Don't be fooled, our hospitals do a very good job for us

The ambos were fast and fabulous. The Emergency Department, Short Stay Unit and Coronary Care Unit doctors and nurses were extraordinarily caring, highly professional, very thorough and patiently informative.

ED is a hyperactive place with many difficult situations faced by the staff. I witnessed a level of patience and care that was extraordinary - even when the patients themselves were confused and/or aggressive. I found that every staff member was concerned about my welfare and respectful to everyone around them.

It was amazing to experience such outstanding care. Huge thanks go to everyone of the NCH team who looked after me.

Lastly, I should mention the good Samaritans who witnessed my accident and looked after me until the ambos arrived. Cherisse and Jarrod (the wrestler) you are the epitome of good neighbours. Thank you so much for your concern and help.

The case for more than two senators for the ACT is weak (Editorial, July 16). Australia as a whole has only one senator for each 354,826 people.

The ACT already has one senator for each 235,116 people.

While not criticising journalists and reviewers for what they write or the way they write it, it's somewhat irritating when the articles for houses, apartments, restaurants, cafes and fashion are all about what most people would call high-end luxuries.

In these days of economic austerity, when many are unable to afford even contemplating buying a new house or eating at a fancy restaurant or spending money on anything other than essentials, it would be good to read about what "ordinary" people would consider reasonable.

Too many writers seem to think that spending $2.5 million on a house or $250 on a meal or a pair of shoes is normal. But for most people this is completely out of the question. Is it their intention to create envy?

Readers of this column may recall my incomprehension about why technology that has successfully delivered digital drivers' licenses to nearly 4 million drivers across the border in NSW since 2019, similar technology in use in South Australia since 2017, and on trial in Queensland, can't be used in the ACT (Letters, May 27).

The expenditure of $70 million of ACT ratepayers' dollars, apparently for an HR project, but which delivered nothing, might provide a clue to why digital licenses are not an option in the ACT.

After hearing of the Trump shooting, President Biden is reported as saying "the idea that there is violence in America like this is just unheard of".

Yet we read on a regular basis of mass shootings in the US, killing nearly 600 in 2023. Innocent people killed by disaffected persons who want to go out with guns blazing. Is Biden aware of these mass shootings?

In 2023 about 50,000 died from gun-related causes in the US. Is condemning this carnage as good as Biden can do?

Are you fearful of the voting power of the National Rifle Association, Joe? Or are you a leader?

It is only by stringent gun controls and gun buybacks that the carnage can be contained. In 1996 John Howard took a courageous stance and guns are not part of our psyche. Wake up, President Biden. Wake up, America.

I am moved by sadness to note that July 29 will be the 10th anniversary of the murder of NSW environment and heritage officer Glen Turner near Moree by a rural land developer who decided that the law did not apply to him and his family business.

In an affront to all Australians, including our many ethical land managers, Glen was shot three times over a half-hour or so.

Every year, across the world, dozens of families lose loved ones whose job is to try to protect our world's natural heritage for the enjoyment of their descendants. We and our children owe them and Glen a debt of gratitude.

I'm impressed that in 2024 we are still seeing letters from grumpy old men complaining about "kids today" and their taste in music. This time in respect of Taylor Swift (Tony Falla, July 13, and Bill Deane, July 3).

Popular musicians have been criticised ever since Euterpe, the muse of music, first played a cavern in Mount Olympus. Performers who make it big are not obliged to sing like Dame Nellie Melba. God knows what Messrs Falla and Deane thought of the Sex Pistols.

Not to worry. Your nearest op shop will have early gramophone recordings of Nana Mouskouri. Careful, though, they may not work at 78 rpm.

Love him or loathe him, Donald Trump displayed remarkable fortitude and tenacity in the moments after the attempted assassination on his life in Pennsylvania.

When showing a sign of strength to the assembled crowd with a raised fist of defiance while being smothered by Secret Service agents, the former president didn't know whether there was only one or perhaps multiple shooters, or if the danger had passed. His mind must have been furiously trying to absorb everything occurring in the moment.

When the medium is the message, the photos of a bloodied Trump defiant under the stars and stripes will probably speak volumes to any indifferent or undecided voters.

When Jack Waterford refers to "manifest injustices practised by Israel since its inception" (July 13), I assume that he means Israel defending itself, offering the Palestinians a state multiple times, and withdrawing from Gaza in 2005. Israel has suffered manifest injustices but they don't seem to concern him.

It is just not true that Jewish organisations include criticism of Israel when quantifying anti-Semitism. They are guided by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition. That explicitly states that criticising Israel is not anti-Semitic.

That does not mean criticising Israel with more fervour because it behaves worse, as Waterford claims. It means subjecting Israel to double standards in similar situations.

An example is calling Israel's campaign in Gaza an indiscriminate massacre while ignoring its efforts to avoid casualties by calling on civilians to evacuate.

You lit your wood-burning stove or chimney and carried on with your life, oblivious of the effects this has on your neighbours.

Yes, the powers to be have decreed that it's legal for you to do this until 2045.

I'm one of your long-suffering neighbours. I'd like to carry on with my life, too.

This includes gardening; every day. But your wood smoke forces me inside.

I hope you relax and enjoy life. I wish I could, too.

The dismay created by the prospect of another Trump presidency should not obscure the reality that the economic policies of both parties allowed his 2016 victory.

The US was in a downward spiral well before that election, with many in the rust bucket states becoming so disenchanted with the existing politics they rejected all the mainstream Republican candidates and nominated Trump as their candidate.

He won the election in 2016 because the battleground states of Florida, Ohio, North Carolina and Pennsylvania wanted what he promised.

Immigration and trade were certainly paramount issues as they were in other nations.

Trump's campaign centered on those two issues with promises to build a border wall, deport 11 million unauthorised immigrants and tear up free trade agreements to restore manufacturing jobs.

Republican nominees John McCain and Mitt Romney had embraced high immigration policies and free trade, and were rejected for these reasons.

It was an understandable approach because the North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement cost the US a loss of 700,000 jobs, created a trade deficit with Mexico and the economic dislocation in Mexico increased the the flow of undocumented workers into the United States.

The really frightening part of this unfolding disaster is not just Trump's ascendency but the failure of politicians in almost all nations, including Australia, to recognise the importance of these issues.

Yes, like many others I am worried about President Biden's age. But it doesn't scare me nearly as much as JD Vance's youth. He could be a fixture in US politics for decades (and, possibly, a two-term president). Be afraid, very afraid. Dystopia, here we come.

Why is JD Vance a "controversial senator"? Apart from switching bandwagons when he found himself on the wrong one, what has he done as a senator apart from toeing the party line? Surely "celebrity" or "bestselling author" would be more accurate.

Re "Abbott calls for Putin apology on anniversary" (July 18). You had your chance to "shirtfront" Vlad Putin, when you were our PM, Mr Abbott. No prize for seconds or the "weak" either.

The ABS has released the March 2024 building data and it's all grim. I wonder who, in their right mind, will vote for Albo in the next election. It's been bad news after bad news since the day he took over.

I'm not sure what the visual impacts of the proposed solar farm near Wallaroo will be. But I do know the sight of the Brindabellas burning during the summer of 2019 to 2020 wasn't pretty.

Where's The Canberra Times report on the Canberra contingent in the men's and women's NSW-ACT AFL team on their way to play Tasmania? I must have missed it.

Albo, Allan and Burke have only one course of action. Go to confession and then resign. Saying you don't know is not acceptable for one who holds high office. To say one "is not briefed" is the moral equivalent of Nixon's "I cannot recall".

President Biden is expected to make an announcement about his future soon. History will remember him as a true patriot and as fondly remembered as JFK when he said: "Don't ask what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country."

Call me old-fashioned but as a rallying cry "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie - wee, wee, wee" seems to lack a certain "je ne sais quoi".

The killing or attempted killing of a fellow human being can never be condoned. Whatever your opinion of Trump, the assassination attempt is in this category. But what cannot also be condoned is his frenzied, elevation to a messianic, divine being.

With two-thirds of Democrats wanting Joe Biden to step aside, the writing is on the wall for the president. For the Democrats to have a snowflake's chance in hell of being re-elected he must step aside.