In spite of her five-year ordeal, Mullins is a brave, eloquent and beautiful young woman. Her family must be so proud that she has the courage to continue to address the imbalances of our legal system. I am sure many women have experienced unwanted sexual intercourse, and most have stayed mum, because of the shame and the system. Let’s hope some good can come from this terrible case. - Danielle Ecuyer, Bondi Junction

Four Corners reported Lazarus partied hard celebrating the Criminal Court of Appeal’s decision to spare him the expense and worry of a third trial for (in his words) the ‘‘gross acts’’ he’d carried out on Mullins. Alone that night after the decision, she cried herself to sleep. Although still affected by her ordeal, she has grown in strength, now a strong resilient woman able to articulate how she is resolving the experience and her life, while denying lingering bitterness (if any) the opportunity to destroy her. I hope fate deals her a better hand in life. Only time will tell what fate has in store for Lazarus. - Howard Charles, Glebe

Cultural cringe: what's wrong with being Sydney?

Why must we always put ourselves down (‘‘From St Kilda to Kings Cross? More like Kirkuk to Paris, May 8)? Why be like Paris? What is wrong with being Sydney? - Patrick Longfield, St Pauls

... and Oatley is going to look like Manhattan, what with the alarming rate our trees are being cut down – and Georges River Council’s plan for higher-density housing around our train station. - 
Anne Wagstaff, Oatley

‘‘Sydney: like Paris but with beaches’’, says your front-page tease. I got excited thinking maybe the dashing La Perouse had beaten stodgy old Phillip to Sydney Cove. Then I remembered the construction site that is our city. The destruction of so much of our graceful architecture, charming urban streets and lanes, trees and civic spaces, and our disregard of museums and art galleries in favour of tollways and stadiums. I sighed as I walked to our last remaining Parisian square, Place de la Summer Hill, for a coffee and croissant at a pavement cafe. - Don Smith, Ashfield

Apparently Lower Bent Street, Neutral Bay is the most Parisian part of Australia. Is that because the street number and crazy cat sign photographed are the traditional French blue and white enamelled, no doubt bought in Paris? - Ingrid Hawke, Balmain

What’s in a suburb name (Letters, May 8)? Apparently $100 to $200 extra to insure a car if you reside in West Ryde, postcode 2114, rather than neighbouring Denistone (also 2114); that incidentally borders my back fence. When I queried the insurance assessor I was told my insurance was more expensive because ‘‘West Ryde had a railway station’’.  - 
Guy Thomson, West Ryde

The letters from John Flint and David James reminded me of the absurdity of the boundary drawn in 1947 between India and East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). The boundary ran through villages and even houses, such that one part was in East Pakistan and the other part in India. -
David Gordon, Cranebrook

Here in Sydney’s smallest suburb by area, we share our postcode, 2046, with our good neighbours in Abbotsford, Chiswick, Russell Lea, Rodd Point, Five Dock and Canada Bay snugly surrounded by all of them. No north, south, east or west nonsense here. - Tony Everett, Wareemba

John Whiteing suggests that the closer your house is to the harbour the higher the value. Clearly he’s never been to South Coogee. - Colin Campbell, Coogee

If I travel downhill from Dover Heights, am I in Dover Depths? - Lynne Poleson, Kingsford

Sweet relief as the music stops

Thank goodness the budget has been handed down. Now, there will be no more politicians smugly answering pre-budget questions with ‘‘I know the secret and you don’t’’. They remind me of little kids in a playground. - Liz Liddelow, Avalon Beach

Please Mr Turnbull and Mr Morrison, start paying off the debt. We Australians do not want a tax cut. - Surendra Chowdhry, Seven Hills

A tax cut that benefits all, helps everyone receiving income support/subsidies and will stimulate the economy by increasing spending? Reduce the GST. - Matthew Boylan, Leichhardt

Peter Costello decries a 10-year debt negation time line as a long time (‘‘Budget to fail debt test’’, May 8). Could a mortgaged Melbourne or Sydney home owner from the real world please call him and say how they would feel about being debt-free in one decade? - Daniel Hales, Epping

Drip-feeding the drips

I am disappointed that Labor has chosen to support the government in the misguided funding of irrigation water ‘savings’ measures in the MDB which have to date returned zero water for the environment (‘‘Labor charts Murray-Darling course’’, May 8). The prospect that the outcomes of these projects in the south of the Basin will be any different to the sad northern story is dismal at least.

The irrigation industries of the south are old hands at socialising these generous taxpayer-funded benefits. Why is Labor falling for this furphy? Social and economic outcomes are fine, but environmental damage is almost irreversible. Opposing these measures offered some hope of preventing the downward spiral that agribusiness has launched us all on. What can be the justification for this capitulation to narrow sectional interests on this fragile landscape? - Alastair Grieve, Wollstonecraft

The drugs don’t work

So the inquest into opioid overdose deaths is, among other things, looking into the purity testing of fentanyl (‘‘Opioid testing in spotlight at deaths inquest’’, May 8). Any person who buys recreational drugs knows they are running the risk of a dreadful addiction and possibly eventually either ruining their lives or even killing themselves. Isn’t that why they are illegal in the first place? The pill-testing pilot at the Groovin’ the Moo festival has me wondering why the drug squad doesn’t pounce on patrons who join the pill-testing queue. Either enforce the law and users run the risk of paying the ultimate price – or don’t, leave them alone to enjoy their sad idea of ‘‘fun’’. - Kay Buckeridge, Mosman

We can breathe easier now a man who sells fake cocaine to willing-but-duped buyers is living at taxpayers’ expense (‘‘‘Big Fella’ jailed over faux cocaine’’, May 8). We can celebrate with our legal (and taxed) champagne, while the criminal kingpins and their political/law enforcement enablers work out new ways to expand their empires within this hypocritical system. It’s enough to drive one to Prozac. - Amanda Wilson, Balmain

Quad bike sense

Making quad bikes safer seems fairly straightforward (‘‘Walkouts threaten new system’’, May 8). Roll bars and shoulder harness would make all the difference. Remember stock-car racing: all vehicles were fitted the same way. - Lars Newman, Fairlight

Lashings of justice

I think your correspondent has mistakenly assumed that the brilliant idea from the Carlingford branch of the Liberal Party is a justice measure (‘‘Liberals whip up punishment debate’’, May 8).

If you do the arithmetic, at 70 lashes a day for the unfortunate miscreants, it’ll require a workforce of thousands. It’s obviously another measure of Mal’s Jobs and Growth program. And on the very day of the budget. - Tony Mitchell, Hillsdale

Further to the branch proposal for lashes as punishment (by cat o’ nine tails, I presume) I have a further suggestion. After the lashes are inflicted let’s transport them to England. By the way, they did not detail the number of lashes for stealing a handkerchief. - Paivi Kaukomaa, Hornsby Heights

Racist, sexist Bean

Charles Bean was chosen as Official War Correspondent in September 1914 in a ballot of journalists on request from the new Labor government of Andrew Fisher. But his conflict of interest in being correspondent with an agreement to also write up the history of the First World War led him into strange areas (‘‘Bean there, but not in our electorate’’, May 8). After Australian soldiers burnt down brothels in the Wazir district of Cairo twice in 1915, the AIF top brass asked Bean to write a book on how soldiers should understand life in Egypt. Many were getting VD. Bean’s book ‘‘What to Know in in Egypt: A Guide for Australian soldiers’’ was the result. It is a catalogue of racist images about Arab ‘‘natives’’, Muslim practices and Muslim men and especially women. Bean may well have been anti-Semitic, as Labor’s Mike Kelly asserts, but even taking attitudes of the time towards race into account, his Islamophobia in the Middle East is remarkable. He passed much of these views on to his friend and correspondent of choice, Henry Gullett, who reported the Palestine campaign in 1917 and 1918. In this day and age, to name a Canberra federal electorate after Bean seems inappropriate to say the least. - Peter Manning, Dulwich Hill

Already got the male

Con Vaitsas is concerned about the gender balance of patrons of the Sydney Writers’ Festival (Letters, May 8). This male lost interest in the festival when attending a booked session where the writer who had produced a controversial re-edit of a James Joyce work, Danis Rose, delivered what was essentially a promotion for the book, turned on his heel and left the stage, taking no questions. And there were questions to be asked. I spend a couple of hundred dollars on books each year, with no need for the log rolling, controversies, and ballyhoo of the Writers’ Festival when making my choices. That’s one man’s story, anyway. - Ross Chambers, Springwood

I urge Con to attend the Brisbane Writers’ Festival (September 6-9), where I guarantee women will outnumber men. - Kerry Whalen, Varsity Lakes (Qld)

Too cool for youse

What a shame the cool young models don't seem too happy with their newfound situation ("Cool young crew shakes up modelling world", May 8). - ​Yvonne Kuvener, Wentworth Falls

You would think these young models could crack a smile? Great pay and great exposure. But not one does. Just as in a recent Vogue I thumbed through: I saw no more than 10 smiling young girls in the whole thing. Smiling as I write ... - Joan Croll, Drummoyne

World of difference

Watching TV on Monday evening, two images struck me. The MasterChef contestants were passionate and committed, from a range of cultural heritages and age groups. In contrast, the Turnbull cabinet was predominantly Anglo, middle-aged men in suits with similar backgrounds and life experience. Which group truly reflects 2018 Australia? - Sally James, Russell Lea

Superhero attraction

The problem with Charles Purcell's argument against superhero movies is that he's not part of the target demographic ("The rot has set in for superhero movies", May 8). While ever there are teenage boys, I suspect that there will be an audience for superhero movies. - 
Roger Gallagher, Merrylands

This would be fun

For the royal wedding, could Triple J please bring Roy and HG back to do the commentary? - Andrew Carr, Dover Heights