Chris Trotter, your analogy is flawed
Chris Trotter (ODT 27.10.23) is not comparing apples to oranges. He compares the blanket bombing of Gaza to that by the allies on German cities in World War 2, saying if "Israel is guilty of war crimes, then so were my father’s generation". The utter decimation of nations by the Nazi perpetrators had to be ended.
By comparison Gaza’s people are refugees and descendants who fled in 1948 when Jewish militants and their Irgun terrorists attacked hundreds of Palestinian villages to dispossess them of their homes and farms. They used biological warfare by poisoning wells and looting to prevent their return.
They fled to Gaza because it was under Egyptian control. Israel has blockaded Gaza for years and controlled movement, water, power and supplies.
The Hamas attack was shocking and inexcusable, but to blanket bomb 2 million refugees in an "open air prison" is a war crime. So too is starving the children and forcing hospitals with thousands of injured to close by stopping power, water and medical supplies. A third of the 6000 killed by bombs are children and the invasion hasn’t yet begun.
Chris Trotter, your analogy is flawed.
Got the hump
Reading the ODT article (23.10.23) regarding the NZ Transport Agency’s idea about speed humps on the agenda for State Highway 1 on the new hospital block, I thought, you have got to be kidding, NZTA doesn’t have enough to think about. What a ridiculous idea.
The present speed limit is 50kmh, and although car/pedestrian accidents occur, it does not warrant going to those lengths. As if it isn’t bad enough now, having barn dance crossings heading into the university area, and now NZTA are contemplating stupid ramps to slow the traffic flow even more. When the current hospital was built, the population and vehicles were not as they are now, so placing it in the city centre was not an issue. Now it is.
Why didn’t those who were in charge of where it was going to go, take the opportunity to build on the city fringes, e.g. where Wakari Hospital is. It is a big area, the traffic and parking would be less of an issue than where it is being built and free buses used to run from the city up to the hospital. Hindsight is a marvellous thing. If there is a vote for this current stupid idea, mine is a no.
Consumer nonsense
Halloween in spring is consumer nonsense. Halloween originated about 2000 years ago when the Celtic people of Europe celebrated the end of the harvest and the start of a new year in a festival called Samhain.
Halloween/Samhain, signifies the beginning of the dark half of the year and is the third harvest festival (after Lammas and Mabon) in the Wheel of the Year.
Halloween harvest and celebrations prepare us for winter while honouring our departed ancestors along with the natural seasonal cycle of death and rebirth.
Bonfires, carving pumpkins, trick-or-treating, and wearing scary costumes to ward off ghosts are some of the time-honoured traditions of the autumnal celebration of Halloween.
However in the southern hemisphere it is currently spring and participating in Halloween celebrations in spring when the earth is birthing new life is utter consumer nonsense.
Halloween in the southern hemisphere is celebrated at the end of April, when it is autumn. We are currently celebrating Beltane, the third of our spring festivals before Summer Solstice.
Thanks and praises to the ombudsman
At last someone is listening to the people of Clutha District. In desperation we have had to resort to contacting the ombudsman, on a number of matters.
The voices and wishes of the ratepayers and concerned citizens were not being heard. It is a bright day for the democratic system of New Zealand, or be it, a torch light in the darkness that is the goings in of the Clutha Council.
Letting off steam
Regular writers to the ODT generally express a consistent view of the world, whether they are an opinion columnist or a letter-writer.
Some, such as regular columnist Civis, draw attention to publicly available information that is well-documented (e.g. the Dunedin Study, referred to in a recent column of his) and then comment on that information from their perspective.
Others, such as regular letter-writer Russell Garbutt, seem to be simply letting off steam, as Mr Garbutt gave the clear impression of doing in his letter of 26.10.23.
In a democracy, all expressions of opinion need to be heard, no matter how well-informed or otherwise they are. These opinions then have an opportunity to influence the views of listeners/readers. For my part, I find Civis' form of writing much more persuasive than that of Mr Garbutt.
Address Letters to the Editor to: Otago Daily Times, PO Box 517, 52-56 Lower Stuart St, Dunedin. Email: editor@odt.co.nz
