Do everything possible to keep medical staff
Firstly there is professionalism and concern and care. And throughout all that is kindness, enormous amounts of kindness.
So thank you to the last ladies at Alexandra Family Medical who stayed on to assess me. Thank you to the wonderful St John team who voluntarily extended their shift to get me to Dunstan Hospital.
Thank you to the great Dunstan team who got me ready to be on the helicopter and the excellent flight crew who got me to Dunedin ICU. Thank you to all the fantastic people you deal with in Dunedin Hospital, professionals who have come from all over the world.
We have to keep these services and improve them however we can, they are important to us all.
And we must not allow faceless and nameless accountants, or self-serving politicos to decide otherwise.
Name withheld
[Anonymity granted to preserve personal medical details. - Editor.]
Lost his vote
Andrew Simms’ exclusion of Robert Hamlin from the Future Dunedin ticket has discouraged me from voting for Simms or any of the Future Dunedin candidates. Hamlin expressed a reasonable personal viewpoint, one shared by many, over the compulsory participation in karakia. For someone with a metaphysical viewpoint different to Te Ao Ma ¯ori, they may consider the act of participating in karakia to involve submitting to a world-view which they don’t share, or going along with a pretence that they do share it.
If Andrew Simms’ tolerance for diversity of viewpoints cannot accommodate this one of Robert Hamlin’s, I think Simms will have even greater difficulty managing the diversity of viewpoints that will be found among the 14 councillors around the council table.
Malcolm Moncrief-Spittle
Dunedin
Which God?
Dr Hamlin states that he takes issue with ‘‘being required to offer your prayers to Rongo’’.
I assume that Dr Hamlin meant Rangi, the Atua of the sky, (Te Aka Māori Dictionary), whereas Rongo is the Atua of peace and agriculture. Let's at least make sure we know who is who.
Charlotte Handley
Maori Hill
Lost his vote too
Congratulations are in order for Robert Hamlin who has had the courage to stand up against the use of the karakia before Otago University meetings.
Even if taking part is supposed to be voluntary this inclusion as a specific item on the agenda is plain wrong.
Dr Hamlin is spot on to bring up the religious aspect of karakia.
Māori are fully entitled to chant and seek guidance from their higher godly authority when they are holding their own meetings, but elected and appointees of public institutions should not do this without the authority of the majority of the people they represent.
Prof Maree Thyne, pro vice-chancellor commerce, is not convincing in defending the university position.
I was not impressed by Dunedin mayoral candidate Andrew Simms dumping Robert Hamlin from his team on account of his views.
I had hoped that Simms’ group would have had a more balanced view on Māori matters but I have no doubt about their extreme views now.
There is no way that he and his group will get my vote in the future.
Jerry Walton
Kew
Why I march and why I continue to march
I am an ex-Israeli who came to Aotearoa to live eight years ago. For the past 18 months I have joined the rallies for Palestine held in Dunedin. Israel recently broke the ceasefire right before dawn killing yet again hundreds of Palestinians, mostly women and children.
Months go by and we are all tired. But we can’t afford to rest and look the other way. Look at the flattened landscape, the starving people, the mass graves.
What sort of world do we want to leave for our children?
Our silence normalises genocide and lowers our moral standards. Next time you see a poster for a rally or see us marching to the Octagon, think about joining us to fight for justice.
May Pik
Dunedin
This and that
Foreign policy under this government is a bad joke.
On the one hand Foreign Minister Winston Peters sacks ambassador Phil Goff for making candid comments about the US president.
On the other, when Israel resumes its bombing campaign in Gaza not even a whisper of condemnation from our government.
Clearly you must not criticise Israel or President Trump if you want to keep your job. Perhaps the golden pager recently presented to President Trump by Netanyahu was a message to all politicians.
Nigel Yates
Dunedin
A simple and cheap lunch recipe for you
The entire taxpayer-funded school lunch programme has become a commodified ideological scrap.
Shame on the huge number of parents, teachers and teacher unions that can’t identify that, by getting parents off their backsides in order to put together a simple nutritious lunch.
In under 3-4 minutes, and at a cost of about $4 per school day per child, I can prepare a lunch of a piece of fresh fruit, carrot stick, and a decent sized sandwich that can include both cheese and sliced or pressed ham or luncheon sausage, plus a small pack of yoghurt.
Other than supermarkets, there are a multitude of fruit, vegetable and staple grocery item vendors throughout New Zealand that offer slightly imperfect 100% good product for those who actually do not care about aesthetically perfect food. There are significant savings on offer.
Teach your kids some good old 1980s-style home economics , make them prepare their own lunch before it’s “screen time’’. It’s so easy and will set your kids up for real life.
As far as the schools go, same message to you lot. How about adopting a simple leaflet for kids to take home, and maybe the odd school day BBQ supported by volunteers.
Raising a child is an enormous task but by adopting some self-help you can give yourself a pat on the back instead of blaming David Seymour, who I may add I have no political affiliation to in any way.
Greg Glendining
Dunedin
[Abridged - length. Editor.]
Not from my rates
I don't want any scholarships educational or otherwise to be paid for out of my DCC rates. If the councillors want to have a scholarship let them pay for it out of their own money. I’m sure they can afford it more than a lot of ratepayers. It is not only for this year but for every year thereafter. Let a business or a person able to afford to do this sort of thing do it, but leave our ratepayers alone.
Deanna Pedersen
Dunedin
Address Letters to the Editor to: Otago Daily Times, PO Box 517, 52-56 Lower Stuart St, Dunedin. Email: editor@odt.co.nz
