"Germany is back on track," proclaimed the new German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, as the Conservatives and Social Democrats announced their coalition agreement to govern Europe's leading economic powerhouse for the next four years.

There's no special day for slot machines; any day is good. It's a Monday in February, and at the Seaford Hotel in Frankston—a suburb about fifty kilometers south of central Melbourne—a handful of regulars are playing after dinner. The machines are stacked in rows, each with a stool in front of them. The floor is carpeted, there are no windows or clocks, just four tables to keep the game going until late.

"This is nonsense, it's madness," Senator David Pocock asserted. "A country that's proud to be among the world's largest gas exporters, and yet we collect more money from students repaying their loans than from companies with the Petroleum Resource Rent Tax (PRRT)."

The New South Wales government (with Sydney as its capital) commissioned a report last June from the Productivity and Equality Commissioner on the housing crisis, where demand does not match supply, and rents have risen by more than 40% since 2019. In his response, Peter Achterstraat.