Federal flaws

THE scare campaign on gaming machines conducted by big business, mostly Federal Group and their cohorts, must be seen for what it is. It was Federal that turned its back on the West Coast and left it high and dry when it did not honour/fulfil its contract in supporting the West Coast Wilderness Railway and left it to taxpayers to fund. It then sold its tourist accommodation in Strahan. It built the Saffire resort on the East Coast for high-flyers to enjoy and forgot the poker machine punt-

Humanities and science

THE Talking Point column by Pete Hay was very thought provoking ( Mercury, February 20). Maybe he omitted several important points just because he ran out of room. The issue is zero-sum, but it has more than two players.

The really influential people are educated in neither the humanities nor STEM. I don’t mean just politicians, and chief executives, but lobbyists and snake

Concrete alternative

SOME months ago, I suggested that instead of spending hundreds of millions on light rail we could use the rail corridor for buses. I suggested buses could be modified in the fashion of the railway maintenance vehicles with retractable hydraulic wheels. This would allow buses to use the corridor, dismount the rails at appropriate places and then continue their suburban run. This would remove the necessity for travellers to change their transport method. This suggestion got zero response. Thinking again: What if we just concreted the rail corridor, leaving the tracks in place, and simply ran dozens of articulated buses along the corridor this avoiding the congestion.