Respect lost

Ross (Gittins) in a timely piece says the floods expose a

national loss of loyalty and respect for leaders

In a nutshell, people aren't happy with Gillard's levy, and this shows we no longer get behind our political leaders. Of course Australia used to be quite a different place.

I'm glad Ross doesn't overcomplicate the argument by looking at more than one current leader or any past leaders!

Where's Leunig?

We haven't seen Michael Leunig for ages! I shudder to think – has he been killed by the Zionists?

Cartoons can't always be funny

When there's a serious point to make, I think it's fair enough to say humour has to take a back seat:

Abbott latest

Good to see four letters about Tony Abbott, who next to the flag and cattle grazing, is the big issue on every Australian's mind.

Takes guts to say it

Richard (John) very ascerbically points out a parallel we're normally too frightened to suggest:

IRAN ... had elections that conveyed some sense of fairness. The Iranian election was in fact very closely contested. Like the 2000 American presidential election, perhaps?

I can just see it now!

Stuart (Hall) is a great guy and a true visionary.

He says he can't draw, so can't show us a picture of a new Australian flag he has in mind, but he has a cracker of a suggestion:

Red at the bottom, blue at the top, in between three wavy bands of dot-painting-style colour; from bottom up green, gold, black and white mixed, with a Southern Cross in the hoist position. The red is the land, the blue the sky or the sea; the wavy lines are the coast or the skyline or the rainbow serpent, as a representative of all the creator spirits we honour. The green and gold is the bush in spring, the black and white the people. Putting the Southern Cross in the hoist position means we honour our democracy above all. The colours incorporate the red, black and yellow of the Aboriginal flag, the blue, white, green and black of the Torres Strait Islander flag, the red, white and blue of Britain, the green of Ireland, the red and gold of China and enough other combinations to represent many migrant communities.

Of course Stuart points out

This all said, the flag also has to work as a graphic design.

Serious problem that needs fixing

It was great to see four letters today on the urgent need to change the flag.

As Brendan (Jones) reminds us, The Age's online poll last week shows 63 per cent of Australians are in favour of change. He argues forcefully that

A flag that so clearly divides the nation is failing in its primary purpose.

Australia Day, which triggered the debate, might have been a week ago, but Age readers sure aren't going to let this issue be swept under the carpet.

Shamefully, I don't think I've heard anyone else talk about or write about the flag since about 1998.

Congratulations Age

A very informative letters page today, dealing comprehensively with the problems of climate change, the negative impact of the grand prix, the need for new taxes, and Tony Abbott's hypocrisy. It was very pleasing to see not a single reactionary viewpoint slip through.

Abbott causes incandescent anger and health problems

As two letter writers point out today:

I AM incandescent with anger as I hear Tony Abbott say about a levy, ''Australians have suffered enough''.

HAS anyone else had a peaceful holiday until Tony Abbott returned to our TV screens? Extend your holidays, Tony, and help to lower the nation's blood pressure.

Spelling updates

At The Age online today:

1) Three escape with minor injuires as driver dies

2) The worst fears of the nation's leading bricks-and-mortar retailers have been realised after aBay pinpointed Australia as one of its fastest-growing regions.

3) 5.±..Qñ22008‚|¡2009€p2007R«Y2010r›¨2011

New national crisis

Hurry! Click over to the National Times. Ross Gittins has posted a video called 'We should take more annual leave'.

Flood crisis over

I was very reassured to see only one letter today about the floods. Clearly the crisis is over.

And it was good to see five letters about cattle grazing, the topic on the mind of all Australians.

Will this push Berlusconi over the edge?

Silvio Berlusconi will sure get a shock when he opens his Age this morning to find an editorial calling on him to resign!

Climate action now, intellectual niceties later

Jean (Jordan) is probably the bravest person I know.

She admits

I don't claim to have any scientific expertise, particularly in the specialised field of climate science, so I'll leave it to those more qualified than me, whose opinions I respect, to fill in the details.

before giving a very impassioned argument for doing whatever it takes to stop climate change. She points out, even if we're wrong, that

nothing will be lost other than a few years of economic growth.

In other words, if we waited for people with expertise before we did anything, imagine the world we might leave for our children, and our children's children.

Bring back Whitlamite economics

In a letter News Ltd wouldn't dare print, my mate Brian (McKinlay) today lauds a Whitlam initiative for a national insurance corporation.

I think many readers would agree: The Age should invite Gough Whitlam to contribute a regular column on economics.

Most Victorians think cattle grazing most important issue in the world

Seven letters today about cattle grazing. At last this issue is getting the coverage it deserves.

Six letters - or 85.71% of Victorians - are, of course, against.

That's up from 80% several days ago! Opposition to cattle grazing is sweeping the nation.

A modest editorial

A very important question in Tuesday's editorial: Why has it taken until now to flag insurance reforms?

Don't be modest guys! You should highlight how strongly you've run on the issue for the last eight years, after it was raised in a COAG report in 2002 and pursued by Federal Governments with the Insurance Council of Australia ever since.

I almost got tired of the number of times you called for flood insurance reform, but now in hindsight I see how right you were.

As you point out:

It is regrettable, even reprehensible, that these shortfalls in the insurance industry have come to public attention only after the floods in Queensland.

I blame the other news organisations.

Simon cracks me up

I love that story my mate Simon (Bates) tells about the dumb Texan. You know, the one who says England's full of 'baby killers' and how England's going to be overrun by the 'Moslem bad guys'. It's so straight from myopic American central casting, it's hilarious! It's almost hard to believe. But you see, knowing Simon, he just wouldn't make something like that up!

About time we talked about obesity

At last, an expose of how fast food companies are ruthless in their pursuit of profit and will use advertising to that end.

Jill (Stark) wrote it. It blew me away. Apparently KFC's now associated with a breast cancer foundation. KFC's hidden agenda is to convince people that fried chicken is low-fat, due to the fact that we should fund cancer research. Or something like that. I couldn't quite follow it either, but sometimes speaking out about a vital issue is more important than fussing about trying to get an argument 'just so'.

80% of Australians oppose cattle grazing

I was glad to have my hunch confirmed (by three out of four letters from Age readers, plus the Age editorial) that 80% of Australians oppose cattle grazing in Victorian parkland.

My mate Michael (Webster) in a very thought-provoking letter says it's all a bit like the Japanese and their "scientific whaling". Yes, Michael, but I'd take it one step further and remind people of Dr Mengele and the Nazi death camps. Only someone inhuman could possibly forget that dark chapter in human history.

Climate change both did and didn't cause the floods so we need a tax

I was really blown away by the article by my mate Ian Drowning in a hothouse. (That's Ian Lowe of course.) I haven't had a chance to read it all yet, but I can just picture the inimitable Ian: "Obviously we can't say one event is caused by climate change, but the floods are an example of what we can expect in the future, as there'll be lots of extreme weather events, so we need a carbon tax, and we'll need to compensate lower-income households". But more powerfully put, I'm sure.

If you ask me, Ian, I sincerely believe we need serious, long-term solutions. Oh, you say that, almost word for word! Who would have thought?

It's time to talk of climate change

My mate Ellen (Sandell) has really had enough - it's about time The Age had an article about climate change!

Here it is.

I mean - what kind of world are we going to leave for the next generation? That really woke me up, to be frank.

Extremism is bad

My mate Steve (Harris) in Extremism's explosive effects remind us to take all things in moderation (14/1) reminds us that because extremism has explosive effects, we should take all things in moderation.

Timely reminder! Thanks Steve!

(Oh Steve asked me to pass this on: "Where it kind of seems like I'm suggesting Sarah Palin might be to blame for extremism - just forget I said that, OK? I didn't mean to say that! Just forget it's there. OK? I said might but of course I meant almost certainly isn't! I will play no part in some lazy, cliched attack on Sarah Palin!")