The war memorial commemorates our servicemen and servicewomen and the campaigns in which they took part. It is also a museum which has an important educational role.

Some of the Afghanistan Victoria Crosses, whose recipients would be commemorated at Watson, have already been donated to the war memorial. Visitors can see these in the hall of valour and learn about why they were awarded. The stretch of the Federal Highway dedicated to the memorial drive has been relocated in part or whole as the highway has been improved over time. It is now part of an expressway. Is it realistic to even hope the memorials will be visited?

The $392,000 required for the proposed Afghanistan VC memorial would need to come from public donations at a time when the charity dollar is going to be under increased pressure due to the pressures of COVID-19.

While I am sure the members of the Remembrance Driveway Council had good intentions when this addition to the memorial drive was conceived, I urge that this effort be devoted to the Australian War Memorial and that we focus more on the welfare of mentally and physically injured former military personnel.

We know so much more about post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) today than in the past. It is exacerbated when inadequately treated or not treated at all. The best memorial the community can provide for our veterans is to provide them with the assistance they need to deal with service injuries and PTSD.

I just returned home from overseas and learned, with dismay, that police have attended numerous incidents at testing clinics. What's happened to our good nature while I was travelling in places that are far less fortunate than here?

Administrative and medical staff at testing sites are just as frayed as the rest of us; probably more so in fact. They're putting their lives on the line so we can party. We should not dump our frustrations on them. These people have worked significant overtime for long stretches; they deserve our courtesy, honour, respect, and gratitude.

As a returned international traveller I must soon be tested again. I'm apprehensive about queuing given past reports of "incidents". Let's all be pleasant to the testing staff and to each other. Remember "Ken Behrens" - we're all in this together.

At a time when every house is probably overflowing with paper and cardboard from Christmas gifts why is the ACT government's recycling collection point in Jolly Street, Belconnen, closed off when it looks less than a quarter full from the street?

Was an announcement made? If so how?

As a result there are frustrated and angry drivers stopping, looking, and then driving away with their loads.

Congratulations on your magnificent editorial about the passing of Desmond Tutu ("Tutu South Africa's other great soul", December 28, p22). I doubt that another editorial, anywhere in the world, would have said so much, so well, in so few words, about such a loss to civilisation. It seemed to capture the very essence of the Archbishop's life.

It left me deeply moved but also casting around wondering if there is another public figure, alive in the world today whose passing would warrant a similar tribute. There are few other well-enough known "great souls", who were or are, not just willing, but also able, to point such epoch-changing fingers of accusation at our terrible modern complacencies in what is, increasingly, an oppressor's world.

Of course apartheid South Africa was such a monstrous crime against humanity that, despite the appeasement of people like UK PM, Margaret Thatcher, it had, eventually, to call forth not only giants like Tutu, but also scores of others like Steve Biko ruthlessly murdered before the world-wide media could lend sufficient protective power to their voices.

At such a time, let us remember them also, not only as they were in South Africa, but also as they are, now, in other parts, and prisons, of our world.

After the debacle that masqueraded as "Test cricket" something had to give. And it has.

After 120 years the selection process for England's Test teams has been restructured with the role of "national selector" now abolished. The ultimate responsibility for side selection is now vested in the head coach; a much more practical approach.

Time, and the next two Tests, will tell us if this was the right move or just a case of out of the frying pan and into the fire.

The problems women have in the current parliamentary environment have been much commented on in recent times.

This caused me to recall some words from Sir William Lyne [the last colonial premier of NSW] at a meeting in London in 1911.

Speaking about the advantages of the enfranchisement of women, Lyne said "Australian women had used their vote to purify Parliament...".

As some evidence for this he pointed out that Commonwealth MPs only "spent on an average 4d per week in the refreshment bar".

What would he think if he returned to Parliament today?

Each Christmas morning our correspondence with Santa offers my family a chance to review the year and to express hopes for the future.

On this occasion that exhausted man in red explained he needed some slogans for his reindeer to scrawl across the sky.

Our proposals included: "peace is a renewable resource"; "nibble-not-as-much for world climate" and "unwrap borders, not presents".

The Canberra Raiders have announced Palmerbet will partner with the club for 2022 and beyond. I am bitterly disappointed the Raiders board have agreed to accept sponsorship from an online sport and racing betting agency.

Sports gambling is fast becoming a leading cause of family breakdown and bankruptcy in Australia. The Raiders should review this decision in the interests of maintaining the club's excellent reputation.

Ian Jannaway's justification of readiness for war (Letters, December 22) is precisely the reason why Dr Wareham, and others with similar sentiments write letters to the CT opposing wars.

Is Ian really serious when he says that the "brave people on uniforms" who died in Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Syria ... doing the biddings of the USA imperialist army, fought to secure our right to free speech?

As a conscript with an almost sure posting to the Vietnam war I have forever been grateful to Gough Whitlam for getting us out of that unjustified, unfair and deadly war. I never got to wear the "uniform". Instead I developed an interest in politics and have voted Labor ever since. Lets have less armies, less weapons and fewer wars. Let us follow Switzerland, not the USA.

We are, as is most of the developed world, so incredibly fortunate to have COVID-19 vaccines available to us at no cost. We are now in the realms of third and possibly fourth booster vaccinations being offered and millions of vaccinations are being imported from around the world.

Spare a thought though for those countries and their equally deserving inhabitants, particularly in Africa, where primary vaccinations are at abysmally low rates due primarily to availability, cost and global distribution priorities. This inequitable, shameful and embarrassing state of affairs must end.

John Coochey (Letters, December 29) claims that masks have a "marginal effect" at best against COVID-19 transmission. It is implausible the probability of infection by a virus whose primary mode of transmission is via aerosols and droplets would not be significantly reduced by masks.

The weight of evidence suggests the protective effect is substantial. The advice from health authorities is to wear masks and physically distance. I would rather be advised by them than Mr Coochey.

I must correct Peter Moran (Letters, December 23) on his comment about the British order of battle; my figures are up to date as of March 2021. However I must say FAUKUS (depending on how you pronounce it) has a certain ring to it.

Changing booster intervals was "utterly irresponsible" according to Greg Hunt when he spoke on December 23. Then it was government policy by Christmas Eve. This is what we've come to expect from ScoMo's tribe. Boosters, net zero on carbon emissions, and EVs are just some of the backflips. If you want to know what they're going to do tomorrow just look at what they're criticising today.

I wonder if serious calls to stop pork barrelling could have politicians trying to get the bloody pork off their forks? Pork barrel sprinklings in the very needy ACT could indicate the Liberal power brokers think Zed's Senate seat could be marginal. There are now some interesting independents in the rolling maul of candidates contesting the second spot.

Why is Putin so preoccupied with the Ukraine? And why is Xi Jinping so preoccupied with Taiwan? Both should worry more about their vast undeveloped countries and hungry populations.

It's a shame that when Australia needs the Prime Minister to be leader all we have is a disingenuous dissembling populist.

P Reynolds (Letters, December 23) invokes the usual shibboleth of "safety concerns" to undermine the case for floatplane flights from Lake Burley Griffin. He should recall that four-engined seaplanes operated from Rose Bay - in the middle of Sydney, beside a shipping lane - for 40 years without incident. I think our lake can stand a few flights daily.

Please, no more negative views about seaplanes on the lake. It's only when we are vocal about a subject that the NCA wakes up and takes the opposite view to the community.

Please, Ms Kueter-Luks (Letters, December 28) give the staff of our beloved The Canberra Times a break. They would have to work on Christmas Day to put an edition together for Boxing Day. They deserve the time off to spend with their families, too.

In response to both Jack Kershaw and Roderick Holesgrove (Letters, December 28) "the point of the (Telstra) tower" is as a communications facility, including local TV and FM broadcasting, and as an important "node" in the inter-capital broadband network. Mr Kershaw's suggestion of a "mind-blowing money spinner ... two-way cable car from Acton Peninsula" would interfere with that important communications function.