The benefit to Australia would be the life and capacity of our landfill sites which will be extended by decades.

Phillip Tilley,

Tamworth

Wow! China is punishing, blackmailing, those who disagree with their policies. Same as the Americans and all the other powers as they have always done. Through sanctions, armed interventions, etc. Instead of all together we somehow must revert to the blame game.

The pharisee in that strange book called the Bible, "I am honest! I am right! But the bastard here is the culprit!". This has always been the case in all of our history. What grubby little hypocrites we must appear to the Chinese, our abuse of aboriginals, Pacific Islanders, and the Chinese is very well documented.

America recently has intervened militarily in Afghanistan and Iran, and has enacted numerous sanctions on those who disagree. They sort of won in Korea but lost in Vietnam.The Opium Wars. The British and Americans sent in troops overtime to control the rebellious Chinese. See also, Boxer Rebellion etc. The Chinese have neither forgotten nor forgiven. Most of us are stupid a lot of the time but some insist on proving it as our politicians surely do.

Lindsay Bridge, Quirindi

Whilst reading about our water troubles in the NDL recently, I was reminded of the British TV comedy series Yes Minister.

I recall as in the TV show the minister had not much idea of what was going on in his department. So too in NSW we have a water department run by bureaucrats who seem to have all power and say-so on what happens to our water and a fairly clueless minister.

Thank goodness for councillor Mark Rodda, who has the internal fortitude to stand up and ask questions of this department, unlike his fellow lily-liveried councillors who apparently didn't want to upset anyone. FGS!

Roll on local council elections when I hope we get some new blood like Mark Rodda and get rid of the old fuddy duddies, set in their ways and too long on council.

Pam Poole, Tamworth

Stan Heuston writes a curious thesis that democracy is a religion, not a political system (Religion and society, 15 April 2020, NDL).

It's an odd idea, and would contradict any basic definition of what a religion is. A religion is a system of worship based on faith and belief in a supernatural God or gods.

This hardly applies to democracy, as democracy is a political system of electing people to represent us and govern society. Democracy places trust in humans, not supernatural entities.

Stan Heuston claims the attainment of virtue is the goal of Christianity and other religions, but this isn't true. The goal of Christianity is to get saved by the virtue of Jesus, while the goal of Buddhism and Hinduism is liberation from the cycle of rebirth,

Striving for virtue is hardly limited to religion anyway, and doesn't make democracy a religion.

Democracy comes from Ancient Greece, and has nothing to do with Christianity, despite Stan Heuston's suggestions. Most Christian notions were theocracies for most of their history, not democracies.

The idea that humans can select their own leaders is actually foreign to most holy texts and religious traditions. If anything democracy undermines religion, because it places trust in humanity to govern itself, which is the exact opposite of what most religions teach.

Democracy is essentially humanistic, not theistic.

Abrahamic faiths hold to the view that humanity cannot know what is good for it, without revelation from a higher power. While democracy holds to the view that people can decide themselves what's good for them. This confidence in humanity reflects an Ancient Greek humanism, and implicit rejection of what the gods may think of how society is run.

Daniel Peckham, Tamworth

Hamberger Morning Post

By Von Olaf Wunder 6-4-20

Professor Klaus Puschel. Head of Hamburg Forensic Medicine in Hamburg on Covid19 autopsy findings: "So far, not a single person without previous illness has died of the virus in Hamburg all had cancer, chronic lung disease, were heavy smokers or heavily obese, or had diabetes of cardiovascular disease."

G J May, Forestdale

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