Second is the off-the-cuff tearful response to a television reporter by Malcolm Turnbull on emerging from a memorial service at St Mary's Cathedral. He talked not about the need for greater security or retribution, but about the upswelling of love and unity of Australian people from all walks of life. Such is the sentiment many would like to see expressed by the Australian Prime Minister in these difficult times.

If we were citizens of the world as well as of Australia, similar feelings would be articulated for the young children murdered in a callous, cowardly and anti-Muslim way by the Taliban in a Pakistani school ("Children killed in a Taliban attack", December 17, p11).

Human evil was described by the Scottish poet Robert Burns in his immortal dirge Man Was Made to Mourn: "Man's inhumanity to man / Makes countless thousands mourn".

Bryan Furnass, Hughes

I received an email from a long-time Iranian-born friend from Boston, saying how pleased she was that the Martin Place hostage episode was over. Then she added a final note: "PS, why was this guy not behind bars for all the crimes he was responsible for? Suspected of killing his ex-wife, etc?"

I was going to explain with some embarrassment that Australia is the world's No. 1 nanny state, dominated by decades of false multicultural charades, over-governed, over-controlled, populated by third-rate, self-serving politicians, all being reflected in double standards of the law and excesses right across the board.

I was tempted to explain 14 days of cricket-related brouhaha, but she would not have understood that. Then I thought I'd mention 200 years of Aboriginal mismanagement and blackmail by 2.4 per cent of our population, the tolerated two-flag society and the gross superannuation scheme for federal politicians. No thinking person would have understood those irrational aberrations, so I just couldn't reply.

Rhys Stanley, via Hall, NSW

Yes, we mourn the two hostages killed in Martin Place and the 125 school children killed in Pakistan a day later.

While we are mourning, let's not forget the 100,000-plus Iraqi civilians killed since the so-called coalition of the willing invasion in 2003, which I opposed publicly as a then Liberal party member on invasion day and in 2002 within the party.

We also should mourn the Afghans killed in the murderous Soviet invasion in 1979 and later by the NATO/coalition invasion.

What has been the outcome of all this political incompetence? Chaos. Politicians who make incompetent decisions concerning war should be put on trial. This process should have started with Billy Hughes in 1919, finishing with John Howard a few years ago.

Adrian Jackson, Middle Park, Vic

As horrific as the Sydney siege was, it pales alongside the massacre in Peshawar, Pakistan, where 140 people were killed, mostly children, by the Taliban ("Dozens of students killed in Pakistani Taliban attack on Peshawar school", canberratimes.com.au, December 17).

Many of the children killed were from army families, so we may assume that it was retribution for the army's actions against the Taliban in Peshawar.

It appears it was also an act of revenge for Malala Yousafzai's winning of the Nobel Peace Prize. Malala was shot by the Taliban for advocating the importance of education, particularly girls' education. I gather she is devastated.

While our hearts go out to the families of Katrina Dawson and Tori Johnson, so too we must share the grief of the victims' families following this barbaric act by the Taliban.

Jenny Goldie, Michelago, NSW

I could not disagree more strongly with Senator David Leyonhjelm's ludicrous assertion that arming Australians would make us safer.

How could we possibly want to emulate the madness of the United States' lax gun-control laws and resultant huge gun-related death toll and all-too-frequent school massacres?

For once I agree with Tony Abbott (as with John Howard after the Port Arthur massacre) that reducing the ownership of weapons, especially high-velocity repeat-action firearms, and regulating gun importation and ownership more tightly are the only rational ways to keep the community safe.

Greater political representation by the US-inspired gun lobby in states such as NSW and the resultant permitting of shooting, including by children, in its national parks is already a disturbing trend in the wrong direction.

The number of firearms has reportedly now risen to levels similar to those before Port Arthur.

A sensible review of the adequacy of gun laws throughout the nation is overdue.

Lois Wishart, Hughes

Aside from the flawed logic of his call to arm the citizenry for their own protection and the dismal failure of such policies evident in the United States' appalling rate of firearm-related fatalities, Senator David Leyonhjelm should acknowledge that, in practice, the carrying of concealed weapons is not acceptable to the majority of Americans.

In states where it is technically sanctioned by law, government facilities and private businesses, especially shops, cafes and – surprise! – banks, display a "No guns" sign at the door, often quaintly teamed with a "No smoking" sign.

Gaynor Morgan, Braddon

Senator David Leyonhjelm's solution to one "nutcase" with a gun seems to be to let every nutcase have a gun.

Peter Edsor, Bungendore, NSW

David Leyonhjelm's comments on gun control demonstrate the pitfalls of electing independents to our national parliament, let alone giving them media air time.

The pro-gun lobby argues that guns don't kill people: people kill people.

The fact is that people with guns kill many more people than people without guns. Look at the US gun death statistics, Senator.

John Grant, Gowrie

The Mid-year Economic and Fiscal Outlook has been released and the news is that we are living beyond our means. There's nothing new here for those who have not buried their heads in the sand.

That said, it is time to change the language. It is is not Joe Hockey's problem or embarrassment; it is our problem whether we like it or not and both Labor and Liberal governments each own part of it, noting that the former Labor government made no serious effort to set the country on the right course.

That's history, but if letters to The Canberra Times are an indication of the torpor that besets normally intelligent people when they refuse to accept reality, I fear that our situation will deteriorate much further before the penny drops.

In my view, the Labor Party should be singled out for special criticism. The once great party that ushered in the reforms of the 1980s with the support of the opposition knows better, but has lost its way. Buoyed by the polls, it seems to think it can sneak back into power on a platform of all gain and no pain. I doubt that this arrant nonsense will seduce enough Australians to get it over the line. Would it be asking Labor leader Bill Shorten too much to at least engage in the conversation?

H. Ronald, Jerrabomberra, NSW

I was speaking to a medical doctor recently who told me she didn't pay any tax – she's salary sacrificing. She asked if she isn't paying tax, who was? None of the surgeons she works with pay tax – they've all got trusts.

Everybody knows people who don't pay tax.

It's also time we stopped being coy about incomes. $100,000 a year is a lot of money. Legions of people get more than that. Tax rates are nowhere near as high as they used to be. Why don't they raise them?

Direct taxes are the elephant in the room in all this alarm about deficits. Why not break the deafening silence?

Reg Naulty, Hawker

I trust now, in the face of the latest evidence ("Hospitals drowning in drunkards", December 18, p6), the Attorney-General, Simon Corbell, will finally admit that his liquor licensing reforms have been an abject failure.

Clearly, the community consultation model, Risk Assessment Management Plans and regulation of licensed premises by the police have not addressed the major problems associated with licensed premises. When will he admit there is now no effective regulation of this important element of the social fabric of the ACT.

Tony Brown, Fadden

Dick Parker's comments on "upside-down maps" (Letters, December 12) raises an interesting dilemma I faced recently. I was asked to sketch a rough house plan. Naturally, I put north at the top. As it happened, the house actually faced north, so the home's entrance was drawn on the top edge. A female friend asked why I had drawn it upside down.

She said that the entrance had to be on the bottom of the page, regardless of the compass points. I asked the opinion of every woman in the office and they all agreed that north was irrelevant: the important part was that the entrance had to be at the bottom of the page. By contrast, every man I spoke to said the top edge had to indicate north, regardless of where the entrance was located.

It appears many women might automatically place their current position at the bottom edge of a map and, as they move forward, they mentally progress towards the top edge. Whether they're travelling north, south, east or west has no bearing.

Vive la difference, but it might be worth remembering during this year's Christmas road trip, before you find you have taken the family to Queensland instead of Victoria.

Bob Thomson, Scullin

TIRED OF ECONOMISTS

I see that Des Moore suggests we revise our tactics for dealing with extremists (Letters, December 19). I quite agree. This country has suffered far too much from retired Treasury economists. It's time to take the kid gloves off when dealing with this senseless minority.

Paul Feldman, Macquarie

TURNBULL DID A TOP JOB

Listening to Malcolm Turnbull speak about the Martin Place tragedy was inspiring, and he didn't mention anything about terrorism, unlike the man who ended his prime ministerial aspirations and lacked any inspiration, choosing instead to focus on the threat of terrorism. This country is much the poorer that Malcolm Turnbull was denied the top job.

D.J. Fraser, Mudgeeraba, Qld

TURGID, BIASED RANT

One wonders why The Canberra Times would bother publishing the turgid, biased rant by Stephanie Dowrick ("Same-sex solidarity for Credlin misguided", Times2, December 17, p5), other than to provide more evidence of why some supposedly high-profile women are perhaps not taken seriously.

Tim Grutzner, Watson

THANKS FOR THE LESSONS

I haven't the faintest idea where Burradoo, NSW, is located, but Sam Nona deserves Canberra Times readers' best Christmas wishes for (1) living in a place with a name like that and (2) for his frequent contributions to our early-morning education sessions.

Baden Williams, Lyneham

LIFTERS, LEANERS THRIVE

The Abbott government can attack war veterans' pensions and reduce Defence Force pay, but it cannot touch companies claiming a tax deduction on interest expenses incurred deriving certain foreign income. It is obvious who the lifters and leaners are.

Ben Morris, Wollongong, NSW

Email: letters.editor@canberratimes.com.au. Send from the message field, not as an attached file. Fax: 6280 2282. Mail: Letters to the Editor, The Canberra Times, PO Box 7155, Canberra Mail Centre, ACT 2610.

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