Republicans should repent and support Biden’s agenda

Goodbye Donald Trump. You were and remain an unmitigated liar and hypocrite (”We did what we came to do’: Trump bids farewell in video message”, smh.com.au, January 20). Your prayers for the new administration are hollow. You can’t even say the name of Joe Biden, the 46th President of the USA. You couldn’t congratulate him on winning the election. A new beginning is desperately needed by your country, but one where hopefully you have no place. Anne Finnane, Marlee

Illustration: Matt GoldingCredit:

Bruce Wolpe should have added to Biden’s agenda “building trust among those whose economic disadvantage led them to see Trump as the answer to their despair” (”Biden’s inauguration an FDR moment”, January 20). Giving favoured treatment to minority groups and ignoring these people on the basis they are beneficiaries of “white privilege” creates a huge dissonance in the face of long-term joblessness and the resultant hopelessness they and their families must feel. Doug Walker, Baulkham Hills

Any miniscule damage to the American alliance caused by the way Scott Morrison has handled his relationship with Trump pales to insignificance compared to the damage presently being inflicted by Anthony Albanese’s shouting from the rooftops that the alliance has been damaged (“Albanese lashes Morrison for failure to rebuke Trump“, January 20). Albanese must be bereft of ideas if he believes he needs to latch onto Trump’s downfall to attack Morrison. John Lewis, Port Macquarie

Let’s hope for the sake of not only America, but the rest of the world, that President Joe Biden fulfils that old saying: cometh the hour, cometh the man. Della Strathen, Bowral

Donald’s Trumped. Joe’s Biden his time no longer. God bless America. Kevin Fell, Cooks Hill

Australia’s bully-boy tactics were just not cricket

What a display of low and unproductive behaviour from the Australian cricket team (“Gift of the Gabba: Tourists’ perfect retort to SCG sledge”, January 20). Deliberately hurting lower order batsmen with barrages of dangerous short balls, sly scuffing of the batsman’s guard mark, grubby sledging designed to break the batsman’s concentration, scowls from the frustrated bowlers. What next? Tying the striker’s bootlaces together? At least the sandpaper stayed in the trousers this time. Do they truly believe that the fans support their win-at-all cost tactics? Contrast that mean-spirited effort to the sportsmanship and bravery of the severely depleted underdog team. What a totally well deserved victory for India. When can we have our own honourable team worthy of support? Dave Watts, Avalon

In the aftermath of Phillip Hughes’ death our national conscience was shaken to the core as we reflected deeply on what it meant to play in the spirit of the game. It would appear that time does not heal all wounds, as our current national XI continue struggle with the notion of what it means to play in the right spirit. It was almost unwatchable to see the manner in which our fast bowlers tried to bully the Indians with bodyline tactics. All the huffing and puffing and “tough guy” stares amounted to squat as India remained calm and clear thinking till the end. It was a truly epic victory for the tourists, but it was a resoundingly ugly loss for us as we lacked dignity and grace. Jonathan Hill, Old Erowal Bay

Coach Justin Langer defends his selection of the same players who had proved lacking in the Tests by ridiculously asking: “Who would you have left out?” (“Langer defends selections“, January 20). Apart from the answer to that question being clear from the previous two Tests, Langer has forgotten his policy of rotating bowlers, even those who had performed well, on the last Ashes tour. Langer needs to go. Chris Clancy, Cremorne

Congratulations to the Indian cricket team, a win with true grit and determination. The Australian team, on the other hand, appears to be not a very happy ship, egos and reputations have replaced players just enjoying the opportunity to represent their country. Cricket Australia needs to find a new team attitude. David Goldstein, Balgowlah

The Indian magnificence in Brisbane is a priceless lesson for every aspiring young sportsperson in Australia as an example of courage, determination and sporting spirit. Having breached Fortress Gabba with such skill and grace, this Indian team surely deserves the Keys to the City of Brisbane. Peter Thomas, Rose Bay

Premier’s COVID strategy has made NSW a pariah

Gladys Berejiklian’s frustration at border closures is easy to understand – she spent most of last year complaining about Queensland without any impact, and now she is having the same impact complaining about Victoria’s current closure (”Premier lights up over entry curbs”, January 20).
Most frustrating for someone so convinced that her way is not only the best way, but the only way of dealing with the pandemic. The fact that the Victorian economy is outperforming NSW’s must add to the frustration. Michael Chapman, East Albury

Our Premier continues to berate other states for their policies on containing COVID-19. She alone has adopted a policy of living with the virus while all other states have gone for elimination. Her policy has resulted in outbreaks dragging on for many weeks when a complete lockdown of infected areas would have resolved the situation much earlier. The policy adopted by the NSW government is similar to that adopted by Sweden, the UK and USA. We are relying on contact tracing to keep infections at bay. This policy has resulted in NSW residents being unable to travel to almost any other state. Rather than keeping the economy open this has been a disaster for NSW residents. Instead of being the gold standard state, we are now the pariah state. Jim Brokenshire, Bowral

I am confused by the state government’s ongoing concern as to the decreasing numbers of people being tested. My reading of the website is that the only people who should be coming forward for testing are those who are symptomatic, or those from designated hot spot areas. As the numbers of both of these groups are naturally decreasing, would we not expect test numbers to likewise fall? Ross MacPherson, Seaforth

Double protection

The smoke test is the wrong test (Letters, January 20). While it’s true that virus particles (also known as virions) are smaller than the holes in a mask, virions are wrapped in tiny water droplets which are thousands of times, even millions of times bigger than the virion. These aerosol particles are large enough to be caught in the threads of the mask – and unlike a chain fence, the threads in a mask are wider than the gaps. Studies have shown that masks capture between 75 per cent and 90 per cent of particles, which is enough to be the difference between catching and not catching coronavirus, but also a reminder of why it’s important that we all wear masks. When either party is masked, the risk of infection goes down. When both parties are masked, the risk of infection goes down much further. Ben Aveling, Alexandria

A better Australia

Both of the opinion pieces by Shelley Reys (”Forget the date, change the conversation’‘, January 20) and Susan Biggar (”Oz Day reminds us we’re home”, January 20) reflect on those integral features of our Australian heritage – deep Indigenous roots and the super imposition of a western culture above them by several centuries of immigration. As we approach our first COVID-disrupted Australia Day, these articles are another reminder that it is now time to not only rebuild our economy, but also to reconcile ourselves with all of our peoples, our land and seas that combine to give us the lifestyle that we so value as Australians. Micheal Traynor, Bellambi

At the moment we’re not very good at cricket, it’s been a long while since we ruled in tennis, we’re behind the Brazilians in surfing and our rugby is abysmal. I’m talking about the boys of course. Thank you ladies for keeping our international stars shining bright. Fortunately, we are world leaders along with our Kiwi cousins in fighting this cursed pandemic. We’ve done some hard yards and worked together. On Australia Day we can feel happy, proud and fortunate in this regard. Maybe one day we can stop the avoidance and obfuscating around the Uluru Statement from the Heart, fossil fuels and climate change. How good would Australia be then. Steve Fortey, Avoca Beach

Pay it back

If there was ever any doubt there is one law for the rich and another for the rest of us, that was dispelled by the article on Solomon Lew by the shadow assistant minister for Treasury, Andrew Leigh (”Billionaire must repay millions in JobKeeper”, January 20). Surely it must be a requirement that billionaire beneficiaries of government largesse in the unusual COVID-19 circumstances return that money when businesses improve. His businesses recovering sufficiently to hand $57 million to shareholders and $20 million to himself, surely Lew will return to Treasury the $40 million he received. After all, we’re all in this together. Kathleen Hollins, Northmead

Tourist trap

With the whole world now apparently dependent on tourism, it is time for some diversification (“No hope domestic spending can replace foreign tourists“, January 20) . Throwing billions more dollars to an industry that is at the whim of weather, climate, fires, floods and pandemics seems a bit pointless. And fashion – visiting whatever place is trendy at the time. Reducing our universal carbon footprint might just help the planet, too. Karen Joynes, Bermagui

Power failure

While pumped hydro is a good method for storing electricity and managing demand, the government’s desire to have One Big Flagship Project with Snowy 2.0, where even the name shows it is partly a marketing exercise, is disappointing (“Snowy 2.0 to cut ‘massive swathe’ through national park“, January 20).

University studies have identified scores of sites along the Great Dividing Range where smaller, less environmentally damaging projects using the same technology would be feasible. This would result in a more distributed and less vulnerable system, without wreaking havoc on our supposedly protected national park. Steve Bright, North Avoca

Feed the birds

Bless you for feeding the pigeons, Genevieve. My aunt also feeds the birds at the Grover Beach station in the west coast of the US. I have long wanted to be a second generation bird lady. May I join you? Cristina Corleto, Stanmore

Second time lucky

Whether a reader finishes a book depends on many factors, among them age, compulsion, content, style, genre (Letters, January 20). In the late 60s I couldn’t finish Albert Camus’ The Plague. Last year I gave it another go and could not put it down. Perhaps that says more of me than the book. Bob Hall, Wyoming

When daring to do Latin at school many years ago we were given a translation text book titled Cassivellaunus, Daedalus and Meleager. A previous student had written in the front of the book: “In case of fire throw this in.” They were wise words. Ken Pares, Forster

Lamenting an evening of tedium marking our English composition homework, the next day in class our teacher invited each of us in turn to read out the opening line of our essay. There followed 26 renditions of “One day …” Clive Harfield, Kaleen (ACT)

Bothersome buzzwords

Corporate jargon spreads faster than COVID-19. Self-satisfied disciples – “jargonauts” – robotically regurgitate imbecilic clichés. The latest idiotic idiom is “unpack”. On a TV program, Stan Grant and Tim Minchin “unpacked” everything including school, religion, rich kids, family, privilege, Perth and ”stuff”. Time to keep our unpacking to bags and buzzwords to ourselves. Harold Scruby, Neutral Bay

The digital view

Online comment from one of the stories that attracted the most reader feedback yesterday on smh.com.au
Thank you and good night, India
From Justin: ‘‘Best performance from a touring side that I have ever seen and there have been some great sides that have toured Australia in the last 40 years. This Indian team have overcome everything thrown at them and deserve all the praise they get.’’