You have surely seen the trailers for Russell Crowe's latest work, The Loudest Voice, the seven-part series for Showtime, which premieres on June 30 in America and here on Stan on July 1. Crowe both co-produces the series and stars in it as the lead character, Roger Ailes, one of the most influential figures in hard-right American politics, who founded and then ran Fox News before being dismissed for systemic sexual harassment and dying not long afterwards. Crowe's transformation for the role into a jowly, leering predator is uncanny. "The transformation," Crowe told me yesterday, "involved three hours of prosthetic make-up a day. Plus 45 minutes minimum to remove it. I spent over 12 entire days of my life in the make-up chair during the [five-month] shoot. Roger was a much shorter man, so I didn't work to a weight goal. I worked to a ratio goal: my height [times my] waist." The starting point of the story is Ailes establishing Fox News in 1996 and then follows the network's expansion. "It examines how he used his experience in politics, as an adviser to three presidents, to turn Fox News into a $2 billion profit a year behemoth, and his ultimate demise in a blizzard of sexual harassment accusations in 2016." The theme, Crowe says, goes back to a quote Ailes gave to Joe McGinniss in the book The Selling of the President, where he said something like, "in the future political parties will be replaced by TV networks".

And we've all seen the results. The series also stars fellow Australian Naomi Watts, who plays the lead female role of Gretchen Carlson, the first female journalist to blow the whistle on Ailes. Stan and The Sun-Herald are both owned by Nine. Heading west Loading TFF and Mrs TFF are off to Western Australia today for Premier Mark McGowan to launch my book, The Catalpa Rescue, detailing the fabulous escape of six Irish Republicans from the most remote gaol on earth, Fremantle Prison, on Easter Monday, 1876. It is one of the two best yarns I've ever worked on, the other being Batavia, also from Western Australia. You'll see the excerpts in today's paper.

THEY SAID "They became scientific objects, but we don't see them as objects any more. We give dignity back to the deceased, and their families. These are the victims of unethical research and colonialism. It took a long time, in my opinion far too long, for this restitution to take place. This I deeply regret. I can only offer my sincerest apology." Dr Eva-Maria Stange, Minister for Education and Research for Saxony, choking back tears on Monday, asking for forgiveness as she took part in a ceremony in Berlin where the remains of more than 40 Indigenous Australians, including seven Yawuru, were at last handed back to their community. "I tell you solemnly tonight: We will rebuild this cathedral. Notre-Dame of Paris is our history. The centre of our lives. It's the many books, the paintings, those that belong to all French men and French women, even those who've never come." French President Emmanuel Macron as Notre Dame cathedral burned.

"I won't go into a contested ballot. It will be up to the party room. If they want me they will need to invite me. But I am not expecting that. I am not going to shoulder anyone aside for the top job, because for me it has never been about that." Tony Abbott asked if he would seek leadership of the Liberal party again. "I think there is a level of sexualisation with that, which is inappropriate. There is no place for that kind of behaviour in the 21st century. It is disrespectful, it's inappropriate." Zali Steggall, the Independent Warringah candidate, after conservative activist group Advance Australia released a video of its "satirical superhero" Captain GetUp gyrating and rubbing against a poster of her. The video has since been removed. "Oh my God. This is terrible. This is the end of my presidency. I'm f---ed."