The Age from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia • Page 10

10 THE AGE, Wednesday 24 December 1986 Access Age LETTERS 671601 Christmas thoughts EDITED BY Christmas Bowl will help people to help themselves can" has served conservative interests well in the pest Likewise, in places like the Soviet Union people have been silenced (often by imprisonment or execution) because those in power decided that they were reactionaries or revisionists. Peter Kiernan may have faith in this sort of politics but I believe that if we are to reduce the threat of nuclear war, we must refuse to accept sloganeering as a valid substitute for rational debate. As a member of the organising committee for the conference, I can assure readers that we went to great pains to make sure that the widest possible range of viewpoints was represented at the conference. Participants were also able to organise workshops on any topics that they regarded as relevant to the alms of the conference. Those who were not interested in those workshops that dealt with issues related to sexuality (which Peter Kiernan evidently did not want on the agenda) were perfectly free to attend a wide range of other workshops.

I would hazard to guess that there were, in fact, plenty of workshops covering the issues that Peter Kiernan was interested in. Some people, however, are more interested in preventing other people from getting their ideas across than they are in presenting ideas themselves. To say that there were hindrances placed upon "moderate viewpoints" (which I suspect means conservative or even extreme right-wing viewpoints) is a distortion of the truth. Regrettably, a few people with conservative viewpoints were not treated with sufficient respect on occasion, although it Is scarcely a rare occurrence for political debates to become heated. Most of the abrogations of the principle of respect for differing viewpoints came from a group of extreme right-wingers.

BILL KING, North Fitzroy. included in the settlement currently before the commission. Far from changing our demands throughout the strike the dogged consistency of the RANF has forced the Government to do a complete about-face on our demands. On 30 October the HDV denied that there were major problems with the Implementation of the career structure. Mr White stated categorically that there would be no pay rises for students and first-year RNs.

Twenty-seven per cent of nurses in the public health system were to receive virtually no pay rise. Nurses in other areas such as community health nurses and infant welfare nurses were graded well below their level of competence and responsibility. Quite clearly by the fact that all these matters, plus others, are well on the way to being resolved demonstrates that the nurses have succeeded in their battle for recognition and pay rises. If Mr Stephens believes that nurses are demoralised I would suggest that he has not attended meetings (and there have been many of them) where the members have clearly demonstrated their belief in the RANF, their determination, their confidence, and their courageous spirit IRENE BOLGER, St Kilda. Wide-ranging links from W.

King I fee! I must respond to some of the comments made by Peter Klernan (1312) regarding the "Breaking chains, making links" youth peace conference held on 6 and 7 December. I have become extremely bored with the tactic of attempting to simply dismiss the peace movement as being communist-controlled without ever actually addressing the real issues. Doubtless "kicking the commo "Begun 40 years ago, the Christmas Bowl ranks among the oldest and most respected of the overseas aid and development programs of Australia's voluntary agencies. Wholly accountable to the member churches and organised on their behalf, the appeal offers people a particularly effective means of responding to human need. "Through it we can assist victims of natural disasters, help refugees, support long-term development programs and encourage those who are working for justice and peace in their own countries.

"At the urging of partner churches around the world, the Christmas Bowl also supports a development education program of the Australian Council of Churches. This program alerts Australians to the problems of the economically deprived and shows how we can stand with the world's poor in claiming dignity and rights which we believe God intends all people to have. "In a world of pain and heartbreak, the Christmas Bowl points to the gospel of life and hope. "We call upon our people to increase their contribution to the Christmas Bowl this year. As a very practical expression of christian compassion it deserves our unreserved support." It was signed by Archbishop Sir John Grindrod, Anglican Primate of Australia, Commissioner Harry Reid of the Salvation Army, the Reverend Ian Tanner, president Uniting Church in Australia, Bishop A.

Baliozian of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Bronwen Meredith, presiding clerk of the Society of Friends. Bishop Gibran of the Antiochian Orthodox Church and the Reverend George Powell, federal conference president of the Churches of Christ GRAHAM McANALLEY, Melbourne. At the same time, it must be said that there are church-related agencies involved in relief and aid which do function efficiently and which are run so as to help rather than hinder Third World (or local) development People should be encouraged to find out about and support these, rather than being put off altogether by the bad smell around the so called Christmas Bowl Appeal itself. For my money, African Enterprise's Ugandan Appeal and World Vision look good value internationally, and the Mission of St James and St John does a great job locally. There would also be others which ensure value for the donor dollar, and for which donations are tax deductible.

Meanwhile perhaps the churches will take a little more interest in the functioning of welfare and aid bodies which are pursuing eccentric agendas. We need a few more like Peter McGregor to blow the whistle when church agencies put political ideology ahead of common sense. IAN HORE-LACY, Toorak. Life and hope from the Reverend G. McAn-alley, president of the Victorian Council of Churches Along with my colleagues, the Anglican Archbishop of Melbourne, the Most Reverend Dr David Penman, and the Moderator of the Uniting Church Synod of Victoria, the Reverend Allan Thompson, I wish to express concern at the letter (1912).

Radicals Should Not Get Christmas Bowl. We wish to join with the heads of national churches who said in a statement issued on 17 December: "We. as heads of member churches of the Australian Council of Churches, commend again the Christmas Bowl Appeal to the people of our churches. What should Australians be thinking about tomorrow? According to Access callers, we should be thinking more about the meaning of Christmas in our lives. Bend your knees People should think of Christ every day, not just on Christmas day.

They should bend their knees to thank Him for the smallest of mercies in a world made difficult by man's sin hypocrisy, covetous-ness, corruption, greed and murder. Then, and only then, will Christmas and Christianity become meaningful. FRANK ROBINS. Gardenvale. Permanent peace My earnest wish for the new year is that every year must be a year of peace, not only 1986.

There is a permanent need for those of us who can influence other nations now at war, to help them keep the peace. Each and everyone of use can do their part BARBARA WILLIAMS, East St Kilda. Love animals Christmas, the time of giving, sharing, loving and caring. Those who are going away should show love and care for their pet dog, cat horse, bird, etc by making reliable arrangements. Animals rely on us to look after them.

CYNTHIA MACE, Rosanna. Back to Christ People should be thinking about Jesus Christ Not only thinking also worshipping and serving him as he is the only one who can give us peace with God and eternal life. JANET WEST EN DORP, Endeavour Hills. Seasonal kindness Last Saturday I took an elderly friend to lunch at the Botanical Gardens. The friendly staff fussed over her and helped with the wheelchair, etc The quality of the food matched the kindness of the staff.

I wish a happy Christmas to them all. STRUAN SUTHERLAND, Brighton. Essential hope Why is Christmas necessary? Christmas was necessary because man chose to walk away from a relationship with God and at Christmas time we remember that God sent Jesus so that we could build a relationship with him again. So the hope of Christmas then is Jesus Christ BRIAN BIRKETT. Dandenong.

PATRICK HAYES Please write letters of no more than 300 words. Shorter letters will receive preference. All letters should be signed and the writer's name and address should be written clearly. Tertiary chaos from M. Marshall I attended three tertiary institutions last week for re-enrolment purposes.

Swinburne Institute of Technology led the way with re-enrolment procedures taking just under an hour. Victoria College, Toorak, was not far behind with a time of one hour 10 minutes. But the prize for almost three hours of chaos and confusion was won by Chisholm Institute of Technology; rumor has it that Chisholm trains Victoria's youth in the skills of organisation and manage- ment MAIRI MARSHALL, Mont Albert Nurses succeeded from I. Bolger, state secretary of the Royal Australian Nursing Federation I was disappointed to read the article by Peter Stephens ('The Age', 2212). One would have expected that after many weeks of unprecedented industrial action that there would be a better understanding of the RANFs position.

If Mr Stephens thinks that nurses did not recognise the overwhelming odds against us after centuries of extreme exploitation he must think that our members are blind fools. To suggest that we have lost our claims and demoralised the membership is ludicrous in the extreme. The original 20 claims are Press Council from D. N. Bowman David McNicoIl (1812) would find it deplorable if the Press Council were to die.

So would many other people. At the time of writing, it still-seems possible that Mr Holmes a Court will upset Mr Murdoch's bid for the Herald and Weekly Times. But should Mr Murdoch succeed, then I believe the Press Council will either be shattered irreparably or, worse, linger on not as a shield for the public but as a fig-leaf for Mr Murdoch. Mr Murdoch wants to control three-quarters of the Australian press. How, in all conscience, would any honest press council be failed to act at critical moment press history.

If Mr Murdoch succeeds now, government intervention will be around the corner. People will realise in time that an outrage has been perpetrated. Governments will then feel free in the name of democracy to impose a statutory press council and any other restrictions that appeal to them. All because Mr Murdoch's lust for empire, and because the Herald board abandoned all but a narrow private duty. And because the Federal Government betrayed its trust D.

N. BOWMAN, Henley (NSW). Unconquered Ireland from A. J. Duffy Bruce Petty's article in Saturday Extra (2012).

entitled Problems of a Political Beginning says: "The Romans regulated from Ireland to the Persian Gulf." Not on your Nelly, Bruce. The Romans never set foot on Ireland. They were terrified of them and gave the place a wide berth. They called them "Scotti" or pirates. ARTS Genuine love It is my belief that the Lord never permits a light of faith to be completely destroyed in any human heart He has provided that there still be a spark which with love and tenderness can glow again.

I wish everyone genuine love and tenderness this season. BETTY HALE, Fairfield. Significant difference On Christmas Day each of us should ponder whether Christ's coming and living among us has made a significant difference to the way we relate to God and our neighbors, including those vulnerable and defenceless, such as babes in the womb and pre-embry-os in the petri dish. SHELAH L'HUILLIER, Macleod. Access letters must be SO words or less.

Lines are open between 8 am and noon, 1 pm and 4 pm weekdays. Missing meals Over the holiday period many old and infirm people will be without proper meals. Council Meals On Wheels should be available seven days a week throughout the year.This is not only humane it is good economics. It would be cheaper than hospital or nursing home accommodation. PAT DUXBURY, East Kew.

Consider others Christmas day thoughts should consider the rights of others. ROLAND GOUGH, South Yarra. Value life We should value human life as sacred, particularly on Christmas day. Therefore we need legislation to protect human embryos and foetuses from both experimentation and abortion. ELIZABETH LAWS, Mordialloc Peace on road If the peace and goodwill of Christmas inspires patience and consideration towards fellow drivers and pedestrians, the road toll, insurance repair costs and premiums could be reduced.

BETTY MILTON, Ringwood. EDITED BY MICHAEL SHMITH Howard the Duck, the feathered star of 'Howard: A New Breed of Hero' (Russell) is closer. This truly awful film concerns the misadventures of our quacking hero who accidentally beamed from his duck-world somewhere on the other side of the universe to Earth. Once there, he attracts considerable attention, gains a human girlfriend, and gets everybody into a lot of trouble. He also (it is discovered) carries a condom in his wallet I suppose billfold is a better word.

It says everything about 'Howard' that the only reasonable question it creates (apart from the genealogy of its diminutive star) is why on earth a duck and not a drake carries a condom. Perhaps Howard is a drake in drag: a transvesduck. The one gimmick in this film wears thin almost from the moment Howard lands on earth. By the end, this creature with a mobile bill, scrawny body, and with a voice like Humphrey Bogart proves irritating beyond belief. Also, Howard has the glassy eyes of a doll and an artificiality that even his brusque, wise-quacking manner cannot quite conceal.

In spite of its cutie approach, 'Howard' is not a film for children. Nor for adults, really. MICHAEL SHMITH faf from M. Henry, national director of Community Aid Abroad The recent attacks on the Christmas Bowl Appeal are unfortunate and misguided. Helping people in developing-countries often requires the direct relief of suffering.

Australians have responded generously to appeals from aid agencies to support relief projects and the Christmas Bowl Appeal is a timely opportunity to respond again. Effective development assistance also involves support for some projects that go beyond relief and which assist poor people to address the causes of their poverty. This involves helping people to help each other and it can mean, that they start to pursue access to decisions and resources previously denied them. These projects can cause changes which promote community independence and growth. If successful, they reduce the future need for relief projects.

It is not radical or dangerous to support development projects which cause change. It is a sensible and necessary part of a long-term commitment to help people help themselves. The Christmas Bowl Appeal offers Australians another opportunity to demonstrate their support for that commitment. MICHAEL HENRY, Fitzroy. Blow the whistle from I.

Hore-Lacy In response to your article about the Christmas Bowl Appeal (1612) and Letters (1912), Peter McGregor is to be applauded for bringing to bear some objective scrutiny on this issue. I believe many church people are not sufficiently critical of what is undertaken in their name. VICE-REGAL FEDERAL The Governor-General. Sir Ninian Stephen, received Sir Guy Powles. former Chief Ombudsman of New Zealand, al 4 Treasury Place.

Melbourne, yesterday morning. TEXT FOR TODAY "If anyone declares publicly that he belongs to me, 1 will do the same for him before my Father in 10:32 (GNB) 'Lear' has mixed blessings REPORT YOU CAN barely get a ticket before March. Melvyn Bragg is making a documentary. There was a tout at the door and people queuing to stand. Despite not being a musical, the National Theatre 'King Lear' is the hottest ticket since 'Phantom of the Opera'.

Daughters anxious to avoid the fate of Cordelia might do worse than offer their dads a pair of stalls seats. Lear fever is both a pleasure and a threat to the National. "The sense of event is unnerving. After all, it's only a play." said the director, David Hare. Sir Peter Hall, director of the National Theatre, said at the opening last week that he was not surprised by the attention surrounding the production "There are certain operas and certain plays which produce this reaction and Lear is one of them" but he regretted so much depended on one night There are two main reasons for the excitement surrounding the production.

In the lead role, Anthony Hopkins, the Welsh actor who shares a birthplace, physique and vocal mannerisms with the late Richard Burton, was attempting to re-establish himself among the first rank of Shakespearean actors. He has not played Shakespeare on the stage since 1973, when he walked out on a production of 'Macbeth' and went to Hollywood. His years of filming and drinking in America seemed to be a parallel to the career of Burton. Just as it is traditional for actors to work gradually up to the role of Lear, so it is customary for directors to begin with the comedies and gradually, in middle age, tackle the tragedies. David Hare, however, had never before directed a play by Shakespeare.

Directing is his secondary profession (be is best known as a writer). On the evidence of the first night, the production displays Hare's strengths (an elegance of line and ease of speech) and his weaknesses (a disconcerting coolness which seems unwilling to involve the audience). Hopkins has adopted a gruff voice, with a distinct shadow of the Valleys. The National Theatre, whose repertoire is top-heavy with soggy comedies, needs a critical box office hit: there is something about this production which suggests that it will succes d'estime and that the touts will not be needed at the later performances. The Independent Fistful of cliches in Dirty Highway's war catharsis Ireland was the only country in Western Europe not to succumb to the Roman conquest Perhaps you were confusing the Romans with the Celts whose empire did extend from Ireland to Persia when the Romans were running messages for the Greeks.

Besides, the Irish have always been deregulated. They were the first to deregulate regulations. A. J. DUFFY.

Collingwood. a in imnw -v- v-v able to defend the freedom of press so largely shackled to the views and attitudes of one man, and a foreign citizen at that? In any case, does anyone imagine that with so huge a stake Mr Murdoch would accept a genuinely independent council to pass judgment on him? There are various ways of reducing the council to a cipher: by appointing a tame chairman and picking tame public members; by starving the council of funds and limiting its work as now; by having three-quarters of the press treat its existence as unimportant. The Press Council failed to stand up at a critical moment in artists ure shown with arms fully extended. Both of these images are fused in one of his 1985 paintings, 'Homage to Goya'. The burden of this should not be passed over.

Far from being an artist of political commitment Counihan was primarily concerned with the basic tragedy of the human condition. The address of his art is by no means limited to those who share his political convictions. Counihan's strengths as a graphic artist enabled him to produce a multitude of striking Images. From the early '40s works which recalled the Depression years to the Opoul works of the early '80s, his works lodge themselves in one's memory with all the force of a painful personal experience A handful of works Illustrated here indicate that Counihan was in the process of renewing his art in the last years of his life. Reproductions often give an inaccurate impression of these matters, but in paintings like 'Beirut' and 'Darkening Bay' (both from 1983) we see works which live In terms of their surface as well as their image.

This is the development that was cut short by the artist's recent death. A detail from Noel Counihan's 1983 acrylic 'Beirut work that lives in terms of its surface as well as its image. Sergeant Highway (Clint Eastwood) drags one of his platoon mem' bers through a training exercise. methods of two THEY don't build 'em like Clint Eastwood any more. His brand of lean, raw-boned and lone screen hero has been replaced by Hollywood's prettier, street-smart party set They are at home in low-profile sports cars not tall in the saddle and the closest they come to leather chaps and six-guns is designer blousons and natty, silenced automatics.

In 'Heartbreak Ridge' (Village), director Eastwood plays Gunnery Sergeant Tom Highway, a tough, grizzled veteran of Korea and Vietnam. The movie, set in 1983, opens to newsreel footage of the Korean War while Don Gibson sings his old country hit 'Sea Of Heartbreak' love and loneliness In uniform. Highway sports a fruit salad of combat medals, including the Congressional Medal of Honor, awarded for single-handed bravery on that ridge in Korea. But apart from the odd war buddy, the marines now regard him as an anachronism. He gets drunk and invariably ends up fighting and in jail.

When Highway is posted to train his old reconnaissance platoon, the young battalion, major is not impressed: "You should be sealed in a cage marked 'Don't break glass until time of If Highway steps out of line, he'll be out warns the major, a by-the-book man. Highway, naturally, has no time for rules. He wants to lick his young, rebellious platoon into fighting shape any way he can, educate their bumbling junior officer and regain his lost love, ex-wife Marsha Mason. Eastwood draws on every cliche in Hollywood's GI manual: his young charges are just bound to love him when he has outsmarted and outfought them; his ex-wife will want him back eventually (he is boning up on relationships from women's magazines); and he will be a war hero again when the battalion lands in Grenada to rescue US students from the communist revolutionaries. Sergeant Highway is a cross between Eastwood's "man without a name" of the spaghetti westerns and 'Dirty Harry', his violent San Francisco police detective.

Here, the Eastwood loner is supposed to become a social animal by earning the respect and affection of his jive-talking platoon. The fact that Grenada was a sorry example of President Reagan's gunboat diplomacy is of no consequence to right-wingers like Altered LLOYD REES ETCHINGS AND LITHOGRAPHS, by Hendrik Ko-lenberg (Beale Press; $39.95 case bound). NOEL COUN1HAN, by Janet McKenzie (Kangaroo Press; LLOYD Rees is one of the few Australian artists whose work has steadily improved through the whole length of bis career. As all but two of the works documented by Hendrik Kolenberg in his catalogue raisonne of the artist's etchings and lithographs were created in the past decade, Rees's graphic works are of special interest to all students of Australian art Like his paintings of this period, these works show that Rees has become increasingly preoccupied with light and atmosphere. The artist who began as a rather timid delineator of both real and imaginary architectural subjects has become, in his old age, a passionate believer in the power of light to transfigure the world.

Rather surprisingly, Rees was initially reluctant to take up print making. As Lou Klepac observes in his introduction to the study, it was only by persistently cajoling FILMS Eastwood. But then, John Wayne made 'The Green Berets' at a time when US campuses were boiling over with protests against the Vietnam War. Eastwood, however, went too far in 'Heartbreak Ridge'. The US Marines, who participated heavily in the movie, withdrew their support after seeing footage of Sergeant Highway shooting a wounded Cuban solider in the back during the Caribbean skirmish.

Dirty Harry got away with that sort of thing, and so does Sergeant Highway. The platoon earns a brass band welcome and the sergeant wins back his lost love, as you knew he would all along. There are no surprises in films like 'Heartbreak Ridge', only catharsis. Like war and contact sport, they release the pent-up aggression of adolescent males. Never mind the cliches, feel the muscle.

And watch the dollars roll in by the fistful. MIKE DALY I I HAT'S a metre tall, has a I I protruding mouth and Ulf makes smart remarks? John Howard would be close, but with the 10 works (six of which are in color) which form the later Sandy Bay Set Just like the artist's later and increasingly luminous paintings, these relaxed and seemingly off-hand images present us with a landscape which is not just bathed In light but actually constituted from it Janet McKenzie's essay on the work of the late Noel Counihan is largely concerned with emphasising the manner in which the artist persistently returned to three basic thematic concerns those of war, women, and the contrast between youth and age. Counihan's work has long been seen in opposition to that produced by the various artists grouped around 'Angry Penguins'. While there are certainly good reasons for this, one has only to glance at the 38 works McKenzie reproduces to see that Counihan had one important thing in common with Nolan, Tucker and Boyd. His work is also carried by obsessively recurring images.

The two most important of these images are the desolate and grief-stricken individual whose eyes resemble two bottomless holes of suffering (look at his 1977 ink drawing, 'Images of Lear') and the equally grief-stricken fig ART BOOKS GARYCATALAN0 Rees that the proprietors of Port Jackson Press prevailed on him to produce the six soft-ground etchings which comprise the 'Memories of Europe' suite in 1976. These etchings were the first Rees had produced for more than 50 years and formed, in effect his introduction to the medium. In his catalogue details to these works, Kolenberg provides us with an invaluable insight into Rees's tentativeness, for he points out that three of the six designs were composed some 20 years earlier. An old fund of unused imagery bought the artist a certain peace of mind as he tackled a new task. Lou Klepac is right to prefer the lithographs for their amplitude and expansiveness, though I think he makes a mistake in suggesting that the 'Caloola' suite of 1980 may be Rees's major graphic achievement Impressive as these six lithographs certainly are, their imposing and monumental forms indicate that they belong to an earlier phase of Rees's vision.

This is certainly not the case.