• August 8

Are we becoming a nation of whiners? That is what the Fairfax-Ipsos focus group surveys reveal.

• August 7

Hullo Donald, this is Malcolm, … you know …  the Prime Minister of Australia ... ("The leaked Turnbull admission to President Trump", August 5-6).

• August 6

It is indeed a brave announcement by Bill Shorten that the ALP will remove the excessive use of family trusts by the wealthy to avoid paying tax ("ALP lines up $17.2b hit on trusts loophole", July 30). Even if the present policy is legal, that does not make it moral or acceptable. Fairness, however, has never been a major concern for those who profit by leaving others, not so unscrupulous, to pay for essential services and social wellbeing. As a large number of our politicians have benefited by manipulating these trusts, I expect  Shorten will have a major fight on his hands.

• June 9

Selling off the Commonwealth Bank has turned out to be not only a financial mess, but a major security risk.

• June 14

Greg Whitby's analysis into the value of the HSC is forthright and insightful. (" 'HSC had its day': leading educator calls for overhaul", August 4). It is paramount that questions are raised and systems restructured to challenge changing needs and opportunities for our students. The International Baccalaureate is offered as an alternative, but caution is needed. Early this decade Britain, too, realised a need for change and rushed into an alternative English Baccalaureate to appease all concerned interest groups (students seemingly last in interest). The strength of the International version is in its breadth and depth of subject with strong international recognition. Students become engaged and look beyond to the future. The English Baccalaureate falters into rules, regulations and more testing.  The necessity to overhaul the current system is imperative to ensure the NSW system remains respected and internationally well recognised. But rushed change or change to merely appease certain powerful interest groups wreaks havoc on an already overworked and stressed educational community. The change must be considered, directed at children's (and the wider community's) needs for the future and ensuring that staff are trained and in numbers (language and maths, for example) to accommodate.  Mr Whitby has proposed an adequate solution, with funding, additional consultation and adequate teacher training it could happen. But let us not travel the British route and split the educational communities into rival baccalaureates. Our children are too important.  Janice Creenaune Austinmer  

• August 4

If some Liberal MPs do cross the floor and marriage equality is passed, I predict that Malcolm Turnbull will be quite pleased.

• August 3

When NAPLAN results go down, the fault apparently lies with the schools, while the government is quick to claim credit for improvements.

• August 2

The Powerhouse Museum is not a box of toys to be sent to a place of greater political opportunity.

• AUGUST 1

Scott Morrison is the ultimate "do nothing because the roof will fall in'' politician.

• July 31

The most surprising aspect of the judging panel of the prestigious Archibald Prize is that only two of the 11 members are qualified and recognised artists.

• JULY 30

The current obsession with genderlessness is OTT, especially given that some differences in need exist with items of clothing at puberty.

• July 29

I suspect that Gladys Berejiklian's council amalgamation backflip has more to do with polling for local government elections in the Liberal heartland than compassion for voters.

• July 28

Oh what a tangled web. Now we have the possibility of another casualty of section 44 (i) of the constitution.

• July 27

The Murray-Darling river system is being held hostage by illegal users of water in this country.

• July 26

I continue to be outraged at the absolute waste of time that Special Religious Education takes in our public school education system.

• July 25

When both major parties agree on something, it is hard not to be cynical.

• July 24

Who exactly is looking out for the students? Who exactly is worried about their HSC stress?

• JULY 23

Seduced into purchasing a bottle of wine because of the display of a shiny gold medal – only to discover later that it is for the best label design – confirms what one sip of the plonk reveals: you have chosen style over substance.

• July 22

Not only is Basil Fawlty organising Britain's exit from Europe, he's also in charge of transport planning in NSW

• June 14

Your article about worsening storms on the east coast ("Shifting storms under climate change put sheltered areas at risk'', July 21),  had me digging through some old geography textbooks. In 1982, Lynn Scott wrote a wonderful junior geography textbook called People and Places (Jacaranda Press). In a chapter about coastal living she quoted the late, great Midget Farrelly. His words were prophetic:

• July 21

As the old Chinese proverb goes: 'When business is bad, paint the counter'. Look busy.

• July 20

The citizenship blunders by the Greens have sent our foreign-born MPs into a frenzy.

• July 19

What an horrific prospect that Peter Dutton could be appointed head of a new national security super-department.

• July 18

The real choice should be between a big Australia and a sustainable Australia.

• JULY 17

Excellent, but belated, decision by the major supermarket chains to ban single-use plastic bags at their stores. Next should come the ban of balloons.

• JULY 16

As Imre Salusinszky notes ("The friends the Coalition could do without", July 9) "the tabloid radio voices" Alan Jones and Ray Hadley, have demonstrated that they can force elected governments to bend to their will. For this reason, Malcolm Turnbull cannot afford to ignore the relentless hectoring of these "friends". In contrast I recall that during my time as a Meals on Wheels volunteer I was alerted to the more positive aspects of their broadcasting. A solitary lady, whose failing eyesight prevented her from reading or watching TV, described Alan Jones as "the most stimulating company". Her life, she said, would be "so dull without him". In some circles, at least, Jones and Hadley are more popular and influential than any politician.

• July 15

It says something about the entrenched ideology of some groups that funding an $18 billion motorway, with its attendant problems, such as finding parking and wider feeder roads for those polluting cars being channelled into Sydney, is preferable to spending a lesser amount on straightening the railway and speeding up trains (Cabinet documents reveal "exceptional" benefit to rail upgrade, July 14).

• July 14

Michael Pascoe is quite right: Sydney's rezoning game is little more than a frenzy for developers.

• JULY 13

What happened to the idea of decentralising arts and culture facilities that was the erstwhile justification of the fire sale of the Powerhouse site to developers?