In light of the viable argument he raises, I outline some possible options appear to be as follows:

- Do nothing and leave it as a stagnant pond; a requirement that maintains the stance Prince Phillip broadly summarised that melds with the mantra of the city itself in that "cities developed for administrative purposes like Canberra have no soul".

- Put an unused, broken-down (most are) Oberon-class submarine in there, silently shell Queanbeyan after midnight, and blame it on the Chinese.

- Empty the stagnant pond and plop in a great oval like the MCG to pander for the long-term centralised sporting and excitement needs of the city. There'd be plenty of parking and room left over for a huge artificial heated/cooled, indoor/outdoor Surf City, similar to the hugely successful indoor wave centre and massive water slides of the Blue Thunder in Edmonton Canada.

Projects such as these would help give Canberra an exciting, healthy and much needed long-term centralised sporting complex, a sense of wellbeing and perhaps even a soul.

Of course it is hard, for anyone, to be interviewed by reporters who insist on asking relevant and appropriate questions (Letters, April 13). It is, after all, their job to ask tough questions.

Politicians would be better at handling media interviews if they stopped the nonsensical spin they go on with and occasionally answered in straightforward sentences, or with a simple "yes" or "no". And their "media advisers" would help them out if they stopped insisting that Facebook and other social media tools were the only communication activities that work.

Yes, they work for some audiences and, yes, they potentially have enormous reach, as Donald Trump demonstrated. But in Australia that reach is limited, because not everyone is constantly clicking their phone or computer to read the latest tweet or Facebook post from politicians.

Contrary to the views of Alex Wallensky (Letters, April 9), the "un-appointment" of Malcolm Turnbull as head of the newly created net-zero emissions and clean economy advisory board was simply appalling.

This, after he had rightly called for a moratorium on new coal mines. What else would someone in that position say if they actually understood their brief, as Turnbull clearly did, which was to achieve zero net emissions?

The otherwise excellent NSW Energy Minister, Matt Kean, excused the decision by saying the focus should not be on personality, rather on "facts, technology, science, and economics". Well, yes, but where is the evidence that Turnbull was not going to focus on facts, technology, science and economics?

Deputy Premier John Barilaro, who had initially supported Turnbull's appointment, said for "someone to be appointed in a government role, and not to understand the passion and the policy position of the government, that in itself shows that they are thick-headed and they aren't interested in what is right and good for the economy".

It's not the economy this time, (stupid). It's the climate. But even if it were purely about economics, coal is no longer a good investment. The International Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) said earlier this year that "in anticipation of the coming energy transition, financial markets and investors are already directing capital away from fossil fuels and towards other energy technologies including renewables".

I write to present an alternate view to Bill Deane's pitiful attempt at mansplaining ("Delays in shouting don't help"', Letters, April 3).

First up, the reasons that women may have not shouted, spoken up or reported events at the time of their abuse, assault or harassment are well documented and have been covered extensively by the media in recent months.

Secondly, choosing a one-off historical example from an officer's mess is a bit rich given the Chief of the Defence Force only last month indulged in victim-blaming ("ADF chief defends 'prey' comments to cadets", Canberra Times, March 3, page 1).

Thirdly, is Mr Deane seriously suggesting that causing a man to blush is an appropriate reprimand for the crime of sexual harassment?

Then there is the weird throwaway remark that that no one would attempt to harass Germaine Greer, which is a minefield of fallacy. Is the implication here that men are too scared to harass feminists? Or do they simply feel threatened by women who have an opinion?

Either way it is total rubbish as Germaine Greer has spoken publicly about her brutal rape in 1958, including why she did not report it at the time.

As sad as the death of Prince Philip may well be, how is it possible then that, at least for some of us, that of Tom Raudonikis reverberates far more?

Perhaps the terrific opinion piece by Karen Hardy (canberratimes.com.au, April 11) can explain to some extent how this son of migrants left such an impression on so many.

In football at least, you're either a winner or a loser and that's about all there is to it. Other things being roughly equal, at some point, it all may come down to a case of your will against theirs and it would have taken a very brave person indeed to bet against Raudonikis in that situation.

Yet of all the many, many things people are now saying about Raudonikis, the quote from one of his close friends that really leaves its mark is: "He pulled a bit of snobbery out of all of us. He taught us not to look down on people."

I mean how good is that?

I doubt, as Paul O'Connor suggests (Letters, April 13) Albo would be annoyed at the possibility of an extra 20 million Pfizer vaccine doses by the end of the year.

Throughout the COVID-19 crisis he has been supportive of the government's positive moves. Criticisms have focused on the many missteps, failures, and disingenuous treatment of facts.

If Albo makes any response to the announcement it's more likely to be something like "don't hold your breath waiting".

Some messages I'd like to receive:

"Your call is important to us, so there's no queue and we'll assist you immediately."

"We're experiencing a very heavy volume of calls but had anticipated that and put on additional operators. Please leave your number and we'll call you back within five minutes."

"Our options remain unchanged for your convenience."

"Your call may be recorded for litigation purposes."

"We will not refer you to FAQs, community forums or chat robots, instead we have a human based in Australia to assist you."

And from ScoMo: "Politicians will be held to the same standard of integrity as everyone else."

In an article published in The Conversation, Adam Taylor, a professor and director of the Clinical Anatomy Learning Centre, Lancaster University, UK, writes that "In the UK, blood clots have occurred in people taking the AstraZeneca vaccine at a rate of roughly one in every 250,000, whereas blood clots caused by the [contraceptive] pill are estimated to affect one in every 1000 women each year."

Do we now expect a baby boom among anti-vaxxers?

One communitarian idea that just will not stick in the Coalition's collective minds is that people's health and the economy's health are one and the same.

Thus their criticism of border closures. That seems ironic now given the vaccine rollout is the thing that will get the economy moving. Yet all of a sudden they say it's not a race. A backflip or arse-covering ineptitude? I'd say the latter.

One aspect of communitarian thinking is exhibited by the epidemiologists; the virus is contagious while blood clots are not. Therefore if you have the vaccine and get blood clots, you won't pass them on; while if you don't have the vaccine and get the virus, you can pass it on.

Individualistic thinking sees this as a personal pro and con balancing act. Communitarians like me realise that my best chance of being virus free is to protect the community, just as the best way to protect the economy is to protect people.

Problems with the AstraZeneca jab should not result in a significant overall reduction in the time required to vaccinate all of us who want the vaccine. About 30 per cent of Australians are over 50. Just accelerate vaccinating these while we wait for delivery of the alternative vaccines.

Our public health experts, who have looked like a million dollars, now give the impression that they need to phone a friend.

Years ago Cadbury took Darrell Lea to court, claiming the Rocklea Road manufacturer was ripping off its Cadbury Purple colour. That is probably a good tip for David Pope with his latest offering in our search for the pascal purple (Editorial cartoon, April 9).

I applaud Malcolm Robertson's efforts to offset his car club's emissions by planting trees (Letters, April 9). However, as climate change is considered a global problem, perhaps he could now start working to offset the dozens of new coal-fired power plants being built every year in China and India.

Thanks to Messrs Stivala and Pilsner for their party political broadcasts on behalf of the Liberal Party (Letters, April 9).

Re: Where the best autumn leaves fall? (April 10, p3). I know the most from one tree is in our backyard. I'm told it is a Zelkova Serrata which I did not want but now enjoy the birds that love it. In April and May 2020 it dropped 38 wheelbarrow loads of leaves.

So the Australian War Memorial is to be reconstructed to accommodate all the new conflicts the ADF has been involved in. Where and when will this end?

A great step toward sexual equality would be achieved if we all wore the same clothes. The blue "Mao" suits worn by both sexes in China in the 1960s and 1970s are an outstanding example for us to follow. Gender equality could be achieved by using the pronoun "it".

What is a demonstration housing project? What does a block of units in an RZ1 block in Griffith demonstrate? Can we just have a set of planning rules that we can all understand without special privileges for those in the know? Say no to the Manor House.

I would be very happy to contribute towards fares, air or sea for D. Zivkovic of Aranda (Letters, April 12) if he doesn't like our safe and beautiful island, Australia.

David D'Lima (Letters, April 13) defends Prince Philip's Australian knighthood. I suggest nobody would have been more bemused by the unsought honour than the prince himself.

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