Biden must step aside

The ageist invective referring to the US president’s (and the republican candidate’s) age is misleading (“I love Biden but he cannot win this race”, July 11). Case in point, Sir David Attenborough at the age of 98. It appears to me that the US president suffers with brain disease and dementing illness. The dementia syndrome comprises a range of symptoms and signs that together point to a diagnosis. The current US president has a medical history (brain surgery associated with bleeding and aneurysm), a range of symptoms which are characteristic of neurodegenerative disease. The reasoning that evident episodes of impaired cognition were simply due to not having “enough sleep” overlooks the effects of impaired cognitive reserve associated with brain disease and dementia. That the most powerful person on the planet continues to be in place despite the history, signs and symptoms pointing to the presence of brain disease, impaired cognition, capacity and the syndrome of dementia should be of concern. Tuly Rosenfeld, Randwick

Frankness from George Clooney is welcome. Even more welcome would be power brokers in the US Democratic Party putting George himself forward. He has unequalled name power, highly ethical proven politics, and his wife, Amal Clooney, is known internationally for her brilliance. He would surely far outshine the previous two showbiz presidents: Ronald Reagan (suffering inertia as well as dementia) and Donald Trump (suffering a total ethics bypass). Not just the US, the whole world needs a POTUS of integrity.
Stephanie Dowrick, Pyrmont

For the sake of the US and of the whole world, we can’t risk another Donald Trump presidency. Maybe Jill Biden could speak to her husband and convince him to go, for the benefit of the party and the country. He got to be president for four years, and for all intents he has led a good administration, but there is no way in the world he will survive a second term without increasing cognitive decline. If he stays he pretty much guarantees a Trump presidency. If the Democrats are struggling with who should replace him. They could always go for a left-field choice. George Clooney comes to mind. Peter Jones, Rathmines

The fact that the Democrats are evenly split on an increasingly blithering Biden shows a party in disarray, devoid of commonsense and one unworthy to lead the free world. We will watch with a mixture of bewilderment and horror how they find excuses for his latest gaffe in introducing Zelensky as Putin. One doesn’t know whether to laugh or to cry. Phil Johnson, Toowoon Bay

As I watch Joe Biden’s decline I can’t help being reminded of the fact that the AUKUS submarine deal was orchestrated by three blokes who go by the monikers of BoJo, ScoMo and Sleepy Joe. Phil Peak, Dubbo

The Democrats want to know how to get rid of Joe Biden? We’ve got a plethora of ex-prime ministers to show them how. Send them one of ours. There’s one installed in Washington already. Vivienne Mackenzie, Port Hacking

Dear George Clooney, You are a man of integrity, intelligence, well known, popular, respected, steeped in Democratic Party politics and sound like a leader. If there’s anyone who could beat Trump, it’s possibly you. Why not put your money where your mouth is and run yourself? You’d start with at least all the women’s votes. Heather Johnson, West Pennant Hills

Dog’s life

The premier’s reticence in banning greyhound racing is incomprehensible (“Review into greyhound racing scandal”, July 12). I cannot even bear to look at footage or read through articles describing what the dogs have to go through. And here we are condemning other cultures for eating dogs. It is apparent that we do not have the moral high ground after all. Cristina Corleto, Stanmore

I once read a piece about a female dog trainer who raised her own puppies and trained and raced them with considerable success. One discordant note in the feelgood narrative was that before racing, the dogs went away to be “broken in”. For anyone with any knowledge of the industry, that is code for being blooded, with all the gruesome implications of that process. To me, that was a clear signal, even then, that there was no change in the industry mindset. The only option is for it to be shut down. Seppo Ranki, Glenhaven

Premier Chris Minns has already ruled out shutting down the greyhound racing industry, even before a review, as did former premier Mike Baird in 2016. Such is the power of the industry in NSW that generates $3.8 billion spend per annum. There are only seven countries in the world that still have greyhound racing. We should be striving for six countries. Helen Simpson, Curl Curl

Along with letters decrying greyhound racing, almost all from city addresses, rather than country areas where it’s widely loved, a call to ban the wonderful sport of horse racing was quick off the mark. Apart from employing hundreds of thousands, horse racing’s a terrific spectacle, is excellently administered, and gives me, and millions of others, a few hours a week’s respite from the usual daily grind. Rosemary O’Brien, Ashfield

Stop poisoning our wildlife

As a wildlife carer, I have rescued very sick possums and birds which appear to have been poisoned with the second generation rat baits (“On-the-shelf poison a rising threat to owls”, July 11). I first learnt of these dreadful products at a wildlife conference in 2018; when birds take dead rats/mice that have been poisoned with these products, they too die from the bait. There is no antidote to treat affected animals; to see a beautiful possum or raptor die from internal bleeding and not be able to prevent their death is heartbreaking for us.

There is another product – pindone-baited carrots for killing rabbits in South Australia, but wallabies and kangaroos are dying from the effects. Why are these products still freely available in our hardware shops? If other countries have banned their sale to the general public, why hasn’t Australia? Eira Battaglia, Seaforth

A gathering of owls is called a parliament. The poisoning of owls is called an extinction. With the wisdom of our elected parliament, legislation must be enacted upon to secure the stewardship of these remarkable birds. We would be wise to dread the absence of their nocturne, for with their silence, the warnings to us should be deafening. Steve Dillon, Thirroul

An ill wind blows

Very interesting article in today’s Herald by Caitlin Fitzsimmons on the lengths the fossil fuel proponents and their supporters go to deliberately plant disinformation into the susceptible minds of the anti-renewable mob (“‘Absolutely incorrect’: The evidence is in on whales and offshore wind farms”, July 11). Expressions such as “wind factories” and “industrialisation of the sea” espoused mainly through the US oil conglomerates trickle down to the opponents of renewables.
The biggest threat to whales are fishing nets, ships and plastics, just to name a few. The Coalition and its unfunded push to build nuclear power reactors is deliberately planting renewable disinformation into the minds of voters.
John Nelson, Mudgee

Caitlin Fitzsimmons clearly dissects the origins of the myth that offshore wind farms kill whales. The US network of think tanks funded by fossil fuels and the Koch Foundation started it and spread it to the local fossil fuel footsoldiers to sell the lie to well-meaning but duped people in Wollongong. One could hope that now it has been exposed this would be the end of it. Unfortunately, nothing could be further from the truth in this Trumpian age of lies. It will continue to be pushed, to join all the other lies floating out there in the ether, and we have no effective means of combating it.
Gary Barnes, Mosman

Spycraft on script

A perfect example of life imitating art (“Married couple in Australia charged with spying for Russia”, smh.com.au, July 12). Reading as this story unfolded this morning, the similarities with the premise of the television series The Americans immediately came to mind. Or perhaps the TV show gave intelligence services some ideas? Tony Whiddon, Denham Court

School schism

In April, the NSW government slashed $148 million from the coffers of public schools to save money and help fund overdue pay rises for teachers. Today I read that a single building in one school in the elite private school sector is rumoured to have cost $80 million (CBD, July 12). While I fully understand that both federal and state government expenditure are involved, it does paint a glaringly obvious picture of the vast inequality between the public school system and the elite private schools. If private schools have this level of wealth available, they do not need taxpayer dollars to fund their “businesses”. Peter Cooper-Southam, Frenchs Forest

Poor choices

Elizabeth Knight’s riddle is a good question (“How can Australians be so wealthy yet still be poor?”, July 12). In simple terms, we could do something about it if we wanted to, or more specifically, if the government wanted to. Many of us voted Labor in for a change to the self-serving interests of the previous Coalition governments. There are endless reports from esteemed, concerned organisations such as ACOSS that offer sensible answers. But the government has different budget priorities which don’t seem to be about caring for and supporting the disadvantaged in our society, the poor, or essential services such as health and housing. Instead, they seem to be looking for headlines with announcements and enormous subsidies to industries with the most effective lobbyists, AUKUS and other items of questionable merit. Mark Tietjen, Redfern

It’s not rocket science. Let’s say I own a house worth $2.5 million – that’s nothing special – and have a mortgage amounting to half of that. I’m rich, I have $1.25 million in equity. But my mortgage payments are nearly $6000 a month and my take-home pay is just over $7000. Hope I don’t have kids and one income like the old days because there’s not much left to live on. You have to be rich not to be poor in these circumstances. Plenty of people have $1 million mortgages, and the Reserve Bank has made them poor. It’s crazy.
James Manché, Dulwich Hill

Bigotry betrays us

Waleed Aly has the conclusion to his column upside-down (“Identity politics could be a meaningful term, if only we weren’t so careless with it”, July 12). He writes that such issues as an antisemitism envoy, an Islamophobia envoy and the Muslim Vote movement are not about a need for recognition on the basis of difference but about the violence in the Middle East. It’s the other way around. Yes, we proudly boast that we’re one of the world’s most successful multicultural countries, but the spike in bigotry that we are experiencing is not about some overseas conflict but rather about an intolerance of difference that has been laid bare by an inability to articulate those differences with civility and respect. In an ideal world, there would be no need for either an antisemitism or an Islamophobia envoy. Vic Alhadeff, Kirribilli

Neither of the communities that will receive special envoys is oppressed in Australia, any more than the Russians or Ukrainians are oppressed though they will not attract an envoy. Both populations experience the horror of war in the Middle East and Europe. In the local response I see a difference between empathy and compassion. Compassion is an intellectual response in policy and reasoned action that can make a difference. Empathy is seductive, but invites divisive identities, based on imported issues. We need to understand the concept of the envoy better. Hopefully, the role is to advocate for cohesion in Australia.Anne Eagar, Epping

Burning ambition

I strongly support your correspondents who call for more action on climate change for the sake of younger and future generations (Letters, July 12). However, that will require a great deal of effort. The current crop of politicians must be persuaded to phase out as quickly as possible support of the fossil fuel industry by allowing more extraction of natural gas and mining of coal, and to cease support for the aged and infirm coal-fired power industry. Douglas Mackenzie, Deakin (ACT)

Magnate attraction

It’s not often I erupt into a belly laugh over my cereal but this morning Cathy Wilcox offered just that. “Magnate and Child” (after Giotto) offers so much. It is worthy of a hanging. I’m sure Gina would agree. Janice Creenaune, Austinmer

Last writes

It is very rare but, if I remember, correctly the legendary Ted Matulevicius once wrote a letter to the editor declaring it his final missive (Letters, July 12). He couldn’t quite help himself, however, and he did punch out a few more bons mots before his death in 2004. Brendan Jones, Annandale

Letter writers never retire. When I start pushing up daisies I will have stopped pushing send. Denis Goodwin, Dee Why

Great unknown

I’m currently looking at the two pieces of art I purchased at the Incognito Art Show last year (“With the Incognito Art Show, it’s who you don’t know”, July 12). It’s a great initiative and a lot of fun. It made me, the buyer, really think about what I’m drawn to, irrespective of who the artist is. And there’s great variety – I purchased a nude painting and a collage of migratory birds.
Lisa Clarke, Watsons Bay

Postscript

If I ever discover that I’m driving behind one of our esteemed letter writers, I’ll make sure to keep at least two car lengths behind. Gathering by this week’s mailbag, tailgating can send them into a towering rage. After many complaints about tailgating; in truth a highly dangerous driving practice, the mail turned to the vexed topic of roundabouts. Brian Jones pointed out that if you’re already on the roundabout, the car which hasn’t entered must give way to you. “This rule variation causes many problems and should feature clearly and strongly in the mooted public education program.” I just give way to anyone in a larger car, which is more or less everybody.

The ongoing issue of President Biden’s mental capacity has also been much discussed. Robert Baker wrote that when the late Chester Porter QC retired from his busy legal practice, he said privately that it was “better to leave the stage while they’re still clapping.”

The next day, his daughter Josie McSkimming wrote in, confirming the truth of this story. “It is also true that my late mother, Jean, advised Chester to retire as she could see his exhaustion when he kept falling asleep at family functions. He listened and retired gracefully and promptly. Without any implication that women are responsible for men’s behaviour, Maybe Jill Biden also has a part to play.”

My favourite story of the week has been the Brisbane arrest of Russian-born Australian army private Kira Korolev, who was charged with spying for Russia, along with her husband Igor. Did anyone else watch The Americans, a TV series about a family of Russian spies living quietly in the Washington suburbs? Netflix, this one writes itself.

Margot Saville, deputy letters editor