She points out the main characters are Rudd, Abetz, Swan, and Turnbull, and of course the scapegoat staffer Grech. While the majority of those have fogged the argument, no amount of reporting will convince me that there was not fire behind all that smoke. No matter, Turnbull will never impress until I see him smile happily, regularly.

Alan Wilson,

Wanniassa

Regarding the OzCar fiasco, I (and probably other ex-public servants familiar with government affairs) am puzzled by the fact that administration of the OzCar scheme was put in the hands of Treasury, rather than the Department of Finance and Administration or some other department involved with industry.

Treasury's role and expertise is a macro one, advising on economic policy, not administering ''Mickey Mouse'' schemes such as OzCar. Perhaps the blame for the OzCar fiasco therefore rests with whoever decided that Treasury would administer the scheme.

R.S. Gilbert,

Braddon

AGNOSTIC DIATRIBE

I find Ian Warden's diatribe (''Rudd an opportunist on Sundays too? Perish the thought'', August 4, p11) regarding Kevin Rudd's public piety to be somewhat astonishing.

Hypocrisy is Warden's chief charge. However, is it not hypocritical for a self-declared agnostic, the essence of which is a reluctance to commit to strong convictions for either belief or disbelief in the Almighty, to be questioning the integrity of someone who is willing to subscribe to strong convictions regarding theism?

Is it not hypocritical for an agnostic to be quoting scripture, albeit out of context and somewhat poorly as other correspondents have pointed out, at the said theist?

I would like to know whether Warden, as a personal discipline regarding his commitment to humanity (given his unwillingness to make a strong commitment for or against the Almighty), does he serve in soup kitchens on a regular basis, and seek to keep such acts of service secret, as best he can, as Rudd does? (I do find it intriguing that the virtues of a person never seem to be as ''reliably reported'' in the media as their vices. But that's another story.)

Nevertheless, as the Rector of St George's Anglican Church, Pearce, with a building that is not as grand as St John's, Reid, nor as humble as that as St Luke's, Deakin, I am willing, on behalf of Warden (a good Anglican church name if ever I heard one!), to extend an invitation to our theistic, and clearly imperfect, Prime Minister to attend our church as a suitable venue that would possibly satisfy Warden's highly judgmental perspective and is that not the very stance that the hypocrite so often adopts? Hypocrisy? Ahh, the irony is palpable!

Reverend Dr Brett Morgan,

Wanniassa

HIROSHIMA PERSPECTIVE

Ramesh Thakur, in his moving commemoration of the anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing (''A day to begin redemption'', August 6, p15), remembered the Japanese dead and called for nuclear disarmament.

Not for him the idea that nuclear balance-of-terror may deter big wars.

My old dad barely survived the last big one, 65 years ago. After 312 years as a Japanese POW in Sandakan, Borneo, he was informed on release that the thousands of Australians in the nearby camp had almost all been deliberately and slowly starving-jungle-marched to their horrific deaths, in response to Japan's forced retreat. These days he professes a Thakur-style, forgiving world view. But he's a bit cagey about his conclusions when he heard that the Hiroshima/Nagasaki bombs had put an early end to the carnage (at the cost of many thousands of Japanese lives), all those years ago.

Thakur mentions the Hindu concept of karma. Here, and in China, Korea, the Philippines, etc, it's likely some may still think ''what goes around, comes around''.

Tom Waring,

Ainslie

I refer to the article by Ramesh Thakur. Australians need to be made aware of a little known fact of our role in the Manhattan Project.

In 1944, the previously worked uranium mine at Mt Painter in South Australia was recommissioned by the Australian government at the request of the Anglo-American Atomic Research Commission.

The mine was reactivated to help provide the raw materials for the Manhattan Project which was a worldwide effort. There is some debate about whether any material was every sent to America but the intention was clear.

A very sobering thought indeed, given the move away for the three-mines policy today.

I trust we are not blindly repeating the mistakes of the past which is sadly a common feature of history.

Rohan Goyne,

federal vice-president, Military Historical Society of Australia, Evatt

ASIO DOMINANCE

There has been a lot of discussion, and objection, about the new ASIO building and its dominance over the current landscape that, judging by the letters in The Canberra Times, many people feel threatened and upset by such a large edifice.

This is ironic as the first ASIO building (Russell Twelve) was constructed in secrecy without public debate or without mentioning the name or nature of the tenants.

Maybe the changing times, that now incorporate fear factors, do call for a large dominating building such as the proposed new ASIO headquarters, that unlike the ''new'' Parliament House (which was purposely incorporated into the landscape so as not to rise above the people), will certainly dominate the landscape and the people that it serves.

Maybe we could call it our Canberra Hakka building that hopefully will scare away any potential threat.

I say build it twice as big.

David Cavill,

Kambah

EXPENSIVE TORCH

So who is surprised that the ACT taxpayer ended up paying $1.55million for the Olympic torch relay (''PM does a runner on torch relay bill'', August 6, p1)?

Who would enter into such an expensive arrangement without checking the bona fides of the deal and without written guarantees of financial support?

Only Jon Stanhope could fall for this kind of Nigerian scam and unfortunately it is us that has to foot the bill. I hope the Auditor-General gets to have a good look at how we ended up with yet another government lemon to suck upon!

Ric Hingee,

Duffy

That the Commonwealth should refuse to pay half the cost of the Olympic torch relay is as unsurprising as it is proper.

The torch relay played no part in the ancient Olympic Games and was an invention of Nazi Germany in the 1930s. Thus the Canberra torch relay publicised the Games in a totalitarian country that oppresses many minorities, including Tibet, using a ceremony which was invented by another totalitarian regime and which is scheduled for abandonment in future Olympic Games.

What was the benefit to the Australian, and especially the Canberra taxpayer?

About the same as putting up the statue to the dead Al Grassby none. But of course there may have been great advantage in both cases to politicians wanting to pay off political debts by using public money.

John Coochey,

Chisholm

MEDICAL CENTRE QUERY

Dr Edmund Bateman, of Primary Health Care, has defended his company's actions in closing medical centres at Wanniassa and Kippax (''Health clinic head sniffs at the use of pharmacists'', August 6, p5) claiming misunderstanding and misconceptions led to personal vilification.

Was it a misunderstanding when doctors and patients were locked out of the Kippax Medical Centre without warning?

Was it a misconception that patients had to personally attend a Primary Heath Care medical practice to request transfer of medical records, even though paperwork had been satisfactorily completed and verified at their new medical practice?

Am I mistaken in my understanding that my complete medical records have yet to be transferred to my new medical practice?

Primary Health Care's contempt for its employees and patients is the real issue here, not some misguided personal opinion Bateman has about the qualifications of pharmacists.

W. Vance,

Bruce