Your say: week beginning July 21

Every day, we publish a selection of your emails in our newsletter. We’d love to hear from you, you can email us at yoursay@theconversation.edu.au

Monday July 21

Rising unemployment not so bad

“My initial thought when this article said that unemployment is up due to more people looking for work was: government policy is working. The change to childcare activity testing will have freed up swathes of women to contribute more to the workforce. It would be great to see this tracked alongside the existing data; I’d almost bet there’s a correlation.”

Kirrily Whish

Is cash still king?

“What about garage sales, car boot sales, buying produce from the neighbors etc. Without cash there will be no anonymity, but only control.”

N.G. Wahl

Turnbull in conversation with Grattan

“What an absolute, and refreshing, pleasure it was to read Malcolm Turnbull’s views today. As usual, his assessment and analysis is rational, reasoned, precise and delivered without hubris.”

Neil Wright

Tuesday July 22

Happily ever after?

“Regarding the article on how separated men are nearly 5 times more likely to take their lives than married men, it reminds me of what the great French sociologist Emile Durkheim already told us nearly 150 years ago: marriage protects men from the risk of suicide. He also produced the figures to prove his point. Interestingly, he also suggested that marriage does not protect women from risks of unhappiness and violence; it appears to tend towards the opposite effect. Surely any discussion of men, marriage and suicide should also include a recognition of the problematic nature of the institution of marriage for women?”

Hilary Tovey, Fellow Emeritus, Trinity College Dublin

Define intimidation

“As a former academic who has experienced very tumultuous events, on and off campus and in another country, I am very troubled by the reported weight given to feelings of intimidation in the ‘antisemititism’ report. I know very well, and I have seen it quite often, that one person can feel ‘intimidated’ just by passing by a protesting group, even if they ignore the passerby. Every claim of ‘intimidation’ needs to be checked, interrogated, and contextualised before it can be accepted as such.”

Dr Brian Harlech-Jones

Wednesday July 23

Antisemitism special envoy

“Australia’s Racial Discrimination Act appears to be providing adequate protection for minority groups. Should we really be sacking university professors because they are angry at such horrific injustice in Gaza that they feel compelled to call it out? Should legitimate outrage be muzzled by heavy-handed governments seeking to appease a powerful, paranoid minority?”

Tom Filipcevic

Old trolls

“Well, what can you say re: Trump and Murdoch, two particularly pernicious and decaying old men sparring to the death, hopefully. I almost hope Trump will win, as Murdoch has been around much longer than Trump and has over decades caused more damage to the societies and democracies of the US, Australia and the UK than any other single human being. Trump is a mere novice in comparison, though rapidly making up for lost time. Both are sociopaths and a greedy crony capitalism is their governing principle, to which Trump adds a cruel chaos theory and Murdoch adds a cruel and implacable cynicism. I shall look forward to your continued coverage of these two warring old trolls before they hopefully both fall over the cliff to disappear for all eternity in the depths and gloom of the fjord that lies waiting underneath them.”

John Monro, Martinborough NZ