On bankers

Edward Zakrzewski writes: Re. “Business bites” (yesterday).  Glenn Dyer says “increased home mortgage rates will be absorbed by higher repayments by (half the) customers and not their wallets”. Where does he think the higher repayments come from – and what about the other half?

Time to call HR

John Richardson writes: Re. “Department of Australia” (yesterday). The Department of Australia surely excelled itself when reporting that “Parliamentary colleagues lined up to thank the former Treasurer for his service”, while “Joe felt confused, and very afraid.”. It brought to mind the old Human Resources joke about how management in different cultures deals with the termination of unwanted employees.  It’s said that in America, the decision is made and everyone lines-up to bathe in the victim’s blood. In the UK it’s said that everyone conspires to bring-down the intended victim but then expresses shock and consternation at the outcome while, down-under, it’s said that our executives attempt to emulate their British counterparts but wind-up outdoing the Yanks. Joe should keep a wary eye open on the Potomac.

On long-haul flights

Janice Knight writes: Re. “Oh god, air travel is about to get even worse. And it is your fault” (yesterday). The nastiest flight I have ever spent is the 10 plus hours from Hong Kong to London on Cathay Pacific as a co-carrier for Qantas in 2011.  The plane was so old and so un-maintained that I spent the whole flight sitting on metal, covered with a little fabric.  The foam had either disintegrated or shifted.  Neither Qantas nor Cathay Pacific got any brownie points from me, even though at the time as a moderately frequent flyer, I was asked to comment on our trip and treatment. That was also the time we experienced the joys of terminal 3 as opposed to terminal 4 at Heathrow. Made us both question the value of our membership.