Which cartoon characters from childhood still resonate with you?
Senator Jack S Phogbound from Al Capp’s Li’l Abner. Canberra, 50 years later, is full of emulators of Phogbound’s annual sojourns in the Riviera to “study local conditions”.
Fred Bendeich, Melbourne, Australia
• The Road Runner and Wile E Coyote were the greatest!
Pat Phillips, Adelaide, Western Australia
• Tintin and his Wire Fox terrier Milou [Snowy in the English translations], who has been reincarnated several times as one of my terriers.
Reiner Jaakson, Oakville, Ontario, Canada
• Popeye – for knowing that spinach was a “super-food” long before it became fashionable.
Jenny Dodd, Perth, South Australia
• Wilma and Fred Flintstone.
David Tucker, Halle, Germany
• It must be Bugs Bunny since I’m addicted to eating raw carrots!
Terence Rowell, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada
• Grumpy and Sleepy from the Seven Dwarfs.
Philip Stigger, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
• Growing up in 1950-60s Vancouver, I found Walt Kelly’s Pogo a delight, and my brother and I still often communicate in Okefenokee Swamp animal lingo. The genius of Kelly was to combine small child appeal with brilliant social and political satire. A charming and lovable opossum, Pogo’s most famous utterance was “We have met the enemy and he is us” concerning environmental degradation.
Suzanne Cook, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Just practise saying no
Best advice for a new US president?
Country before cronies and conceit.
Charlie Bamforth, Davis, California, US
• Look at an atlas. That will tell you where everyone else is.
Get a history book. That will tell you how to avoid repeating it.
Trevor Rigg, Edinburgh, UK
• Don’t believe everything you read in the papers.
Peter Rosier, Camperdown, NSW, Australia
• Grow up.
Noel Bird, Boreen Point, Queensland, Australia
• For leading politicians there is an important tool – it’s called diplomacy.
Maria Linke, Munich, Germany
• The best advice for a new president is to practise saying no.
Art Campbell, Ottawa, Canada
• Don’t use the word great.
Bruce Cohen, Worcester, Massachusetts, US
• Resign.
Jennifer Horat, Lengwil, Switzerland
• This time, any advice would seem futile. Unfortunately, what’s done is done.
Lawrie Bradly, Surrey Hills, Victoria, Australia
• Remember to not only say the right thing in the right place, but far more difficult still, to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment (attributed to Benjamin Franklin).
R De Braganza, Kilifi, Kenya
I need another pink pill
What is the difference between an optimist and a Pollyanna?
While an optimist has a positive outlook, one should positively look out for a Pollyanna.
Anthony Walter, Surrey, British Columbia, Canada
• An optimist thinks the glass is half full; a Pollyanna thinks it’s full to the brim.
John Black, Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada
• A Pollyanna is an optimist plus a little pink pill.
Mary Garnett, Kaslo, British Columbia, Canada
Any answers?
Why do we care?
David Isaacs, Sydney, Australia
What comedy film still makes you laugh?
Richard Orlando, Westmount, Quebec, Canada
Send answers to weekly.nandq@theguardian.com or Guardian Weekly, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU, UK
