He stopped at the 2nd pump,  he was unsure the petrol he needed was at the top or first pump. 

He'd time to get out of the car and had the petrol pumping into our car when the car behind starting bipping.

The young woman driver then drove safely around our tiny car and parked in front of ours.  She then proceeded to give my old man a mouthful.

Now,  here's the thing. 

We are old,  certainly,  we are grey,  but we are not idiots or pushovers for young I'll mannered idiots.

Next time it may serve her well to remember that old people are valid human beings. 

Old people have bad days and good days.

When I got out of the car she looked somewhat taken aback.  It's likely she hadn't gotten a prostate cancer diagnosis that morning,  she's not a mindreader after all. 

And certainly her mind set does not include even the basic grasp of good manners. 

And Had she been a mindreader ... She would have turned more than a whiter shade of pale.

Mrs J. Wallace

Tamworth

Dear Mr. Joyce, I haven’t seen a reply to my open letter to you, published in the Northern Daily Leader, 29th. April, regarding your desire to assist the Adani Mine and three other mining companies who hold mining leases in the Galilee Basin, namely; Hancock Prospecting which has a joint venture with GVK an Indian company, Clive Palmer’s Waratah Coal, and MacMines Australia.

I can’t understand why you would favour these multi-national mining companies over existing clean, green, businesses, and the dollars Australia earns from tourism on the Great Barrier Reef and Queensland coast? 

You acknowledged on the television programme, Q&A, (May 1) that finally you believe Climate Change exists. When pressed by Tony Jones, you grudging said; ‘it’s caused by a whole range of events that have been going on forever of which part of that is no doubt caused by greenhouse gases’ but, ‘what I don’t like is every time there is a cyclone, there is a thunderstorm, or something else, everyone says bingo, that was caused by turning on your lights’.

Barnaby, we all know the weather; rain, hail and shine, has been happening forever, what you are having trouble comprehending is that global warming, caused by the increasing of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere, is making our weather more extreme!

That is the real problem, and giving Adani and the other mines in the Galilee the go-ahead, will make it even more extreme!

On Q&A you put up the proposition that you believe anyone who puts up an argument for reducing greenhouse gases ‘get on a bandwagon for their own benefit’.

I am affronted by this statement, and I am sure most other climate activists are.

No-one finds it easy to fight the ignorance and propaganda that crosses over party lines on this issue.

You, Malcolm Turnbull and Annastacia Palaszczuk have government resources behind you, so whose benefit are you three getting on a bandwagon for in this issue; the miners, yourselves – it certainly isn’t those who will be hurt from increased extreme weather events.

If it is for the royalties in the present and be damned what happens in the future; that is reprehensible. 

Professor Brian Schmidt, winner of the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics, and Vice-Chancellor of the ANU, was also a panellist on the same Q&A programme, and pointed out to you and the audience; ‘as climate change becomes bigger and bigger, more and more things are going to relate to it, and people have the false belief that it is only going to be 2 degrees’, that is; ‘only 2 degrees if we start changing quickly, it could be 5, 6, 7 degrees’.

Barnaby, are you arrogant or ignorant enough not to listen to someone who is far more qualified than you? What sort of person would wish extreme weather events to get worse?

That is why I get on a bandwagon about climate change.

Noretta Terry 

Tamworth

Thank you so much for your obituary and editorial in the NDL regarding Alfred Powell.

The obituary by Ella Smith was an excellent story containing much of his history and his advice on how families should live in this day and age.  

The editorial, where you define a person by character, not age, was also a good read. 

Judith and her husband were prominent writers with letters to the editor in past years and mentioned her dad on many occasions. 

They were wonderful people who continually brought many issues to Tamworth through the Northern Daily Leader and they did excellent charity work also.

I have known these people for many years.

Warren Woodley OAM

Tamworth

The vandals who planned and carried out the destruction in the parks must have the book thrown at them and be forced to pay for the damage out of their own pockets, in addition to all and any other penalties imposed by the court.

TRC should lobby for full restitution of the cost of repairs. This must be the main objective of the legal process, not only for this case but for all vandal damage in Tamworth.

Ian Collett

Tamworth