Gillard and the AWU slush fund

Mike of WA writes: Re. “Gillard and the AWU slush fund: sorting the smoke from the fire” (Friday). Julia Gillard needs to respond and put to rest the whole affair — it will never go away if she only responds piecemeal bit by bit

I am an old (and hopefully wise man) but I was brought up to speak and answer questions truthfully.

Maggie Ward writes: What a load of codswallpop. What information do you need to open your eyes? I am sorry you backed a dud horse but you have walked into this with eyes wide open.

Gillard needs to answers questions that have been asked. Perhaps with her trust in you, she may answer the questions correctly. This is about getting money returned to members of the AWU, some hardworking people with families who struggle to pay union dues.

John Leahy writes: With large sections of the media devoting much space to stories about the AWU “slush fund”, and the rantings of Andrew Bolt and his ilk, is it time to rename the Walkey Awards the “Sean Hannitys”?

Know your Nobel Prizes

Mark Tregonning writes: Re. “Come in Spinner: bad news for pundits who predict false prophecies” (Friday). In Crikey‘s “Come in Spinner” story, the writer refers to the “Nobel Prize in Economics”.

In fact, there is no such thing. The five real Nobel Prizes: Peace, Literature, Chemistry, Physics and Medicine were established by Nobel in 1901.

The “Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in memory of Alfred Nobel” (which presumably he meant) was established by the Swedish Central Bank in 1969 from their own donations. It has overwhelmingly been awarded to neo-liberal economists who support basic capitalist agendas, and can therefore be seen to have an ideological slant quite contrary to the other prizes.