July 10, 2026 — 8:00pmRuler of the rules.Cathy WilcoxTo submit a letter to The Age, email letters@theage.com.au. Please include your home address and telephone number. No attachments, please include your letter in the body of the email. See here for our rules and tips on getting your letter published.Alison Pennington (″⁣Privatisation: the hidden driver of our inflation scourge″⁣, 10/7) is spot on. The measure of a civilised society is whether it provides fair access to education, energy, housing, transport and health services for its lower and middle-income citizens. Leaving these life-building services in private hands leads to higher prices, as costs are passed on to consumers to protect profits. Australia needs to wake up to the fact that the liberalisation of the economy since the 1980s has helped create the price inflation we now find so stubborn to contain. Public ownership and control of the energy market should be first cab off the rank in reclaiming equity in Australia.Mark Cloney, Macedon‘Kafkaesque’ bureaucracies must goAlison Pennington points to the fact that selling off government-owned providers of public goods such as energy and essential utilities such as water supply has created monopolies that set their own prices in a competition-free environment. This is fuelling inflation and is causing significant financial hardship for many, and it undermines social cohesion.In my view, there is another aspect to this to consider and that is that in moving to private provision of services we still haven’t solved the problem of having to deal with ″⁣Kafkaesque″⁣ bureaucracies. Kafkaesque describes a situation that is absurdly complicated, confusing, oppressive, or nightmarish – especially because of impersonal bureaucracy, endless rules, and a lack of clear explanations. Today’s private bureaucracies exhibit all of these traits. If we’re going back to bureaucratic provision of public good and services, we need a new model of public service – one where people can easily understand what is required, who is responsible, how decisions are made, and how long things should take. We’ll need rights to escalate and review, and we’ll need these rights enshrined in law.Rodger Gibbins, IvanhoeBeam of light in other countriesAlison Pennington is not alone in stating what many of us have known for many years: privatisation of essential services has been a disaster. Fortunately, there are signs that some politicians in the US and England are addressing the issue and are talking about returning essential services to public hands. Zohran Mamdami is the best known for this stance in the US. Last week, associates of the soon-to-be-installed British PM, Andy Burnham, published a paper that outlines why privatisation has not worked and the damage that has been done to the social fabric and cost of living. It then advocates a return to greater direct government involvement in providing essential services and describes how this can be done. If Burnham, who for the past 10 years has been the mayor of Manchester, believes in this and moves the Labour government towards these ideas, we are heading for interesting times. We may just be seeing the intellectual framework the left needs to challenge the likes of Donald Trump, Nigel Farage, and Pauline Hanson.Graeme Henchel, Yarra GlenTHE FORUMTrain of thoughtImagine living in regional Victoria with a reliable train network. Imagine waking up knowing you will get to and from work or appointments on time. Imagine a single week without a track fault, a train fault, track congestion, a boom gate issue, an animal strike, an ″⁣incident″⁣, a freight train breakdown. Imagine peak-hour services that deliver a six-carriage capacity rather than three. Imagine a phone free of daily text alerts warning of ″⁣changes to your service″⁣, ″⁣major disruption″⁣ or ″⁣will not run″⁣. Imagine.Lisa McGlinchey, GeelongTranquillity spottedOn a visit to Melbourne I saw Pam the Bird atop the Bolte Bridge and marvelled at the audacity and bravado. Then a little later I saw her again in a less risky location beside the Ring Road and smiled. In a world of utter chaos Pam brought me two – guilty? – moments of tranquillity.David Johnston, HealesvilleOther birdsThe Pam the Birds around Melbourne serve to remind me that some people love birds, even if shooting waterbirds for kicks is still legal in Victoria.My hope is that the Allan government will come to the same view, and ban it.Debbie Lustig, ElsternwickCrash of viewsI am tired of hearing the false binary of “it’s not art, it’s vandalism” or vice versa, as if both things cannot be true at the same time. The artistic merit of graffiti, great though it may be, does not justify the self-appointed author imposing his or her arbitrary artistic choices on public property, or on private property without the consent of the owner.Samuel McMahon, ParkvilleNot a good fightIt is reassuring for some that ″⁣Trump is fighting the good fight″⁣ as a letter writer states (10/7) but I do not agree. As Donald Trump started the war on the basis of regime change, and having the nuclear issue resolved, has anything really changed since it began? One might say the Iranians are now in a stronger position since the war began, but in the process lives have been lost, oil supplies have been disrupted, causing hardship for many countries. The conflict has spread to other countries including Lebanon and the Gulf states. Trump has misjudged Iran’s strength to withstand the US.As much as the Iranian government is a terrible government, the good fight has not been won and, in the process, the West has lost so much goodwill as a result of a poor strategy.Bruce MacKenzie, South KingsvillePoor road designThe lament about potholes on Victorian roads is barking up the wrong tree.If, after major rain, potholes appear where the roads seemed in decent shape before, this is not a maintenance issue, since there is no way the maintenance crews can detect and fix all those many potholes immediately after rain. The problem is the suitability and quality of road construction in the first place. Design standards need to be upgraded and strictly enforced. Do it right, do it once.Ralph Böhmer, St Kilda WestDangerous driveIt would be funny were it not so serious, watching the cars dodge and weave, slip and slide, avoiding the potholes on the Cape Paterson road. At one point, to avoid damaging my car, I have to veer almost across the centre line, coming very close to oncoming traffic. The situation is now very dangerous.Frank Flynn, Cape PatersonPasta jokeTwo points about potholes. First, they are not confined to Victorian roads – there are plenty in South Australia as I discovered last week on a road trip to the Adelaide hills. Second, they are not confined to the roads between country towns – there are plenty in the towns themselves. One street in my home town Mildura has more holes than the colander I use to strain my pasta.Lindsay Zoch, MilduraUranium doubtsThe Australian government proclaims its agreement to supply uranium to India is to support its nuclear energy program, and says the nuclear fuel will only be used for peaceful purposes. This ignores two undeniable conditions. India has not signed the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty and has not made its nuclear activity easily available for international surveillance. Australian uranium could free up Indian uranium stocks for nuclear weapons.Could the Australian government, when making announcements about all international trade, please not take us for idiots and assume we will only focus on the positive aspects of their negotiations and not the many worrying hazards.Howard Tankey, Box Hill NorthPerverse logicThere something perverse about Australia signing a deal with India to sell it uranium so it can generate a base-load of electricity, when Australia itself does not think it makes sense to produce our own base-load electricity from a nuclear source.John Murray, Hawthorn EastTaylor-made grievanceOpposition Leader Angus Taylor appears to have used the bulk of his speech to the Sydney Institute to engage in the very kind of grievance politics that fuel support for One Nation (″⁣Taylor lashes out at One Nation″⁣, 10/7). Both One Nation or Labor come in for a shellacking. One Nation can’t be taken seriously because of its ″⁣grab bag of poorly defined, contradictory and constantly changing positions″⁣. For its part, Labor is guilty of having ″⁣initiated a radical restructuring of Australian society″⁣ by expanding the public sector at the expense of free enterprise. One wonders how the Coalition can be taken seriously when it has put so little effort into developing a suite of coherent and persuasive policies. Equally, one must ask how radically the Coalition would restructure Australian society by decimating the services that underpin our national health and wellbeing.The overriding and increasingly urgent issue that the Coalition must address is global warming. Labor is far from adopting the more robust measures suggested by the Greens, teals and independents, but at least it acknowledges the challenge and has taken tentative steps to address it. It just needs to do a lot more.Tom Knowles, ParkvilleSave the treesAs a child I lived in a south-eastern suburb. The block on which our two-bedroom family home was built included a generous chook pen, fruit trees, a large vegetable garden, a sleep-out and a substantial front garden of flowering plants. And lots of space for children to play.The entire street was laid out similarly. Visiting today the blocks are covered fence to fence with houses – a pattern repeated across much of Melbourne. Where is there room for the trees so desperately needed to absorb the greenhouse gases heating our planet, and to counter the heat island effect by shading footpaths and homes?Our governments have allowed this to happen, to the cost of all of us. Promises to increase tree planting mean nothing until such building density is disallowed.Jan Lacey, North MelbourneMagical nightConsider having a night free of all devices. No computer, no streaming, no car. Instead jump on a train and head to the Royal Botanic Gardens to view LIGHTSCAPE, the winter light show that illuminates the gardens. It’s sheer magic and the perfect antidote for winter blues, cost of living worries and unpredictable house prices. It is a mesmerising spectacle that marries nature with art and truly fires the imagination.Everyone should see it.Marisa Di Giacomo, BeaumarisMasters of warYour correspondent (Letters, 10/7) draws attention to some instances when the US has become involved in unwinnable wars. The meta villains here are the armament manufacturing companies. In order to make a profit, they need to have weapons tested and war is the most efficient way of doing that.Rod Watson, East BrightonAND ANOTHER THINGAntisemitismAntisemitism envoy Jillian Segal need not worry that the ABC might tarnish Israel. Benjamin Netanyahu can do that perfectly well on his own.Charles Shepherd, BrightonAntisemitism envoy Jillian Segal accuses the ABC of constantly painting Israel in ″⁣a negative light″⁣. Is it possible to paint alleged war crimes in a ″⁣positive light″⁣?Reg Murray, Glen IrisGraffitiThe question as to if the uninvited scribble on walls around town is graffiti or street art is already answered. Is it allowed on the outer walls of the NGV?Gerry Lonergan, ReservoirWhile we’re on Pam the Bird, did they ever catch Bill Posters?David Cayzer, Clifton HillWould those supporting the Pam the Bird vandal be just as happy if it was their property that was targeted?Ross Hudson, Mount MarthaFurthermoreTelstra is broke. Fix it.Myra Fisher, Brighton EastFor years and years we have had the mantra “but the private sector does it so much better”. Just ask those who are despairing for their relatives who cannot access Triple Zero.David Raymond, Doncaster EastIt’s so good finally to see some common sense about the long-term costs of the privatisation of public utilities. Thank you Alison Pennington (Comment, 10/7).Duncan Reid, FlemingtonNever underestimate just how disruptive a computer glitch can potentially be.Ian Macdonald, TraralgonIf Angus Taylor is serious (“Taylor lashes out at One Nation”, 10/7) then the Liberals must preference One Nation last.Les Aisen, ElsternwickFinallyIn the ’70s there was outrage at the appalling state of the Hume Highway with its potholes. I guess it’s safe to say everything old is new again.Kristen Hurley, SeaholmeFrom our partners