As well detailed by Peter Frankopan in his book The Silk Roads, the Vikings, who are the symbol of the Canberra Raiders, were among the world's worst slavers. They ruthlessly attacked peaceful communities in the UK and Central Europe, and transported their captives south down the so called "slave road". The prisoners were then sold in slave markets, and shipped to Asian and African countries.

Beautiful women were particularly highly prized and, after the Viking raiders had raped them, were sold to slave dealers at high prices.

Later, as mentioned by Professor Frankopan, they shifted their focus from long-distance trafficking of slaves to the business of protection rackets. Is an evil slave enforcer the right representation of Canberrans?

The idea the Viking raiders wore horned helmets was just a 19th century fiction, part of a Hollywood-style rewrite of history.

Peter Edsor (Letters, July 6) tells us the Institute of Public Affairs is not welcome on The Drum because it is a "single theory organisation with no evidence..."

A quick check would inform him "The IPA supports the free market of ideas, the free flow of capital, a limited and efficient government, evidence-based public policy, the rule of law, and representative democracy", ideas that throughout human history "have proven themselves to be the most dynamic, liberating and exciting".

Mr Edsor apparently equates these with Flat Earth Society thinking. I'm sure the IPA would welcome a contribution from him - probably via The Spectator Australia - explaining how he arrived at this opinion.

Robin Turnbull (Letters, July 6) asks why the word "policing" can be used as a noun. It's because it can be a gerund i.e. a verb used as a noun. "Deciding what to do is difficult". The word "deciding" is a gerund. It's a verb here: - "The politician decided to fight climate change" but a noun in "He couldn't stick with his decisions".

Some words can change from one part of speech to another.

It's a tragedy (noun) that our federal government won't tackle climate change. Tragically, (adverb) we may have left it too late. Our inertia could have tragic (adjective) consequences.

The conflicted (adjective) politician experienced a conflict (noun) between tackling climate change and other influences which conflicted (verb) with responsible government.

Listening (gerund) to scientists is something that our PM only does sporadically but changing (gerund) to renewable energy works well as the change (noun) within the ACT demonstrates.

I take exception to Mario Stivala's claim (Letters, July 5) the Premier of Victoria, Daniel Andrews, is a dictator.

Quite the opposite.

He is one of the few politicians in this COVID-19 crisis who epitomises everything a true leader should be.

He takes ownership of mishaps and initiates the appropriate corrective action. He answers the questions from the media rather than changing the topic.

Unlike the Prime Minister, he has not bullied and cajoled other premiers and chief ministers into prematurely relaxing lockdowns; he has stood his ground and taken a measured approach. Whilst Victoria is experiencing a spike in COVID-19 cases greater than the rest of the country, don't forget that the greatest deaths occurred in NSW.

While we talk about dictators, Mario should be focusing his scrutiny on Scott Morrison and Christian Porter who are using dubious means to avoid scrutiny of the illegal activities of Australia's intelligence agencies in relation to Timor-Leste and potentially jail a former ACT Attorney-Journal for simply informing the Australian public of their illegal activities.

ScoMo lectures China about human rights, he should look in his own backyard.

Earlier this year some of the residents of Eden-Monaro, in particular on the NSW South Coast, showed themselves to be ill-mannered, foul-mouthed bogans.

They have now demonstrated that they don't understand that, by electing a federal member directly to the opposition benches, they have no chance of achieving anything in their electorate until the next general election.

I once tried to explain to my kids the meaning of the expression "cutting off your nose to spite your face". I think the Eden-Monaro voters have done a splendid job of that.

I felt genuine grief on reading your report "Koalas could be extinct in NSW by 2050" (canberratimes.com.au, July 1). It says the shrinking populations of koalas throughout the state are "due to the effects of agriculture, mining and development" and that there must be "urgent government intervention to protect habitat".

What your report, and that of the parliamentary committee that gave rise to it, failed to acknowledge is that a major cause of loss of habitat is human population growth. As people spread inexorably outwards from towns and cities, they inevitably encroach on other species' habitat.

In the 1960s and '70s, I spent some time in Coffs Harbour where koalas were common in people's backyards on the edge of town. This is no longer the case with the human population having grown seven-fold in 50 years.

Many of the 42 recommendations in the parliamentary committee's report spoke of preserving koala habitat. Yet there were none I could see about stabilising human numbers. That was a glaring omission.

How can killing 1958 eastern grey kangaroos to control overpopulation, which threatens grassland sites due to overgrazing ("Kangaroo cull quietly underway as parks look to control numbers", canberratimes.com.au, December 5), be considered acceptable?

Few seem to question the need to fell trees, scrape the ground clean, and cover it with buildings, asphalt and concrete to cater for our continually increasing human population. The cumulative negative effects of this action on the environment and climate are, seemingly, just brushed aside.

I fully support calls for governments, both state and federal, to take serious action to protect Australia's unique and threatened species such as the koala ("Can we save our precious species?", Forum, July 4).

The main cause of decline in koala numbers has been deliberate habitat destruction: the removal of trees in land clearing for agriculture, wood and wood chip production, and urban development.

The koala and the kangaroo are globally recognised as living symbols of Australia. But only the koala allows itself to be cuddled, making it a major attraction, especially for international tourists. The world would never forgive us if we continued on the present thoughtless path and allowed the koala's extinction in the state that hosts the nation's capital and largest cities.

Stuart Bath (Letters, July 4) believes that in World War II a "Brisbane Line" existed. He perpetrates one of the "Zombie Myths" of Australia's military history.

The Brisbane Line did not exist: a 1943 Royal Commission proved this, but the hoary myth refuses to die. Mr Bath, look up the official history, Paul Burns's The Brisbane Line Controversy (1998), Craig Stockings's Zombie Myths in Australian Military History (2010), or indeed my own 2008 Invading Australia.

The Brisbane Line is "fake history".

Whenever The Canberra Times publishes anything positive about the Australian War Memorial there is a near instantaneous response (as in the Letters of July 6) from the small minority who continue to oppose the AWM development program.

But, each time, they fail to recognise that the AWM is, and was, always intended to be both a place of commemoration and a museum. And it fulfills that role so well that it is consistently rated as the premier institution by visitors to Canberra. But, like every other museum, the AWM has to remain current and to update its displays, and occasionally that requires redevelopment. The Australian Museum in Sydney is currently closed for a major refurbishment and expansion - is that also to be condemned?

I'm sure the director and his staff understand the majority of Australians continue to treasure the AWM and support it, and its renovation.

I was shocked at pictures of the 3000-population high-rise public housing ghettos in Melbourne isolated by COVID-19. No wonder teenagers go wild and some other adults prefer to be homeless.

What's with those silly Melbourne footballers? If they had chartered a bus when their first flight was cancelled on Monday they would have been here within seven or eight hours. Should have called Murrays.

Mr Barr must introduce mandatory COVID-19 testing for all people in quarantine before their release at the end of isolation. Recent cases of the virus appearing after more than 14 days justify this common sense testing.

So, wearing a mask, President Donald Trump felt like the legendary TV character the Lone Ranger. But what he didn't notice was that he had lost his Indian mate.

Perhaps Stan Marks (Letters, July 2) the light rail's numbers are being submitted by the same folk who prepare the climate modelling numbers. Always exaggerated for effect but never correct.

Bill Deane (Letters, July 1) thinks The Drum is repetitive and biased in its selection of speakers. His condemnation of former Race Discrimination Commissioner Tim Soutphommasane as a "puritanical pest" is telling. Try Sky News instead, Bill.

I wonder whether those objecting to the light rail have failed to notice that it is more speedy, more reliable, and much smoother, than buses or cars. If public transport is to be attractive it needs these attributes.

The virus outbreak in Victoria is every Australian's responsibility. We are all one people in one country in this struggle. Today it is Victoria; tomorrow it could be my state or yours. I hate this Trumpian attitude of "Make America first". How about we make the whole world a better place.

Re: Kym MacMillan's letter (Letters, July 7). No, we should not wait for an apology from Jenna Price. You see, it is all about the definition of slavery.

My heart sank as I noted the title of a letter on July 3 that read "Do the math". "Math" is the abbreviated American spelling of the word mathematics. In Australia we use the abbreviation "maths". Please. No more Americanisms.

Re: David Hutchinson (Letters, June 7) on Hong Kong. I am reminded of H L Mencken's aphorism: "For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong".

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