Every day, we publish a selection of your emails in our newsletter. We’d love to hear from you, you can email us at yoursay@theconversation.edu.au.

Monday September 8

The bigger issue

“Relying on legislation alone to manage extremism won’t solve the problem and will create others. Even an action as simple as suggesting banning the swastika has challenges. The real concern is the strength of democracies themselves and their institutions which appear to be under general threat across the world, especially in the US but arguably in Europe and Israel too. Australia has advantages – compulsory voting and independent electoral commissions being two very powerful mechanisms. This is a good foundation to protect democracy here. We should not lose sight of the key fact that people will be drawn to extremist groups and their populist agendas when they feel they have a grievance which is not being addressed by those in power.”

Charles Latimer

Running light

“As an avid runner I was really interested to read your article about weight divisions for endurance events, however, I wanted to share my concerns about some of the content about weight loss. Eating disorders and disordered eating are very common in runners. There’s a misconception that in order to be a faster runner you need to be lighter. This can lead to restrictive eating and under-fuelling, with significant consequences on running performance and general health.”

Catherine Simpson

The Conversation