Yes, the Menzies family had a white (not fluffy) cat. Yes, the guards had a German shepherd, and from time to time they walked around the garden at night. The dog did not roam on its own. Dame Pattie claimed that her Pekinese was a better watchdog, so the German shepherd could hardly have been described as fierce. The cat died because it was hit by a car in Adelaide Avenue or National Circuit.

It had nothing to do with Ray Whitrod. I can't imagine Dame Pattie ever "furiously blaming" that admirable man for anything.

There are plenty of good stories about her, and indeed, the cat. Why invent one?

Heather Henderson, Yarralumla

We refer to the article by G.Connery "Weston unit plans raise fears over privacy loss" (Canberra Times. January 24, p11). We also refer to the development of three two-storey houses in 36 Kinleyside Crescent, Weetangera, behind the right side of our backyard.

We and our neighbours received no notice from the ACT government about this proposed development and had no knowledge of it prior to approval, therefore no opportunity to voice our concerns about lack of privacy. One house is very close to the fence with eight windows/sliding glass doors having views over our yard. The trellis along the fence, covered with creeper and erected by the previous owner, was ripped out by the bulldozer, leaving nothing for privacy.

Anyone on the outdoor al fresco area can see over our backyard as the level of the ground floor has been raised to fence height.

Why don't the ACT government, developers and architects understand that people want privacy in outdoor areas? If barbecuing with friends or family, gardening or just relaxing out there, we are in full view from the many windows of these properties.

We are very angry that this has been allowed to happen. The Chief Minister or any other ministers of the ACT government wouldn't want this lack of privacy so close to their residences.

K and G McInerney, Weetangera

Georgina Connery's article (Sunday Canberra Times, January 31, p8) contains the phrase "... oldest boomers in their 70s". As the Baby Boom was attributed to the return of servicemen after the war and VE day was in May 1945, the oldest boomers would just be having their 70th birthdays any day now. With VJ day being late August or early September, you would expect the boom to start slightly later in Australia.

Charles Hirst, Latham

I refer to the article: "Ley demands private health insurers justify increases to premiums" (Sunday Canberra Times, January 31, p3). The article implies that after many years during which the increase in health premiums for all insurers has averaged more than 5per cent, the government is finally asking the insurers to justify their increases.

One assumes in previous years that the insurers got what they wanted without justification?

Ken Eynon, Latham

Sorry, Ken McPhan (Letters, January 31), it was our remote ancestors, who came "out of Africa", not contemporary Australians, as your letter perhaps unintentionally implies.

With a heritage in this continent stretching back at least 50,000 years, Indigenous Australians beat the rest of us by a long shot.

Tragically, colonial policies and practices with continuing consequences have rendered them the most disadvantaged of our citizens.

Patricia Saunders, Chapman

Tony Trobe (Canberra Times, January 24, p23) asks "will driverless cars kill light rail?" Yes! The financial folly and obsolescence of digging up Northbourne Avenue for trams will become evident, not only from driverless cars. Soon we will know more on timing and cost of driverless buses planned by a Chinese company and possibly others.

Smaller light buses, deployed with flexibility over most of Canberra, with routes varied easily, would be superior public transport for our spread-out city. Zero driver cost will remove the biggest operating expense. Further, it will be possible in a few years to use battery power, perhaps with solar augmentation for charging.

Already, more than 4000 electric cars operate in Hong Kong alone.

Customers at a bus stop, with a mobile phone click, could be registered instantly for pick up by a light bus in transit or on local standby. Satellite tracking and deployment of buses is possible now. The company above has a record in launching and operating satellites. Instead of wasting money on trams, the ACT government could focus on training and employment in planning, software and management skills for the design and operation of new Canberra systems, including passenger security, to take advantage of such technology.

These skills could form the basis of a new Canberra industry for use within Australia and overseas.

When may this vision become feasible? Around the same time as ugly overhead power wires are erected in Northbourne Avenue and its trees reduced to woodchips!

Ross Ramsay, Farrer

The Recidivist, aka Paul Malone, doubts "that free market economics and deregulation would solve all our woes" as we were told years ago ("Comment on commentator's views", January 31, p19).

He says that's why he was called The Recidivist. He bad-mouthed such ideas from the start. The thing is, some of his colleagues are coming on board, now. Hopefully, some folk will listen to them.

Gary J. Wilson, Macgregor

Private health insurers make their routine annual pilgrimage, cap in hand to the Health Minister, who makes a great play of defending the public purse, and then, after much huffing and puffing, grants them their every wish ("Ley demands private health insurers justify increases to premiums", Sunday Canberra Times, January 31, p3)

Why is this wish always granted? These organisations are social parasites, producing nothing, and making no contribution whatever to quality care outcomes. Their executives, bureaucracies, infrastructure and fancy promotional efforts burn through member premiums.They should be placed on a business footing and held to account for outcomes, just like real corporations.

If the government was really serious about reining in spending, private health insurance, with its overt and covert annual tax subsidy of (2015-6) $11billion (Doggett & Mcauley) would be an ideal place to start.

Should federal government not do so, it will be responsible for the tsunami which will hit Medicare when presently insured members abandon their unaffordable policies, wholesale.

Albert M. White, Queanbeyan

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