Hoover Institute Senior Fellow Victor Davis Hanson says a “reckoning” is coming in the United States because the country has been “hijacked” by activists. On Christmas Day, Mr Hanson wrote a piece that discussed whether the United States will meet their challenges or ensure its ongoing decline. “I think everybody understands that there’s a reckoning coming,” Mr Hanson told Sky News host James Macpherson. “We valued freedom and liberty over forced equality, and I think we have to get back to that. “We’ve judged people on the content of their character and their merit, not the colour of their skin. “We’ve been hijacked by a very small group of activists ... [that] seized power.”

Spiked Online Chief Political Reporter Brendan O’Neill says people are tired of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle "whining". “I think people are sick and tired of this whining celebrity couple from California," Mr O’Neill told Sky News Senior Reporter Caroline Marcus. “We are going through a cost-of-living crisis, an energy crisis; there are wars taking place – the last thing we need to hear is this woe is me act from literal royals who live it up in mansions in California.” “People are sick of their whining, their narcissism, their self-pity. “What we want from royals is a bit of public duty, a sense of loyalty, a sense of respect for the country, and we’ve never got that from Harry and Meghan.”

The Courier Mail’s Damien Tomlinson says Queensland Premier Steven Miles being under fire for taking a Christmas holiday while the Gold Coast was being inundated with floods was a “standard set by the left” and he has to “conform” to that standard. Mr Miles cut his holiday short to front a press conference with Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate on Tuesday. “I think being a North Queenslander … we probably would prefer to see less of politicians during natural disasters, but the standard has been set by the left and the Labor government in Opposition, unfortunately,” Mr Tomlinson told Sky News host James Macpherson. “ScoMo’s sort of stumbling answer to that question about holding a hose, sadly, has set the standard, and now, unfortunately, politicians are judged by where they turn up and when. “So, Miles – as unfair as it is, and I think they’re all entitled to holidays – has to now conform to that standard which his own side has set.”

Hoover Institute Senior Fellow Victor Davis Hanson says the United States is at a “tipping point” and could enter a “late Roman-like decline” as problems continue to rise. The US Customs and Border Protection said almost 2.5 million people have illegally crossed the southern border in the last 12 months. “I think everybody’s very worried,” Mr Hanson told Sky News host James Macpherson. “We have eight million people that just crossed the border illegally and are residing here illegally. “Everybody knows they broke the law; everybody knows that the law should be enforced. “Apparently, everybody thinks that’s beyond our powers. “Everybody feels we’re at a tipping point: we either need a Reagan-esque or a Lincoln-esque character … or something to shake us out of it or we’re going to be into a late Roman-like decline.”

The Courier Mail’s Damien Tomlinson says Movie makers are rushing a Mickey Mouse horror movie to cinemas is a “credit” to the marketing team as they were able to get the movie out on the day the copyright expired. The initial copyright on Disney’s iconic Mickey Mouse has expired. The 1928 depiction of the character in Steamboat Willie entered the public domain 95 years after it was released. “Definitely looks goofy, as a lot of these slasher horror movies do,” Mr Tomlinson told Sky News host James Macpherson. “It’s a credit to the marketing team at that movie studio that they knew the deadline was passing, and they were able to get the movie out right on the day.”

The Spectator Australia Podcast host Will Kingston says the use of artificial intelligence in submissions to a Senate inquiry is a “blessing” for the Greens and will soon be writing the “entire Greens policy platform”. The Australian has revealed more than 10 per cent of submissions to a Senate inquiry into legalising cannabis were likely written by artificial intelligence. It is part of a broader increase in submissions to parliamentary inquiries produced entirely or in part by AI tools like ChatGPT. “This is a blessing for the Greens,” Mr Kingston told Sky News host James Macpherson. “ChatGPT will be writing the entire Greens policy platform before long. “I think it can create this volume of responses, but I think there’s also an opportunity for good writers to be able to be more persuasive.”

Australian energy bills are “three to four times higher” than before as the government’s green renewable “ideology” is not meeting the practical reality of what is coming out of people’s pockets, Nationals Leader David Littleproud says. “When you look at what’s driving inflation at the moment, keeping interest rates higher for longer,” Mr Littleproud told Sky News host James Macpherson. “It’s actually energy and food. “They’re intertwined because not only are they taking away farmers labour supply and the supply chain’s labour supply but they’re also driving up their energy costs. “Our energy bills – are three to four times higher than what they were previously and when you’ve got this reckless race to 82 per cent renewables that is tearing up the very thing it is there to protect – the ideology of this government is not meeting the practical reality of what is coming out of your wallet.”

The Spectator Australia Podcast host Will Kingston says “legitimate discussions” about the “problems” surrounding the Islamic religion must be had after Pope Francis failed to call out Islamic Jihadis for the murder of 140 Nigerian Christians. Pope Francis has used an end-of-year speech to talk about Nigerian Christians killed at Christmas. However, the 140 Nigerian Christians were murdered by Islamic Jihadis. According to Nigerian human rights watchdog Intersociety, 52,000 Christians have been butchered or hacked to death for being Christians in Nigeria since 2009. “It’s cowardice in two forms: it’s cowardice in response to the threat of physical harm … but it’s also cowardice for being afraid to be called a racist,” Mr Kingston told Sky News host James Macpherson. “We need to separate in Australia and abroad legitimate discussions about culture and religion with racism. “It is not racist to call out many of the problems that surround the Islamic religion and Islamic culture [and] we need to be brave to have those open conversations.”

India has successfully launched its first satellite to study black holes and other celestial objects. This is a bid by the country to deepen its presence in space ahead of an ambitious crewed mission next year. It was launched on Monday and is only the second mission of this nature after NASA launched one in 2021. The Indian space agency says it wants to help improve knowledge of black holes. A black hole is a region in space where matter has collapsed in on itself.

US universities are “overrun” with woke censorship, the Chief Political Reporter of Spiked Online Brendan O’Neill has argued. Mr O’Neill’s comments come as Harvard University’s president Claudine Gay stepped down over plagiarism accusations and criticism over testimony at a congressional hearing. In the hearing, Ms Gay was unable to say unequivocally that calls on campus for the genocide of Jews would violate the school's conduct policy. “Universities in America are overrun with woke censorship,” Mr O’Neill told Sky News Australia Senior Reporter Caroline Marcus while discussing Ms Gay’s comments at the hearing. “If you call a trans woman a man, you’ll be cancelled; if you criticise any matter of the Black Lives Matter ideology, you’ll be cancelled. “Yet if you call for the destruction of every Jewish person on earth, apparently that’s a free speech issue - that’s something you’re allowed to do. “Once again, we see the staggering double standards of the so-called moral left.”

Shadow Home Affairs Minister James Paterson says Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has become “so out of touch” since he was elected and has been “distracted” on cost of living relief for Australians. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese gave his first press conference of the year on Wednesday morning, vowing to make cost of living relief his government’s priority in 2024. “It’s only taken the Prime Minister nearly two years to work out that the number one priority for the Australian people is cost of living,” Mr Paterson told Sky News Senior Reporter Caroline Marcus. “All he’s doing is asking the Department of Treasury and the Department of Finance to come up with some ideas for cost of living. “He doesn’t have any ideas of his own; he’s not ready to introduce any schemes to alleviate the financial pressure that Australians are under – he just thinks they should continue to suffer before he comes up with a plan to deal with it. “This just shows how distracted this government has been, how its priorities are wrong and how the prime minister, in particular, has become just so out of touch since he got elected.”

Deniers and “apologists” have been undeterred by incontrovertible evidence of sexual violence by Hamas on October 7, Sky News Senior Reporter Caroline Marcus says. “About the groundbreaking New York Times investigation that revealed new details about mass rapes and mutilation of women and girls, that took place in Israel during the massacre on October 7,” Ms Marcus said. “The two-month investigation involved speaking to more than 150 people including eye witnesses, first responders and rape counsellors. “I speculated then that the usual deniers and apologists, who parade as activists these days and feminists would not be deterred by yet more incontrovertible evidence of sexual violence. “Annoyingly, that prediction would prove to be true.”

A Jewish community head member calls for Qantas to sack staff involved in a recent flight who wore badges with the Palestinian flag, Sky News Senior Reporter Caroline Marcus says. “Qantas is counselling cabin crew who were onboard a flight from Melbourne, who served passengers while wearing badges of the Palestinian flag,” Ms Marcus said. “One passenger – told me all the staff he saw onboard the QantasLink flight to Hobart on December 20 were wearing the badges. “The young man – who is not Jewish – says he felt intimidated by the stunt, given the extremism and aggressiveness of some pro-Palestinian protesters in recent months. “The incident has led to the head of one Jewish community group calling for all staff involved to be sacked.”

Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor says Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has been “distracted” as his focus has been away from the cost of living crisis. “He hasn’t been taking this seriously – he's been asleep at the wheel,” he told Sky News Australia. Mr Taylor said taking pressure off inflation is the answer to a cost of living crisis – which Australia is currently facing. “But this is not a prime minister who’s been interested in that or focused on it,” he said. “He’s been distracted. He’s been asleep at the wheel. “This Prime Minister has failed.”

Storm Henk is the latest extreme weather system to hit southern UK. It comes after a new study confirmed 2023 was the United Kingdom’s second-hottest year on record. The first named storm of the year, Henk, brought gusts of up to 100 miles an hour. The storm has destroyed scaffolding, torn down trees and caused train delays. The developing El Nino in the Pacific means that 2024 is expected to be even warmer.

The New South Wales Police Force is saving millions of dollars in wages as officers quit without being replaced. The force's annual report shows staff turnover more than doubled last year as more than 1300 cops quit or retired. There were just under 1,000 new recruits in 2023, saving the police force more than $35 million. With staff shortfalls across many commands, the state government says it's looking to combat the declining numbers of officers. The first initiative, announced in October last year, sees recruits paid $30,000 for their 16 weeks of training at the Goulburn Police Academy. The report also shows community confidence in NSW Police has dropped as crime has increased across the board.

Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor says Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has been “asleep at the wheel” when it comes to the cost of living. “He hasn’t been taking this seriously – he's been asleep at the wheel,” he told Sky News Australia. “He’s been focused on other issues. “He lacks any credibility saying that he’s going to solve this problem now.” Mr Taylor’s remarks come Mr Albanese indicated there will be more cost of living support in the May budget as Australians continue to grapple with soaring interest rates and inflation.

Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor says in area after area, the Albanese government has “made a bad situation worse”. Mr Taylor’s remarks come after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese indicated there will be more cost of living support in the May budget as Australians continue to grapple with soaring interest rates and inflation. “Australians have been waiting 18 months for the Prime Minister to take this seriously,” Mr Taylor told Sky News Australia. “And now he’s saying he might do something ... it’s not good enough. “What they should be doing – and should have been doing for the last 18 months – is taking pressure off inflation.”

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has stated that ‘Bidenomics’ needs more time to take effect. Jean-Pierre believes that due to the pandemic, many voters are moving away from the Democratic Party and President Joe Biden. Recent polls have shown support is dropping among young voters, with many opting for former president Donald Trump. The Press Secretary also stated that ‘Bidenomics’ has helped out the Black and Latino communities, yet despite this, they’re also losing voters from those communities as well. The ‘Bidenomics’ term has grown unpopular among Democratic voters, leading some supporters to distance themselves from the party. A Democratic Strategist spoke to NBC News in November about the term and referred to it as a terrible messaging tactic. “Whoever came up with the slogan Bidenomics should be fired. It’s probably the worst messaging you could ever imagine,” he said.

New data shows thousands of Australians have ditched the NBN following recent price hikes approved by the federal government. According to the NBN’s own data, connections to existing properties fell by more than 30,000 in 2023, marking the first time the service has ever lost customers in that category. The NBN’s satellite business also lost 12 per cent of its customer base last year. It comes after retailers were given the green light to increase prices by up to 10 per cent. NBN customers can expect another price increase in July.