I have also known a couple of "troubled kids" who were better off in Ashley than they were at home, unfortunately both have gone on to spend considerable time in interstate prisons. Ashley is merely a warehouse for people too young for the government to lock up in adult prisons.

They almost all progress to prison as a matter of course because the government is in the business of politics, with an emphasis on populist 'law and order' that simply translates to punishment and revenge, with little effort given to understanding the problems in the young person's life and attempting to fix the problem caused by addictions, lack of education and poverty.

Mr Dean is quite right when he says that Ashley should be closed, but building another warehouse on the site is not the answer.

Tasmania is in a position where the entire justice system is horribly broken, and requires being rebuilt along modern lines that embrace the concept that some people within the system can be turned around from an anti-social way of life given the opportunity.

I don't often support overseas jaunts for politicians, but ours should be sent overseas to see what other, more enlightened governments are doing and succeeding with to stop recidivism.

The Australian national anthem for all time can be cleansed of any whiff of all which it currently stands accused by simply scrapping the words entirely.

Let's thank profusely Julie Anthony AM for all her great work, but let her know, as well as any others who may have enjoyed letting fly, that there ain't nothing to sing about here.

Let us then, in silence, enjoy the rich musical sounds of the tune which rates in my book as good as any nation's anthem and permanently silence the critics on every level by wiping any reference to race, age, culture, history, immigration, invasion, marine proximity and soil quality as well as hopes and aspirations for the future of Australia in one permanent fell swoop.

Apologies to all the vocalists who may have to visit Centrelink but think of your sacrifices as the eradication of one of the most divisive issues confronting the nation's peoples.

Dispatch all those contrary, imperialistic, racist, etc words to the history page. No words, no singing, nothing to complain about.

Everybody happy, right? Don't bet on it.

DAVID Broughton (The Examiner, December 28) refers to various reports to conclude that global warming is not causing increases in storm intensity. A recent report (J.P. Kossin et al. April 2020 PNAS USA) concludes differently.

Although the 28-year data (1982-2009) suggested that global tropical cyclone intensity (ie. surface wind intensity) was increasing, the data was too variable to reach 95 per cent confidence limits. Kossin has shown that the 39-year data (1979-2017) for global tropical cyclones intensity indeed has an increasing intensity trend and at 95 per cent confidence significance, not low anymore.

Additionally, the proportion of tropical cyclones reaching 3 or higher (major status) has increased by ~25 per cent in the period.

Kossin notes different effects in different oceans, from no or not much effect to big increases, but overall tropical cyclones of a damaging kind are increasing in power.

So, reality matches theory, and as CO2 rises and the Earth gets warmer, tropical storms get more intense. Who knew?

Science knew that's who, and it seems Simon Richardson's anecdotal observations happened to be correct too.

Congratulations to the George Town Neighbourhood House for organising and conducting the fireworks display on New Year's Eve in our town. The show was spectacular and a delight for all. Well done! Thank you to everyone involved, it was a great way to end what has been an eventful year and a lovely way to usher in a new and better year.

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