Toilet paper frenzy
The current rush to clear supermarket shelves of toilet paper is puzzling and laughable. Why are people acting like the proverbial lemmings - one jumps off the cliff and all the lemmings follow.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Toilet paper is only a comparatively new invention. It's not so long ago (btp-before toilet paper) that catalogues and magazines once read, were cut into squares and poked on to a nail in the old blackpan "dunny". Or if we happened to live in the corn country on the coast, corn cobs with the seed stripped off, were stacked in a box in the "lav"..excellent toilet paper. What about the Romans, Japanese, Islanders? What did they use? They certainly didn't have rolls of paper.
Bill Forrest, Tamworth
Festival benefits
Mr Harley, and others, reminds us annually of "the enormous economic benefits the country music festival brings to Tamworth".
At some point, we the ratepayers and underwriters of this event should perhaps see a balance sheet detailing the year by year cost to us of organising and running the event. Included should be the committee's expenses, wages and salaries, staff overtime for set up and dismantle barricades etc, rubbish removal and the like.
At no stage in the last 48 years has council engaged the community and asked, do you mind if we close the CBD for two weeks each year? Or, would it be ok with you that a small portion of the businesses in town benefit at the expense of others?
Mr Harley is a hard working, decent chap, the festival is interesting and does bring some benefits, I would however, prefer it was run at a fixed venue on the outskirts of town, similar to Agquip or the Gympie muster.
Above all, could we have some transparencies regarding cost/benefit rather than vague generalisations. If the festival brings benefit, please prove it with numbers, same as we have to in our businesses.
Stuart Kimball, Woolomin
Re: "Critical Thinking Required" Daniel Peckham NDL
I agree! In 1899 an American geologist warned us about rising CO2 in our atmosphere and the consequences of not lowering these emissions.
In the 1960s the American Chemical Society warned us about the dangers of persisting with coal-fired electricity generation, like acid rain, rising CO2 levels, and uncontrollable wildfires. Time Magazine article 'The Terror in the Skies' listed the devastating consequences of our persistence in this use of fossil fuel. These people were all scientists.
Stupid to blame only one politician when there have been thousands of them over the last century who have not listened to these warnings and sat on their backsides, inventing excuses for doing nothing. Germany has listened and is phasing out coal-fired power stations, though they only generate 30 per cent of their electricity needs. It generates at least 40 per cent via wind and solar, utilising Australian technology to do so. When will we ever learn?The answer, perhaps, is blowing in the wind.
Lindsay Bridge, Quirindi