FOR Ray Dinneen (Short Takes, 27/6); the "one rule for the council and another for the rest of us"is, I believe, a bit of a grey area. Much like the weather of late, and even more so in State of Origin 2 where there was one rule for the Blues and another one for the Maroons, hence the 32 point smackdown. I hope Game III has different rules.

THERE seems to be a lot of public angst about Mr Folau seeking public subscription for his legal costs. To be fair, the people who are contributing to this fund do so voluntarily. I seem to recall politicians and local councillors who used public funds for legal costs in cases that sometimes appear to be private suits. But were those funds donated freely, or were they just taken from the public purse whether the public agreed or not? I don't recall a surge of complaint, scrutiny or ongoing criticism about public funds being used for officials' legal costs.

IT was interesting to read John Church's opinion piece ('Why I will vote against the council's budget', Opinion 25/6) as John is our ward councillor. I believe he is a great representative for Newcastle and has battled the Labor majority within council to have a fairer deal for all ratepayers whilst being denigrated. It's puzzling to many people why we are not entitled to know the ongoing cost of rent for the ivory tower, Supercars and other project costs that were never made transparent. We believe the infrastructure backlog should have priority. We are forever grateful to have John Church in our corner and not in council out of any self interest.

POOR old Les (Short Takes, 26/6) and Beverley (Short Takes, 24/6) still hoping for a Labor victory. If they couldn't win this year with the Liberal Party in turmoil, don't hold your breath. With Albo now leader and Wong, Bowen and Keneally in the front bench, to quote the great Australian movie The Castle "tell 'em they're dreamin'."

I AM sure Israel Folau could comfortably convert to rugby league if a reasonable offer were forthcoming by the Knights. He would have a major influence on the game.

IS global warming caused by humans? Can humans consume the Earth's resources forever? Is it alright to destroy our forests to build houses? Does it matter if we destroy all our wildlife? Do we need watchdogs and whistleblowers such as the ABC? Does TV need more funeral advertisements?

TO Carl Stevenson (Letters, 26/6): you may find the second opinion you seek in a book written by Ian Plimer, Climate Change Delusion and the Great Electricity Rip-Off. By all means, check his credentials first.