To my delight, however, Mr Spokes was still open so I hired a pedal car and had a great time. I would also have gone back again to hire a paddle boat but was informed they have permanently closed. I can fully understand why Mr Spokes ("Mr Spokes to stay after fight for West Basin digs", August 18, p1) would be worried for their business in the middle of a construction site – no one would visit at all! The LDA needs to look after such small businesses, not put them in the middle of a construction site until they go broke because nobody thinks they are there.

Claire Wallace, Watson

In her support of the claims of water diviners, Jennifer Jones (Letters, August 17) asserts that William Smith was denounced by the London Geological Society as a charlatan in 1815. Could she please provide her evidence of this claim? Wikipedia makes no mention of it, instead saying that that society "soon" plagiarised his maps published in 1815 and 1817, and sold them at a lower price than he was asking, thereby sending him into bankruptcy by 1819. However unfair this behaviour may have been, it was surely was an endorsement of his work.

Her assertions about Alfred Wallace are similarly wide of the mark. His letter to Charles Darwin in 1858 was published jointly with Darwin's own older but unpublished theory in the very same year!

Those who want to escape the conclusions of science that they don't like, love the notion that all great scientists were initially scorned by their scientific peers, but it is a furphy. As a retired lecturer at University of Canberra, teaching history of mathematics among other things, I cannot think of a single example of great advances being mocked by fellow scientists (as distinct from attacks by vested interests in society, notably the church). I'd greatly appreciate hearing of examples, based on documented sources.

Actually, if Ms Jones does have talent as a diviner herself, she should apply for the Dick Smith prize. She could well be its first winner.

Neil Porter, Hughes

In response to Dr Baden Williams and Jennifer Jones (Letters, August 17), I agree with Jennifer Jones: "The world is full of surprises."

What a surprise that under test conditions, water divining with a piece of wire does not work! Electronic instruments do work. Was Dr Williams' published work in the Australian Journal of Soil Research specifically about the scientific efficacy of water divining with wire?

Did Dr Williams' friend from Majors Creek scientifically test Dr Williams' water divining prowess? Were William Smith (creator of the first nationwide geological map in Britain) and Alfred Wallace (who independently conceived of evolution through natural selection) proponents and practitioners of water divining who submitted their skills to rigorous scientific testing?

Here's an attractive solution to our different perspectives: apply to the skeptics.com.au and take the Skeptics Challenge to prove divining works and win $100,000.

It's the application of science, folks, not an issue of "narrow minds of the people ... the Scoffers Society" that is the central issue here.

Sceptics are simply thinking people who require evidence to support claims made by others as factual.

Bernard and Kathy Walsh, Dunlop

I share the angry and distraught feelings of Eric Hunter (Letters, August 19), and other letter writers who were omitted from "Live by the pen, die by the pen" on August 15. Rather than join an all-night protest vigil outside The Canberra Times offices I resolved never to write another letter to the paper. Sadly, in announcing this resolution to my readers, I have had to break it. But I am heartened by the obituary for a notable writer of an earlier generation. He wanted to have on his tombstone the words: His sins were scarlet but his books (and letters) were read.

Robert Willson, Deakin

I refer to the article "Dentists warn: up to 13 teaspoons of sugar in a bottle of sports drink" (August 13, p5) which includes a warning from the Australian Dental Association of the impact of sports drinks on oral health.

As the CEO of the association representing the Australian beverages industry in this country, I believe it is essential to point out that, in the absence of proper hygiene practices, any food or drink that contains fermentable carbohydrates (sugars and some starches), including sports drinks, can play a role in the development of tooth decay.

Eating a balanced diet is one of many factors involved in preventing poor oral health and is critical to overall health and wellness.

Recent ABS data for the Australian Health Survey shows that just 1.3 per cent of Australians consumed a sports drink on the day of the survey.

Significantly, the ADA's own statistics show 30 per cent of all Australians only brush their teeth once a day, and 37 per cent of Australian parents admit that their children only brush once a day. The ADA clearly states one of the ways to reduce tooth decay is to brush twice a day with fluoride toothpaste.

Sports drinks are designed for people involved in intense exercise and should be consumed in moderation.

The products are specifically designed to provide rapid replacement of fluid, carbohydrates, and electrolytes.

Geoff Parker, CEO, Australian Beverages Council

Everyone should have a closer look at their latest rate notice. The fixed charge (for what?) last year was $675. It's now $730. The Fire and Emergency levy was $130, but has risen to $196.

We were promised that the increase in rates would be revenue neutral to the decrease in stamp duty on sales. This is untrue as the decreases in stamp duty are much less than the increases in rates.

It is just a grab for extra money, unfairly applied, with some suburbs hit twice as hard as others.

Ian Gillespie-Jones, Red Hill

Federal MP Bob Katter is threatening to boycott Akubra because it does not use Australian rabbit fur to make hats, but Akubra's use of imported fur is no mystery.

When the use of calicivirus to control pest rabbits was being planned 20 years ago, Akubra made it clear that a major reduction in rabbit abundance would hurt its business. It also accepted that the virus could greatly benefit farmers and graziers. Akubra decided to import rabbit fur to keep its business going, and livestock producers benefited by $350 million a year when the disease brought rabbits down. Katter's criticism of Akubra is therefore quite unfair.

Mr Katter would also be aware that rabbits are spreading within his own electorate of Kennedy. There, rabbits occur further north than in any other part of Australia and have spread from coastal areas at least as far west as Georgetown.

Until about 30 years ago, rabbits were unable to persist in Australia's northern savannas, making recent observations more worrying. Local and state government and academics have been discussing whether tropical rabbits might be evolving and what might be done to counter this. An Akubra-led solution is not anticipated.

For a start, Bob's choice of hats is unhelpful. Cream-coloured Akubras are not made from the natural grey under-fur of wild rabbits.

Dr Brian Cooke, Waramanga

Christopher Jobson (Letters, August 19) says the British 14th Army was the first to defeat the Japanese army on land. He appears not to know of the 2nd AIF battles at Milne Bay and the Kokoda Track in 1942, where the 39th Battalion fought brilliantly against superior Japanese forces.

Vic Robertson, Page

Humanity is in danger of environmental ruin.

Our media, it seems, has overlooked an important milestone on the path to ecological disaster. The ecological footprint is a way of measuring humanity's demand on the environment.

In this methodology, the earth can supply a certain amount of ecological services each year. Use more, and the ability of the earth to sustain us is reduced. In 1970, the Global Footprint Network estimated that we started to deplete the ecological bank of our planet. This year it declared August 13 as the day when humanity overshot the planet's ability to sustain its human load for the year. This way lies ecological bankruptcy.

Professor Michael Dopita, Googong, NSW

I am not sure that Elizabeth Farrelly ("Choice in climate of change", Times2, August 20, p4) comprehends what 4degrees means for temperature maximums in Australia. When we talk of 2 or 4 degrees, we are referring to global average. The planet is mostly oceans that warm far less than 2 or 4 degrees.

The temperatures for a global 4-degree increase mean the Australian land mass will average rises of a minimum of 10 degrees for Melbourne and 14 for Alice Springs. This extra heat will result in maximum spikes, so Melbourne will experience days of over 50 degrees and Alice Springs temperatures over 60. Welcome to hell on earth.

Paul Recher, Dorroughby, NSW

Whatever becomes of Dyson Heydon, the trade union royal commission has shed light on dark deeds in the toxic world of Australian industrial relations. It has exposed to public gaze some of the rorts, thuggery and bad behaviour that poison a healthy economy.

There is likewise an urgent need for a royal commission into coal to find out why so many Australian politicians are willing to sacrifice our future generations, the public's health, the Australian landscape, Great Barrier Reef, our precious farmland, water and clean energy prospects to the interests of a few, mostly foreign, shareholders.

The excuses they trot out simply do not stack up. Why would anyone who cares about Australia and its people risk such things?

Just as the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has lifted the lid on the endemic practice of raping small children, and the collusion necessary for it to occur, in ways profoundly shocking to decent Australians, a coal royal commission will doubtless expose a web of corrupt practices, secret rewards, backhanders, pressure tactics, jobbery and other anti-democratic or illegal activities.

Like the proverbial iceberg, the Electoral Commission's register of political donations may display only a superficial picture of what is actually going on: it is the invisible portion that must be brought into the light.

From the wide support it enjoys among senior politicians, evidence is mounting that coal, with its allied resources giants, has become a cancer in the vitals of the Australian body politic.

The industry's shameless corruption of democracy in the United States, exposed by a probing media, has apparently been quietly imported into Australia, and it is time the full ramifications and processes were laid bare.

Julian Cribb, Franklin

In March 2014, when setting up the Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption, Tony Abbott said: "We've had people like Kathy Jackson heroically, heroically, say that enough is enough, it's all got to stop, and I think the honest people inside the union movement, the honest people inside the Labor Party will welcome this royal commission."

Now the heroic, honest Ms Jackson has been found by the Federal Court to be a thief ("Judgment blows $1.4m whistle on Jackson", August 20, p4).

Given the verdict of the Federal Court, the priorities of Heydon's royal commission seem especially bizarre. It had time to grill Labor leaders Julia Gillard and Bill Shorten for days, but treated Jackson with kid gloves.

About as impartial as an All Blacks fan at Eden Park.

Mike Reddy, Lyons

Contrary to the assertion by Alan Shroot (Letters, August 19), there are streets in Israel named after Jewish terrorists. In the Jerusalem neighbourhood of East Talpiot, most of the streets are named after members of the Stern Gang and the Irgun, hanged by the British as terrorists.

Naming streets is not the only way that Israel has honoured such "heroes". Two acknowledged terrorists, Menachem Begin and Yitzhak Shamir, were made prime minister, and there is also Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who in October 1953 led the attack on the village of Qibya, which resulted in the massacre of 69 innocent people.

As to Shroot's defence of the use of administrative detention against Jewish extremists, I suggest he read the report published earlier this year by the Israeli NGO Yesh Din, which deals with the appalling record of the Israeli authorities in investigating and prosecuting "price-tag" offences by Jewish extremists.

Justin McCarthy, Chapman

Predictably, letters are appearing in The Canberra Times arguing that heterosexual marriage is a natural law. Not really.

Anthropological literature shows that many societies have alternative family arrangements that do not conform to the Western model.

The institution of heterosexual marriage is asocial construction that became natural because it serves political, religious and economic interests.

The second point is that the natural order isn't fair and equal, as, for example, numerous cases of domestic violence in heterosexual marriages attest.

It might be a natural law that big fish eat little fish, but does anyone ask the little fish what they think about this? Minorities have rights too.

Paul Kringas, Giralang

WE NEED ANOTHER COUP

When Julia Gillard seized the prime ministership from Kevin Rudd in 2010, she famously said that she acted because a good government had lost its way. The situation with the current government is slightly different. It is a bad government that has lost its way. Come on, Malcolm. Come on, Julie. It is now or never.

Rob Ey, Weston

VP DAY CORRECT TERM

Christopher Jobson (Letters, August19) is incorrect to say the term VP Day is wrong and politically correct. A quick search of the National Archives' Record Search Forum will show it was the term used in official correspondence by the Australian government at the time. I doubt Australians were feeling politically correct about the Japanese just then.

Richard Pelvin, Stirling

GUILTY OF POLLUTION

If we sell and export our Australian coal overseas for energy production, we are surely guilty of encouraging and aiding and abetting the production of greenhouse gases and contributing to climate change. It is, or was, our coal after all.

Perhaps we should accept this greenhouse gas pollution as our own and adjust our targets appropriately, or not irresponsibly sell our coal.

P.R. Temple, Macquarie

HE'S LOST THE PLOT

Not content with overseeing the demise of manufacturing, farming, green energy and the environment in this country, Tony Abbott is now championing environmental law vandalism and claiming that anyone who criticises his preferential trade deal with China – which allows unskilled tradespeople, including electricians, to work in this country on special visas – is a racist. Mr Abbott has totally lost the plot.

Jon Stirzaker, Latham

REASON TO CHALLENGE

If apprehended bias is properly considered grounds for distancing oneself from adjudicating on a matter, and if Dyson Heydon "let through to the keeper" (in this case, the High Court) any decision-making regarding his suitability as commissioner, should that be challenged by the ACTU?

Hugh Gibbon, Pearce

VORACIOUS APPETITE

It is very disappointing that the increasing amounts of resources the Federal Parliament is devouring ("Parliament House fit to burst", August 19, p1) seem to be in inverse proportion to what Parliament has been producing in recent years, which is of any direct or enduring value to the electorate.

Gordon Fyfe, Kambah

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