After Bondi: how to tackle extremism

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1:01The Economist.

1:08Hello and welcome to The Intelligence from The Economist. I'm Rosie Bloor. And I'm Jason Palmer. Every weekday we provide a fresh perspective on the events shaping your world.

1:23So many books are published every year. How on earth can you decide what to read? Well, today our journalists each recommend one that they loved and tell us why. And we open the door on the advent calendar craze. No flimsy paper treats these days. For a rapidly growing part of the market, it's all about niche and luxury products.

1:59First up, though.

2:09Today, Bondi Beach in Australia remains a crime scene as police continue their investigation into a mass shooting at a Hanukkah party on Sunday. Two days on, more details have emerged about the anti-Semitic attack and the two gunmen who carried it out. We are learning new details this morning about the two shooters, the father and the son. we've also learned that at least one of them has links to ISIS. As Australians hold vigils for the dead, light candles and donate to blood banks, many are also now asking broader questions about how prepared Australia is, or any other country, to confront extremism.

2:52On Sunday, December 14th, more than 1 ,000 people gathered at Bondi Beach, which is Australia's most famous beach, for the first night of Hanukkah. when two men, a father and a son, opened fire on the crowd, killing 15 people. The father was killed and the son is now in a coma, and authorities have labelled this a terrorist incident. Su Lin Wong is an Asia correspondent and reported the Scam Inc podcast earlier this year. People across Australia and the world have been shocked at the deadliest terrorist attack in Australian history. And that has prompted wider questions about how the world can confront these kinds of attacks.

3:39Su Lin, we're two days on from this event. What more have we found out about the two men and how they were able to carry out that attack? So the big news today is that the Australian authorities have confirmed the father and son travelled to the Philippines in November and spent about a month there training in Mindanao, which in the 1990s became a hotspot for terrorist training camps that had relocated from the border of Pakistan and Afghanistan to the Philippines. It's believed they received military-style training there, and the police found homemade Islamic State flags in the car of one of the gunmen, along with explosive devices.

4:26And recent investigative reporting from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation has found that the younger gunman has close ties to a self-proclaimed commander of the Islamic State based in Sydney, who is currently serving a seven-year sentence for plotting a terrorist attack. What's the response been in Australia to this attack and all these revelations? Well, the government has very quickly come out and condemned the attack, called it a terrorist attack, said it's going to look into tightening gun control laws and also boost security for the Jewish community. In the past two years, there have been more anti-Semitic attacks in Australia than in the previous decade combined, according to Jewish organizations.

5:07That includes arson attacks on synagogues, attacks on buildings, firebombing cars, a whole range of different kinds of horrific incidents. And Jewish leaders have actually said that incidents of anti-Semitism have spiked in Australia at a higher rate than other countries in the West that also have significant Jewish populations. We've also seen an outpouring of grief from Australians. Websites of blood banks have crashed because so many Sydneysiders have rushed to donate blood. We saw the menorah lit up on the side of the opera house. And perhaps most extraordinarily, you might have seen viral footage of this man dressed in a white t-shirt tackling the gunman.

5:52And he was subsequently shot in the shoulder and is in hospital now. But there's been a GoFundMe campaign launched that has raised over two million Australian dollars. And everyone from Anthony Albanese, the Australian Prime Minister, to Donald Trump have praised him and said many, many more lives would have been lost, but for the bravery of this man. You mentioned gun control there. I thought Australia had the gold standard on gun control. Yeah, you're right, Rosie. Australia in some ways does have the gold standard and that's because the deadliest ever mass shooting in modern Australian history happened in 1996 when a lone gunman killed 35 people in the Tasmanian town of Port Arthur.

6:35And very, very quickly after that, the government introduced incredibly strict gun laws banning automatic and semi-automatic weapons. They're the kinds of guns that are often used in mass shootings. And they also bought back hundreds of thousands of guns. So in these ways, Australia is considered to have done incredibly well with its gun control laws. However, over the past few years, I think there's been a growing sense of complacency. Recent studies have shown that there are now more guns in Australia than there were before that massacre in Tasmania. And so the government has come out and said it's going to look at how to tighten the current gun laws by, for example, developing a national firearms registry.

7:22Australia still doesn't have one. By being able to assess whether someone should be able to possess a gun based not just on criminal history, but also on criminal intelligence. and also they're going to look into whether or not non-Australians living in Australia should be allowed to possess guns. So Sulin, tell me more about this connection with Islamic State. So Islamic State established its so-called caliphate in Iraq and Syria, but that was dismantled a long time ago. However, it has various franchises and offshoots that are still terrorizing people around the world, not just in places like Syria, but also countries like the Philippines.

8:02And IS continues to provide ideological inspiration to some people in the West. And obviously this is an evolving story, but we think that's what happened with these two gunmen. Now, the Prime Minister of Australia has said there's no evidence that the father and son attackers were part of a terrorist cell. It looks more like a lone wolf attack, But in a way, that's the point that this is part of a wider trend of individuals or small groups being inspired by IS and carrying out these kinds of lone wolf attacks. And in fact, in October, the head of MI5, Britain's security service, noted that IS, along with Al-Qaeda, was once again becoming more ambitious and personally encouraging and indirectly inciting would-be attackers.

8:51and that makes these kinds of attacks incredibly hard to spot or foil. So this one tragic massacre on Bondi Beach brings up much bigger issues around the world of how governments can protect their citizens from these kinds of lone wolf attacks. Su Lin, thank you very much. Thanks very much, Rosie.

9:31the book lovers at the economist have been taking great care to keep track of the best works published this year now they're ready to share their suggestions with us for what you might want to read over the holiday season or might want to buy someone else

9:48I'm Rachel Lloyd the deputy culture editor at The Economist and I'm recommending How to End a Story by Helen Garner I was a judge of the Bailey Gifford prize this year and this was the winning book we all loved the way that Helen writes she has a very singular voice on every single page there is something that will make you laugh that will kind of strike you with its originality I didn't know what to expect when I picked up a book of diaries I think you assume diaries will be self-indulgent or self-pitying and these aren't at all. If anything, Helen saves her heart's criticisms for herself and that's what makes it so brilliant.

10:20It's just very, very honest. Listeners should pick this up if they're in the mood to laugh because there is a lot of wit in there. Helen is the sort of writer that you would love to go and grab a martini with. She writes very poignantly about being a mother. She also writes very beautifully about the Australian landscape. There's just lots to enjoy in there.

10:46If you want a page turning new insight into the darkest chapter in modern history, I've got just the book. I'm Andy Miller, and I write the backstory column on culture. And I recommend The Traitor's Circle by Jonathan Friedland. This is the thrilling story of a group of anti-Nazi activists in wartime Berlin, including a countess who hid her Jewish lover in a sofa when the Gestapo raided her flat. Betrayed by an informer, several of these people paid an awful price for their defiance. At bottom, I think, the book is an inquiry into how, in the direst circumstances, some people find the immense courage to do what's right.

11:33I'm Don Wineland, the economist, China, business and finance editor, And one of the best books I read in 2025 was about what's often called the world's most controversial company. The book is called House of Huawei by Eva Doe. Huawei has gone from making basic telephone switches nearly 40 years ago to entering into the race to design some of the world's most advanced semiconductors. So this has made it an incredibly controversial company. It's also a very misunderstood company. So in her book, Eva Doe, who's a reporter at The Washington Post, has tried to unpack this company's history, tell us how it became so powerful, and also where it's going.

12:19Her background research into Huawei was really stunning. She takes the time to analyze newsletters and internal documents that the company put out 30 years ago. She also clearly has great sourcing within China and within this company. So if you want to understand not only how Huawei works, but how Chinese companies function, this is a great read.

12:46If you're looking for an insightful biography, I'm Ainsley Johnston. And as a data journalist and science correspondent, I recommend Crick, A Mind in Motion by Matthew Cobb. Francis Crick was a very interesting scientist in that he really didn't spend a lot of his time in the lab toiling away, doing experimental work He normally came in right at the very end when a problem was very close to the solution and ended up being the one who found that solution and he did that with DNA and he did it with several other discoveries that he made it's just a great portrait of an eccentric and ambitious character in science.

13:32And I have a final recommendation to add to the list. Show Don't Tell, a collection of short stories from Curtis Sittenfeld. If you're someone with a loud inner monologue, then Curtis Sittenfeld is the author for you. She's an American novelist, and she's particularly good at capturing all the ingredients of class, expectations anxieties and personal hopes or dreams that make up any social encounter and I think that's why these short stories work so well because from a high school reunion to an artist's weird creative project the thinking really is the story she's funny she watches her characters think slightly embarrassing things and for me there's something very real about her writing yes it's a story, but it always feels emotionally true.

14:19And that's one of the things I love about all fiction.

14:43Jason, do you have an advent calendar? I do not have an advent calendar, just not something I grew up with. I feel almost ashamed to admit this to you, Caitlin Talbot, our culture correspondent, that I got my first advent calendar in my 40s. Wow. Why at age 40 did you decide to take a foray? Oh no, this was decided for me. I received a pork scratchings advent calendar. You were one of those. I am, yeah. I came across these during my research and I thought, who would want 24 packets of pork scratchings? But it's you. I am your man. For our non-UK listeners, pork scratchings are like a denser pork rind or chicharron.

15:22There were not 24 types of pork scratching in there, rather disappointingly, but there were, I think, at least four or five. And, you know, it got me through the month. Every year, do you now get one? No, it's not a tradition I have yet taken on, but I understand that you are deeply into these things. Yes. Well, I've always had a chocolate one, but this is the first year that I have had the extravagant makeup beauty cosmetics avon calendar. Ooh, talk me through it. So it's like a little chest of drawers. In each drawer, there is either a sample size or a full size makeup product. And by the end of the month, you essentially can do a whole face of makeup, a whole pamper routine.

15:59I've even got shampoo, conditioner, hair oil in mine. So it really does cover all the bases. And it has been a really, really exciting month so far. And I think definitely worth it. Well, I know what I'm going to ask for next year. Let me ask, though, sounds a bit on the, well, you say extravagant side. What's that cost? So it was a gift, but I have looked it up, even though my husband told me not to look up the price. And it is£235, so quite pricey. But clearly these things are expanding in range. If I've had poor scratchings and you've had pots of bum bum cream or whatever. Yes, indeed. And there are a huge range of, I suppose, both cheap and pricey advent calendars.

16:36So if you want to get a 12-day caviar advent calendar, then that will set you back$1 ,000. But then you can go on Timu and you can get a dice advent calendar where you get 12 different shapes of dice for£5. There are some really, really, really strange ones on Timu, including 24 different capybara models or 27 different cow models. What is up with this massive, bewildering proliferation of different advent calendars? Yeah, I remember back in my childhood, I'd be lucky if I got a chocolate one. Otherwise, it would be a cardboard one and you might just get a picture of a church bell behind each door.

17:13And now they've just gone mad. The demand for even the most random of advent calendars really is booming. Bon Maman Jam brand sells out of their advent calendar in America every single year and has had to increase production by 400 % since 2017 just to meet demand. And then obviously, So you get the beauty advent calendars, cosmetic advent calendars. People will start talking about them in September. There are entire online chat rooms dedicated to comparing the value of each one. I mean, this whole thing makes it seem like this is not in keeping with the tradition. What is the tradition? Yes. In fact, most advent calendars, they don't seem Christmassy at all.

17:50Whereas when they started, 19th century German Protestants started marking the season. They lit candles, they drew lines of chalk. And then actually after the Second World War, when spirits really needed lifting, we found that paper advent calendars spread across the world. And then a little later on, the chocolate advent calendars became widespread. And it's really been in the past few decades when these other more elaborate or strange or silly advent calendars have come about. But why do you suppose there's been this surge in consumption of these things recently? Yeah, so when I spoke to Fortnum & Mason about this, who has said that their tea and biscuits advent calendar is one of the big hitters of the year, they think there's a trend of small indulgences.

18:31So we're also seeing people buying more things like fancy coffees or a miniature of a very luxurious brand so they can get a taste of luxury. And this is something that cosmetics tycoon Leonard Lauder called the lipstick effect. So sales of lipstick rise during economic downturns as women sought inexpensive pick-me-ups. And that's something that we're seeing right now. And then brands have really seen that they're very popular. So they include limited edition or collectible products inside them. And we see this with toy advent calendars for children, but also with Beauty Liberty, a department store in London, when it launched its advent calendar, it became the fastest selling product in the store's entire history.

19:11And in this year's calendar, they included a limited edition bag and had a swanky launch party just for the advent calendar. So is that the way the trend is going? And they're just going to get ever more luxurious and promise you are, in fact, despite appearances, getting a good deal? So I think, yes, I don't think we're going to see Christmas advent calendars go away anytime soon. But for the first time this year, I noticed that there were Halloween advent calendars. I've seen Mother's Day countdowns or birthday countdowns. And when I spoke to the Advent calendar shop, which primarily focuses on Christmas Advent calendars, they've noted that children's birthdays are probably going to be the next thing where you'll have a 10-day countdown to your birthday.

19:52And I suppose it leaves me wondering, who wouldn't want that festive feeling of anticipation all year round rather than just in December? Caitlin, thanks very much for your time. Thanks very much, Jason. Happy Onward Beauty drawer opening. It's going to be a great month.

20:08Thank you.

20:36senior editors and specialist correspondents on subjects ranging from defense and geopolitics to economics and tech. Download it wherever you get your apps, and we'll see you back here tomorrow.

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