• June 9

Gay politics has always been about a cultural pride and driving to be accepted for exactly what we are. Not what everyone else wishes we are. But suddenly, or not so suddenly, we seem to have become no longer proud of what we are and have taken to redefining ourselves as failed heterosexuals instead. We seem to have become ashamed of being homosexual.

• August 17

How disingenuous of your Foreign Minister Julie Bishop to blame the NZ Labour Party for her own government's failings.

• August 16

Why can't politicians ascertain the law and then obey it like the rest of us?

• August 15

The debacle that is giving western Sydney a $16.8 billion motorway with exorbitant tolls before any commitment to public transport must not be repeated on the north side.

• August 13

I'm looking forward to Annabel Crabbe's TV documentary series The House ("Annabel's our woman about the House", August 6). Who could possibly be better qualified to make a behind-the-scenes documentary about Parliament House than someone who spent her childhood school holidays behind the scenes at Adelaide Zoo?

• August 11

What, no plebiscite to see if the majority of Australians agree on going to war with North Korea?

• August 11

The Foreign Minister treads on very thin glass when she accuses North Korea of breaching international law.

• August 10

If my gay brothers and sisters are thinking the same way I am today, they will be planning to boycott any plebiscite or postal vote this useless government intends dumping on an increasingly frustrated electorate.

• 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 9

At 57 I still remember the way that gay men and women and their supporters were treated ("Libs reject free vote on same-sex marriage", August 8, 2017).

• 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 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: