On a recent trip to Hong Kong, I had noticed something that hadn’t quite stood out before. Hong Kong’s cash is printed and distributed by three commercial banks – HSBC, Standard Chartered Bank and Bank of China – while production is also overseen by the government itself.
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It’s an age-old debate that never seems to settle: Sydney or Melbourne? Populated by the classic imagery of a picturesque beachy harbour versus a beating cultural mega-hub, I’m going to take a stab at this question by comparing the looming question which both cities share: where do we build more houses?
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On 12 March, the United States Department of Treasury issued Russian-related General License 134, reversing sanctions of Russian oil imports for a 30-day period. Even though it may seem to provide some relief to global fuel shortages, it undermines broader efforts of international diplomacy, potentially worsening the conflict.
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In the beginning of 2026, Zara Larsson’s 2016 hit ‘Lush Life’ re-entered the music charts and Tiktok searches for 2016 surged by 452% (Souza 2026). A 2016 revival was happening and although the supposed bringback of the Snapchat dog filter might have been ironic, the nostalgia associated with a seemingly simpler time was not.
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Why Australia’s energy-shock inflation debate is only the surface of a deeper monetary policy challenge across the Pacific.
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