David Heslin
davidheslin.bsky.social
David Heslin
@davidheslin.bsky.social
Film critic and editor
Also, recipient of an (all-expenses-paid?) junket to Israel a few years back. archive.is/oehVv

Says a lot about the state of our corporate media industry that people like this can rise to the top.
archive.is
October 15, 2025 at 11:56 PM
Aaron Patrick wasn't on my radar before, but his latest contribution to the discourse is this piece of propaganda blaming recent executions carried out by Hamas on Western protesters. It's one of the more disgusting things I've ever read, from the headline on down: thenightly.com.au/world/middle...
Gazans celebrate a public execution like a sporting match
AARON PATRICK: The ceasefire in Gaza has left Hamas free to hunt down and murder its opponents.
thenightly.com.au
October 15, 2025 at 11:44 PM
Hard to pick out the worst passage in this, but this paragraph massaging a well-documented pattern of assassinations into a mere allegation by a ”New York-based” nonprofit, balanced by the IDF’s unverified claim that they were “Hamas sympathisers“ (as if that makes it ok), is particularly vile.
October 15, 2025 at 3:17 PM
Yeah it’s not exactly a secret (and suffice to say that Skarsgård, born in 1951, is not reporting firsthand)
July 11, 2025 at 1:21 PM
The critical-thinking skills are developed during the process of researching and developing an argument. I’m not sure how else people think that’s supposed to happen – do we just trust that teens will only ever hear about positive ideas and independently conclude that they’re right?
June 12, 2025 at 6:33 AM
Yeah but I think the process is far more important than the destination. It’s not like the “winner” of this debate decides the issue in observers’ (or participants’) minds; ideally, they’ve heard both sides and can come to their own view.

What’s the alternative to this, in principle? Suppression?
June 12, 2025 at 6:31 AM
Sadly, this seems to be a common view nowadays, and I think a key reason the right keeps gaining power. One of the best defences against Trump and politicians like him is teaching critical-thinking skills. If that intellectual training doesn’t happen at high school level, then we’ve already lost.
June 11, 2025 at 1:29 PM
"I should have seen this coming," writes a man who is fundamentally incapable of seeing anything coming
April 8, 2025 at 9:24 AM
On a more personal "WTF Albo" note, buying a new $4.3 mil home at a time when his government isn't doing anything meaningful to help the actual housing crisis reflects on his character. I also felt he bungled the Voice referendum from the outset and had no idea what to do once the polling shifted.
March 27, 2025 at 11:45 PM
oh and the Stage 3 tax cuts ofc!
March 27, 2025 at 11:37 PM
I don't, but here are a few things to add to the list:

www.hrlc.org.au/reports-news...
www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
• pushing through their watered-down housing bill that did nothing to fix the problem
Explainer: Labor's brutal Deportation and Surveillance Bill | Human Rights Law Centre
The Human Rights Law Centre’s explainer on the Albanese Government’s brutal laws to deport and punish refugees and people seeking asylum after the High Court of Australia ruled that ankle bracelets an...
www.hrlc.org.au
March 27, 2025 at 11:34 PM
My plan (as a proud long-time Twitter h8r from the before times) is to wait until everyone has jumped off there and then lead the resistance out of the ashes
December 2, 2024 at 1:49 AM
I remain undecided as to whether I really want to be here tbh. Still convinced Elon Musk did us all a huge favour by ruining Twitter.
November 21, 2024 at 2:02 AM
I kept forgetting to sign up! We are not so different, you and I …
November 14, 2023 at 12:41 AM