• JULY 9

Being a crusty old curmudgeon, one tries to avoid laughing out loud in private, lest one forgets oneself and does so in public one day. However, Annabel Crabb's column on Christopher Pyne's apology ("An event of breathtaking enormity", July 2) had one guffawing on a number of occasions, not least at the suggestion that "it's probably time to start looting".

• July 8

This denial demeans us all. We must acknowledge the truth in an act of sorrow and regret.

• July 7

The war of words over North Korean missile tests has all the potential of a frightening miscalculation.

• July 6

We need to "Stand up for Royal" and ask that allocated funds to investigate this flawed expressway option are put into better integrated transport planning.

• July 5

The responsibility for, and control of, education is gradually being handed to statisticians and private companies.

• July 4

Letters: I was hoping Turnbull's ascent might usher in a new era of stability and achievement after years of chaos.

• July 03

Our outdated adversarial political system really is putting the accelerator on its demise with the news that our Tony is having another crack at it.

• July 2

I can't believe the City of Sydney has shut down the homeless people's makeshift shelter in Martin Place, on the grounds that it was a "public nuisance" and "causing inconvenience" ("Martin Place homeless community unseated", June 25). I work alongside the building every day and haven't been inconvenienced at all. I've stopped for a chat and been inspired by the care and support the people provide each other, whether it be washing-up duties, cooking, or having a yarn. Why can't we have a similar, permanent, dedicated shelter for homeless people in the city?

• July 1

The church, contrary to the belief of some in the media, is much bigger than Cardinal George Pell.

• LETTERS

The sooner the hard-liners stop the petulance, the better for all of us.

• June 29

Religious persons are still citizens with as equal a right to be heard on matters as anyone else.

• June 28

How disappointing, though not surprising to see Malcolm Turnbull once again display his lack of leadership.

• June 27

Sydney is well provided with restaurants but there is a severe shortage of social housing.

• June 26

Quality teaching is important but it is only part of the answer to falling standards.

• JUNE 25

Your columnist Imre Salusinszky's challenging essay attempting a deconstruction of the US President's "construction" prompted this disturbing image: "Trump must sleep with a hairnet" ("Fascinated by Trump's style over substance", June 18). Heaven forfend us if he should have to act in our defence without sufficient time to arrange his strands. Does he have a team of hairdressers at the ready?

• June 24

Decreasing the rigour behind exams cannot help develop our literacy skills.

• June 23

Pauline Hanson's suggestion of separating autistic kids in the classroom is wide of the mark.

• June 22

The headline of a $4.5 billion surplus sounds good but in reality it does not demonstrate NSW is being well run.

• Letters

NSW coffers are overflowing, but the way funding is raised is cannibalistic. Nothing to be proud of.

• June 20

Adrian Piccoli's record qualifies him as a non-partisan expert on the Gonski funding dispute.

• JUN19

Further to your spot-on editorial, the famous quote from investment guru Warren Buffet can now be amended to "if you are tied to coal, you are the problem" ("A compromise can still break through climate change policy fog", June 17-18). Translated into plain English, the federal government is the problem we have with any resolution beneficial to the country, exemplified by stupidity within the ranks and an intractable, regressive attitude to any opportunity to deliver progress. Is this really what we voted for?

• JUNE 18

Labor would be misguided in believing there were lessons to be learnt from the successful performance of its British counterpart ("Corbyn's success leaves ALP reflecting on way forward", June 11).

• June 17

Congratulations to the Herald editorial for exposing Peter Dutton's dissembling defence that the $90 million Manus Island refugee settlement saved us money as just another contemptible and puerile attempt at distraction from the truth ("Secrecy is the only winner in Manus Island settlement", June 16).

• June 16

The government had been advised, over and over, that the Manus Island detention centre was illegal and immoral, and chose to ignore that advice.

• June 15

The NSW government's $244-million splash on the Art Gallery of NSW will leave many in regional NSW infuriated.

• June 14

What Peter Dutton is proposing takes us one more step down the road to totalitarianism.

• June 13

Exposing the terrorists to a well planned re-education program is the obvious solution.

• JUN 12

Although there is no easy answer to spotting the outliers, there are problems with the current orthodoxy of "last-minute" intervention against those who are undergoing radicalisation.

Attempts to downplay the risks associated with alcohol is in no one's best interests.