Crabb suggested that "the people" might have voted at that election with the intention of achieving just such a Parliament, although her evidence in support of the suggestion appears to be extremely tenuous.

Certainly I am not aware that electors got together before the 2016 federal election to co-ordinate their votes with the above intention in mind. Unfortunately, Crabb is not the only political journalist helping to give currency to unsubstantiated theories in line with her suggestion.

D.McNeill, Rivett

I refer to the article "European battlefields provide lessons for Anzac Prize students" in the Canberra Times last Sunday.

We travelled on the same tour of the Western Front as Elizabeth Dykstra and Ella Kruger and two of their teachers from Campbell High School.

It was a pleasure to travel with them and to hear and read their prize-winning work. Both Elizabeth and Ella are great ambassadors for the ACT and are a credit to their school and their generation.

L.and B.Roberts, Kaleen

Mark Kenny should stick to covering the antics of parliamentary question time. He's good at that. What he is not so good at is 20th century history, which he appears to get from the back of his cereal boxes ("Politics a fertile field for beat-ups", August 28, p19).

This is evident when he says that after Joseph Goebbels arrived in Berlin in 1927 he focused on "ratcheting up the resentments of workers".

Kenny might like to reflect upon the fact that with the destruction of the German economy in the 1920s, and the strong perception that the liberal government of the Weimar republic had betrayed German working people, there was not much "ratcheting" for Goebbels to do.

Extremism on the left and right of German politics was the outgrowth of resentments arising from profoundly shocking realities, including mass starvation, not the confected creation of Nazi propaganda.

Curiously, Kenny notes that Goebbels held the first Nazi rally in the very same region as the rallies held by the communists. He says this implying that Goebbels' decision to hold the rally there was somehow an illegitimate provocation to the Bolshevik-inspired and funded communist revolutionaries. According to Kenny, the naughty Goebbels even conspired to create physical confrontation with the cuddly communists.

From his sheltered perspective at the press gallery, it is perhaps no surprise that Kenny does not comprehend the existential threat that communism represented to Germany in the 1920s but there are history books. He should try reading them.

Greg Ellis, Murrumbateman, NSW

What a sweet irony that British Prime Minister Theresa May, the Iron Lady's successor, is determined to examine the "difficult truth" by "shining a light on injustices as never before" ("Britain to examine whites' plight", August 28, p16).

Stating she wants to "make this country work for everyone, not just a privileged few", will have establishment figures running for cover and busying themselves with schemes to have her thrown in the Tower, as a traitor to the cause.

Since Thatcher, and her merry billionaire neocon lackeys, the city (London's offshore, tax-evading privileged, untouchable corporations) financiers have become bloated on their exponentially appropriated wealth, principally at the expense of the great unwashed masses, from whose labours their wealth has grown.

Never has the thought crossed their minds that they should perhaps render to Caesar a little of their ill-gotten gains, by way of taxes. The criminal justice system fills the role of protecting the oligarchs' booty, as is well illustrated by the outcome of Northern Rock collapse and the Royal Bank of Scotland debacle, with debts of £24.1billion.

RBS chief Fred Goodwin, whose 2008 base salary was £1.3million, refused, even when leant on by Gordon Brown, to forgo some of his benefits. Subsequently, he and his henchmen escaped any censure.

One has to wish Theresa May luck in attempting the Herculean task of cleaning this Augean stable, and returning some of the plutocrats' ill-appropriated plunder to the lumpenproletariat.

Albert M. White, Queanbeyan

The ACT government has said the development to the west of Tuggeranong's retail and employment hub would "breathe new life into the town centre and help stimulate urban renewal in the area".

While this sounds good, the proposed development of a new suburb is within the Murrumbidgee River corridor. Any development here would be at odds with the National Capital Open Space System, which is designed to protect and enhance the environmental quality, landscape setting and the natural and cultural resources of the river corridor.

It is to be conserved as an important national resource and a key open space element, which provides a definable edge to developed urban areas. The policy states that it will be protected from urban encroachment and inappropriate development.

So, with the ability to breathe new life into the Tuggeranong Town Centre achievable by implementing the recommendations of the 2012 Tuggeranong Town Centre Master Plan, where is the justification for the radical policy change to now urbanise the river corridor?

Andrew Worel, Monash

I have just received two medical reports from appointments four months ago ... after multiple follow-ups by my GP. Both reports relate to debilitating, degenerative conditions, and both recommend additional treatment. I struggle with severe pain and try to avoid reliance on opiates.

Previously, I strongly supported our public healthcare system as it has saved my life. But I notice a significant cliff-fall in services provided.

My GP wastes her precious time doing follow-through that should be automatic. I've needed to contact senior health officials several times to clarify misleading and false statements made by ACT Health staff.

What's going on? And why?

Judy Bamberger, O'Connor

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