I would like to commend Blen McInnes for his continuing efforts in reminding Canberrans of the disastrous flooding of the Woden Valley area.

There must be many stories about that night which sadly affected so many, and having the memorial in Curtin will certainly help us to remember those who died.

I was eight at the time, and along with my mother and younger brother, was stuck in the floodwater on Yarra Glen near Hughes. We had been heading home in Lyons.

I remember the darkness, the sound of the rushing water around us with debris hitting the car as it went past, and the cars which floated past. Mum wasn't worried for us, even with the water rising inside the car, so we just waited it out.

After the rain stopped and the water subsided enough to get out of the car Mum cleared the grass and debris from under the bonnet and removed the large piece of wood from under the car (which probably helped to anchor us). The car started without much trouble and we went on our way detouring through Hughes and Curtin to get home.

Naturally our family were very relieved when we arrived some hours after we were due. We had no idea of the enormity of the tragedy that had unfolded around us.

I will be attending the memorial to pay tribute not only to those who died so awfully that night, but to the many people who risked there lives to help.

The article "The Woden floods are the natural disaster few Canberrans properly remember" (canberratimes.com.au, January 24) provided a graphic reminder of the devastation of the flash flood of January 26, 1971.

There are a number of reasons for the Canberra community to be grateful to retired police officer Blen McInnes. On that terrible night, he along with others, acted heroically in rescuing people and saving lives.

Also, since then, he has energetically campaigned for an appropriate remembrance of the seven people who lost their lives in the disaster. For instance, more than 12 years ago The Canberra Times (December 27, 2008) reported that McInnes had placed seven simple white crosses at the site of the Woden floods, hoping to draw attention to a lack of official remembrance.

It is also timely to acknowledge the efforts of Una Cumberland, whose son Lon died in the flood. Her publication, Designed to Overflow (Ginninderra Press, 1999) not only sought an appropriate memorial for the seven victims, but also a more open inquiry into the reasons for the tragedy.

What would you do if you saw a dog doing a poo outside a café while the dog owner, seeing what had happened, quickly scurried across the road, leaving the poo behind?

This happened on Saturday morning (January 23) on Anketell Street. The dog was a Blenheim Cavalier King Charles spaniel. The poo was then left to be deposited on the shoes of unsuspecting pedestrians hurrying past.

The two women with the dog were very aware of their guilt. The owner looked back and pulled the dog quickly to cross the road, as though the deposits behind, were not her responsibility.

It was not the dog's fault. It was the woman's fault. Shame on you!

When I heard Google and Facebook were threatening to abandon the Australian market over a requirement to pay for news content two issues immediately sprang to mind.

If Facebook vanished work productivity would probably jump by around 15 percent. People would no longer know what "friends" had eaten for lunch. With Google gone, people would have to use search engines that were just as effective, less invasive, and less cluttered with annoying advertisements.

Is that technically a threat the tech giants are making, or is it some sort of promise? Also, can we please have these threats in writing?

Well done Australia on taking on the horrendous monopoly that is Google. So, they respond with a threat to pull out of Australia which Australia should take seriously by investing in Aussie IT capability and developing your own search engine. Why not?

Australia has excellent IT people, coders and web developers who can do this and the pride Australians take in their country and its products just about guarantees it would go down well with the public.

Of course it must be independent of the government and run and owned by an Aussie company. But the government could and should invest in the development.

Just as there was fear of Brexit, and the EU made it as difficult as possible, to deter other countries from breaking away, Google is also deploying threats and fear to discourage Australia from maintaining its hard line.

If Australia breaks away so will other countries that see the monopoly Google operates as damaging to democracy.

Your editorial "Lies and self-delusion are Trump's legacy" (canberratimes.com.au, January 20) fully captured the essential elements of Trump's aberrant "alternative facts" presidency.

It was a truly insightful analysis from the very beginning to the catastrophic end of his term. The damage done to American democracy and the social fabric of American society with the perpetual departure from well established norms of governance is likely to linger on for a long time to come.

That is the dangerous tragedy and legacy of Trump. It will take a lot of hard work by good Americans to repair the damage. The Biden administration must lead the way and restore hope in the country, its people and the system of governance.

For some months after the outbreak of the pandemic there were numerous articles in The Canberra Times about how the world was not going to be the same after the pandemic, and that we also needed a science-based approach to tackle global warming.

In recent days there have been a number of articles pointing out the dire straits that the travel and aviation industries are in. There are predictions that a large number of tourism operators will go out of business if they do not receive ongoing government support.

There is a dissonance between the views of those who want to see climate change seriously addressed, and those who want tourism to return to the way it was.

Tourism, and international aviation in particular, are part of the unsustainable practices that got us into the climate change mess now upon us. I have seen nothing from the aviation industry that shows a genuine attempt to play its part in addressing climate change, or even acknowledging its contribution to it.

May I suggest that if further government funds are forthcoming for the travel industry they should be directed at a long term plan for restructuring and downsizing.

ACT Housing showed that as part of the latest Productivity Commission Report, its average turnaround time for vacant stock of public housing had blown out from 33 days to more than 81 days.

ACT Housing was quoted as saying that this was in part because "it spent more time making sure housing went to the right applicants".

It has failed miserably in this regard. Last year, Minister Berry's office promised us that a suitable tenant would be found for the vacant ACT housing property next door. What we got was the exact opposite.

The tenant uses the property as a group house with other people subletting whatever spare room or floor space there is. The lawns are never maintained and the front yard is a car park. Beer cans and rubbish are strewn about and the letterbox has been run over.

Domestic arguments are often heard and police visits are not uncommon. This may be the right house for these tenants, but these are certainly not the right tenants for this house, nor for the local neighbourhood.

Our pleas to ACT Housing to remedy this issue have proven fruitless. With such a long waiting list for public housing, finding the "right applicants" shouldn't be difficult. It's unacceptable that we as neighbours are expected to pay the ongoing price for bad tenancy choices and the neglect of these properties.

Re: Poor Sportsmanship (Letters, January 21).

Intimidating batsmen with bouncers is not cricket, it's thuggery and cheating. It should be eradicated. This could be done by giving a bowler "out" if he bowls a bouncer. If a batsman's innings can be terminated when he makes a mistake, why can't the same logic be applied to bowling?

The introduction of such a rule could lead to an overall improvement in sportsmanship.

Re: "Why do our PMs treat the seat of democracy with scorn?", canberratimes.com.au, January 23). I am reliably informed Robert Menzies did not have two houses to sell in Melbourne when he took up residence in The Lodge. It was just the one. If only our current Prime Minister had the same respect for Canberra as Menzies and made The Lodge his number one.

Hooray to Dave Jeffrey (Letters, January 27) for referring to Lieutenant James Cook, who captained the Endeavour on its voyage up Australia's east coast in 1770. He didn't reach the rank of Captain until some years after his first travels to Australia.

Dave Jeffrey (Letters, January 27) said that with the enactment of the Nationality and Citizenship Act (1948) we became Australian citizens and not British subjects. My Australian Passport issued in 1952 has on the front cover, in large print, the words "British Subject". Under this is a crest with in smaller print are the words "Commonwealth of Australia".

I don't think Dave Jeffrey (Letters, January 27) is correct in saying that in 1948 we ceased to be British subjects. My understanding is that we were both until May 1, 1987. My 1968 and 1973 passports are clearly endorsed "Australian citizen and British subject".

Thank you Dave Jeffrey (Letters, January 27) for a perfect reason to keep Australia Day on January 26 as the anniversary of the day we all became Australian citizens. Nothing's more inclusive than that.

Can it be Australia Day? A day to commemorate a national broadcaster silly enough to think we'd all be proud to wear a medal or have a lead balloon award? Maybe we should ask the ABC staffers who thought this up? Surely it was not merely reporting. Other news media mysteriously didn't follow suit. There must be a bunker those "responsible" live in.

Prominent Australians are refusing or returning their Australia Day honours and the Australian of the Year wants to change the date. January 26 is not turning out to be such a flash day for Scott Morrison.

In my mind the phrase "Australia Day" goes with "long weekend" like "horse" goes with "carriage". With their nationalistic, chest-thumping, formulism the Coalition have killed the Australia Day long weekend. Everyone stand up and salute.

Every Australia Day there are comments in the media about "the winners" after the awards are announced. Nominated people do not win; they are awarded. "The award goes to..." It is not a competition, it is a choice. They may be lucky to be chosen, but they do not "win".