It's hard to fathom why deniers are still writing letters demanding evidence be produced for global warming/anthropogenic climate change when in-depth information to that effect has been publicly available for at least a decade.

Suffice to say, Jeff Day (Letters, December 8), that myriad scientific papers and reports are there for your digestion if you are really interested in "unemotional, logical and rational reasoning" on the topic.

There are also many reputable websites which help us understand the concepts, the data and the reasoning behind the conclusions arrived at by the IPCC and thousands of scientists and scientific organisations across the globe.

For example, you may learn that more than 90 per cent of global warming heat goes into warming the oceans, while less than 3 per cent goes into increasing the atmospheric and surface air temperatures, or that since the mid-1970s total solar irradiance has been trending slightly down even as global temps trend up.

I suggest Jeff's search for climate truth starts with skepticalscience.com because its structure is simple, climate myths are discussed and debunked at various levels, and there is plenty of opportunity for questions and debate.

Jon Stirzaker, Latham

Jeff Day (Letters, December8) appears to be questioning the concept of global warming based on two December days, in 1985 and 2017, when it was 17 degrees and raining in one small NSW town, Tathra. This is cherry picking of facts at its most deft.

He goes on to request an unemotional, logical explanation of "the argument for global warming". He should refer to the NASA website climate.nasa.gov/scientific-consensus for such an explanation. It includes, briefly, the following: Earth's average surface temperature has risen about 1.1 degrees since the late 19th century, driven largely by increased carbon dioxide and other human-made emissions.

Most warming was in the past 35 years, and 16 of the 17 warmest years on record were after 2001.

Greenland lost 150 to 250 cubic kilometres of ice between 2002 and 2006, and Antarctica about 152 cubic kilometres between 2002 and 2005.

Glaciers, snow lines and snow cover are retreating almost everywhere around the world, including in Africa and Alaska, and in the Alps, Andes, Himalayas and Rockies.

Global sea level rose about 20cm in the 20th century, and the rate so far in the 21st is nearly double that of the 20th.

Douglas Mackenzie, Deakin

Australia's chief representative in Washington warmly supports President Trump's approach to North Korea.

Ambassador Hockey has declared: "We must stop tickling the tummy of Kim Jong-un."

A wonderful phrase hiding an unspeakable vision. If Trump heeds Hockey and uses military means, the result will be nuclear war.

One prominent Republican congressman said if it came to war, the dead will all be in Korea so it will be of no consequence to the US.

The US military has previously considered using nuclear weapons in Korea. When the Chinese army intervened in the last Korean war, the US-led UN "police action" forces faced utter defeat. The US military commander in Korea, General Douglas MacArthur, demanded the atomic bombing of China.

The then president Truman promptly sacked him.

Politicians and diplomats never do the fighting or the dying.

They do not bury the dead men, women and children. Talk is cheap, lives are precious. Hockey should be sacked immediately.

Rod Olsen, Flynn

Ambassador Joe Hockey's assertions ("North Korea issue has come to a head", December 9, p.6 ) are extremely disturbing.

He exaggerates North Korea's military capabilities and seems to be joining Australia with President Trump's threats to mount a war of aggression against Pyongyang.

The ambassador is a good example of why important diplomatic posts should always be filled by experienced and balanced career officers.

Chris Smith, Kingston

Noted Israeli writer Gideon Levy recently told Australian audiences and the media that Israel's purported commitment to peace with Palestine never was and, with Israel moving ever further to the right under Prime Minister Netanyahu, never will be anything other than a pretence.

He says no Israeli government, past or present, has attempted to slow – much less reverse – Israel's remorseless settlement drive.

In Levy's words: "It's too late. The train has left the station." And let's not hear Israel's protagonists claim Ariel Sharon's removal of a few settlers from Gaza, which turned it under Israel's blockade into the world's largest concentration camp, was an exception.

Netanyahu and his ministers, when speaking their minds, confirm these realities day in and day out: they want all the land of formerly mandated Palestine, from the Jordan to the sea.

Donald Trump knows this. By committing the US to recognising Jerusalem as Israel's capital and proposing to move his embassy there, he is intentionally backing Israel's takeover and denying the possibility, ever, of an independent, self-governing Palestinian state.

To date, our government, thankfully, has not fallen into line with the US.

But the inevitable Israeli and US pressure will be hard to resist.

Same-sex marriage was achieved here because most Australians wanted it.

Polls say most Australians also want justice for Palestine.

That's what our government needs to support.1

Kevin Bray, Belconnen

There has been a lot of criticism of Donald Trump's announcement that the US is recognising Jerusalem as Israel's capital, but the criticism is unwarranted.

All Trump has done is confirm the obvious.

He specifically says that his announcement doesn't determine the final status of the city, or prevent the Palestinians also having their capital there, in the east.

It just states that the western area of Jerusalem, which has always been part of Israel, is and where Israel's government actually is situated, is the capital.

It is extraordinarily discriminatory that Israel is the only country that can't nominate its own capital.

It is not surprising that Palestinian terrorist groups have reacted with threats of violence, or that the PA is threatening to end peace talks.

Sadly, they object to anything that confirms Israel's right to exist..

Danny Samuels, Malvern, Vic

The ACT government's most recent propaganda pamphlet, delivered to a mailbox near me, extols the virtues of a "new and improved "Fix My Street" website".

New and improved it might be, but has not resulted in my street being fixed. For many years the public footpath and residences on the downhill side of the street have been inundated by water almost every time God blesses us with rain.

On March 22 this year I filed yet another request on the Fix My Street website for the street drainage to be fixed, followed up with a phone call on October 23 and two subsequent posts to the website.

Automated responses advise, "Thank you for your correspondence which has been received and referred to the relevant ACT government business unit. If you have requested a response you should expect to be contacted within 10 working days". There has been no contact since my first submission on March 22. About 36 hours after the steady rain of December 2 ceased, the public footpath remained ankle-deep in water and the sump beside the footpath was full of water.

It seems the storm water line is blocked, causing residents to clean up after every few millimetres of rain.

Graham Downie, O'Connor

One cannot help feeling sorry for the man who missed out on a job as a fireman, not through any shortcomings on his part, but because he fell foul of the government's equal employment opportunity legislation ("Firefighter hopeful's sex-bias claim thrown out", December 9, p18).

In fact, the whole community might suffer because, if your house is on fire, you want to know that the fire fighters in attendance are those most likely to get the fire out and not those selected to meet the government's broader social objectives.

One of the interesting developments in recent years is the fact that, increasingly, there are more female graduates in fields like medicine and law than there are male. One can imagine the screaming that would result if policies were put in place to ensure that more men graduated in these fields to achieve equality of the number of graduates in these areas. The feminists would argue that, if the blokes choose to party when the girls are studying and the girls have better aptitude and application, then the places should go to them.

And I would agree with them but why not firemen?

The article goes on to say that the Civil and Administrative Tribunal found that "equal opportunity" called for a broader definition of equality that addresses underlying substantiative inequalities etc. That is, the definition of equality includes certain types of discrimination and inequality.

Roll over George Orwell. Some animals really are more equal that others, and with the backing of the law.

Stan Marks, Hawker

It's difficult to give credibility to the stated reasons behind Genevieve Jacobs' removal from local ABC radio broadcasting, but let's consider just two — first the desire for more youth and, second, diversity among broadcasters.

In the first place this looks like a triumph for "ageism".

Part of the value of local, engaging, and dare I say, "mature age" local radio broadcasters like Genevieve is that they reach an audience that does not automatically reach for some passive website or a smartphone to find out what is happening in their own town and community.

Secondly, diversity, comes in many more nuanced shades than simplistic notions of skin colour, ethnicity or religious faith, assuming this is what ABC management thinks.

As far as I know Genevieve has a rural background in both journalism and farming and she admirably brings this diversity to her urban audience. And she's female. It is surely just as important that broadcasters, whatever their backgrounds, bring notions and experiences of diversity to their audiences as it is that management employ people who live Australia's extraordinary diversity in their daily lives.

In a national broadcaster there should be room for all.

Doug Laing, Waramanga

I wish to acknowledge the letters of Saturday, December 9, that support Genevieve Jacobs, and express distress that she has been removed from ABC Radio.

I am outraged that this has happened.

Genevieve is the most intelligent and competent presenter. She takes care to be informed on the subjects of those she is interviewing.

She gives sympathetic hearing to those who do not agree with her.

In the program, we are kept up to date with local and political events. That is important in this town. It has been suggested that ABC management wants to "refresh the program". They hope to appeal to "the younger generation". Genevieve Jacobs is 50. I would like to point out that some dedicated listeners are in our 80s.

Adam Shirley is a pleasant young man, but not what I want to listen to at that time of the morning. I like to listen to a mature, intelligent and competent presenter.

I ask, most sincerely that Genevieve Jacobs be kept at Mornings on ABC Canberra Radio.

Auriel Barlow, Dickson

Steve Thomas' suggestion (Letters, December 8), that the dual citizenship part of section 44 of the constitution could be fixed by replacing it with a mere requirement for parliamentarians to hold an Australian passport, has some weaknesses.

It would mean that some of those currently eligible to be parliamentarians would become ineligible simply because they didn't hold an Australian passport (and perhaps couldn't hold one because of some Australian or foreign law).

It would be vulnerable to delays in bureaucratic processing: candidates couldbe disqualified because the Department of Foreign Affairs didn't issue a passport in time.

It would allow members of other parliaments (state and foreign) who happened to hold an Australian passport to also be members of the Commonwealth Parliament.

That would permit the potential conflict of loyalties that the current section 44 seems intended to address.

Greg Pinder, Charnwood

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