Despite my great love (and knowledge) of sport, I'm perplexed at the insistence that it needs to take place in the midst of a global pandemic. Sport for most in this country is a harmless enough diversion from the daily drudgery of life, however it seems to me obscene that footballers are granted exemption from the current social distancing and self isolating practices in order to maintain at least some of their (and the administrators) disproportionately large incomes.

Shuffling players and staff from state to state in order to maintain whatever resembles the 2020 competition in all football codes is not only foolhardy, pointless and dangerous, the ultimate prize will be forever remembered as nothing more than a "novelty" premiership in the time of novel coronavirus.

Providing cheap content for free-to-air and pay TV companies is one thing, but I believe encouraging members of the public to attend their local agar-plate colosseum and stand in line is irresponsible at best. Despite all of this, I'll be the first to grab a blanket and join all of those making the trek to the Antarctic to watch the Parramatta Rams hopefully give it to Collingwood.

IN reply to Carl Stevenson's letter about the pioneers of our city's evolution (Letters, 20/7) I worked in the ten-inch mill at Newcastle BHP in the early 1960s. I worked for a few years with lots of Marios, Alfios, lots of Fabios and a terrific little Italian bloke Mario Cespi.

One fellow who was in charge of using a machine that straightened out steel angle bars didn't have a lot of English, so everybody was "my friend" to him.

Three brothers worked hard and eventually put a deposit on a home. The eldest brother Mario then had his wife come out to Australia. They had very smartly paid off the first house, so they then bought house number two for Mario and his bride. Youngest brother Enzo was next in line.

There were blokes I met in my early 20s whose attitude in regard to family has stayed with me for the next 50 years. I only met the very edge of the great migrant people who became Australians. They raised their family here and would by now be great grandparents. Thanks for letting me get to know you.

WHETHER or not people from Sydney hotspots came to Newcastle for testing or were already here is really beside the point. We had already proved we can empty a boatload of thousands of people quickly, yet with heaps of notice and planning we can't organise to test those people around southwest Sydney without them having to wait hours.

That is completely inadequate; as I'm sure the Coles and Woolies checkout planners would tell you. What is a reasonable wait for people we are encouraging to do the right thing? I reckon about 15 minutes, and would suggest even that's a strain.

If we have sufficient resources to support Victoria then we should have sufficient to satisfy the immediate needs around Sydney. Let's get serious shall we, while Victoria still figures whether masks do more harm than good. Thank god for the USA; they make us look good.

THE revelations on the rate of deaths in care facilities in Victoria are in my opinion just another confirmation of the neglect of proper care for aged residents like me and fellow aged that occupy the numerous facilities around the nation.

As a 91-year-old I am thankful I live in a community based care facility that has always put our care and welfare before any other consideration over the 17 years I have been in my unit. As a not-for-profit group I am sure that we are treated as the shareholder and our care as the dividend. From the reports I have read and the details revealed in the Royal Commission's interim report, this is not always the case.

The recent announcement by the federal government of funding for retraining of unemployed workers has provided the governments and operators of an opportunity to turn the workforce in care facilities into a more professional body that reflects the medical care that is needed in the homes. I believe public hospital managers use the care homes as dumping homes of very sick aged people who if they were younger would not be discharged. However the care home staff, in the main, have little or no nursing training nor is it mandated that the care home must have a nurse on staff.

The recent mass protests for the victims of black race abuse have raised the concerns of those of us who respect our First Nations people. However when we compare the number of these deaths to those of the aged we should be marching on parliament and charging those responsible for the funding neglect with the same charges sought for any police abuse. Last year some 16,000 aged people died while waiting for approved care along with 120,000 others waiting.

The pandemic has forced our governments to review all aspects of their funding models but the care industry has been given the best chance of reform. Surely even politicians have aged parents and relatives that at present are facing conditions that leave so many of us to die without care and in pain. Please, Mr Morrison, take this opportunity to show that you believe aged lives matter.

JOHN Ure (Letters, 21/7) misrepresents me, I suggest. I'm not defending all men, but arguing that all men are not the problem, and if very few men say that all men, even all white men, are the problem, then perhaps only some of us are a problem.

I don't need to "cherry-pick" examples of women behaving badly. One example suffices to show that men are not the only ones who behave badly.

About who starts wars, the real point is not that women start more wars, but that men don't start all of them. However, if Mr Ure wants to labour the point, when the authors whose work I referenced analysed 28 European queenly reigns from 1480 to 1913, they found a 27 per cent increase in wars when a queen was in power, as compared to the reign of a king.

Email letters@newcastleherald.com.au or send a text message to 0427 154 176 (include name, suburb). Letters should be fewer than 200 words and Short Takes fewer than 50 words. Correspondence may be edited and reproduced in any form.

A YEAR ago, in the midst of the impacts of one of the worst droughts on record, Barnaby Joyce stood up for the little guys impacted by drought and argued for Centrelink to raise the rates of welfare payments. He was met by his colleagues and media with a barrage of criticism. Today, with the unemployment rate in cities starting to match that which we experienced in rural areas during the drought, it is very interesting to see ongoing media and social discussion of what will happen when unemployment benefits are returned to normal.

JOHN Arnold, (Letters, 20/7), once again you are in my opinion letting your bias cloud your perception of the truth. No sane person denies the overwhelming evidence that the climate is changing. You are 100 per cent correct in saying that the debate is how humanity deals with climate change. The problem is the maniacal predictions made by cult heroes like Greta that we are all going to die by 2030, and by Tim Flannery that Sydney is going to run out of water. I believe Shellenberger is merely pointing out that this scare-mongering does nothing but send children to psychiatrists unnecessarily.

JOHN Arnold's reply to my recommendation for contributors to this paper to read Shellenberg's book Apocalypse Never (Letters, 20/7) completely misses the point. It appears Mr. Arnold does not want us to read alternative views to his own and that of climate activists. Alarmist comments on nuclear energy do little to inform us of its potential to be part of the mix in the future energy needs of our planet. If people think we can get by with just wind and solar power into the future, they are kidding themselves. Currently there are 450 nuclear power plants operating around the world and a further 54 under construction. Go figure.

LET me understand. Scott Morrison reluctantly gives $40 million to the Australian arts industry. Yet, following a suck-up meeting with Donald Trump he is willing to fork out $400 million of our taxes to foreign film-makers, principally, to fund Hollywood blockbuster films on Australian soil. I believe most of the $400 million will go overseas, and most of the personnel and equipment will be flown in. Very few Australians would be employed. What is wrong with encouraging Australian artists and film-makers? In the words of Barnaby Joyce, the Americans should bugger off and take their virus with them.

RAY Peck (Short Takes, 21/7) I believe it is the "climate change scare-mongering" that Greg Hunt (Short Takes, 17/7) is challenging, not the science. We are often told that "97 per cent of scientists believe in climate change" but never the percentage that believe the alarmist claims of Greta Thunberg and many regulars on this page.

DO you think the Civic Park plaques saying Captain Cook discovered Australia should be removed?