Acknowledging the person

IT was great to see Rod Laver recognised for his achievements in tennis. Now there is a discussion about Margaret Court and her impressive record. Unfortunately some people don’t make the distinction between acknowledging the person versus acknowledging their beliefs. Just because I may not like your beliefs, doesn’t mean I don’t like you. The “progressive” Left seem quite prepared to deny Margaret Court her recognition precisely because they disagree with her beliefs.

It’s a lot like, if you don’t agree with us, we will shout you down. No dissent will be tolerated. That sounds like Marxism to me, and you know the record Marxism has. It’s failed wherever it’s been attempted. And for good reason. Marxist remedies are worse than the ills they diagnose.

Rod Force Sandy Bay

Smokers slugged

GOOD point but a few clarifications (“Bad news first,” Letters, November 8). My admiration to those who have never taken up a legal durry, and to those who have managed to kick this highly addictive habit. Surgeons must be aghast at having to operate on long-term smokers. Fags have about 163 chemicals (of which about 200 can kill ya). So there is little chance that any current smokers might in future be clogging up the nursing homes. Those addicted are already contributing to general revenue by being slugged extraordinary amounts of taxes on a user-pays principle. With luck, the government strategy of pricing fags out of the market will work for future generations.

Greg Lowe Moonah

How many emergencies

REGARDING the ambulance ramping at the Royal Hobart Hospital, has anyone done a study of how many responses are actually “Emergency” and not “Urgency” as per their request. Also, there are a number of 24-hour clinics available, eg Rosny, but are these being used appropriately or maybe more advertising of these afterhour clinics is needed. It’s easy to crucify our hospital system but is it all their fault or maybe because it is easier to call an ambulance because it’s a free service. We need to look at the beginning of the issue.

Tim Tayler Howrah

Add unisex toilets

BRITAIN has learnt that shared male/female toilets and hospital wards are very unpopular and are reverting to normal separations. What makes Hobart City Council think sharing male/female toilets with gender-diverse people will be popular? Yes, we certainly “all need somewhere to go” but this move will prove very unpopular among a population used to the privacy of sharing with their own sex. Perhaps the HCC should consider regulating unisex along with male/female and disabled facilities in all new buildings. Kingston Beach Hall has the right idea where there remain separate male and female toilets, along with a shared unisex/disabled/baby change facility.

Lorraine Voss Kingston

No comparison to Stalin

TO compare Australian democracy with the likes of Stalin in 1924 reflects poorly on Australians (Letters, November 8). There can be no comparison to the bloodshed, starvation, butchery, infanticide, etc. that fertilised the Russian soil from 1917 until all the gulags closed in the 1960s. Stalin was a killer bank robber who used the proceeds of such to fund his initial exploits. As the offspring of one who escaped such vile acts, I take offence to such a lighthearted comparison while we bask in the freedom of democracy through the ballot box.

Helen Samootin Rosetta

Bridgewater fresh lake

SOME time ago I wrote to this paper about the Bridgewater Bridge. Since then I have read many letters on the subject. My suggestion went further than most, to create a weir with a spillway. Eventually the area upstream would become a freshwater lake because the lighter saltwater would spill over the spillway. The causeway could be widened for at least four traffic lanes, rail, pedestrian and bike paths.

The existing bridge structure would be too expensive to maintain for no reasonable reason. There would be boat ramps each side and possibly a lock for larger boats in off peak times. Imagine a freshwater lake from Bridgewater to New Norfolk. Irrigation and fishing potential would be significant. Cyclists and walkers would not be subjected to the winds on a high bridge. The cost would be considerably less than the grandiose current proposal.

Denis Wiss Lindisfarne

Shifting money around

READING between the lines of John Lawrence’s Talking Point (“Our piece of the pie shrinks as income flows to financiers,” November 8), money does not actually grow on trees, nor is it made. It is simply taken from one group to advantage another. This can be said of all those socalled industries that are touted as being of benefit to the community because of monetary turnover. Our wealth (read welfare) is determined by other factors. Mainly under the umbrella of goods and services.

Leo Gregson Austins Ferry