2025 – that was the year that was… and here it is, month by month, through the bright eyes of the CityNews columnists – a quirky, serious, funny and sad look at the 12 months just gone. HUGH SELBY warms to July…

July is the time to put on the warmest coat, wear gloves, maybe even a muffler. It’s the cold from which some Canberrans escape, seeking warmth, to the north.

But it’s also the month for Christmas in July, with even the possibility of white frosting on the Brindabellas.

Mr Squiggle and friends came to the National Museum, a treat for all those whose childhood was from around 1960 to 2000. Those who saw it in the early years could take their grandchildren.

It was nice to find out that even small kids are being taught how to call 000 in an emergency. Of course, we now know – and it’s breathtaking – that the call may not be answered, but that’s a problem for adults. The kids will do their bit.

For those wanting a splash in their July lives, the Pirates of Penzance was on in Queanbeyan. Wine writer Richard Calver recounted a different sort of splash – the spilling of a large amount of trophy sparkling at the National Wine Show dinner. Oops. 

Learning how to avoid accidents, mother of six, Shantelle, and her oldest, teenager Amber, both enrolled in a training program in the construction industry, that runs six weeks, alternating one week of training, one week on the job – a great way to put into practice what is being learned and to skill up. The workforce beckoned both of them.

Meanwhile, another mum, with younger children, wanted to see a government that “valued caregiving (of her young family) as much as earning”. 

She was concerned at the pressure on young households that flowed from rate increases and the proposed health levy. She and her kids ain’t seen nothing yet: “care” is an unknown concept among our party politicians.

Young photographers of flora and fauna could take part in the Botanic Gardens’ competition. Entrants were encouraged to “play with different images, and how you take them, feel free to experiment. You might see something that no one else has noticed”.

Something that regular columnist Michael Moore did notice was a proposed dog code designed for idiots. He noted, correctly, that those idiots would not read the code. Non-idiots who did read the code would wonder who was the poor sod given the task of compiling it.

It was too much for an anguished letter writer whose aged mother wanted to die, but was not allowed to. It’s a topsy turvy world when dictating care for a pet is, it seems, more important than facilitating an aged, mentally competent human being able to die with dignity.

Beau McCarroll is a teenager with no thoughts of death. Quite the opposite, as he aims to represent Australia in boxing at the Olympics. For that he trains six days a week before and after college. A few weeks after the CityNews article was published he was in Germany for the Brandenburg Cup where he had his first international win.

At month’s end, Science Week was soon to arrive. This year the focus was on parasites, and how important it is that we know a lot more about them. Malaria, for example, is a parasite (a deadly one), so too are leeches (which can be useful as they suck blood) and fleas. 

After reading the succession of articles about the budget fiascos inflicted upon us by Andy’s gang, some might be tempted to see their depredations as a sucking from the body politic. That, with respect, is a little harsh. They don’t so much drain our lifeblood as lead us all like a pied piper to a magic land where the money hangs from trees like clumps of exotic fruit.

Sometimes, it is a joy to be led, as in Michael Briody’s enthusiastic review of Chalk and Cheese: A Fabrication, co-written by our Ross Fitzgerald and Ian McFadyen (published by Hybrid).

This is a story that shows the wisdom and tolerance that ageing can bring, along with showing that it’s never too late to take a punt on something new – especially when a younger generation can be roped in to help. It’s hilarious.

Former barrister Hugh Selby is the CityNews legal matters columnist.