THE MEAT OF THE MATTER
MARK Fyfe is correct (The Examiner, October 12).
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Politicians do not really have to account for misinformation.
A case in point is Wendy Askew's article (The Examiner, October 8) where she states that the Oxford English Dictionary does not mention plant matter in its entry on meats and therefore asserts "meat" can only be from animals.
The OED proper is a volume work but even the Shorter OED gives a definition for meat as "food in general", the "edible parts of fruit, nuts, eggs" plus others.
Mince meat in fruit pies contains dried fruit, for example sultanas.
In cricket the ball is hit off the "meat of the bat".
So even willow can be meat.
There are cruder meanings, for example "meat market" (flesh pot).
I will venture no further.
Dictionaries do not define language but illustrate its use and meaning.
This is not trivial because Ms Askew's whole article hung on her misuse of a definition.
I would suggest "meat" in general non-technical use is defined by context.
As most words seem to be.
You won't find your way anywhere using the COVID "Roadmap".
The Commonwealth could act on many other undesirable labeling practices but choose not to.
So why does she pick on this one?
My guess is virtue signalling but it is only a guess.
Richard Pickup, Karoola.
COVID STATS NEED CONTEXT
WHAT is missing in the amount of deaths, is the age of the deceased. Was death natural for the age. Was there comorbidity involved?
Did those with comorbidity have a limited future in life pre-COVID?
If statistics are to be provided, please let all the facts be given.
By not answering these questions, when giving COVID statistics, is not telling the whole truth of the matter.
Ian O'Neill, Westbury.
HOW HARD IS IT TO GUARD?
HOW hard is it to place security in a hotel quarantine passage outside the room of a possible COVID-19 carrier?
Well obviously too hard for the government and the Health Department, for they offloaded the responsibility to private contractors. Too hard for them also for they let the chap escape.
We seem to have terribly short memories.
It only took one escape in NSW and Victoria to unleash their uncontrollable outbreaks.
Jim Dickenson, Launceston.
TOES ON POLITICAL PARTY LINES
COMMENDATIONS for the editorial in The Examiner (October 13).
Politicians should be allowed to express an opinion and debate in public.
Very few issues are black or white.
A discussion on alternatives, and the nuances of different solutions, would be a wonderful tonic for an otherwise cynical electorate.
Example: The kanamaluka/Tamar River Estuary.
Andrew Lovitt, Chair - Tamar Action Group.
NOTHING TO SEE HERE ...
ARE we a Federation?
Do we really have a leader who acts for us all? Or do we have a leader and a party who at their core truly believe that small government and the rights of the individual are best for us all?
The National Cabinet looked the goods in the early days of the pandemic, but can we say that now?
We have a leader who is ever-eager to claim national kudos for the good and to blame the states for the bad.
We have anti-vax members of our society who have bought the small government/individual freedom mantra in spades.
As a Federation, we are a mess.
Blame the states if you must but if the prize of federal leadership goes to the prime minister, then so does the responsibility.
Nothing to see here? You bet.
Tony Newport, Hillwood.
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ST LUKE'S BUILDING PROJECT
THE proposed new St Luke's multi-storey building in Cimitiere Street is to be constructed significantly with timber (The Examiner, October 17).
There are a multitude of sensible reasons to do so, not just from the perspective of carbon storage. A lighter building requires less concrete and steel for the foundations, can be erected in a shorter time, with a smaller team of workers, and has a far smaller carbon footprint than an equivalent "dinosaur" concrete/ masonry and steel structure.
The methodology is not new - a vast number of such buildings are found in Europe, and also in our mainland cities.
So congratulations to the architects, to St Luke's, and to Fairbrothers building company for collectively moving the construction industry in Tasmania into the 21st century.
Sustainable Timber Tasmania and Minister Guy Barnett should be proud of this privately funded initiative.
Scott Bell, Esmerelda Enterprises Environmental, Launceston.
ARBITRARY LOCKDOWN DECISION
FOR an East Coast local government area, namely Glamorgan Spring Bay, to be included in a Southern Tasmanian lockdown is quite a complex, geographical supposition, at the presumed discretion of an arbitrary bureaucratic pen of needless hardship.