I am glad I did and I'm as mad as hell about it, too

Karen Jackson Gympie (Qld) Geoff Ford's denunciation of Stephen Fielding's accomplishments as ''outrageous'' (Letters, September 10) shows his misunderstanding of the different goals of English teaching and the sciences. I, too, am an engineer who managed to be ''top of the bottom class'' in English - but my aggregate score in the HSC was in the top 5 per cent of the state. I imagine Senator Fielding's aggregate was also quite high, as it must be to enter university. As an engineer, he would probably have been quite easy to understand in intent, even if not accurate in English. Indeed, we all knew what he meant - so he succeeded in communicating his intent. Australia's failure to value and train more engineers has led to the need to import many. Misunderstandings in these cases, linguistic and cultural, could well lead to actual dangers to the public. I do not agree with Senator Fielding's opinions, but at least I understand what he means. James Fuller Nimbin Graphic childbirth photo a much-needed wake-up call Eva Jensen (Letters, September 10) is wrong to say there is no woman in this country who would want a photo of herself having a child on the floor of a filthy hospital like the one in Papua New Guinea. Any woman who had been subjected to such squalor and indignity would be as mad as hell and want the rest of us to do something about it. If I had not seen the shocking photo, I doubt whether I would have read the article. I am glad I did and I'm as mad as hell about it, too. It's hard to generate empathy without visual proof. Paul Roberts Lake Cathie Finally, a confronting photo of a PNG woman giving birth on the floor, which exposes the plight that these women and others in the South Pacific face each day. Eva Jensen says it should not have been printed no matter what the cause. High maternal mortality Rosetta Stone rates and lack of resources should be sufficient cause. Kerry Spurrett Mulgoa Despite the assault on our delicate, coddled sensibilities, more than finely wrought words would not have attracted such instant attention, nor elicited so much compassion for the plight of mothers in Papua New Guinea as did that photograph. Donald Hawes Dubbo Auburn sees red As a person of Lebanese Muslim descent, I am sick to death of living with so-called Muslims who do not act in a way that represents Islam, but the very tribal, warring, selfish idiocy that Islam tried to counter (''Crowd pelt police after drug raid'', September 9). Pulling the ''cultural insensitivity'' card is as pathetic as the cry of ''anti-semitism'' in response to objections over illegal Israeli settlements. The police have had their hands tied for far too long, and Auburn has suffered. Ironically, if we were back in the village, these guys would not have dared to carry on this way. Stand up, people of Auburn, and reclaim the right to a peaceful neighbourhood. Vanessa Chamas Auburn Raise pay to remove perks Joe Ludwig and his four-member panel will have a huge job on their hands to look at all parliamentary allowances, which are vague enough to invite ambiguity or abuse (''MPs pay for misusing perks'', September 9). The basic wage of an MP is currently frozen at $7,060 and can only be adjusted annually by the Remuneration Tribunal, something Kevin Rudd overruled last year. Naturally MPs, earning less than many other professionals, try to supplement this by using, literally, every perk in the book. One of the first items issued to politicians entering Parliament is a 4-page handbook that lists every taxpayer-funded perk available, including not only printing and travel allowances, but such items as furniture and dishwashers.

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