I really scratch my head at the attitude towards teachers that some parents display (“Parents anger over pupil-free days”, November 11). They all want what is best for their child but they can’t seem to connect the dots between better-prepared quality teachers and better outcomes for all students. Then there are those parents who see school as nothing more than a child-minding service. I always have to remind myself that everyone went to school at some stage of their life and, ergo, they are an expert on education. Peter Miniutti, Ashbury
Pupil-free days help students and teachers. Credit: Dion Georgopoulos
To those parents who are complaining about a couple of extra staff development days on the calendar, may I suggest you avail yourselves of the opportunity to move your children to the private or faith-based school options available. You can then enjoy your children’s company for a few days of religious festivities up to many extra weeks depending on your choice, all available from your taxes plus a personal financial contribution. As long as some parents continue to treat public schools as babysitting services, the reputation and quality of public education will continue to suffer. Please support and value the work done by public schools. Peter Cooper-Southam, Frenchs Forest
So basically parents are not concerned about any educational disadvantage, just the loss of free babysitting. Private schools have far more pupil-free days. Our local Anglican school kids get an extra two weeks’ holiday each year. Colleen Northam, Taree
As a student, I remember the days in the old schoolyard when the only pupil-free days teachers had were the weekends, public holidays and the statutory school holidays in three-term years, which makes me think this latest move is just another brick in the wall. Allan Gibson, Cherrybrook
War’s ripple effect
It is Remembrance Day today – 106 years since the end of the Great War. Its victims are still with us. My father is one. His father was conscripted. He was a loving, kind, gentle young man who returned with anger and despair that he took out on the bottle, his wife and his kids. My father and his siblings are/were as much a victim of that war as my grandfather. Remember this next time you decide to send your children to war. The trauma is intergenerational. David Neilson, Araluen (NT)
The ceremony held on this day every year is a reminder of the horror that is war. At the end of World War I, there were millions of people who had suffered dreadfully, not least in Germany. Yet, less than a generation later, the people of Germany voted in huge numbers for a person who would lead them back into the same, or worse, suffering. Perhaps someone can explain the appeal of such leaders. Don Firth, Wooli
Greens overkill
The Greens, having demanded that the government lock in their proposed 20 per cent HECS reduction, now want to go one step further and totally wipe the debt (“Greens to reveal plan to wipe all student debts”, smh.com.au, November 11). Being up front, they have costed the total cancellation at $54 billion in the first four years and $74 billion over the next 10 years. However, there is no indication of where in the future budgets this money will come from.
It’s reminiscent of the emissions legislation, where capping emissions wasn’t enough: the Greens had to go one step further. What did we end up with? No action on emissions for the next 10 years. Brian Collins, Cronulla
YouTube account ban
National cabinet’s decision to ban under-16s using social media is a godsend (Letters, November 11). Now parents can collectively organise to restrict their children’s access to inappropriate content. There is no need to wait until a “world-first” regime is in place. This can start immediately. The eSafety Commissioner has published information on parental controls, Parental controls | How to keep your child safe (esafety.gov.au). To expedite realisation, governments should provide resources on how to control devices to schools and community groups. This community approach will be successful, as it doesn’t rely on novel legislation. It doesn’t need the cooperation of the platforms and avoids age verification privacy issues. Carlo Ursida, Kensington (Vic)
eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant has developed a set of guidelines for social media use. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
Your correspondent is incorrect that YouTube will be banned for kids (Letters, November 11). The proposed ban will make it unlawful for children under 16 to create a YouTube account. That is very different to watching YouTube. YouTube does not require a log-in to watch videos, so those without an account will still be able to do so. However, those without an account won’t be able to upload videos, comment on videos or watch videos tagged as for adults only.
Brendan Jones, Annandale
Cancer campaign
It’s incredible the progress that’s been made in relation to cervical screening (“Women still delaying cervical screens”, November 11). Compared to what it used to be like, self-testing makes the procedure quicker, easier and less invasive and you have the feeling of being in control. Plus, in my experience, I got the result the next day. However, it’s understandable that not everyone would be in a position to be able to carry out the test themselves. So I’m pleased there is a campaign being launched to target different cohorts. What an outcome it would be if cervical cancer was to be eliminated as a public health issue. Lisa Clarke, Watsons Bay
Airing grievances
Thank you, Vaidehi Shah (“In our block of flats, the majority was hung out to dry”, November 9). I read your article with a wry smile, having spent many years in units, as both an owner and a renter, and having little to no voice on where I can hang my smalls. Some places I’ve been in had the “no washing to be seen from the road” rule, with a mad rush to Bunnings with the tape measure to erect an airer that can nestle out of sight. If you have railings, you’re out of luck: use that drier that eats kilowatts.
Can I draw your attention to Singapore’s public housing? Spend a few days travelling around the Lion City and you’ll see all their washing out and about, enjoying unfettered freedom on poles sticking out of various unit windows to air-dry. Paul Weeks, Alstonville
Yule never escape
Garrett Neumann, I empathise (Letters, November 11), but wherever in Australia you might manage to avoid syrupy American Christmas songs, I guarantee you won’t, unfortunately, be able to escape endless repeats of How To Make Gravy. And it will no doubt be even worse this year with the eponymous film soon to be released. Best we can probably do is drown our sorrows by drinking lots of White Wine in the Sun. As usual, there will no doubt be endless supplies of that other home-grown Yuletide ditty to be endured as well. Ross Duncan, Potts Point
Gravy Man: Paul Kelly’s “How to Make Gravy” has become Australia’s unofficial Christmas anthem.Credit: Daniel Boud
Your correspondent asks where they can escape to in Australia for the next few months to avoid American Christmas songs. Bizarrely, the place you could go to avoid these bland musical perennials is, in fact, America. A wonderful thing about the American celebration of Thanksgiving at the end of November, traditionally the biggest holiday event in the US, is that all Christmas advertising and associated hype is put on hold until December to avoid the commercial clash with Thanksgiving. Dale Bailey, St Leonards
I am convinced that entrances to Westfield have a sensor that triggers the playing of my least favourite Christmas song, Little Drummer Boy, every time I go in. Parumpumpumpum? Harrumph! Eric Scott, Bondi Junction
It’s not only the “sugary, bland …. un Christmassy American songs” – it’s the inappropriate northern hemisphere-themed Christmas cards. Elizabeth Maher, Gordon
Democratic posturing cost the election
Cory Alpert has a short memory (“MAGA ‘grievance sinkhole’ made men I know feel heard”, November 11). He forgets Bill Clinton’s North American Free Trade Agreement, which laid the foundations for the rust belt. He mentions the GFC but forgets it was Barack Obama who bailed out Wall Street as banks foreclosed on poor, unemployed mortgage holders. Democratic administrations have been in power for 12 of the past 16 years, yet the federal minimum wage is still $US7.25 ($11) an hour. The Democrats lost because they couldn’t convince working-class people, of all colours, that they were on their side. The Democrats’ messaging was dreadful, and their supercilious posturing allowed a lunatic to win the election. It’s time for them to take the blame. Simon Pitts, Riverview
Barack Obama bailed out Wall St Credit: AP
The most chilling thing I’ve read in a week of deeply troubling rhetoric was in Cory Alpert’s article. One wonders how many of these men identify with the comment “your body, my choice”, with its sickening and arrogant connotation of abusive male violence. How tragic that the most powerful position in the world has been obtained by appealing to those who degrade women. Miriam Frommer, Darlinghurst
Despite the brutally incendiary attitude to women from Trump and Vance during the election, here we have it, victory for the manosphere. The new catchphrase gaining ground: “your body, my choice, forever”. Now women of America are preparing for a reproductive Armageddon with the spectre of a national abortion ban. Will Peter Dutton emulate the Trump phenomenon by taking on women’s reproductive rights in Australia? It was confirmed last week that an Orange Hospital executive had directed clinicians to perform abortions only for medical reasons, i.e. identified pregnancy complications. The furore was deafening and the response by NSW Health Minister Ryan Park unequivocal. Abortion services have now been completely restored at Orange Hospital. While Peter Dutton says he won’t change abortion services in Australia, the gospel according to Dutton may undergo numerous edits before the election. Julie Venamore, Orange
The reason that “voters across the globe become persuadable by similar arguments at the same time” is that we are all living through the death throes of the neoliberal experiment (“PM, Dutton can learn from Trump”, November 11). Albanese’s problem is that it was the Hawke-Keating Labor government that fired the starting gun on Australia’s part in that experiment. Greg Baker, Fitzroy Falls
The election of Donald Trump will certainly slow the global energy transition, but it cannot stop it (“Trump makes a tough job even harder”, November 11). Two-thirds of energy investment worldwide is now in renewables, and that is because they are cheaper, not because they are mandated by governments. Even in the United States, more than 80 per cent of investment in the electricity grid is in wind and solar, and most of it is in Republican-controlled states! Trump cannot change this, whatever he may think. We will just have to hope that other nations take up the slack, while the US has a sabbatical from its leadership on climate change. Ken Enderby, Concord
Democracy, as we understand it, has not existed in the US for a very long time (“Bob Woodward is wrong. American democracy is crumbling”, November 11). The electoral system is state-based, and each state has different rules concerning the enrolment of electors. Some states have rules that voters – standing in line to enrol to vote or to vote – may not leave the queue for any reason unless they are prepared to relinquish their position in the queue. Historically, many states (mainly Republican) wanted to restrict the opportunity for non-white people to vote on the premise those votes would generally be cast in favour of Democratic candidates.
America is a closed shop, and the systems are designed in many states to ensure only Republican candidates can hold offices – from senators, to congressmen, to sheriffs, to states’ attorneys and so on.
It seems this new Trump administration will be engineered and directed by the wealthy backers that got him into the White House. That is not democracy.
Chris Rivers, Port Macquarie
Trump’s victory has much in common with wrestling; he is the definition of a politician who turns politics into a spectacle, treating each rally like a WrestleMania contest. In professional wrestling, generating emotion – whether positive or negative – is essential, and Trump understood this. For wrestling fans, Trump’s victory isn’t surprising. His political circle includes Linda McMahon (former World Wrestling Entertainment chief executive), Glenn Jacobs (aka Kane), Joe Rogan and Dana White. Trump’s connection to wrestling highlights how modern politics also blends drama with entertainment, where politicians, like wrestlers, are characters in their own narratives. Like it or not, Trump is the president of professional wrestling! Juan Gutierrez, Maroubra
WWE Chairman Vince McMahon, centre, held by “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, has his hair cut off by Donald Trump, left, and Bobby Lashley, right , after Lashley defeated Umaga at Wrestlemania 23 in 2007.Credit: AP Photo
There is arguably some inconsistency in the opinions expressed in the Resolve Political Monitor survey (“Voters on edge after Trump triumph”, November 11). A majority of voters want no part in a conflict between the US and China over preserving Taiwan as an independent democracy, but a majority also wish to continue with the outrageously expensive AUKUS pact. As a major ally, Australia will be expected to support the US in just causes, or there would be no point in supplying Australia with US submarines and secret military technology. It should be understood that a commitment by Australia, together with other allies, to support Taiwan would be an additional disincentive to China to embark on a forced takeover. Geoff Harding, Chatswood
I was having a contrary thought: that we may all have been better off had Trump won in 2020, after all. He’d now be out of the picture, and the exponential growth of nastiness may not have happened. He’s occupied every minute of every day in the news for nine years, and it’s going to be 13 if not longer. On the other hand, he may have completely trashed the Constitution and be standing for a third term, if not forever. Such are the ponderings of counterfactuals.
John Burman, Port Macquarie
Advocating for an informed electorate is not accusing the ignorant of being “dopey” (Letters, November 11). A voter can be highly intelligent but totally uninformed. But the right to vote comes with the responsibility to make some effort to be informed of both sides of a political argument. Peter Dutton’s plea that “if you don’t know, just vote no” should be seen for what it is – the last resort of the political scoundrel. Elisabeth Goodsall, Wahroonga
If Trump dies, J.D. Vance might have to step up (temporarily), but watch out for the (current) bridesmaid Musk in 2028. Stephen Wilson, Kangaroo Valley
Trump has a point. Some migrants do cause havoc in the US. But I think that it would be too difficult to deport Rupert Murdoch and Elon Musk. Paul Doyle, Glenbrook
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