MIKE Scanlon's comment ("Fiery reception for crafty intruder", Weekender, 8/6), that personal memories of the strafing of Newcastle in June 1942 are almost gone is of course correct.
But I have a kind of recycled recollection. Late on the evening of 7 June 2002 my mother rang me and asked, "Do you recall what were you doing on this night, 60 years ago?". I answered, "No Mum, I was only three years old at the time". She explained "you were under the bed with me and your brother Ross, in our home at Waratah, protecting ourselves as the Japanese bombed Newcastle".
Mum was petrified with fear that night. Dad was on the dog watch (shift midnight to 8.00 am) at the BHP Steelworks and she knew that the steelworks were the probable target. As the years pass and relentless warfare continues to inflict devastation, death, devastation, and misery on people across the world, my second-hand memory is a fleeting clue to how fearful life in a war zone might be.
On a lighter note, as I was born six days after the war started, Mum reckoned that my impending arrival was a cause of World War II. That's quite a burden, but thankfully we were born tough in those days.
Roland Bannister, Newcastle
Rail truncation best thing for city
I WAS interested to read Peter Sansom's comparison of Zurich and Amsterdam with Newcastle ("Has our transport system improved? Not to me", Letters 7/6).
This is an unfair comparison, Mr Sansom. Zurich's urban area has a population of 1.8 million, Amsterdam has 1.4 million. Newcastle has a population of just 322,000, with the entire Hunter Valley being 628,000. Also, the above cities have existed in Europe, having been established for hundreds of years. No comparison there.
Apropos of the truncation of the heavy rail, that's the best thing that's happened to the city. It has opened up the foreshore park to the harbour. It is just a short tram trip to the beach from the interchange.
What is your issue with the privatisation of the bus service? Transport for NSW sets the bus routes to which the bus companies must adhere. My understanding is Transport for NSW pays the bus companies somewhere around $3.50/km to run the service.
You seem to yearn for the old days. Perhaps you could put your fridge on the street for collection and buy an ice chest with three deliveries/week. That'll put you back to where you want to be.
Les Field, Wickham
Bully tactics come with a fatal flaw
CARL Stevenson ("It's ugly, but do we need Trump", Letters, 8/6), would have us believe that Trump's re-election would be good for the world. The facts contradict it. It shows that he has little regard for the world outside the USA. He is not a globalist.
In order to "straighten out the world", if that's possible, you have to engage with it. Trump believes in the exact opposite. Within weeks of beginning his first term (2017) he set about pulling out of several international agreements, namely the TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership), the Paris Climate Accord, and World Health Organisation. He also had his sights on pulling out of NATO, but this did not pass. In the Trump world the USA is first, last and only.
Within MAGA, his cult-like movement, greatness is something to be enjoyed by a select group, not by the world at large. How is Trump going to straighten out the world when it is definitely not part of his vision? Perhaps he can use his mind alone, as he was shown on a FOX News interview two years ago, when he claimed to be able to declassify top-secret documents using the power of mind alone.
Trump does not stand up to those other dictators; rather, he embraces them. He lauds them with praise, calling Putin a "genius" for invading Ukraine. I remember that Trump used to brag about receiving "beautiful love letters", whether real or not, from Kim Jong-un of North Korea.
It's a very strange way of standing up. Mr Stevenson paints bullying as something that can be good and virtuous. This is a gross insult to all who have suffered from bullies. A bully is never a hero, but in Trump's world a bully is king and the recipients of bullying, and non-believers, are just losers.
Who, indeed, has lost his moral compass?
Mati Morel, Thornton
Climate delay plan deserves ire
AT least, finally, the Coalition has come clean on their ambitions for emissions reduction: they have none until 2050.
They don't believe there is any urgency in phasing out fossil fuels, and they don't believe there is any problem with nuclear power, which in any case can't be delivered before 2040. By that time, under their regime, Australia would have emitted billions of tonnes more greenhouse gases than the government's current target will deliver.
We need realism: the extreme effects of climate change are happening around the globe, and all countries must urgently transition if we are to avoid catastrophic conditions in the years ahead.
The rollout of renewables needs to continue apace, and the Coalition needs to be held accountable and be called out for their denial, delay and enabling of the fossil fuel industry.
Fiona Colin, Malvern East
Costello could be answer for NSW in Origin
AFTER replaying the video of the altercation with former treasurer Peter Costello and the journalist Liam Mendes, Mr Costello must come under consideration for selection after his robust forceful showing for the State of Origin in Melbourne, his hometown.
Grahame Danaher, Coal Point
No Trump needed to fight bullies
CARL Stevenson offers a strange view on Donald Trump ("It's ugly, but do we need Trump", Letters, 8/6). He says the world "prefers to attack the victim and reward the aggressor" like a bully. He suggests that Mr Trump, also a bully, will stand up to other bullies like Russia, China and North Korea. No Carl, Trump loves autocrats and wants to become one. What makes you think he will spend political capital opposing these countries when his core policy is the isolationist "America first"? These other bullies know they only have to flatter him to get him onside. Remember his "beautiful letter" from Kim Jong Un? How did that work out?
Michael Gormly, Islington
Investigations greatly appreciated
I WOULD like to congratulate Donna Page and the Newcastle Herald for their intrepid investigations and reporting. Stellar work.
Vicki Dunn, Tighes Hill
Lingo offers no generational links
GARRY Linnell ("Bloody Drongos making a comeback", Herald 8/6) made some of us think about some words that are no longer in use these days. In 1950, months after arriving here from the Old Dart, a providore driver commented on the food supply as "just the tucker for the troops". I had no idea what he was on about. Then there was "stone the crows", "she's apples"; the list could go on. Is it no wonder we have trouble understanding our great grandchildren?
Fred Saunders, Waratah West
Israel's position is not so simple
JULIE Robinson advocates Israel abandon the hostages ("Bloodshed is not consigned to past", Letters, 10/6). Even Jesus advocated the shepherd should find the lost sheep.
