The next issue Daliah might tackle on her way to becoming Prime Minister is the high sugar content of many cereals.

Kellogg's Nutrigrain has 26.7 per cent sugar versus Uncle Toby's Vita Brits at 0.4 per cent.

Too much sugar and salt in our diet will lead to many more people suffering from diabetes, obesity, heart attacks and so on, thus making it probable that this generation will have a shorter average lifespan and lower level of good health than recent generations in the developed world.

Daliah has reminded us all that "people power" can make giant corporations and governments change bad practices and policies.

John Brummell, Duffy

It is alarming to read that a Norwegian company, Equinor, "plans to explore for oil in the Great Australian Bight" (The Canberra Times, November 4). This should concern us all as the risks of an oil spill with massive ensuing damage to the Basin ecosystem is obvious despite the government's assertions that it can be done safely.

One question in all this that doesn't seem to have been asked is whether Australia really needs the oil?

The increasing use of fracking and the major efforts being made to reduce our dependence on oil (electric cars and improved public transport included) may mean the proposal is not really economically sound anyway.

Given they are one of the few nations still killing whales deliberately, it is ironic that it is now Norwegians who propose to drill the Bight and threaten this important whale sanctuary!

Timothy Walsh, Garran

Just give me a justification for this outrageous waste!

Half a billion to remember, like, "to make sure we never forget our veterans ... blah blah ..." was forwarded on evening news.

How about we do something for our remaining surviving veterans who often can't afford the basics in spite of their selfless often debilitating deeds, leaving them disabled on many levels, for this outrageous amount of taxpayers' money. Just imagine the positive changes we could create in their lives, instead of just glorifying the memories with dead high-tech museum artefacts!

Surely, I am not the only one being outraged?!

M Blazevic, Fraser

I agree wholeheartedly with Jack Waterford that it is "Time to pull the curtain on memorial industry" (The Canberra Times, November 2).

For over a century Australian soldiers have died in wars that have been fought in the service of the British Monarchy and the American Presidency. Our blind obedience to our allies was best summed up in September 1939 when Robert Menzies announced that "Great Britain has declared war on [Germany] and that, as a result, Australia is also at war".

In all cases, other than the Pacific theatre of World War II, these conflicts have been far from our shores (generally in the northern hemisphere) and have not involved any threat to Australian territory.

While Donald Trump remains in the White House there is a distinct possibility that another conflict will break out (probably in the Middle East) and Australian troops will join our American allies in the fighting.

Such a conflict would allow Trump to join the club of wartime presidents alongside Lincoln, Roosevelt, Johnson, and the Bushes. It would also make many of his golfing buddies richer. Better make sure there is room to commemorate Gulf War III on the AWM site, Brendon.

Mike Reddy, Curtin

I feel sad and sorry to read Ms Jane Halton's comments saying "gambling not as bad as smoking" (Letters, November 8).

While Ms Halton has been top bureaucrat of the Commonwealth Department of Health that prides in its mission statement of "Achieving Better Health and Welfare for all Australians", a statement as that of Ms Halton's in The Canberra Times is blatantly contrary and extremely counterproductive for achieving welfare of Australians.

In Australia, an estimated number of 200-300 suicides are attributed to gambling each year.

It also accounts for over 10,000 accounts and banking-related fraud, 200-300 houses being sold to clear gambling debt, many children become orphans, women lose their partners, and many families are destroyed.

So-called community funding through gambling income is like a drop in the ocean compared with damage to human life and society that gambling imparts.

Ms Halton should know better that gambling is an ill of our society.

It is worse than drugs, alcohol and tobacco and not only kills people but also destroys lives and families and makes children and vulnerable people homeless and destitute.

In the name of allocating meagre dollars to community projects gambling imparts huge damage to people, families and society.

There should be no place for gambling in modern society.

Mlrr Singh, Phillip

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