’s not a turkey…

And speaking of people in bird costumes, a very famous one has got a bit of a reprieve - Big Bird will stay on our screens after Netflix and US public broadcaster PBS did a deal to keep airing episodes of Sesame Street, after it was cancelled by the owner of previous network HBO. The word of the day is phew…

Squiz the Day

8.00am (AEST) - The Victorian Government will deliver its state budget - Melbourne

9.00am (AWST) - National Suicide Prevention Conference 2025 begins, hosted by peak body Suicide Prevention Australia - Perth

10.00am (AEST) - International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach and President-elect Kirsty Coventry are in town for a big meeting about the Brisbane 2032 Games - Brisbane

2.30pm (AEST) - The Reserve Bank will announce the latest decision on interest rates - Sydney

ABS Data Release - Livestock products Australia, March 2025

The Chelsea Flower Show starts (until 24 May) - London

🐝 World Bee Day

Birthdays for singer Cher (1946) and documentary maker Louis Theroux (1970)

Anniversary of:

• Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis patenting the first blue jeans (1873)

• Saudi Arabia gaining independence from Great Britain (1927)

• Sukarno becoming the first President of Indonesia (1963)

• The discovery of bodies in barrels in Snowtown, North Adelaide (1999) 

• East Timor gaining independence (2002)

Wednesday
3.00am (AEST) - The 2025 International Booker Prize Award winner will be announced at the Tate Modern - London