SMH Letter

Kings Cross has always had a unorthodox rough edge but lately as Elizabeth Farrelly points out the convergence of alcohol and huge numbers of young people make the environment downright dangerous. Police fearing to go to work in such an environment is perfectly reasonable. Just observe the heady mix of testosterone booze and try to reason with intoxicated aggressive people who resent police doing their duty. Have a look at the streets at 6 am before the cleaners have been through and see a beautiful suburb desecrated. We need to restore the Cross before it is lost to mindless hoons.

SMH Letter

Fernando Henrique Cardoso is not alone in recommending that the war on drugs should end. What he fails to realise is that the insatiable demand for drugs by cashed up Western nations looking to alter their collective state of consciousness is so great that to acknowledge its extent is political poison. Add to this the burgeoning industries that have sprung up to counter the criminalisation of drugs. These would cease to make a nice living were illicit drugs off the banned list.

force-fed at the front

An army it is said marches on it’s stomach, but the military meals shown in your article would not tempt me after a day fighting insurgents in hostile territory. Freeze dried pork ribs and skittles don’t seem all that enticing. What happened to world war 2 ration packs with spam and tins of beans? Now that would get a soldier moving.

holiday time

Dear editor,

Pleasant Activity Training as recommended by Ross Gittins in his article sounds like a good idea. Reality however is somewhat different. We often don't take our accrued annual leave and the result is stress-related illness or physical problems. More problematic still is going on leave and staying connected to work by e-mail or other electronic umbilical cords. Never entirely disconnecting seems to be the norm these days. A real holiday is pulling the plug, rediscovering yourself and your friends.