As a vegetarian, I am used to petty insults regarding my diet.

But Mr Tripley's letter (May 29) really scraped the bottom of a murky barrel with its implication that promoting a meat-free diet is akin to Al Qaeda's philosophy.

Far from supporting terrorism, vegetarians are demonstrating a gentler, more sustainable life-style which has the potential to eliminate hunger without cruelty or pollution.

The assertion that there are more kangaroos now than in Captain Cook's day is not only irrelevant, it is also misleading.

Eighteenth century kangaroos did not have to compete with rabbits or sheep, both of which were introduced by the real menace Europeans.

Having wrecked their habitat, modern Australians are now blaming the poor old kangaroos for trying to feed themselves!

I wrote to the Australian Embassy about the terrible slaughter of kangaroos.

In its reply, the word used several times to describe the world's worst wildlife massacre was 'harvest'. Now, that is spin that would make even Al Qaeda blush.

Andrew Day

Highworth