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Letters to the Editor

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Rare show of empathy

It seems that human kindness, empathy, respect, tolerance and compassion are only deemed important to a minority of the population.

Ill at ease on the eve Trump's presidency

SMH Letters

Approaching Donald Trump's inauguration, one thing is clear ("Stuck in the mud with spies, lies and cries foul", January 12). At no time in modern history has a new American president started his term in office under such a dark cloud.

Postscript

SMH Letters

A sandblast of scorn came through the Letters inbox this week as readers reacted to yet more evidence that politicians are out of step with community expectations on travel entitlements.

Malcolm Turnbull must step up

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Mr Turnbull should stop boasting about trivial successes, and start addressing the issues that vitally affect us all. 

Totalitarian tactics over debt

SMH Letters

No one objects to governments legitimately recovering debt but sooling Centrelink onto society's most vulnerable in the callous, automated manner smacks of the totalitarian state.

Centrelink echoes past threats

SMH Letters

Peter Martin suggests that we follow the journalists' adage "it's a stuff-up, not a conspiracy" to explain the Centrelink debt debacle ("Centrelink's litany of inhuman errors", January 5). While this adage is usually reliable, I have to wonder whether it applies in this case.

Must be time to do a Pat Cash

SMH Letters

It can't be much longer before we see a celebrating century-maker do a Pat Cash and clamber into the stands to hug friends and family ("High Noon: 100 before Lunch", January 4).

Hope flying in the face of reality

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It's heartening to note from your editorial ("The year when outsiders became insiders", December 31) that your glass is half full.

Best Letters of the Year 2016

SMH Letters

Nostalgia kicked in as I saw the Herald photo of the five-storey units built plumb against the little semi-detached cottage in William Street, Lewisham ("Tower springs up next to semi in Lewisham", October 25).

The Best of Bert Candy: 2016 Letter Writer of the Year

SMH Letters

Bert Candy's first Sydney Morning Herald letter to the editor appeared on June 1, 2013. He has been published regularly since then. Readers nominated him as Letter Writer of the Year 2016. Here is a selection of some of his 2016 contributions.

Ethical Kiwis unbowed by Israel's urgings

Illustration: Alan Moir

It is no surprise that New Zealand stood up to Israel's cowardly threats when New Zealand sponsored the United Nations resolution critical of Israel building further settlements in occupied Palestine

Apartments crowd out Palestinian hopes

SMH Letters

Peter Wertheim and Alex Ryvchin you have absolutely nothing to worry about – history has shown that successive Israeli governments, which say they want peace, will continue to build all over occupied land and give little heed to what the world may think.

Why doctors are quitting ahead of peak holiday period

SMH Letters

I am a doctor in training at a public hospital and worked a horrific roster last summer due to understaffing ("Doctor exodus hits summer holiday peak at hospitals", December 27). But I didn't blame my colleagues for needing time off from such a stressful and relentless job, and the patients we saw were well cared for, as always. The core issue is not doctors quitting, but why they quit.

Christmas message? Reach out to refugees

SMH Letters

Malcolm Turnbull has asked us to "reach out to those less fortunate" ("Peace and goodwill as Malcolm Turnbull and Bill Shorten release Christmas messages", December 25).