Dirty wood fires have done their dash; it's time to move on

Contrary to industry claims, wood heaters are extremely dirty. They create far more particulate pollution than other forms of heating - 450 times more than gas, according to England's chief medical officer. This pollution permeates our homes, harming us all, especially children and the elderly.

Nor are wood heaters a sustainable source of heating, as they pump out a disproportionate amount of climate change-causing emissions and rob our bush of wood. This is why health and environmental groups are agreed that wood heating should be phased out.

If you use a wood heater but have an alternative, cleaner source of heating, using it will protect your health, those around you, and the community we share.

David Hobson notes that "occasionally" he keeps "a count of people following the legal requirements and the score is usually about five per cent." Sounds like a fun hobby.

It is an offence to ride a bicycle that does not have "a bell, horn, or similar warning device, in working order". Whether using one's voice qualifies is doubtful, but perhaps arguable from a safety point of view.

I am aware of no legal requirement to use this device in any particular circumstances.

I'm not at all certain about the utility from a safety or courtesy point of view of sounding one's bell on a busy shared path. Sometimes it's certainly the right call - other times it seems rude, or elicits an unpredictable response from the recipient of the warning.

I would expect The Canberra Times political analyst Mark Kenny to use his column two days before the budget to discuss the budget.

This is, after all, the most important thing our government introduces each year.

Instead, he launched yet another attack on Israel and the "Israel lobby".

Mr Kenny seems to have an obsession with the Jewish state.

Fear is not the only thing stops Canberra from becoming a "cycle city" ("How can we make the ACT a cycle city?," May 7).

Here are some other things we can improve:

Republican National Committee (RNC) co-chair Lara Trump said it is "pretty obvious" her father-in-law, former President Trump, accepts presidential election results.

What is pretty obvious is the opposite.

He filed over 60 court cases to claim the election was rigged and stolen from him.

No court accepted any of his many spurious claims.

Trump then tried to overturned the election result with what was tantamount to an attempted coup.

Lara Trump obviously needs a medical check up to assess her grasp of reality and truth.

Does the Israeli government really want a ceasefire? Does Hamas really want the conflict to end? I'm not talking about the Israeli people or ordinary Palestinians. I'm talking about the extremists who, in the name of their respective religions, control both Hamas and the Israeli government.

Is Hamas' acceptance of the latest ceasefire proposals genuine or is it a ploy to pause and regather its forces? Is the Israeli government's decision to continue plans to invade Rafah a way of testing if Hamas is bluffing, or did Hamas agree to a ceasefire in order to test Israel's desire for peace and if so are they already being proved right?

And why has the Netanyahu government banned news organisations that question the validity of its version of the conflict (not that the other side has been altogether open and honest), but can't we at least expect the "only liberal democracy in the Middle East" (sic) to set a true democratic example of a free and open media? As the old conservative saying goes, "If you've nothing to hide....".

Oh, there is the ironic truism as well; "In war, the first casualty is the truth".

Your correspondent is incorrect to characterise Admiral Chris Barrie's concern that climate change is a massive but largely unaddressed threat to our security as his alone (Letters, May 8).

Our allies, including the United States, the United Kingdom, all actively consider mass migration scenarios and other climate-induced risks to national security as part of their defence planning.

The fact that our latest National Defence Strategy contains, as the Admiral notes, "precisely two sentences of substance" dedicated to climate impact, and no plans to deal with problems arising from predicted food insecurity and mass migration, should worry us all.

Unlike Ian Pearson (Letters, May 8) who disparages Admiral Chris Barrie's views I think his recent critique of government policy is right on the money.

In a just-released report (Too Hot to Handle) by the Australian Security Leaders Climate Group, Barrie says regarding the risk of climate change to national security: "It appears that the government either doesn't understand what our scientists are telling them, or they are deliberately hiding the facts from the Australian community".

There is a simple and plausible explanation why the federal government would want to hide the Office of National Intelligence report on the security threat posed by global heating, and it is not primarily related to a security issue.

Unfortunately the government finds itself saddled with what might be dubbed "The Morrison Curse": an enormously expensive, ill-conceived AUKUS plan which Labor supported in opposition after less than 24 hours' consideration. It was a disastrous product of wedge politics.

There's little doubt that the hidden ONI report calls for very large expenditure to mitigate the effects of global heating and there is no way that this could be met because of the huge financial cost of the AUKUS project.

Ian Pearson's criticism of "old admirals" (Letters, May 8) implies that Chris Barrie is wrong about the security risks posed by climate change, extreme weather events, and rising sea levels ("Are climate risks 'too big' for politics?", May 5).

Chris Barrie may be a retired admiral, but I dare say he knows more about the behaviour of the sea than does Mr Pearson. One of the security risks facing Australia is mass immigration from low-lying parts of countries such as Thailand, Vietnam, Bangladesh, India and Pakistan as sea levels rise and extreme rainfall and flooding become more common and severe.

There could be many thousands of emigrants pooling their funds to buy seaworthy vessels capable of reaching Australia: a land that they see as a huge, mostly very sparsely populated, and an attractive refuge.

The Australian government is to be commended for its recently announced new $100 million assistance package for Ukraine. This new package brings Australia's overall ongoing support to Ukraine in its war against Russia to around $1 billion .

The effectiveness of this assistance may be diluted by Western democracies appeasing Putin in the way Hitler was encouraged by appeasement in the 1930s. The tepid Western response to Russian aggression in Georgia (in 2008) and Ukraine (Crimea, in 2014) set the scene for the current full invasion.

Putin has repeatedly tried to bully key Western leaders with threats of escalation.

Defeating Putin in Ukraine is essential and will ensure his defeat at home. If Putin is not defeated in Ukraine, however, the consequences will be dire.

Perhaps Israel in their haste to leave Gaza a pile of rubble should take note of this: "Do not say, 'I will do to him as he has done to me; I will pay the man back for what he has done'." (Proverbs 24:29)

What? Charlie can't fit in his prodigal son for breakfast in London or Scotland? Precious fellow. Oh well, at least Harry can pick his friends in the land of the free.

The missing element in the analysis of Brumbies crowds is the parallel figures for the Raiders ("Time to relive an ACT golden era", May 13). Have the Brumbies ever pulled big crowds at the same time as the Raiders? Brumbies crowds ballooned in their second year (1997) when the Raiders were on the nose due to Super League.

The Finance Minister Katy Gallagher has become a cheerleader for Treasurer Jim Chalmers. But we already have an Assistant Treasurer. What became of the role of an independent Finance Minister? The days of Peter Walsh in the Hawke government are long gone.

C Williams complains about having to read the truth about the Middle East, as explained by Colin Rubenstein (Letters, May 10). Apparently any view that doesn't correspond with C Wiliams' is to be derided as propaganda, even though Rubenstein's main point was seemingly obvious - that Iran is behind the majority of violence in the Middle East.

Israel's compassionate decision to allow all non-combatants out of Rafah before its assault on the city is commendable. However why wouldn't Hamas fighters accompany this exodus and continue their struggle from Al-Mawasi where the people have been relocated?

I do not agree with Gary Fan's assertion (May 13) that the recent correspondence suggesting more cyclists should warn of their approach from behind constitutes hate mail. To the contrary, if more than a minority of cyclists did provide warning, the shared paths would be safer for everyone.

Re the Manuka ex-services club. Perhaps the club president might talk to the Polish White Eagle Club. It is single story, has no pokies and appears to be thriving.

Felicity Chivas (Letters, May 13), has found a café not accepting cash. May I remind businesses that find customer service irksome if they don't look after their customers someone else will.

So, once again the government is showing its economic and agricultural credentials with its plan to end the live sheep export trade by 2028. Live cattle exporters look out.