George Orwell used the University of London’s Senate building, a 1930’s art-deco monolith, as his model for the Ministry of Truth in the novel 1984. So that’s why I found myself standing there with my friend Jeremy Bowen in the first moments of that new year, watching the dawn break over London.

Back then, Bowen had just begun reporting with the BBC; I was a student with no intention of becoming a journalist. His enthusiasm, however, was contagious. He always wanted to discover what was happening . . . and then tell you about it.

Since then he’s had a wonderful career as a foreign correspondent. As has his desire to get behind the headlines to relate the whole story.

This newsletter tells the story of disability in Australia: it’s not our job to focus on other issues. But Bowen’s stunning report from Gaza last week demands to be seen. It forces us to think of how desperate the situation must be for anyone who happens to be Palestinian, and a person with disability.

How can the vulnerable survive when everyone is starving?

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abilityNEWS has carried three reports on disability in Gaza.

The first detailed the terrible cost to Israelis caught up in the initial, horrific surprise assault launched accross the border. Then Scarlett Wong told the story from the perspective of a humanitarian worker in Gaza strip. But what is happening now is beyond anyone’s power of description.

This is why Bowen’s report is both so powerful and terrible, and why we are breaking our editorial rule.

Recognising the special needs of people with disability requires compassion. It demands an understanding of our common humanity. This places an obligation on the strong.

The massive protest in Sydney has demonstrated how out-of-sync our government is with popular opinion on this issue. Nearly a hundred thousand people don’t turn out on a rainy day to walk across the Harbour Bridge because they’ve got nothing better to do.

Anthony Albanese dares not say anything because he’s been told not to offend the US.

It’s a sad way to run a government.