Who else has been a naughty boy?

Not that every Chinese gift is black or white: some are pinstriped.

Quite rightly the Defence Minister returned the gift of a suit, undoubtedly because it was the wrong size.

For how could the Chinese lady know the minister's measurements?

Roy Darling,

Florey

RUDD SHOULD HAVE BEEN FIRM

It is not unreasonable that Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon's failure to declare his free trips to China be construed as an error of judgment (Fitzgibbon's China ''mistake'', March 27, p1).

However, the manner in which Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has dealt with the revelation leaves much to be desired.

What on earth did Rudd mean by saying he expected better of Fitzgibbon in future?

If this was Rudd's way of reminding the Defence Minister that his job is within the PM's gift, then it revealed neither a firm authority nor statesmanship.

If Rudd were really concerned about Fitzgibbon's error, he should have asked him to resign.

That way, both sides would have emerged from this storm in a teacup with some dignity.

Sam Nona,

Burradoo, NSW

iPODS TRUMP BIRDSONG

I went for a walk up Mount Ainslie early the other morning (started up the mountain at about 6.15am) and was pleasantly surprised by the number of other walkers at this early hour.

It was a beautiful day and as dawn started to lighten the sky it was wonderful to be out in the fresh air enjoying the sights and sounds of nature.

Birds were singing, kangaroos were bouncing away as they heard us coming and kookaburras were greeting us with their joyous call.

Unfortunately the majority of the walkers were oblivious to all this as they were in a little world of their own with their headphones pushed tightly over their ears.

The occasional one would reply to my ''Good morning'' still listening to their music, but the majority just passed on by, seemingly unaware of other walkers or the sounds of the day waking up.

What a shame it is we need to be entertained all the time and don't take time to relax and enjoy the surroundings.

What is the saying? ''Take time to smell the flowers.''

Dennis Smith,

Campbell

A MERE LIGHT-BULB MOMENT

Ewa Kretowicz has reported (''Let's do it again, PM urges switch-flickers'', March 26, p14) that 73 per cent of Canberra's population turned off lights during Earth Hour last year.

In the same edition (''Canberrans slow on the uptake when it comes to solar solution'', p8), James Massola stated that just 5 per cent of ACT households paid for green power.

One feel-good hour a year is not sufficient.

John Simsons,

Holt

VEGANS DOWN TO EARTH

I have some sympathy for the idea of Earth Hour if it is to be, as the organisers say, a vote for action by world leaders to combat global climate change.

But we don't have to wait for our leaders to act; we can make the change ourselves by modifying our diet.

By simply reducing our demand for red meat and dairy products we will reduce the number of burping ruminant animals and their methane emissions.

Australians' habit of consuming those foods accounts for about 4kg of CO2 equivalent per person per day.

In comparison, burning the average house's lights for, say, five hours per night accounts for about 1.5kg of CO2 equivalent per household per day.

A vegan meal in normal lighting is a far more effective way to save emissions than eating beef by candlelight.

So we can turn off our lights on Saturday if it feels good but, far more important, we should make Saturday night's dinner meat- and dairy-free and make it a habit.

Mike O'Shaughnessy,

Spence

MINISTERS AT ODDS OVER FoI

All hail Jack Waterford's piece on FoI reforms (FoI reforms likely to be law'', March 25, p13), even if he does take much of the warm glow out of John Faulkner's promised reforms.

I dare say Jack is right and it will take a significant and protracted culture shift to realise the reforms, but we have already come a long way since Malcolm Fraser enacted the FoI laws we do have. Is it just me or is no one else noticing the blatant contradictions in Labor's attitude to information access?

Faulkner is showing us the way forward with positive FoI reform and Stephen Conroy wants to impose an absurd and unsustainable censorship on use of the internet. Don't these ministers talk to each other? Haven't they taken the absurdity of it all on board?

Jens von Brasch, Aranda

GRAND CANBERRA TRADITION

The typically fogeyish fuss (Letters, March 24) about the rubbish left by the Skyfire revellers lacks a historical perspective.

Let me help.

The history-conscious 2009 revellers were only observing a long and noble Canberra tradition begun in May 1927 by the Canberrans who attended the city's first really enormous gig.

I refer to the opening of the new Federal Parliament.

The press reported that the morning after, in the ''grey dawn'', a ''five-ton truck piled high with empty bottles stole quietly through the city streets''.

The Bulletin celebrated this event with a poem, The Morning After.

Here's the evocative last verse.

''Dead marines'' is an old-fashioned term for empty grog bottles.

Roll up the carpets! Stow away from sight the flags! We're done with bugles and with drums.

The more uproarious the yesternight

The grimmer the relentless morning comes.

We're cleaning up our gardens, yards and greens.

Drive gently with that load of dead marines!

Ian Warden,

Garran

WHATEVER YOU SAY, KEV

I note the Australian press is reporting the meeting between Barack Obama and Kevin Rudd which went over schedule by about 20 minutes along the lines of their being ''of the same mind, and as relaxed''. Funny that, because the published picture taken by Gary Ramage of the pair shows a rather concerned-looking Kevin Rudd, not relaxed at all, while Barack Obama has that look of confidence with a slight touch of arrogance.

It seems Obama was the winner.

If Rudd was true to form the extra 20 minutes was due to the American's trying to comprehend what he was saying.

Bob Edwards,

Kambah

GOULBURN WATERWISE

Water Minister Simon Corbell has said that the ACT Government can't ask the community to support water restrictions indefinitely.

Why not? Goulburn a city with comparatively far fewer available water resources than Canberra has survived, if not thrived, on many years of Level 5 water restrictions.

It continues to have restrictions in place.

There is no real reason why the Canberra community can't support long-term water restrictions and every reason why it should.

We all use too much water. In fact, we tend to use water without thinking about it. And that's part of the problem of excess.

Only by continuing the imposition of water restrictions, and making excess use more and more expensive, will we finally realise how precious a resource water is.

Don Sephton,

Greenway

MORE FUME FROM HUME

Meredith Hunter, chairwoman of the Standing Committee on Climate Change, Environment and Water, wants the EPA to monitor Summernats' burn-out smoke as it's a health issue for residents in the area (''Summernats faces pollution test'', March 26, p12).

What about the private, polluting, gas-fired power station as part of that data centre development in Hume, with emissions equivalent to at least 45,000 cars of greenhouse gases and 75 cars of toxins, including nitrous oxides and all from a static source 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year? Forever.

They're joking, right?

If not, get out!

Dugald Holmes,

Isaacs