Last Post, December 13

The boats will start again if Labor gets into power.

If Labor wins next year’s election, watch the asylum-seeker boats return in droves (“Border chief’s asylum warning”, 12/12). Will the refugee advocates accept responsibility for the inevitable drownings at sea?

Riley Brown, Bondi Beach, NSW

Remember Julia Gillard’s pre-election promise that there would be no carbon tax under a Labor government? We should all be wary of Bill Shorten’s pledge that there will be no dismantling of offshore processing of refugees if the Labor Party is elected.

Paul de Young, Marmion, WA

I’ve just bought a new iPhone and there on the back it says “Assembled in China”. How do we know China hasn’t compromised Apple phones as well?

Colin Douglas, St Kilda, Vic

There is a reason for excess carry-on luggage. It is to avoid delays at the carousel. If airports improved the service, it would not be an issue.

Bruce Love, East Melbourne, Vic

One has to admire British PM Theresa May’s doggedness in the face of seemingly insurmountable obstacles. Does Jeremy Corbyn really believe he can do better?

Roseanne Schneider, Toowoomba, Qld

It’s not surprising that most new migrants who settle in regional areas remain there for extended periods (“Regional settlers in for the long haul”, 12/12). Country living can be great. The problem with increasing the number dramatically is that the few job vacancies would disappear once the first arrivals settle in.

Norm Neill, Darlinghurst, NSW

The vote not to fight for king and country was not a poll of all Oxford University students but the result of a debate in the Oxford Union debating society (Letters, 12/12). The Cambridge Union did not follow suit, but the following week debated and passed the motion that “This house will not fight for King and Harper”, a bicycle store in the city.

R. A. Bramley, Taringa, Qld

Thanks for reminding us of the Oxford Union debate about not fighting for king and country, but the debaters were adults who freely chose to take part. Anyway, debating is more a brain and word sport than a rational search for truth.

Leonard Colquhoun, Invermay, Tas

Three possible causes of the decline in traditional academic culture are the decline of religious faith in the nation (leading to a growth in hedonism), the increase in population of the nation and its university campuses (leading to over-bureaucratisation) and the role of money as a source of political power within society (leading to corruption of academic ideals).

Nigel Jackson, Belgrave, Vic