Last Post: Good man, bad president

In admirably chronicling Jimmy Carter’s life, Troy Bramston refers to the 39th US president as “the man from Plains who was taking on the establishment” (“Carter left mark of integrity on White House and beyond”, 31/12). How ironic, then, that in three weeks another American, with totally disparate views to Carter, will become the 47th president with a promise of “taking on the establishment”.

Riley Brown, Bondi, NSW

Great journalists have a way of capturing the entirety of the story in their first sentence. Greg Sheridan does it unfailingly, as he has done again on Tuesday with “Jimmy Carter was a good man but a bad president”.

Peter Lynch, Hamilton, Qld

Although my limited cricket umpiring experience was nearly 70 years ago, I still recall a sage piece of advice given by my sports master: “If in doubt, give not out.” With Monday’s dismissal of Indian batsman Yashasvi Jaiswal being decided only after endless video reviews, surely this indicated some doubt for which my sports master’s rule should have applied. An unnecessary controversy would have been avoided.

Mike Cuming, Carlingford, NSW

Sorry to disappoint you, Randa Abdel-Fattah. I am certainly not “gutless and silent” and more a proud and open supporter of Zionism. Zionism is certainly not dead and Israel is here to stay, as it has an absolute right to be.

Nicholas Milns, Maroochydore, Qld

I just received a rather frightening electricity account, but I’m not worried about future ones as it is now 2025 and Anthony Albanese’s promised reduction of $275 on electricity bills starts from 2025. I’m sure the Prime Minister would not tell lies, but I just wish the reduction would kick in now.

Bryan Welsh, Crestwood, NSW

If the Mediscare campaign doesn’t get any traction perhaps the government could come up with a novel electoral pledge like reducing power prices by $275 next year.

Tim Trotter, Ascot, Qld

I thought Judith Sloan’s usual insightful article on economics contained a misprint, she described Donald Trump’s involvement as being an example of a “Schrumpeterian disruption” (Trump tariffs more art of the deal than economics”, 31/12). On checking, this is a phrase, from 100 years ago, meaning “production involves a combination of material and immaterial productive forces”. Surely the modern version now has to be a Trumpeterian disruption?

Graham Pinn, Maroochydore, Qld