His words: “why do the poor make so many poor decisions?”

Many poor people are not that ignorant to choose that existence, and I am the first to agree that some poor choices can make money go super-fast, but I do not believe the video was about that.

Many people have bad things happen to them through sheer bad luck.

Many hard working people end up poor because of their government failing to protect their money, and I think that there are too many reasons to mention the reasons why one becomes poor.

So Mr Historian, genuine poor people try to do the best they can with the money they have. Many did not make poor decisions; they just became poor by reasons out of their control.

An educational video will not bring in money to feed your children, nor will it pay for one that is suddenly struck down by an illness beyond their control notwithstanding the cost of medical health nowadays.

So instead of making an educational video, rather conglomerate your money and donate it to those less fortunate, drop some coins into a Veteran’s sad case on a lonely quiet street and burn the video, it gives no poor any solace.

Amidst all the murder and mayhem, the terrorists and Trump, I thought you might like something a little more lighthearted.

This fairly describes the situation at our house through this time of year. You go down the garden and your heart sinks. Surely there can’t be that many ready again?

You pick them and take them up to join the other three, four or six you already have in the kitchen. Then your wife’s face brightens, “maybe Bob and Jane next door would like some”, she says.

Your spirits lift and you grab a bag, stuff some in and go out of the front door – just in time to see Bob coming in the gate with a bag. They thought you might like some of theirs. 

Then you think of the lady who lives alone on the other side, but she says her brother dropped some in just the other day, so you trudge despondently back home.

You have them with dinner, you make vegetable spaghetti with them, you julienne them in salads, barbecue them, pickle them and make chutneys with them but still they keep coming like an unstoppable green army. They are zucchinis, the rabbits of the veggie world.

WHY should state and federal governments allow migrants into the state-country when we have homeless, housing and unemployment crisis?

Fix the homeless, housing and unemployment crisis’ first.

IN response to Dr Dain Bolwell’s letter (The Examiner, December 12) spruiking the virtues of renewables v fossil fuel generation, he refers to “dinosaurs still roaming the Earth” in relation to hydrocarbon generation. Well, Dr Bolwell must believe in unicorns if he thinks that “renewables don’t contribute to climate change”, nor “tear up the earth”.

Fact, renewable generation infrastructure such as solar PV cells and wind turbines are full of rare earth elements which are mined, refined and smelted such as neodymium which is used for the magnets in a wind turbine generator – the smelting of this material also happens to be highly toxic and leaves radioactive tailings.

He also fails to mention that when the wind doesn’t blow and the sun doesn’t shine, these renewables are “firmed” by coal and gas, which is Orwellian speak for generators that work when you want them to, not on the vagaries of the weather.

THE property council's Brian Wightman has responded to the prospect of maximum building heights in Hobart by calling for an unelected panel of experts and not councils to have the power to approve major projects (The Examiner, December 12).

Any such major project laws will give the minister power to appoint the panel and to veto their decision, giving the minister too much power and removing local councils and the independent Tasmanian Planning Commission from having a say.

Is Mr Wightman going to call for the law to be changed every time the community and councils propose changes to planning rules that serve local communities over large developers?

Stay in the process and work with us, Mr Wightman. The process of amending Hobart's planning scheme to limit building heights has only begun, with the full council yet to make its decision and the independent TPC to review the proposal.

The property council and all other stakeholders still have plenty of opportunities to influence the normal process of amending Hobart's planning scheme.   

So, our National Party Senator Steve Martin sees himself worthy of an office refurbishment costing $531,000. For God’s sake man, resign now before you cost us another cent.