That he should be appointed while he represents Boeing, which makes huge profits from warfare, is beyond the pale.

In my view during his time as AWM director Dr Nelson misrepresented the extent and nature of public opposition to his grand expansion plan that is now taking shape. Multiple authorities on commemoration, military history, heritage and a host of other relevant matters were ignored.

On the matter of seeking funding from weapons makers, Dr Nelson basically sold the right to be honourably associated with our war dead to those who already profit financially from wars.

In a recent IPSOS opinion poll 59 per cent of respondents agreed that "the war memorial should not accept money from companies that profit from the sale of weapons".

The memorial is increasingly run by a small groupthink mentality that will ram its agenda through regardless of what most Australians think.

The appointment of Dr Brendan Nelson to the council of the Australian War Memorial is a further manifestation of the Morrison government's abrogation of principled government.

How will it be possible for director Matt Anderson to run the memorial with his predecessor looking over his shoulder? No doubt Dr Nelson will in due course also replace Kerry Stokes as chairman. This will enable him to complete its transformation from balanced memorial museum to a sentimental nationalist theme park.

Coming on the day of the funeral of distinguished former director Brendon Kelson this news will further sadden those who lament the Memorial's institutional degradation.

While I have admired Zelensky's courage in standing up to Russia, his demands for specific military equipment from Western leaders are at times at odds with reality. It makes sense for him to request Javelin and NLAW anti-tank weapons and Stinger anti-aircraft missiles, but it makes little sense to request vehicles like Australian Bushmasters when countries in Europe have surplus armoured personnel carriers compatible with those already in the Ukrainian military inventory.

Anyone who has had military experience will be aware that having a mismatch of equipment will be a maintenance nightmare. In addition, deploying armoured vehicles in conventional conflict will cause Ukraine to have the same kind of vulnerabilities as the Russian armoured forces. The Ukrainian army has done very well so far through the use of hit-and-run commando tactics, using special forces equipped with man-portable missiles.

Engaging the Russians in conventional conflict will likely cost Ukraine dearly in terms of lives and equipment losses. We should also be conscious that Ukraine is run by oligarchs and is one of the most corrupt countries in Europe, so we need better surety about where all this Western largesse is ending up - and that it is really benefiting those who need it.

In the run-up to the election Labor politicians are using me and other pensioners in nursing homes in an endeavour to gain votes.

They are saying the industry is in crisis.

I am 96 years old and a resident in a nursing home. There is no crisis where I live.

Sure there have been a couple of homes poorly run and staff wages are too low. But to blame the entire industry for the neglect of a few facilities is disgusting and well and truly over the top.

I am not a mouth-piece for my home but when you witness a blatant falsehood such as the statement by Michelle Rowlands, a Labor politician on television on Monday, April 4, saying that "residents in nursing homes are starving" you have to speak up.

Statements such as this makes residents in my home very angry.

Not only are they blatantly untrue, they also cause worry amongst our families. But another claim from Albo that he will legislate that careers spend 3.4 hours "one on one" with each resident is idiotic, especially when a resident is resting, asleep or in dementia.

It is very evident that Albo and some of his mates have never obtained any real life experiences other than the machinations of Labor politics.

I object most strongly that the Labor Party is using me and other nursing home residents as pawns in its search for votes.

On Thursday [Washington time] Caroline Kennedy fronts the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee seeking her confirmation as Ambassador to Australia.

Ms Kennedy is likely to encounter two problems when she reaches Canberra. First is our need for submarines, upon which Coalition governments have already squandered $ 5.5 billion.

Second is the continuing prosecution of Julian Assange, whose plight has been neglected by the Morrison government.

It is to hoped that she will be able to make a positive contribution to both these issues.

I find it remarkable how many silly old buggers (as Bob Hawke would call them) apparently become significant security threats and are ushered away when they have the temerity to publicly criticise our elected officials to their faces.

If I was a cynical person I would say that the relevant minders are, in actual fact, more worried about appearances, than the safety of the politicians they are protecting, and are probably guilty of assault by physically moving the offending constituent away.

I have to agree with the NSW Court of Appeal's decision to allow the intervention by the Prime Minister in the pre-selection processes - on purely legal grounds that is.

It is important such power to intervene can be used where a process is being subverted, but was that the case in this instance? Or was it the reverse - where the executive was doing the subverting and for purely internal factional advantage?

Besides, it is the Prime Minister who keeps on spouting about our "liberal democracy".

Was it even democratic, let alone liberal to deliberately set out to overturn the genuinely democratic process of enabling all eligible party members to select their candidate free of any outside influence?

It's not only yet another example of questionable behavior by this Prime Minister and his acolytes, but it's hypocritical as well.

We're deafened by the faux cries of outrage when Labor tries to play the same game - even when that party is at least making an attempt to improve a genuinely bad situation.

All the more reason in my view, to seriously consider voting for one of the independent candidates who mostly, in my view, want to bring some decency and ethics to the political process.

If enough of them are elected, we just might see some long overdue changes to our tired and systemically corrupted system.

Volodymyr Zelensky has called for Russia to be expelled from the UN Security Council. At first the suggestion seems shocking. The aim of the United Nations Organisation is to unite the nations, with the major aim to prevent war. Expulsions go against the grain.

Yet there are arguments in favour of expelling Russia from the Security Council.

It is clearly inappropriate that any permanent member of the Security Council, which was set up to prevent war, should initiate a war.

The expulsion will put great pressure on the Kremlin, as it will be something impossible for the Russian leadership to explain convincingly to the people.

Isolation will diminish the power of the Russian leadership in the eyes of the world, something very disagreeable for any leadership. The expulsion need only be temporary, until the present crisis is resolved.

This is surely a problem that needs to be carefully addressed.

It has gone well past the point for the Russo phobia to be firmly wound down. It has reached almost hysterical levels in the mainstream media both overseas and in Australia.

Why it was ever encouraged or allowed to become so bad, in the first place, is a significant question and requires a deeper analysis and understanding than much of the mainstream media is capable of providing. Isn't there an old saying along the lines that the first casualty of war is the truth?

Russia is regrouping and may do another Bucha soon. Meanwhile NATO keeps their weapons dusty in storages and Biden, the lame duck, keeps thinking up more sanctions. Clearly, as far as they are concerned, Russia has not crossed a "red line" yet.

The Snowy 2.0 is an important project with a revised cost of more than $5 billion. No one seems to talk about this important project. Why?

Reading the letters in The Canberra Times leads me to think that ACT residents are not sufficiently mature to deserve any representation in either house of the Australian Parliament.

The PM and his allies dismiss attacks on his character as "politicking". But the attacks are all coming from his own side and only confirm what we've been learnt about him over the last three years. We didn't need Senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells to tell us "this man is unfit to be PM".

Come on young Zed. You can do it boy. More money for Canberra.

I watched the Melbourne Comedy Festival on television on Saturday night. You obviously don't need to be funny to be on it but you do need to know words that rhyme with duck and punt. Professionals at an amateur level.

The PM said he is willing to sign a statutory declaration to refute allegations he used racist and religious slurs in the preselection for Cook but nobody has asked him. Well, Mr Morrison, please sign such a statutory declaration, please do it publicly, and please let us see the words. I'm asking. As a so-called ordinary citizen do I count?

As someone who worked in Defence I'm delighted the government has cancelled Australia's only armed drone project". I can't count the times I've seen reinventions of the wheel soak up horrendous amounts of money on the principle it may be rubbish but at least it is Australian rubbish. Think of the Collins class subs, the worst subs of their generation costing more than a Los Angeles class nuclear submarine.

How long does former NSW Liberal MP Pru Goward get to stay on the taxpayer-funded gravy train? Her combined ABC, public service, and parliamentary pensions have put her in a far better position than most retirees. Yet the Attorney-General has, in the last days of the term, appointed Goward, who does not have a law degree, to the administrative Appeals Tribunal. This is a grossly offensive use of ministerial power.

At least Mr Morrison didn't call his recent unwelcome interlocuter a "silly old bugger" as Hawkey would have done.