IF there is one thing that has made me cry this past week, it hasn't been the death of a 96-year-old monarch.
I have seen thousands united in grief waiting to file past a flag-covered coffin.
Many are so choked with emotion they cannot speak, others so touched they stop and cross themselves.
People in the UK and beyond felt the Queen represented them diligently and selflessly in a most personal way.
Hardly anyone thinks of the hundreds of staff (formerly known as servants) who dedicated themselves to ensuring all she had to do was perform her official duties.
What did make me weep was reading of the death of the Catholic brother and paedophile, Francis Cable (Brother Romuald) and all the children he cruelly violated ("Evil brother dead but pain lives on", Newcastle Herald 17/9).
The Queen was supported in every conceivable way, but it has been an uphill battle for abuse victims and their families.
Help and justice have not been served to them on a silver platter.
And what of those who felt they could no longer live? How many think about their shortened lives? Who mourns all the lost childhoods?
Julie Robinson, Cardiff
Embrace the new 'Newy'
I LOVE it when letter writers hanker for Newcastle of old.
A note to them; the rail is gone, never to return. BHP is gone. The Royal Newcastle hospital is gone. The department stores have moved to the 'burbs.
In its place is renewal. The dead heart of Newcastle which was dead before the last train docked at Newcastle station has been given a transplant; a lifeline. And slowly but surely it's kicking back into life.
The boxes some letter writers refer to contain people. Something that 'Newy the New' needed desperately.
The awful looking train line has gone. The new light rail which actually carries people looks fabulous.
There are businesses closing but lots of new ones are opening. We are no longer Newcastle of old. The old town is gone.
We are now Newy, the city of the future.
We may live in Lake Macquarie but still for most of us here we see ourselves as Novocastrians or should I say Newycastrians
Andrew Whitbread-Brown, Cardiff Heights
Respect must go both ways
I THOUGHT the article written by Jenna Price was extremely distasteful to say the least, ('Which voices get to be heard?', Opinion 17/9).
Ms Price commented the actions of the NRL in sanctioning a NRLW player for her derogatory comments on the passing of the Queen "revealed our utterly borked values".
If people like Ms Price want to close the gap, say sorry again, want a voice to parliament, etc, then I believe they should show mutual respect to the everyday Australian and their culture if they themselves want respect and reconciliation.
Continually referring to historical events of our past, for which the current day Australian had no involvement, is divisive commentary and will in my opinion not lead to the resolution of the issues facing Indigenous people and their integration with contemporary Australian society.
John Cooper, Charlestown
No sense in making enemies
BRADLEY Perrett calls Russia's invasion of Ukraine the worst war of aggression since WWII. ('The enemy of China's enemies', Herald, 17/9).
Perhaps he missed that spot of bother in Vietnam or more recently the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq.
He goes on to posit that China is trying to make enemies in Europe by cosying up to Russia.
Apparently China wants Russia's resources without worrying about Usonian interference with their shipping lanes.
He ignores that China can ship goods to Europe twice as fast through Russia by rail than by potentially threatened seas. A case of one friend helping to do business with others.
Hopefully Putin's stupidity will have run its course soon and not drag on for 16 or 20 years.
It seems that China's enemies have already made themselves so. Let us not be in too big a hurry to join them.
Peter Ronne, Woodberry
Stars aligned for casino
BILL Slicer, (Short Takes, 16/9), for years I've found it amazing that Star casino has been allowed to continue trading.
When the lockout laws were introduced across most of Sydney, Star, Australia's second biggest casino, was conveniently located outside the lockout law zones. Also, for some inexplicable reason, indoor smoking laws were never enforced at the venue, and, even while the lockout laws were still in place for almost everywhere else in Sydney, alcohol was always served within the venue right throughout the night with absolutely no restrictions. Plus, after Sydney's lockout laws were introduced in 2014, violent assaults at Star surged by 30 per cent by 2015.
Supposedly, former NSW Premier Mike Baird implemented the laws in Sydney to stop night time violence, but the cynic in me would suggest that the plan was to funnel all the patrons locked out from other venues into the casino (where they were free to smoke, drink and gamble as much as they wanted to). Because if it was all about preventing violence, then why was Star allowed to get away with so much, especially when studies have shown an ironclad link between problem gambling and family violence?
Adz Carter, Newcastle
A signature move on climate
IT'S funny how those who forensically seek to discredit the credentials of the signatories (now over 1300) of the World Climate Declaration never query the credentials of child activist Greta Thunberg and palaeontologist, Tim Flannery to comment on climate change.
I can only conclude that, for these critics, it's not really about credentials, just which side of the climate debate someone is on.
The declaration is upfront about listing signatories as scientists and professionals, rather than climatologists or climate scientists, and the multi-discipline nature of climate science lends itself to expertise from various fields of science.
Well over 200 professors have signed the declaration.
John Ure ('Declaration's been discredited', Letters, 17/9) says the declaration contains a number of claims that have already been discredited by those who are actually qualified to speak about climate change, but doesn't specify which claims (there are six main ones) or name any qualified people who have supposedly discredited them.
It's a pity Mr Ure focuses on the declaration's signatories rather than its arguments because, as the declaration's website says, "It is not the number of experts but the quality of arguments that counts".
Peter Dolan, Lambton
SHORT TAKES
IN my living room proudly displayed are two thank you special cards. A few years ago I decided to send a Christmas card to Our Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second. Imagine my delight when I received a thank you message acknowledging my Christmas card. I decided to send Her Majesty a birthday card and again the same thing happened. As a 92-year-old I'm lucky to have these treasured memories.
Daphne Hughes, Kahibah
FABULOUS game, NRLW Knights ('Dragon slayers', Newcastle Herald 19/9); great talent shown despite the Sydney-centric commentary even disagreeing with the dungeon's decision. Great win.
Bill Slicer, Tighes Hill
GO girls! I hope that Adam O'Brien has made the Knights men's team sit and watch the women play their games so they can see how it should be done. Go girls, keep it up.
Phillip Grainger, Lemon Tree Passage
IN my opinion Hunter New England Health director Karen Kelly doesn't seem to want to hear about the problems with the new Maitland Hospital ('It's an emergency', Newcastle Herald 16/9). All she can say is "we have made improvements with additional treatment spaces, coverage to support other local hospitals, improve patient discharge processes" and the like. Who cares about that? You have to get into the joint first. What about getting people into the hospital sooner?
Graeme Bennett, Warners Bay
KIM Harding, what Caitlin Moran posted about the Queen hasn't got anything to do with either side of politics. What she wrote was despicable.
Steve Feenan, Edgeworth
HAVING followed the climate change debate on this letters to the editor page, I find it more sad than disappointing that some are simply unable to admit that they and their information are wrong.
Colin Fordham, Lambton
I CAN'T wait to see outlaw motorcycle gangs riding into town on their electric scooters, Mr Bowen.
Steve Barnett, Fingal Bay
COULD someone please inform Ita that she no longer runs the Women's Weekly, but now runs the ABC? Wall to wall coverage of the Royal soap opera has some of us reaching for a bucket. To a woman who fulfilled her duty in exemplary fashion - well done, RIP. But can we now relegate the rest of it to Madame Tussauds where it belongs and focus on some real lives please?
Rick Frost, Mallabula
I DO hope that all of those pro-Republicans will continue to work on Thursday as the rest of us set aside the day to mourn the death of our Queen.
