A group of sexy Queensland concreters have created a the "Sexy Concreters" calendar, featuring 12 Gold Coast tradies posing shirtless in wheelbarrows, pouring iced coffee over themselves and eating meat pies.

The calendar was created to raise money and awareness for men’s mental health, with the first print of the calendar selling out in just two hours.

In this episode of The Briefing, Bension Siebert is joined by Jesse Stenroos, Mr April and director of the concreting business Conseq Group, and Anthony Savage, the creator behind the project.

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Headlines: Antisemitism taskforce announced as travel warning issued for Jews heading to Australia, Australia fires new Tomahawk missiles for the first time, person of interest interviewed in CEO shooting case and Starbucks Australia posts $5.8 million loss.

Deep Dive: A major health insurance company CEO was shot dead on the street in New York City last week, and many are celebrating. 

A Facebook post by UnitedHealthcare to remember its assassinated CEO, 50-year-old Brian Thompson, received tens of thousands of laugh reacts over the weekend. 

In the US and in Australia, many cultural commentators have echoed this sense of glee. 

So who was Brian Thompson, why are so many people happy he’s dead, and what does it say about who we are in the current cultural moment? On this episode of The Briefing, Bension Siebert unpacks the reaction with US-born activist and public speaker Azure Antoinette.  

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Rebel forces in Syria captured the capital over the weekend in a move that saw the nation’s president, Bashar al-Assad, flee the country.

It comes after a 13-year civil war and over five decades of his family’s brutal autocratic rule.

The news has been widely welcomed by those living in the country, who are celebrating liberation – a similar sentiment echoed on the streets back here in Australia. But how did we get here and who steps in now that a dictator has been toppled?

In this episode of The Briefing, Chris Spyrou speaks with Chair in Global Islamic Politics at Deakin University, Professor Greg Barton to discuss.

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Headlines: Syrian rebels bring down Assad regime, new poll spells more bad news for Albo and Donald Trump attends the reopening of Notre Dame.

Deep dive: The price of a cup of coffee has always been debated, and now, global coffee prices have reached their highest in over 50 years.  
 
It boils down to many factors across the industry, including bad weather in Brazil and Vietnam where most of the world's coffee comes from and international trade. 
 
So how will this impact the price of our daily cup of coffee going into 2025? 
 
In this episode of The Briefing, Helen Smith is joined by Kirk Pearson, the owner of Project Zero Coffee and the host of It’s Just Coffee the podcast, to explain how it will all impact us here in Australia.  

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Noni Hazlehurst has been a beloved fixture in Australian homes for decades, from Play School to Better Homes and Gardens.

In her new memoir Dropping the Mask Noni opens up about her journey to self-discovery and concealing her true self to fit the roles others expected of her.

In this chat with Antoinette Lattouf, Noni shares her MeToo moment for the first time when a senior entertainment executive locked her in a room, changing her perspective forever.

You can grab a copy of Dropping the Mask from any good book store or online  

Weekend List

• TO EAT: Mango and avocado salsa
• TO WATCH: Nugget Is Dead: A Christmas Story on Stan
• TO WATCH: Saturday Night Live on Binge
• TO WATCH: The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk

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Settling in to watch a Christmas movie is one of the hallmarks of the festive season for a lot of us, with titles like Elf, Die Hard and Love Actually usually at the top of the most-streamed list.

But does it feel like it’s been a while since we’ve seen a great Christmas movie?

Time Out’s list of the ten best ever doesn’t feature a single title from after 2005, which has us asking – have we seen the last of the great Christmas movies?

Ash London, radio queen and passionate Chrissy movie advocate joins Sacha Barbour Gatt on this episode of The Briefing to discuss.

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Headlines: The Chaos in France, new poll shows Peter Dutton on track for major election win, former defence secretary to lead urgent AUKUS review, Melbourne billionaire Adrian Portelli charged over unlawful lottery and you tell us your favourite Christmas movies!

Deep dive: Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour has become a record-breaking phenomenon – taking on 54 cities across 21 countries over a gruelling 21 months.

Swift, considered one of the greatest artists of all time, has been on tour since March 2023, breaking multiple records including the highest-grossing tour ever and the first musician to surpass a billion US dollars in revenue.

As the Eras tour wraps up for good in Vancouver this weekend, The Briefing has teamed up with Angel Zhong at RMIT to exclusively unpack every stat and figure from what will inevitably go down in history as one of the biggest music events of our generation.

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Who should decide what’s acceptable to wear to the office?

In the last couple of years, we’ve seen a huge shift in office workwear with experts saying it’s partly because of the pandemic, working from home, social media trends and because of younger generations entering the workplace.

In this episode of The Briefing Helen Smith is joined by Lauren Sams, fashion editor at the Australian Finical Review, and Employment Lawyer Roxanne Hart to find out who makes the rules around what’s corporate chic and what’s going to send you straight to HR.

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Headlines: Charges laid over Easey Street murders, Aussie primary school students score best ever result in global test, NSW Premier to be referred to corruption watchdog, South Korean lawmakers move to impeach President and the Matildas win 3-1 against Taiwan.

Deep Dive: You might have heard the phrase “deep state” in the news about US President-elect Donald Trump recently.  

He’s promised to dismantle it. But what is the “deep state” and do we have one in Australia? 

The Briefing’s Bension Siebert speaks with ANU national security expert David Andrews about the shadowy world of the deep state conspiracy theory and what stops Australia’s government from being undermined from the inside. 

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A man charged over one of Victoria’s longest cold cases, the 1977 Easey Street murders, touched down in Melbourne overnight, after a marathon extradition from Rome.

He was arrested in Italy back in September in connection to the alleged murder of 28-year-old Suzzane Armstrong and 27-year-old Susan Bartlett in their Collingwood share house almost 50 years ago.

In this episode of The Briefing, Chris Spyrou is joined by host of the Life and Crimes podcast and author of Rule on Crime, Andrew Rule. Andrew's been closely following the case since the 70s.

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