The Good Old Days

Where would the letters pages of our papers be without the wit and wisdom of venerable correspondents such as George Fishman, Vaucluse, NSW?

The re-emergence of Dear Leader John Winston Howard on the public stage appears to have awakened a flickering flame in the old codger:

"Pity it's taken the Queen of England to recognise John Howard's great service to Australia." The Australian, 3/1/12

Remember John Howard? Iraq? The glory days? George sure does. Those were the days, my friend:

"John Howard has confirmed the superman status conferred on him by George W Bush. He can see as far through a brick wall as anybody. By signing up for the Coalition of the Willing he garnered valuable brownie points with George Bush and Tony Blair but was canny enough to being our troops home before the real war in Iraq, the war of peace, got under way." (Sydney Morning Herald, 10/7/03)

"Those in the US Administration, notably Colin Powell and the State Department, who live in the past and believe that by making concessions to countries that harbour terrorism the problem will go away, must yield to so-called neoconservatives who live in the real world and are prepared to stand and fight to bring an end to terrorism." (SMH, 2/1/04)

"The casualties of the war in Iraq are high but those in Australia and elsewhere calling for a 'cut and run' policy should get some perspective. A recently released study by the WHO and the World Bank showed that each year about 1.2 million people die as a result of road accidents worldwide, yet there are no plans to abandon the use of motor cars." (SMH, 9/4/04)

Brings tears to the eyes, doesn't it?