Defence has claimed that addressing the apparently significant risks to crew and the helicopter was the focus of the crew's radio traffic during the 45 minute flight to safety. But, how long does it take to say during that radio traffic something like "by the way, the location of that fire we started is [ABC]. Please pass that on to the relevant authorities"?

Various commentators tell us that numerous credible polls show that an astonishing 66 per cent of Republican voters don't believe the recent US presidential election count was fair. In numerical terms, this represents nearly 47 million voters. These numbers are presented as evidence of the difficulty of the task facing President Biden. Combined with the 9 per cent of Democrat voters who are similarly minded, you have approximately 54 million voters who distrust the count.

But if you switch things around you realise that just over 98 million voters have trust in the count. It doesn't matter whether these 98 million are Republican or Democrat, the difference between believers and doubters is significant.

The combined tally represents a good starting point for President Biden to exploit in his efforts to repair the damage of the Trump years.

This is a good starting point for his inauguration speech request to the American people, whether they agree with him or not, to "hear me out".

While we welcome Joe Biden and his call for unity in his first speech as President, he left a resounding silence around the roots of that disunity; the unresolved American Civil War which after more than 150 years is evidently still embedded in the American psyche.

While emphasising the nation's 415,000 COVID-19 deaths as being more than those of World War II, he neglected to mention the 620,000 deaths from the Civil War, when the Southern States fought to the death for slavery and for white supremacy.

Until the powerful white supremacist and associated evangelist movements in the US are confronted and called by their name, US unity, let alone social justice, will remain forlorn and futile dreams.

The greatest appeal of new President Boden, at a time when there have been so many coronavirus deaths in the US, is that we are all aware of the great personal loss and suffering that he has endured.

He is a survivor; a tough but compassionate guy for what are very tough times.

Empathy with the people is what breeds confidence in leaders. That's why Scott Morrison surprisingly won the last Australian election.

I read with great delight ("The Rubies shine bright", January 21, p27) of the huge success of Canberra's own Bom Funk Dance Studio's national team, The Rubies, with two first places and a second at National Championships. I had read an earlier The Canberra Times article about the challenges confronting the team to attend the championships in Adelaide during these COVID-19 times and could only wonder how they would compete.

While the dancers' feat (pun intended) is cause enough to celebrate, I read with interest the extraordinary contributions that the whole team made to the success: choreographers, Canberra College's Performing Arts Centre and Sidestage Production services, among many others no doubt. I can't begin to imagine how difficult it must have been for The Rubies to prepare, train and to perform via Zoom, with no live audience, in competition with teams performing in a live stage situation. Congratulations to all concerned, Canberrans should be very proud.