Last Post, January 21, 2019

Joint Australians of the Year are both white and male — take that #MeToo.

Two brilliant new stars in our firmament (“Bravery of ‘selfless, dedicated’ Thai cave rescuers earns joint honour”, 19/1). Two brilliant white males — Richard Harris and Craig Challen. Australians of the Year? You bet. Take that, you #MeTwo types.

Stephanie Millar, Cremorne, NSW

It was interesting to read Frank Furedi’s article (“From misbehaving boys to violent men: the poisoning of male identity”, 19/1) in which courage and risk-taking are elements of “toxic” masculinity, and then read about the courage and risk-taking of Richard Harris and Craig Challen that made them worthy of being Australians of the Year.

Bryan Welsh, Tea Gardens, NSW

Joy to the world — Ash Barty played the game of her life to down screecher Maria Sharapova. How people pay money to listen to her beats me. Sharapova’s seven-minute toilet break didn’t work out either. Well done, Ash. What a credit she is with none of the histrionics that have crept into the game.

Eric Hodge, Pearce, ACT

Robert Healy (Last Post, 19/1) says Ian Plimer is a geologist, not a climatologist. Therefore, nothing Plimer says on climate can be factual. Tim Flannery is a palaeontologist not a climatologist. Yet everything Flannery says about climate change is automatically accepted.

Dominic V. Crain, Melbourne, Vic

Robert Healy has an odd idea about geology. The essence of the science is studying rocks to understand how they formed — and that includes the climate at the time. Which is why so many geologists do not support the anthropogenic global warming story.

Rob Ryan, Caravonica, Qld

I may only be a dumb plumber but I can read on the web that climate change is caused by the Earth’s orbit around the sun and its changing axis shown on Milankovitch cycles. No amount of taxpayers’ money can change that.

Brian Doherty, Beenleigh, Qld

We can’t celebrate Australia Day as a significant day in our history, and dismiss the history of crimes committed against the First Peoples because it’s from a bygone era (Letters, 19/1). I’m no neo-Marxist, but I prefer to respect people’s rights before I respect the date when the First Fleet landed.

Henry Herzog, St Kilda East, Vic

You see someone get ahead through honest effort and wish them well. Being decent, you resist envy and the impulse to pull them down. Instead you try to find constructive ways to help others also do well. It’s a virtue to celebrate a fellow punter doing well, and mean-spirited to demonise him. When did the Labor Party deviate from this tenet?

Arthur Giannopoulos, Mitcham, SA