Letters to the Editor – August 2018

By Dan Hutton on July 23, 2018 in

PEARL ON POINT
I laughed my head off when I read yet another insightful spray from Pearl (Getting to the Bottom of It, The Beast, July 2017). I could swear she was writing about one of my neighbours. Her accuracy is astonishing. Clearly I’m not the only Randwick resident suffering from this particular social group. Well done Pearl!
John, Randwick

GET WELL SOON
Hi James and Dan – Just wanted to let you know the July edition is really great!
Dan, congrats on such a great article about your surgery and the upcoming chemo. I can imagine it’s difficult to write about.Wishing you all the best with the chemo and hope you and your family stay strong through this. It’s a horrible time but the positive is that you re- ally see what’s important in life.
I lost my dad to stage four cancer in 2016. Unfortunately he didn’t have the chemo straight after the surgery and it spread. He was a fighter and every case is different. Sounds like you’ve got a great sup- port network around you and I wish you all the strength getting through this. I’m sure many people will resonate with your articles as I have.
Kristy, Coogee

THE PEOPLE’S PRIVATE SCHOOLS
Dear Editor – As a reader of your paper, I fail to understand the continuing attachment of most elite private schools to the Marxist- Leninist theory of equal wages for all, when it applies to the ASEA rating of their school community, for government funding purposes. In this, their attachment to the gospels of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Mao seem as strong as to those of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
Surely these longstanding and strongly defended socialist principles would be better expressed by the sharing of their accumulated wealth, and by opening their lavish grounds and facilities for use by local students?
I see much contradiction in the dialectic of Australia’s elite socialist private schools, such as why so many of these ostensibly religious institutions manage to graduate so few religious vocations and so many dedicated atheists each year, and why these ‘child centred’ learning institutions have such a record in ‘teaching’ serial child molestation, compared with the record of our public schools.
Perhaps, Comrades, we need a Royal/Comintern Commission to straighten out this education sector’s ideological contradictions?
Garry, Earlwood

AN ACCIDENT WAITING TO HAPPEN
My family and I have moved to Coogee recently from Melbourne and unfortunately we feel very unsafe as pedestrians in the Coogee/ Randwick area.
For one thing, I find it shocking that there are no school guards helping kids cross roads on the way to Coogee Public School. We have lived in many places in Australia and abroad, and everywhere this is standard (at least close to primary schools), just not here.
I understand that this is a major expense, but the safety of our children is rather important, especially in light of the bad general crossing options. While many people who live here in this area mainly rely on public transport and walking, pedestrians seem to count a lot less than the motorised citizens.
Roundabouts in the area may seem a good idea to regulate traffic, however, approaching cars often speed up when there are no other cars in the roundabout and pedestrians are entirely ignored. This is even more pronounced when cars come down a hill (for example, roundabouts at the intersection of Mount Street and Coogee Bay Road, and Arden Street and Dolphin Street). I honestly fear for the life of my children crossing streets here, even though our way to school is mainly through small side streets.
Given that Coogee Beach is a major attraction both for tourists and Sydneysiders alike, I think the situation for pedestrian visitors (and residents) could greatly benefit from improvements. Zebra crossings around all of the roundabouts, for example, would make a world of difference!
Felix, Coogee

TRIPADVISOR RIVAL
James, Dan, Nat – Thank you for the entertaining and unreliable guide to TripAdvisor (Unreliable Guide, The Beast, June 2017). I completely agree. TripAdvisor is the bane of the travel industry, allowing charlatan ‘reviewers’ to run riot with the threat of bad reviews in exchange for favours and discounts. I agree so much that I am launching a rival travel review site.
Inspired by the world class beaches of the Eastern Suburbs (where I regularly take my three for the sea), ‘Discoverati’ will provide an alternative travel review platform that focuses on to what extent hotels, restaurants and activity providers are ecologically and socially responsible in conducting their business.
I hope I can avoid falling in to the TripAdvisor trap by encouraging users to focus on what companies are doing right, rather than what they are doing wrong.
We’re still in development, but if any readers would like to join me I’d love to hear from them. Visit discoverati.com to find out more.
John, Bronte