When you stitch together Canberra's big news headlines over the past weeks it makes for a patchwork of ill-considered ideas, financial incompetence and overall community neglect. The biggest part of the tattered patchwork is the budget cuts, including to learning support assistants (LSAs), to ACT schools and public education.

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LSAs are not simply surplus classroom helpers, but integral to pupil learning and teacher welfare, particularly in an environment of too few teachers, all overloaded. Of course, principals and teachers are silenced from speaking out on the reality within both the system and their schools, but this is a matter that should concern our whole community.

Education is the basis of a well-functioning society, shapes greater individual wellbeing and is simply a human right. The cuts to our ACT public education schools are not due to a broken educational budget, but the mismanaged territory budget as a whole.

So on to another patch. As the Lyric Theatre suddenly appears irrespective of the ACT budget and school cuts, we have the Canberra Airport Group awakening the idea of a city stadium. This will be achieved by digging up Commonwealth Park and the relatively small five acres of the Archbishop's house ("Stadium proposal", October 7).

Mark Faulkner, Dickson

Broken Ukraine promise

Do people remember that one of Donald Trump's election promises in 2024 was that if elected he would end the war with Ukraine in 24 hours? Like most of his bombastic, hyperbolic statements it went nowhere but now, two years later, he has the effrontery to blame President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for not ending the war with Russia.

At the same time, Trump is perpetuating that war by lifting sanctions on Russian diesel, thus replenishing the coffers of that monster Putin so he can continue destroying Ukraine and its resilient people.

No wonder Trump claims Putin is his friend. The two of them have the morals of an alley cat, although that is probably a slur against cats.

Jennifer Saunders's (Letters, October 13) response to my letter of October 11 claims that I misunderstand her concerns about Order of Australia nominations. She states that unless one's nomination is eminent, it is near impossible to obtain the biographical information for the nomination without asking the individual, which is forbidden.

Nominations must contain some details about the individual so they can be identified. A complete biography is not required. The reason for the nomination must be provided, as well as the impact their exceptional service and achievements have had.

To support her nomination Jennifer has to identify activities or organisations that her friend's exceptional service or achievements have affected.

She then has to identify individuals involved........

© Canberra Times