AUSSIE rock legend James Reyne is fighting skin cancer. Hopefully all will be okay.
We were discussing this at my local hydration station. Blokes don’t talk about health like women, my wife Miss Universe says. That’s probably true, so I asked a mate whether he’d had a grease and oil change at the doctor’s. What’s that, he said. A full check up, blood tests, skin check, any dysfunction down below, that sort of thing. No not really, he replied. What are you scared of? I asked. I get checked every six months, which is why I’m still here after having melanoma at 38 years of age. He said, “I don’t like doctors”.
Blokes, take one for your family. Perhaps the government could run an advertising campaign. You take your car for a service, how about having a grease and oil change yourself before your wheels fall off? Good luck, James Reyne.
I WAS saddened to hear of the retirement of Ross Kerridge from the position of lord mayor of Newcastle council because of the side effects from his cancer treatment. He was a breath of fresh air.
He gained a mandate for his vision to change the direction of the council. However I believe he was obstructed by other councilors in every way, shape and form. I personally believe that it was partly that he had the audacity to resign from the Labor Party and stand as an independent.
He hit the nail on the head when he stated that he was dealing with councilors who were pushing their own political careers and agendas, and he was also dealing with children (‘Kerridge calls out ‘combative and disruptive’ councillors’, Newcastle Herald 10/2). I hope that the voters of Newcastle vote for someone who will follow in his footsteps and incorporate his views, and hopefully the children will wake up to themselves and assist them in pointing the council in the right direction.
GRANT Agnew says he lost a Jewish friend by objecting to “a silly piece of anti-Palestinian propaganda” but seems to have fallen for another such piece: that Hamas started this war (“War won’t end without surrender”, Letters, 11/2).
October 7 was essentially a brutal revenge attack for previous major assaults by Israel, which it has cynically described as “mowing the grass”. I wonder if Mr Agnew knows about the over 6000 Palestinians shot, with many kneecapped, in 2018-19 during unarmed protests over their ongoing oppression. This war has been running for many decades. I also wonder if he knows the Times of Israel has reported Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was funding Hamas via Qatar to wedge the Palestinian Authority’s policy of a two-state solution.
IT was pleasing to see the fully electric Zeekr X7 claim a title, and deservedly so (“Best medium SUV named winner of the under $60,000 small SUV category in Cars Guide Awards”, Herald, 9/2). The reviewer notes that features such as quietness, ease of driving and performance reflects what drivers find in common with other electric vehicles once they get behind the wheel.
After two years of driving a smaller but fully electric car, I still find the experience satisfying. The ride is smoother, quieter, and has a lightness that makes the stop-start of urban driving less tiring and regional driving more enjoyable. Most fully electric vehicles can be charged at home from a standard 240-volt power point.
The main limitation remains with public charging, a government and industry responsibility. Modern electric car ranges are now more than adequate, but potential buyer confidence would grow if people knew that, similar to their mobile phones, they can top up anytime, anywhere. Fully-electric vehicles offer a clean and better value for money alternative to the more complicated hybrids and petrol cars. The best advice is easy. Test drive before you buy.
I FIND it very hard to care about the house divided, the fractured Coalition. The good governance of Australia needs an effective opposition, to keep the bastards honest and to ensure that necessary policies are legislated to a degree that most Australians are comfortable with, but the recent track record of the Coalition is that it has been much less effective an opposition in modifying the Albanese government’s policies than if we had only two or three Australian Democrats in the Senate. Like the minor parties, the Coalition has become just another futile ‘no’ party, a problem-maker for good government rather than a problem solver in mediating solutions.
So, why do we need the Liberals for anymore? When Australia used to vote about 50/50 for ALP and the Coalition, the Liberals used to be a balance against the ALP. Now, with the vote of both the Coalition and Albo’s ALP falling below two certain senate quotas in most states, future elections will see a majority vote for ‘non-Labor’, made up of the minor parties and the Teals. I ask again – what is the point of the Liberals and the Coalition?
AMANDA Vanstone, a former Howard senator, criticises activists, both environmentalists and child sexual assault survivors, in her article (“One-sided debate suits them fine”, Opinion, 12/2) for making their views public, claiming they are only grandstanding and “what they crave is attention”. She acknowledges we are all entitled to our opinion, but evidently believes only some of us have the right to express them publicly. How dare you, Ms Vanstone.
IN my opinion the new e-bike laws are not worth the paper they’re written on. Take for example that American bloke who was instrumental in the traffic disruption by e-bikes on the Harbour Bridge. He was fined $1000 and lost six demerit points, but I believe he flew back to America soon after. Does anyone really think he paid the fine before he left? It is most unlikely he had an Australian licence, so how can you take demerit points off a non-existent licence? Then I heard on the news that there are only three of these dyno machines to service all of NSW. What a joke. Lastly, a police car would have no chance of catching an e-bike anyway. A police motorcyclist might have a chance, but how many of these do you see? Hardly any. I reckon this new law is about as useless as you know what on a bull.
LADIES and gentlemen, our big beautiful tariffs are clearly working. Manufacturing is up and prices will be down in two weeks. Our country leads like no other country on earth and is on the way to being great again thanks to your president. We have an economy, a big beautiful ballroom coming, a dried-up, prune-faced old singer who I’m deporting to Cuba very soon and a Venezuelan president who I will take pleasure in accompanying to view the flora and fauna of our Everglades down in Florida. He will enjoy a long, free holiday in one of our facilities there. Thank you for your attention to this matter, I remain your president now and always, Donald J Grump.
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