Boy, what a shocker. The dirt section is nearly impossible to negotiate and I drive a four-wheel-drive.

I know we have had a lot of rain recently but surely during the park shutdown could there not have been maintenance performed, especially when you encounter an exposed concrete pipe?

I am very concerned for the people who normally drive "city cars" through the park. I fear someone is going to die.

I encountered one car with a family in it and they were driving at no more than 10 km/h. On a bitumen road this is bad enough, but on this road!

At the other end of the spectrum I encountered a couple of people who thought the road had their name on it and drove accordingly. They just about hit me.

I implore the powers to be to pay some attention to the roads. I drove past so many, mostly elderly, people who were parked and ready to go bushwalking. They were all driving city cars.

So three pedestrian bridges in Umbagong District Park have been closed because they have been found to be unsafe because of timber "deterioration" ("Latham footbridges closed on public safety concerns", canberratimes.com.au, April 23).

By my memory, the bridges concerned are getting close to 50 years old.

You quote a spokesperson as saying: "We (the ACT government) are working on an approach to make sure the three footbridges are safe and access is maintained for the community".

No. If the government was doing that the bridges would have been repaired before they were so badly deteriorated that they had to be closed for safety.

Is timely inspection and maintenance of public assets beyond this government?

Re "Inner north schools bursting" (April 19, p1) which stated Canberra's inner north could need a new school within 10 years.

Based on the August 2020 school census Majura primary has the fourth largest population of a K-6 public school in Canberra (771) and North Ainslie has the sixth (703). Yet they will continue to expand in future years: projected in 2030 to be 918 and 742 respectively.

Their demountables are an inadequate band-aid solution to the multiple effects of high enrolments. There's only so much the staff and parents can do in the face of overwhelming enrolment pressure.

Of additional concern is the removal of Downer primary (now apartments) and Watson high (to become a tertiary institution). High school enrolments are set to explode.

The planned City and Gateway framework will see population in the inner north increase between 11,000 - 17,000 by 2031, leading to further pressure on schools.

The Downer community raised concerns with planning representatives during consultation on the City and Gateway framework in early 2019: we were brushed off with the glib response that the school planners would deal with the problem.

Perhaps we need to more strongly resist proposals for housing developments, until we see some serious and sensible solutions to school overcrowding?

I am disgusted by Home Affairs' departmental secretary's warning that the "drums of war" were beating and that we "... must be prepared to send off, yet again, our (he forgot to add "brave and heroic") warriors' to fight. How many centuries will it be before we will take up the lesson of World War I of "never again".

Oh, but I forgot. War is great for (some) businesses, and it keeps the guys in khaki busy.

Another Monday, another public holiday. I am pleased I retired over 15 years ago. Otherwise I would feel so guilty to have so many days at home on full pay.

How do you feel? How is your boredom level in front of the mindless rubbish our TV channels serve us? If I were to risk my paltry savings I would bet the instances of domestic violence went up on Monday.

Just before the next territory election another bet I am sure I would win is the addition of another public holiday just to be nice to the so-called workers.

What a bunch of bludgers.

Australia Institute research has shown Australian governments subsidise fossil fuels to the tune of $10.3 billion dollars annually.

The federal government alone gave more in fossil fuel tax breaks than it budgeted for the Australian army.

These are tax breaks that ordinary taxpayers fund.

In the words of the Australia Institute: "From a climate perspective this is inexcusable and from an economic perspective it is irresponsible".

It is a national disgrace that Australia has still not vaccinated all its health services workers. They are needed to protect the rest of us.

The aged might be vulnerable but they are not exposed to potentially infected patients every day; aged care residents often do not get into a risk environment.

Further if we want our aged to live comfortably, at least medically comfortable, we need the health system to look after them.

Who decided that health system personnel would not be the first to be vaccinated?

Jenna Price's opinion piece "White Australia must look inward" (April 23, p46) regarding black deaths in custody lacked research and balance.

Statistical Bulletin 17 (dated February 2019) published by the Australian Institute of Criminology titled Indigenous Deaths in Custody: 25 years since the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody states: "Indigenous people are now less likely than non-Indigenous people to die in custody... the death rate of Indigenous prisoners has been consistently lower since that of non-Indigenous prisoners since 2003-04".

According to the bulletin: "The majority of Indigenous prison deaths from 1991-92 to 2015-16 were due to natural causes (58 per cent; n=140), followed by hanging (32 per cent; n=78; Table A1). Twelve deaths (five per cent) were due to drugs and/or alcohol and nine (four per cent) were due to external trauma".

The academics Jenna cites as lamenting the current situation should not be surprised the PM is not particularly concerned with it.

The scourge of domestic violence should trouble us all greatly. It is such a complex issue with so many contributing factors.

We can do more about how we are desensitised towards violence. Look at entertainment. How much of what we watch includes violence? How many computer games involve violence? Listen to the football commentators lamenting the demise of the "biff".

It's no wonder that some children will grow up thinking that violence is an acceptable form of action.

Each Anzac Day, in addition to our own, I am reminded of the beautiful Allied Alamein Memorial and adjacent war graves, all in a beautiful setting. The Cross of Sacrifice feature can be seen from the nearby road.

Nearby are the Italian and German war memorials which I also visited in 1963 when at our Embassy in Cairo.

About seven kilometres west of El Alamein what looks like a hermetically sealed sandstone fortress overlooking the sea is the German War Memorial.

Inside this silent but unmistakable reminder of war lie the tombs of approximately 4000 German servicemen and, in the centre, a memorial obelisk. There is no Nazi war memorial.

The Italian memorial is as magnificent as only Italians can master.

There have been reports the experts are looking closely at how we treat the infected air in enclosed spaces.

To date, as far as I know, airflow control has been examined but not the possibility of treating the infected air itself. A study in the American Journal of Infection Control (Volume 48, issue 10, October 2020, pages 1273-1275) shows SARS-CoV-2 is highly susceptible to UV irradiation. High viral loads can be inactivated in nine minutes.

UV radiation technology is well understood. Perhaps infected air within quarantine spaces, and/or hospitals could be treated using this form of radiation.

Miracles do happen ("Christensen to quit, says politics broken", canberratimes.com.au April 23).

Images of war are usually of either epic glory or great tragedy. They do not measure up against the pathos of soldiers who suffocated in small craters filled with mud, or those who drowned after falling off landing craft because their packs were too heavy and cumbersome to remove.

It really is time for Jon Stanhope to formally announce his membership of the ACT Liberal Party. Many of us are wondering just what happened to turn "this" former Labor stalwart. Was it his sinecure on Christmas Island? Give it a rest Jon. Go quietly into the night lest hypocrisy become your middle name.

The Chinese Communist government does not appear to understand that "respect" is a two-way street. It is a supremacist regime which views all other nations and cultures as being inferior to it and treats them accordingly. Not a formula for international harmony.

Re: the photograph of the "topped out" building in ("Civic development reaches final stages", canberratimes.com.au, April 21). Amongst the cranes and colleagues in full protective gear why the head of development holds his safety helmet in his hands is inexplicable. Not a good example.

D. Shirley (Letters, April 25) misses the point in saying: "This means planning for all Canberrans and investing in public transport infrastructure". I'm all in favour but perhaps that investment should be in 21st century transport. Don't confine our rolling stock to the inflexibility of rails.

I'm not sure about the return of magazines to doctors and hairdressers (Letters, April 27) . I remember the great Tommy Cooper saying he had recently picked up a news magazine at his doctors and learnt about the loss of the Titanic.

It is so creative that the ACT government "welcomes" people to the Maconochie Centre quad, and markets its mobile "brown bombers" as Parking Infringement "Services". Whoever heard of a tax being a "service?"

On Anzac Day it would have been nice to see footballers, staff and the crowd sing our national anthem. The Essendon players had no problem finding their voices to sing their club song after victory.

Sue Dyer (Letters, April 27), it's crystal clear that the Coalition has never been fair-dinkum about global warming and climate change (with the exception of Malcolm Turnbull).

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