My home country of Australia found itself in the semi-rare position of making global headlines this week, after Tony Abbott was as dumped as prime minister by his governing conservative party in favor of Malcolm Turnbull. The political circus had my colleagues in New York both amused and rather befuddled (which, to be fair, can be said about a lot of bizarre Aussie news that makes waves internationally) but this piece from BuzzFeed Australia's Rob Stott explained in simple, hilarious terms how we've ended up with our fourth leader in three years.
Sorry to bombard you with Australian politics, but this wonderful piece from New Yorker executive editor Amelia Lester, herself an Aussie, catalogues in excruciatingly embarrassing detail the various gaffes and policy missteps that led to Abbott's downfall. It reads like a political obituary for a man who, it must be said, was truly unique — oh, and who loved to eat raw onions.
I've been haunted all week by this New York Times story by Amy Harmon chronicling one dying woman's bid to have her brain cryogenically frozen in the hope she might one day live again. I can often feel intimidated by science stories, but this piece was electrifyingly well-written and the love story at its heart had me blubbering like a baby.