This begs the following questions. What did it achieve? How much did it cost? Who paid for it? And, last but not least, how much damage was done to the environment?

It was claimed 115,000 people attended the 20-minute display.

I believe a synchronised laser and sound display would have been more spectacular, in all probability have cost less, and would not have caused any damage to the environment or created a potential fire hazard.

It could also be held in many diverse locations across Canberra instead of a single central location.

Additionally, it would not put our pets and native animals under severe stress. They are terrified by fireworks.

Should all fireworks displays be banned in Canberra?

I say yes. And the sooner the better. They are frivolous and totally unnecessary.

The advertisement on page nine promoting wood heaters (March 16) pushed the environmental credentials of "modern, clean-burning wood heaters".

This misrepresents the fact that even improved wood heaters are still a major source of air pollution, especially of health harming PM 2.5 particulates. There is no safe level of exposure to these particulates.

It is troubling that the ad used the Landcare Australia logo.

An August 25, 2023, letter in The Canberra Times from the Conservation Council ACT Region pointed out that wood heaters have no place in Canberra's energy future, as there is a strong connection between regional native forest logging in NSW and firewood purchases in the ACT.

These forests are home to endangered animals (especially birds) and plants. The use of wood heaters contributes to biodiversity loss.

The ad fails the environmental test on both air pollution and forest logging grounds.

The full-page advertisement from the wood heating industry (The Canberra Times, March 16) reminds me of the days when big tobacco tried to convince smokers "light" cigarettes were better for them than full strength ones.

Just like cigarettes, wood heaters in residential areas are bad for our health and it's time we gave them up too.

It is pleasing to see The Canberra Times take a strong editorial stance against the harm caused by poker machines ("The poker machine carnage must stop", March 19).

What The Canberra Times also needs to acknowledge is the serious harm being caused by online sports betting, particularly driven through its ubiquitous advertising.

The damage being caused to our vulnerable younger people, including those under 18, is insidious and less visible than for poker machines. It is happening on personal devices, often behind closed doors.

We now have a generation of tweens and teenagers for whom "multis" and other sports betting terms are completely normal concepts, and the long-term damage this normalisation of betting as an intrinsic element of watching sport will cause is disturbing to contemplate.

For as long as The Canberra Times continues to accept advertising from sports betting companies, it will be complicit in this harm. Words on other forms of gambling harm will ring hollow.

I note the ACT government, together with the City Renewal Authority, has released its plans for the proposed rejuvenation of the Dickson shops precinct ("First look at next steps of Dickson upgrades", March 13).

This latest proposal proposal is apparently intended to encourage more outdoor dining, more general outdoor activity, and events for pedestrians, shoppers and particularly younger people.

I am wary about this proposal for a couple of reasons.

Firstly, the local residents and businesses have just endured a tortuous period of disruption, upheaval and at times anger, only to have to now go through it again.

Secondly, the Dickson shops precinct has and is an eclectic and traditional retail area serving the local community in a way that eschews the commercial/mall style shopping centres.

Despite assurances that the heritage of the area will be respected, I have my doubts.

The recent development has demonstrated the beginning of the erosion of the village atmosphere of Dickson.

The prospect of that extending to this village would be a tragedy.

I fully support beautification and improvement, but not when that means unsightly and unsympathetic architecture and landscape.

The heading on Russ Morison's letter (March 16) is correct. It's not that simple to decide what is right in Gaza.

Morison says "surely Israel has a right to destroy those who would destroy them".

If Russ has been alert to what has happened since the state of Israel was created in 1948 he should have noticed that Israeli forces have been killing Palestinians since the very beginning, as well as making their lives miserable as possible and subsuming most of their land.

At its creation Israel was given 55 per cent of historic Palestine. They now occupy nearly 90 per cent.

And hasn't he heard Netanyahu say he will never agree to a Palestinian state?

I share Roderick Holesgrove's disappointment with the Albanese government's actions related to Gaza (Letters, March 17) but certainly not for his reasons. Quite the opposite.

The government called for a ceasefire before Hamas has been defeated, even though it rightly said Hamas can have no future in Gaza, and Israel defeating Hamas is the only way to stop that happening.

It restored funding to UNRWA despite overwhelming evidence of UNRWA employees being involved in the October 7 attacks, being members of Hamas, and for years inciting hatred of Israel in its schools, and despite two international investigations including one by the UN not yet being completed.

The government also issued visas for Gaza residents without taking the time to check whether they were linked to Hamas or otherwise a security risk.

Roderick Holesgrove attributes the government's stance to the "Jewish lobby", but it appears the far more numerous Muslim population carries more weight.

There appears to be no Israeli war action too extreme for Joe Biden to consider ceasing the flow of US weapons and financial support for Israel's war in Gaza.

On Tuesday last, the US Senate passed a bill giving $14 billion in additional military aid for Israel to continue its occupation and bombing of the Palestinians in Gaza.

Biden continues to be defiant by rejecting global demands for an immediate end to Israel's military assault on a starving, overwhelmingly defenceless population.

He has also shown that America is no better than the Israelis.

And the USA is Australia's military partner?

What does that make Australia?

I note that the nuclear power fan club has latched onto Peter Dutton's new fascination with big nuclear power plants; small modular reactors now being as scarce as women in the Coalition.

Strangely enough I've never heard any one of those people say "And of course I would like a small modular reactor in my suburb". Where do they think these will go? You think the protests about offshore wind farms are bad, everyone will want those nuclear reactors as far away from them as possible. That definitely includes sites like Eraring, Mount Piper, Callide and Yallourn.

No-one will want a nuclear reactor near their farm, cattle, bush preserve, holiday retreat, or small country town.

They also don't mention who is to pay for them. If nuclear power was viable the coal industry would have converted to it years ago. They haven't. It is more expensive than gas power. So what they haven't said is that they expect "government" to pay for these power plants - i.e. us the taxpayer. Where's that money going to come from I wonder?

And we never hear them talk about nuclear waste. The SMRs were supposed to take radioactive waste, but that turned out to be more fiction than reality. The large reactors definitely can't - for them it's U-235 or nothing.

These nuclear ideologues want to kid Australians into taking some isolated bit of Aboriginal land and making it a dump "for our own nuclear waste". And then we'll be paid handsomely by all those other countries who want to get rid of their nuclear problems by giving it to us patsies.

Re R Morison of Theodore (Letters, March 16). So being concerned about killing of Palestinians (who are mainly women and children) is moaning according to Mr Morison. He suggests the victims have brought the killings on themselves and shows no knowledge of the Jewish settlement of Israel. He showed his true colours with his reference to the Vietnamese "enemy". We know where that got Australia.

Thanks R Morison (Letters, March 16), I finally get it. If a bad guy runs behind a crowd of bystanders we mow them all down in order to get him.

Hate-preaching imams, Jewish students afraid for their safety, a Jewish singer cancelled by the ABC, and weekly protests calling for the obliteration of the state of Israel. What will it take before the relevant authorities take a stand against this blatant anti-Semitism? And Labor has re-instated funding to UNRWA, the relief agency linked to Hamas. What next?

The news former prime ministers have claimed expenses costing taxpayers millions of dollars made me wonder whether any ordinary Australian citizen had given their consent to this political racket?

The government admits it has lost control of our borders and that the power sits with the courts. Thousands of cases brought against the government are tying up untold resources in litigation. Illegal immigrants use our systems against us with impunity. We need an iron fist in an iron glove to address the issue.

Opposition immigration spokesman Dan Tehan makes constant reference to 151 refugee "criminals" let loose. It is utterly untrue. A fact check would clarify this. Journalists are not doing their job when they allow lies to pass unchallenged

It's been reported there is legislation afoot to replace the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT), with an Administrative Review Tribunal (ART). Of course this will cover only federal laws. Does that become FART? Should be easier to be heard then.

I cannot understand why the ABC and SBS do not set up their news broadcasts before they are due to go on air, and so give themselves time to get the subtitles right. I am deaf and rely on the subtitling. The stations obviously do the job "on the wing" and the results can be almost useless.

Dear Telstra, you might have shut down Black Mountain Tower but you also shut down memories. If you're wondering how how you shut down memories it is because people might have gone there as a kid and remember their first visit. Please reopen Black Mountain Tower. Love from Samantha (age 7).