There is something sinister about Verónica’s assertion that the film is based on reality. It seems it was inspired by events that occurred in Madrid in 1991 – its major claim to truth is that it uses an actual police report from the incident, in which an officer reports something to the effect that ‘inexplicable phenomena’ occurred at the house where events occurred. Apparently, residents of the house were equally convinced of the supernatural.

The Australian far right has seen a slight but unmistakeable revival in recent months. Groups like Reclaim Australia and the United Patriots Front, for the farce that is their moderate posturing, have managed to win appeal beyond the swastika-adorned neo-Nazis at their rallies. Reclaim Australia boasts tens of thousands of supporters in online forums. Still more sinister indicators, such as popular support for Australia’s brutally racist immigration system, or statistics revealing that between a quarter and a half of all Australians have negative attitudes towards Muslims, suggest further that the ideas of Reclaim Australia are not entirely at the fringes.

The Russian incursion into Crimea was entirely predictable. Ukraine is a rich market for Russian exports, particularly oil and gas owned by the state, and the Sevastopol naval base in Crimea is vital to Russian military power.

There is something deeply unsettling about Paul Greengrass’ new film Captain Phillips. Despite being reviewed positively and tipped as an Oscar winner for Tom Hanks, it has also garnered negative attention. The men who crewed the Maersk Alabama when it was hijacked by Somali pirates in 2009 have brought a lawsuit against the Maersk Line, claiming that they were deliberately put in danger of hijacking by Captain Richard Phillips in the interests of the company.

Kevin Rudd has pre-empted the findings of a United Nations investigation into chemical weapons attacks against Syrian civilians in Damascus, finding Assad guilty of the ‘most flagrant breach of international law’. Rudd is no doubt familiar with what a flagrant breach of international law looks like.