Steffen and Norman would like us to think that they are objective analysts. Well, we can judge their objectivity by the way they characterise the debate: they wax lyrical about the benefits of light rail ("urban transformation, major economic, employment, social and environmental benefits"), while accusing their opponents of promoting a "toxic, partisan, adversarial atmosphere". Such toxic unpersons would presumably be excluded from "calm, considered, informed community discussion" which they advocate. We are fortunate indeed to be blessed with such profound thinkers.

Alan Cowan, Yarralumla

The petulant tone of those opposed to light rail continues unabated. Any and every argument seems to be used, no matter how fatuous or trivial. It almost seems like a concerted campaign. The need for a light rail system in Canberra is a no-brainer. Similar cities all around the world are either turning to, or returning to, light rail.

There are several reasons for this trend. Perhaps most basic is that passengers like light rail. Thus the Swedes, masters of modernity and innovation, are investing heavily in light rail. I would like to see the political opportunists either declare their interest or withdraw from the discussion. At the moment the constant negativity is tiresome.

Elizabeth Morris, Curtin

Has anyone else noticed that the sun is broken? June 22 was supposed to be the solstice. On that morning the sun rose at 7.12am, and at the same time on June 23. Now days are supposed to be getting longer. But it rose at 7.13 on Wednesday 24. Googling Canberra sunrise and sunset times shows the sun ignores the solstice until around July 7, when it finally starts rising earlier.

Is this sun's way of counteracting the earth's warming, by sending less heat? Is it part of the one percenters' effort, as most of them live in the northern hemisphere, to quietly keep a little more of the sun for themselves?

Has Islamic State found at Palmyra in the ancient astronomical symbols a way of getting back at us for taking away their citizenship? Is it the sun's way of getting back at The Canberra Times for no longer printing the rising and setting times of its planets?

Why are R.S. Gilbert and H. Ronald silent every year on this very worrying phenomenon?

Ned Noel, Wamboin, NSW

The suspension by the SANZAR judiciary of Henry Speight for five weeks is the most despicable and unjustifiable penalty yet imposed on a player. The judiciary should first of all check on the definition of "lifting". Speight did not lift his opponent , he just cast him aside as one would with a bag of rubbish. That the player landed awkwardly was not Speight's fault or problem. It is interesting to note that the judiciary has come out in support of all the on-field officials and TMO involved in that match each and every one of them being South African; not to mention the fact that the suspension will cover the first match of the Wallabies against the Springboks.

Readers can draw their own conclusions.

N. Bailey, Nicholls

Martin Leonard (Letters, June 24) appears to be arguing that the Colonial Police Force of Victoria was full of upright outstanding citizens, totally incorruptible. Most reliable historians beg to differ – Ian Jones prominent among them. A similar situation was occurring in NSW. Constables were ex-convicts, others were drunk on duty, currying favours with the squattocracy and making false stock dealing charges to be heard by squattocracy magistrates.

The police leadership, many ex-British Army officers, were by all accounts often incompetent. That is not to say all police were unsuitable for their occupation, nor to claim that all inspectors and higher ranks were bungling idiots. Constable Alexander Fitzpatrick was one of the better known examples of corruption, and he had a key part in demonstrating poor police behaviour.

Recently arrived in the district, he rode alone, against orders, and in a drunken state to the Kelly home at Greta to arrest Dan Kelly and, initially not receiving the information sought of Dan' s whereabouts, proceeded to make rough and un-wanted advances on Kate Kelly. For his efforts he allegedly received a minor shot in his hand from a late arriving Ned, and a smack over the head from a shovel wielded by Ellen Kelly in defence of Kate. At trial, the word of others at the scene were discounted by the judges who believed Fitzpatrick. ... he was wearing the Queen's uniform.

The 1881 Royal Commission referred to by Mr Leonard was told by the good constable himself that before his dismissal from the force, he had pleaded guilty to numerous internal charges, mostly involving drunkenness and false evidence.

The doctor who treated the alleged gunshot wound told the Commission he discounted the description of the wounds at the subsequent trial and stated Fitzpatrick smelt of brandy hours after the alleged shooting. Needless to say the Commission, acting on its carefully worded Terms of Reference, found no systemic problems in the way the Victorian police acted in the Kelly saga up to Glenrowan. Such is Life.

W.A. Brown, Holt

Margaret Thornton ("John Wanna out of his depth on human rights law", Times2, June 24, p5) thinks Human Rights Commissioner Gillian Twigg's recent public comments that annoyed the Government were within her charter under human rights law. Maybe, maybe not. But the controversy her comments raised does pose the question whether "human rights" is a subject that lends itself to legislation anyway – whether the nebulous nature of the concepts involved and the scope for vastly different interpretations of such things as age, sex, racial or disability discrimination, make it impossible to have human rights law that has the clarity and precision that good law requires.

And if there is to be law about human rights, as "rights and responsibilities" go hand-in-hand, is it a good thing to have such law without also having law about human responsibilities?

R.S. Gilbert, Braddon

Will we ever see an end to idiot truck drivers rolling their vehicles with a result like that on Monday ("150 sheep put down after truck spills at roundabout", June 23, p2)?

The physics are very simple. The overturning force varies with the square of the speed and inversely with the rate of turn: ie, the tighter the turn and the faster the entry speed, the greater the risk of disaster.

As speed is the dominant factor, slowing down to a walking pace when making aturn or negotiating a roundabout would eliminate the risk. A notice on the rear of the truck, "Slowing for a safer turn", plus a sketch of a truck on its side, should calm the impatience of other road users.

Colin Glover, Canberra City

The Prime Minister is obviously set on having inquiry after inquiry into the alleged health effects of wind-farm turbines until he finds someone, somewhere willing to tell him want he wants to hear.

Never mind that not one science or medical-based inquiry in the world has found any evidence of the health effects alleged by opponents.

As with the most important issue in the world today, cutting or eliminating greenhouse gas emissions to limit the extent to which we are changing our climate and accelerating global sea level rises, the government seems to be under the delusion that wishing will make it so.

In 2013, I stood beside a huge wind turbine supplying electricity to the main port and town on the Orkney Islands, off Scotland's north-east coast. Isuffered no ill-effects.

I marvelled that the people of Orkney generate much of their electricity from wind turbines, despite their proximity to the North Sea oiland gasfields.

Rod Olsen, Flynn

Those defending the ABC on the basis of freedom of speech for selecting Zaky Mallah to appear on Q&A are partly right. I agree that people such as Mallah have a right to be bigots (within some boundaries) without fear of being hauled before a judge. However, an important distinction lost on many is that freedom of expression does not guarantee bigots the right to an audience.

This matter is more a reflection on the poor judgment of our national broadcaster rather than a cause celebre for freedom of speech. Providing a known terrorist sympathiser, outspoken extremist and vile mysogynist a platform on its premier live talk show to score a few cheap points against the government was unnecessarily provocative in my view. The ABC could easily have found an alternative but courted controversy with a loose cannon and in this case it ended in tears.

H.Ronald, Jerrabomberra, NSW

Further to your editorial ("Televised tempest in a teacup" (Times2, June 25, p2), with which I fully concur, I believe that Tony Abbott, a dual national himself, is doing the country a tremendous disservice by effectively enabling Zaky Mallah to become the pin-up poster of would-be Australian jihadists.

Lefties (and I probably qualify according to our PM's yardstick) have rallied to defend our ABC and criticise one of the most bigoted PMs this country has had. His belligerent and confrontationist approach to problem-solving and policymaking and his castigation of the ABC are dividing the country and giving credibility to Mallah's unfortunate words.

I, for one, would not want to live in a country where the government tells the people's own broadcaster what to say.

John Rodriguez, Florey

If I ate muesli, I'd likely have choked on it when I read in your story ("Abbott faces Libs' heat over emissions", June 25, p1) that a Liberal moderate said a group of Liberals should have an audience with the Pope, so they can "be brought up to speed by a new age person living in this century".

Clearly, the Pope lives in this century. However, he is the head of a messianistic cult which oppresses women, covers up serious crimes, is overstaffed with child molesters, and which operates on beliefs drawn from late Bronze Age fairytales.

Why any thinking person would seek this person's counsel is puzzling. The idea that Australian legislators seek to do so is frightening.

Peter Moran, Watson

Apropos the coal versus renewables debate for production of energy, I remember our chemistry teacher demonstrating the distillation of coal into its component parts, which included ammonia which is used in fertilisers, antiseptics such as creosote, the pain reliever paracetemol, coke for the industrial production of metals from their ores, plastics and the useful inflammable coal gas.

The teacher remarked that perhaps in the future, the wasteful use of coal as a simple fuel to boil water to make electricity would be looked upon with amazement. Australia is rich in deposits of this complex organic legacy, and to use it to increase global temperatures to dangerous levels by burning it in power stations, when alternatives are available, does seem inadvisable.

Harry Davis, Campbell

Ross Gittins ("Young hit by hiring freezes", Times2, June 24, p4) says that "it's a common at such times for young people to be caught in a trap where they can't get a job because they lack experience, but they lack experience because they can't get a job". TAFE institutions around Australia are struggling under the impact of state budget cuts, and underfunding.

Universities are unaffordable for many potential students, and have become businesses for international students. Net overseas migration is running at some 240,000 a year, but jobs are not being created to match.

There's no cap on the number of temporary migrants. Each state advertises the "need" for skilled migrants, but our own human resources are being overlooked and discarded on the unemployment heap.

Successive governments have argued that high migration is beneficial because the migration program is targeting skills not available in Australia, but this is not the case. It's cyclic argument that creates long-term skills shortages and unemployment.

The ease of obtaining the already skilled means that investment in skill training/higher education is underfunded. Any genuine skills shortages should be addressed by creating courses that are fine-tuned to produce appropriate skilled/qualified local graduates, rather than fill them with overseas applicants!

Vivienne Ortega, Heidelberg Heights, Vic

I was dismayed to read that Nobel laureate Professor Brian Schmidt is leaving his research work to take up the post of ANU vice-chancellor ("ANU's next leader willing to make the 'hard decisions", June 25, p2).

For a person of his outstanding ability and expertise to forsake research to become just another dime-a-dozen administrator is a waste.

To make matters worse I believe he intends to follow a "similar strategic plan " to that of the outgoing vice-chancellor Professor Ian Young .

The next five years at the ANU , should prove to be lively ones if nothing else !

Mario Stivala, Spence

Alas, Anne Goyne (Letters, June 24), it is deeply unfortunate but true that no matter how egregious the abuse of power and authority they expose, whistleblowers always come off second best, even if the employer, at the highest level, professes public support for their honesty and courage.

The obligatory early support invariably fades after the caravan has moved on; meanwhile the whistleblowers are ostracised, stealthily marginalised and their careers either plateau or end in early resignation. This, by the way, is the sad experience in workplaces in every walk of life.

I fervently hope this will not be the fate of Constable Litchfield; time will tell. However, I do agree with Anne that Constable Litchfield deserves a medal, but that would require courage equal to hers to strike one, would it not?

A.M. Whiddett, Yarralumla

TRUTH IN DEMAND

We're on a slippery slope with all these demands for the truth ("Shorten apologises for on-air lying", June 25, p4): first Parliament demands it, now Neil Mitchell wants it. Next thing you know the public will be clamouring too.

Bob Gardiner, Isabella Plains

How refreshing to learn a politician has admitted to telling a lie. I wonder if Tony Abbott will admit to misleading the public with broken promises in order to gain power in 2013.

Robyn Lewis, Raglan, NSW

HEATED DEBATE

Nothing H. Ronald says (Letters, June 25) bears any relationship to what has been happening on Earth. No peer-reviewed scientific paper has ever made any of the predictions he lists in his first paragraph. And for the last 15 years the global average surface temperature has continued to trend upwards, with no statistically significant change in the rate of increase over the last 40 years.

Paul Pentony, Hackett

NAME CALLING

According to H. Ronald, last week I was a member of the chattering classes. This week I am not a sensible person. I wonder what he will call myself and other people who don't agree with him next week!

Janet Reynolds, Greenleigh, NSW

STATISTICS SAY

In their re-analysis of the light rail poll ("Light rail poll: Liberals' views should not be counted", Times2, June 25, p5), Will Steffen and Barbara Norman removed Liberal voters from the analysis and found that 51.9 per cent supported light rail. Following their lead, I removed all respondents who supported light rail and found that 100 per cent opposed it!

David Pederson, O'Connor

LAUGHING STOCK

With the passage of the reduction of the Renewable Energy Target legislation and subsequent employment prospects, we are now the international laughing stock, especially with the burning of our native forests to produce electricity approved. This LNP government are certified fossil fools.

Colin Handley, Lyneham

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

We are told that the site for the national capital was chosen partly because of the cold climate which would stimulate the pollies brains and cause them to make wise decisions. Last week, as we enjoyed those stimulating frosts followed by beautiful winter days, we saw the mass exodus of the pollies for the six-week winter break.

Does this explain something?

Tony Dewar, Gilmore

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