The truth is somewhere in the sandpaper scandal

All that the Pat Cummins interview proved was that the bowlers in 2018 have efficiently ring-fenced themselves from any involvement in the ball tampering in South Africa by suggesting that the bowlers are the players who condition the ball (“‘Khawaja is 100 per cent wrong’: Pat Cummins responds to sandpaper revelations”, smh.com.au, November 13). Miraculously, a perfectly doctored ball is tossed to the bowler, and that bowler never questions how it reached that perfect state. Maybe they did not know specifically about the sandpaper, but this has not disproved Khawaja’s comments, only reinforced divisions in a team that was happy to hang Bancroft, Warner and Smith on their own, and not take responsibility as a team. Mark Berg, Caringbah South

I believe it is possible that no one is lying in the sandpaper saga. It is possible that all players were aware that ball tampering was taking place, but the bowlers were not aware of what method was to be used. One bowler has said he was unaware of sandpaper being taken onto the field. Another said he did not know that a foreign substance was taken onto the field. It would seem that neither has actually denied that they knew that ball tampering had occurred. Peter Tucker, East Lismore

As the late Queen once said, “some recollections may vary”. Stephen Manns, Woollahra

I lost respect for a well-known Australian Test cricketer on Friday, and it’s not Usman Khawaja. Bronwyn Scott, Lucaston (Tas)

It would be great to see more of the sort of honesty that Greg Chappell, Usman Khawaja and others have shown in discussing the ball-tampering incident. Too often we see behaviour that crosses the line but aren’t prepared to raise it. We need to see more honest admission of mistake and misbehaviour, not just in sport but in politics and business. Too often it’s about winning, not how you play the game. Eventually, it catches up with us – and the human race is the worst for it. Margaret Wright, Millers Point

Pardon the pun, but cheating in any sport is not “cricket”. Has any scientific investigation or measurement been made to examine the aerodynamic effect of smooth/rough areas on the flight of a cricket ball? Colin Hodgson, Mount Elliot

Walking beats energy drinks

Walking to school is certainly a great idea with many benefits (“Let your children do the walking”, November 13), but realistically: How many parents are able to give their children this option? For most families, the morning rush of getting children ready for school includes hastily dropping them off on the way to work. Due to the current popularity of selective and private schools, children old enough to walk by themselves are often schooled many miles from their homes – witnessed by the large number of private school buses seen picking up students in suburbs at the opposite end of Sydney to their schools and the numbers of schoolchildren in morning and afternoon trains and buses. One could also mention the exceedingly heavy, ill-supported and ill-fitted school backpacks that most of these children wear, making long-distance walking almost impossible and damaging to posture. Heather Johnson, West Pennant Hills

That people are now having to encourage children to walk makes me realise how different the world has become in these years I have been alive. I can remember walking through knee-deep snow to get to Lincoln elementary in a town called Enid Oklahoma, and then six weeks later walking to school through eucalyptus-scented bush to get to school in a town called Bullsbrook, Western Australia. Both beautiful, in contrasting ways. Walking to school saw us energised and with oxygenated blood. No need for energy drinks, and we had respect for teachers. May as well be another planet. Chris McKimm, Karangi

Accelerate e-bike laws

The NSW Police Commissioner claims that “e-bikes are not dissimilar to a push-bike when they’re ridden appropriately”. Yeah, just like Harley motorbikes are not dissimilar to Vespas when they’re ridden appropriately (Letters, November 13). Why not just enact the e-bike legislation right away, Premier Chris Minns, and save your top staff and ministers from making fools of themselves? And maybe save a few kids’ lives as well? Terry Lavis, Coogee

Christophobia in Oz

I note the letters deriding Scripture at Newtown High School (Letters, November 13). They miss the point. Any religion that is approved by the Department of Education may conduct scripture classes. That includes religions that are not Christian. If such classes are not conducted, that is due to those groups not providing them, not exclusion by the department. Religious illiteracy is so profound today that I would think parents who value education would be pleased for their children to broaden their knowledge base. Why do so many parents object to education in religious matters? Do they want their children to remain ignorant? Children are not forced to waste their time or just colour in if they do not attend. They may do their homework or study, as many students already do during free periods or teacher absences. And as for being forced into religion: such nonsense continues long after repeated statements that scripture classes are voluntary and, like many educational opportunities, are determined by parents. If a parent does not want their child in scripture classes, they do not attend. Most of the outrage appears to me to be an expression of what the EU has recently formally recognised as “Christianophobia”. David Griffin, Vincentia

Why not provide ethics classes in high schools to students not doing religious “lessons”? We already do that in primary schools through Primary Ethics. Dennis Fardy, Warriewood

Although not religious, I do believe religious education should be taught in all schools. But not as it is at present, where children attend a Christian denomination or other religion selected by parents and taught by a member of that denomination or faith – isn’t that preaching to the converted! Rather, throughout the school year each child should attend classes about each denomination or religion and so become familiar with the beliefs of their fellow students, which would also dispel many misconceptions within Australian society. Oddly, I understand that Catholic high schools do teach comparative religion! Helen Howes, Collaroy

Little pain for much gain

Your correspondent (Letters, November 13) claims that the Albanese government’s 5 per cent deposit scheme will put innocent home buyers at risk when house values decrease. Yes, some home buyers might be “under water” for a time. But the value of their home will inevitably rise. A paper loss only becomes real if they sell, and why would they? As for negative gearing, let investors find somewhere else to put their money. Ian Adair, Hunters Hill

Victim must come first

We live in a diabolical world when the justice system shields the mental health of a guilty perpetrator over the victim, simply because he is a NSW police officer (“System continues to ‘silence’ abuse victim’, November 13). A crucial part of healing is being able to speak openly and share the weight of what happened, yet that basic right has been stripped away. To silence a victim to protect a convicted officer is beyond absurd. It is proof of a fundamentally broken system. Daniela Catalano, Haberfield

Action, not promises, for hospitals

How many of the people responsible for these decisions have subsequently been promoted, moved to another department or retired without ever being required to explain what happened (“State’s hospital building program under fire in audit”, November 13)? When an auditor-general identifies failures of this magnitude, the response needs to extend well beyond another promise to improve processes. Lynne Strong, Jamberoo

Sore knee, sure!

I am sure a physiotherapist named David Kneeshaw (Letters, November 13) would be an expert on knee pain. Mark Nugent, Lugarno

Nuclear fallout from Huang affair

Waleed Aly explains why the shock resignation of Jensen Huang as head of Nvidia, which is the world’s leader in advanced microchips powering the AI revolution, cannot stem the fallout from Huang’s extramarital affair with a suspected Chinese spy (“Huang is the king who straddled an empire, only to allow his passions to lay siege to it”, November 13). This is because there are far more geopolitical ramifications to this spy story than what meets the eye. Next week, the heads of the world’s three largest nuclear powers, presidents Donald Trump, Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin, are scheduled to meet on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Shenzhen. Their greatest fear is that the race to incorporate AI in their nuclear missile launch systems could give one side a decisive strategic advantage over the others. But given Nvidia holds the key to the US maintaining its lead in AI, Huang’s resignation is sure to diminish Trump’s bargaining power to keep AI away from triggering a nuclear armageddon. Vincent Zankin, Rivett (ACT)

Quite remarkable to see Nvidia’s now-former CEO Jensen Huang – described as the “poster boy of the artificial intelligence boom” – fall for a very old-fashioned honey trap. A bit disconcerting to know that one of the world’s richest and most powerful business people could be so dumb. Cathryn Callaghan, Croydon

What can one add to Waleed Aly’s assessment? Love is blind, clouding logic, judgment and critical thinking? It’s also reckless and as Shakespeare opined: “Love is blind, and lovers cannot see the pretty follies that themselves commit.” He could have added pretty and costly! Frederick Jansohn, Rose Bay

AI horse has bolted

Have we acted so slowly that it’s now too late (“Pacific jewel is in the grip of an AI fever-dream – deranged but oh so real”, November 13)? The time to act was when humans were in control. As evidenced by the Hugging Face transcripts, that’s no longer the case. If the AI agents can just ignore the instructions they’ve been given, can they be controlled? When the Medicare hack occurred, and there was a considerable delay in reporting it, the humans in charge just received a slap on the wrist. If the OpenAI chief executive was significantly fined, or even jailed, then the tech bros might feel some responsibility for what they’ve created. Proper regulation should start with proper accountability. Just because we can do something doesn’t mean that we should. David Rush, Lawson

Swap slop for roses

If we really want to stop the spread of data centres across our suburban landscape then we, as a society, need to vastly reduce our use and production of data (“US defiance inspires group to ‘stop slop’ of data centres”, November 13). So let’s stop doom-scrolling, mindlessly watching TikTok, taking endless selfies, constantly messaging each other, streaming endless movies and all the other activities that require the existence of data centres. Instead of turning to our devices every time we feel the need, take a moment and “smell the roses” instead. Of course some centres are needed for a modern society to function, but I suspect that much of the data being processed and stored is indeed AI slop, the problem is that we are producing it. Peter Cooper-Southam, Frenchs Forest

PM too calm, too smooth

Shaun Carney says what I suspect many think about the deterioration of Albanese’s leadership (“Albanese needs to reinvent himself as action man”, November 12). Bruised after the Voice referendum loss, he appears to have taken his win over an unelectable Liberal Party under Dutton as a validation of this “keep calm” conservative “Labor” facade, which always acts in defence. With the rise of One Nation as leaders of the radical conservative attack, this approach by Albanese looks like he doesn’t really care about leading the nation. An inability to engage aggressively in politics, preferring government management, was the downfall of Starmer in Britain and will probably lead to the defeat of Albanese and Labor at the next election. Christopher Hill, Kensington

If anything, Albo needs to reinvent himself as a Labor man (Letters, November 13). One wonders what Whitlam would have done with such a majority. Renationalise the Commonwealth Bank and Qantas for a start, I imagine, and then maybe follow Norway’s example and nationalise the mining industry to fund the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund. Unfortunately, that would be too much like socialism for Albo’s blood. Albo never had my vote because he is one of the “smooth men”. Chifley and Curtin would be appalled. Ryszard Linkiewicz, Caringbah South

Fossil fuel hypocrisy

As far as I’m concerned, the argument that Australia is not contributing to climate change, by selling our fossil fuels overseas, would be like a drug dealer saying they’re not contributing to drug problems. The suppliers are the worst culprits (“Albanese defends Australia as climate leader”, November 13). Diane Prior, Northbridge

So, Albanese, and hence Australia, thinks that concentration on electrification while continuing to expand the coal industry is “playing a leading role” in climate action. Isn’t that like undertaking a rigorous exercise regime while still smoking 20 cigarettes a day? Greg Baker, Fitzroy Falls

When the prime minister gives an address on the international stage, we must feel proud. Unfortunately, that is not the case with the speech Anthony Albanese gave at COP31 in Turkey. He was not at all convincing with his naval-gazing delivery on what Australia is doing to combat the global climate change emergency. And failing to mention fossil fuels made his speech and his government’s commitment suspect. And to rope in Pacific island nations’ resilience in his speech merely exposed his hypocrisy. We need stuff from the PM and his mob in government on the issue of climate change that we can be proud of as a global citizen. Rajend Naidu, Glenfield

It’s the greed, stupid

A writer (Letters, November 13) asked why executives are paid bonuses on top of high salaries for simply doing their job. The answer is simple: greed. We will never solve financial imbalance until we stop these excesses. Individual shareholders need to be given back control of companies to reduce these excesses and stop the issue of shares to executives that simply reduce the value to other shareholders. Too often, shareholder blocks via nominees and other companies overrule votes by individual shareholders. Further, the vote on remuneration packages must change to be binding; not simply a recommendation. John O’Connell, Old Toongabbie

Qantas has outsourced work to overseas employees, who will not pay tax in Australia. At the same time, former Qantas employees may need government assistance. It is then only fair that Qantas hand back the billions of dollars it scored during COVID, rather than placing a financial burden on the government with its profit-hungry decision. Barry Welch, Bridgeman Downs (Qld)

Why does the tsunami of massive job losses so often come just before Christmas? It sometimes seems like premeditated sadism. Susan Anthony, Cammeray

Current affairs

Matt O’Sullivan’s article the Nancy-Bird Walton Airport metro dispute raises questions about the original decisions to build this railway as a one-off project (“Dispute threatens to stretch long wait for airport metro”, November 13). The article states that the government is about to consider final business cases for a southern and northern extension of the airport metro as well as heavy rail extensions. This will be really problematic as the new airport metro, as well as being wider, uses 25kV AC (alternating current), whereas the existing heavy rail and the Bankstown to Tallawong metro use 1500 V DC (direct current). Heads should roll for spending upwards of $12 billion on this orphan rail system rather than a fully integrated one. Lance Dover, Pretty Beach

Train surfing is not fun

I grew up in the inner west in the ’60s, when “inner west” meant really close to the city and very working class. No, there was not a lot for kids to do, but we made our own fun. We largely played in the back lanes, took ourselves to the pool, went to the movies in the holidays when £2 got you a movie ticket, lollies and lunch at the Woolies cafeteria, went to the beach at the weekends in summer when dad took us. Backyard? What backyard? Listened to records my best friend’s older siblings bought. Watched Dr Who and occasionally went to the park where the play equipment would give today’s OH&S people a heart attack. Never in our wildest dreams did we think up a sport called “train surfing” (“Teen ‘train surfer’ critical after fall”, November 13). It is such an innocuous name that makes it sound like the fun it isn’t. And now a young man lies critically injured in hospital. Will his friends learn? Genevieve Milton, Dulwich Hill

Vinnies for the win

I simply don’t understand the nostalgic fuss being made (“Please come back, David Jones. I’ll forgive you if you forgive me”, November 13). The best little department store in all of Sydney, in my humble opinion, is the Rozelle Vinnies – and they accept “Returns” too. Alicia Dawson, Balmain

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