TO THE POINT

The reasons for the tension between us and Australians are quite simple – Australians feel economically and militarily inferior to the Americans and culturally inferior to Europe. To compensate, they are often demeaning to Kiwis. Patience is required – they will grow out of it in time. DAVID NICHOLSON, Karori When one hears about someone texting on a phone while driving, one can be pretty sure that the smartphone is the smartest thing in the car. ALLAN KIRK, Masterton The item on the opening of Wellington Airport (October 18) perpetuates an often-repeated myth. I was at the southern end of the runway, about 100 metres from where the Avro Vulcan touched down. The landing needed as much runway distance as it could get, but the undercarriage hit the soft dirt immediately before the sealed surface. This broke the landing gear, but did not damage the fuel tanks. The fine mist which drifted across the crowd was not aviation fuel, but hydraulic fluid from the broken landing gear. GORDON GANDY, Taita Does anyone remember National’s ‘‘line by line’’ audit of the spending of taxpayers’ money? If the party were to conduct the same review now, what would it make of $11 million given to a Saudi businessman? $2000 a day to the chairwoman of the CYF review? A whole fleet of brand new ministerial cars? $26m spent on a flag referendum that no-one seems to want? It seems the rules have changed over seven years. SIMON DEPREE, Miramar I note Wattie’s is advertising on TV its baked beans and spaghetti with three flags proclaiming ‘‘high protein’’, ‘‘high fibre’’, and ‘‘low fat’’. In the interest of accuracy, shouldn’t it also include a flag with ‘‘high sugar’’? JOHN WESTWOOD, Martinborough