Mallard vs. Mallard:

Steven McKiernan writes: Re. “Justice takes a back seat again in WA” (Friday, item 11). Greg Barns got Mr Mallard’s name wrong. His first name is Andrew.

Mr Mallard was the victim of an egregious miscarriage of justice undertaken by very senior criminal investigation police officers, who were then rewarded with significant promotion within the WA Police Service. The Corruption and Crime Commission subsequently declared adverse findings against the senior police officers and the senior legal prosecutor.

WA journalist Colleen Egan won a Walkley for her investigation into the Andrew Mallard “fix”.

Perhaps Greg Barns should have read a least one volume of her extensive writings on the subject, and at least got his name correct.

Jonty Este:

Martyn Smith writes: Re. “A pain in the a-se: a diary about living with cancer (part 5)” (Friday, item 14). I applaud Jonty Este’s courage and that of his partner in the face of this ghastly disease. He’s clearly made of the right stuff and I’m sure we all wish him a speedy and full recovery with many happy years of cancer free motoring ahead.

He’s probably on the right track to give up the smokes.

Oprah’s quiz:

Maire Mannik writes: Re. “Humiliated by Oprah Winfrey” “Richard Farmer’s chunky bits” (Friday, item 10). It’s a crock. It says Aspirin was an Australian invention in 1915. No it was invented by French Chemist Gerhadt  in 1853 and the name Aspirin was registered worldwide by the German company Bayer 1899.

In 1915 because of WWI all German licences were cancelled and the Australian company owned by the Nicholas family grabbed the patent and renamed it Aspro.

Incidentally the Nicholas heirs married Yehudi Menuhin and his sister Hephzibah. He of course kept playing his fiddle to world renown but she had to give up the concert piano.