I was a GP in Kaiti for 34 years and in that time had a few suicides, mainly in young people. These tragedies are deeply distressing, even for a hardened old doctor, and I applaud any service which can make a difference.
I think Mike King is doing great work and this grant is richly deserved. Kia kaha Mike!
The suicide rate in young Māori is around 1.6 times that of the Pākehā population. King is Māori. So this grant could be seen as preferentially targeting and benefiting Māori.
Well, so what?
There is a need here and this Government is doing something about it.
The question is – would a racist Government do this? I doubt it.
It makes me wonder just what this Government would have to do to get any credibility from a largely negative and hostile media, and their faithful followers.
Brian Gibson
Rejecting identity politics
Earlier this year, I wrote that 2024 could well be a pivotal year for Western civilisation, with more than half the world going to the polls. This on the back of enduring more than a decade of identity politics. To date, this appears to be coming to pass as we are seeing a pushback on the policies of division and hate pedalled by the “progressives”, as voters globally swing in support behind moves back to the centre/right.
Over the weekend, we saw EU elections moving noticeably right. This on the back of moderate-right Meloni having been in charge of Italy since late 2022 and paving the way.
The EU elections frightened French populist Emmanuel Macron into a snap election as Marine Le Pen’s party gained a whopping 31.5 per cent of the vote, to Macron’s representation at just 14.5 per cent.
In the US, the smart money is on a strong move to the Republican party, if for no other reason than Joe Biden is running out of days. Yes, the US economy is strong, on the back of huge debt, however the people on the street aren’t feeling this economic warmth. They do see, however, the number of illegal immigrants crossing the porous southern border approaching 10 million under Biden, along with the power grid under threat in blue states.
Closer to home, the New Zealand Government is aiming to unify the country – in stark contrast to the divide-and-conquer policies of the previous Government. Some are upset, but interestingly they are also coming under police and Government investigation.
The UK is an outlier, as it appears to be moving from an already woke Government to an even more woke one, though don’t rule out a late run from Reform, making it interesting if Tory voters swing in behind them in large numbers.
All in all, the message is clear. The Western world has had enough of the divisive, identity politics that have dominated in recent times. The people don’t wish to give up the advancements of the past 300 years without a fight.
Iain Boyle
They were safe, happy
Regarding the June 11 letter, “Children much safer in Grey St now”.
Perchance, had you driven past before all this, you would have made exactly the same observation.
Grey Street looked fine. Happy children in the skatepark. Parents waiting in parked cars for them. There were more of those parks and they were actually safer for exiting passengers. Nil disruption to businesses. More parking for those businesses. And quicker response times for emergency vehicles.
And... all at NO cost! Saving $1 million for far more important stuff.
Peter Millar
Not so wet lately
Re: “DrainWise working”: Millions spent on wastewater, stormwater improvements” (Gisborne Herald, June 7).
Any measures to reduce wastewater overflows into the city’s rivers are to be welcomed – but the last summer and autumn has been characterised by a lack of episodic rainfall events. Councillor Foster refers to one heavy rainfall event. But how much, over what period and against a background of much drier soils?
One swallow doesn’t make a summer springs to mind.
G. Webb
