Hopelessly treated
That Olivia Newton John survived so long is a testament to the amazing treatment afforded those affected in Australia, assisted in no small way by facilities such as her Wellness Centre in Melbourne.
I have been amazed by stories of how Kiwis over there are fast-tracked for cancer treatment.
If my wife of 58 years had resided over there, she would surely be still with us.
The perilously slow and underfunded, shambolic system here resulted in her endometrial cancer metastasizing into a cannonball-sized cancer on her lung and further, developing on her brain.
Successive governments have never lived up to election promises. The worst that can happen to ministers is for them to be sacked or for governments to be voted out of office.
Graeme Smith, Rotorua.
Private lives
Sasha Borrissenko states (NZ Herald, August 8) that "confidentiality…..is used as a vehicle to distance corporates from accountability and transparency". She has merely touched the tip of the iceberg.
"Privacy rights" also protect criminal activity. Cash, ammunition, firearms and drugs were found at a "bail house" which should attract the urgent attention of any normally functioning police. But "police could not comment without a privacy waiver from the trust" (NZ Herald, August 9). No wonder crime is flourishing.
Similarly, the over-zealous use of name suppression by judges protects criminals and prevents me from knowing whether my neighbour is a rapist or robber.
Worse, the reasons name suppression is ordered are also suppressed.
Surely this offends the dictum followed in all civilised societies that "justice must not only be done but must be seen to be done".
Disciplinary tribunals also suppress the name of, for instance, a doctor who has botched an operation or a diagnosis, thereby allowing yet more patients, unaware of his/her incompetence, to continue to place themselves at the mercy of the doctor.
Johan Slabbert, Warkworth.
Voter decision
The Sam Uffindell saga is hardly Lord of the Flies. Schoolboys, like the rest of us, sort themselves into hierarchies, often based on cruelty.
But resignation? No, leave it to the voters. And I speak as a rusted-on Labour man who, in idle moments, dreams of all Tories resigning, the whole miserable shower. Nothing personal.
Dean Donoghue, Papamoa Beach.
Studious or odious
Sam Uffindell used "student behaviour" to describe his way of life at university. This tars all students with the same brush, a reality that is just not so.
I have encountered thousands of students while completing three degrees, teaching at tertiary level and working in a professional environment. Their behaviour has never come close to the appalling standards of some students that came to light again recently.
There seems to be some vain, pleading hope that the sweeping of disrespectful, wilful and obnoxious conduct under a euphemistic blanket term somehow diminishes, condones and legitimises it. Call the loutish behaviour what it is: wanton, antisocial self-indulgence. It is of grave concern and a complete mystery that such students then transition to professional roles where good judgment and self-discipline are key requirements.
Being a student does not necessitate forgoing all moral, social, and just decorum as is demonstrated by thousands of students around the country.
"Student behaviour" is not a term that embraces all tertiary students.
Let's encourage the qualities we want in our future university-educated workforce by celebrating those who maintain their integrity and focus, and not tolerating bad behaviour.
Maria Carbines, Hillsborough.
A better man
Once again the National Party is showing a strange lack of political judgment in the Uffindell affair. A cold-eyed view of reality is that his behaviour has an ugly and unforgettable resonance, and the slow crumbling of a rather staged reveal is hardly helping. Nor are spin doctors dropping cliched "boys will be boys" tropes.
The abuse Uffindell perpetuated is further normalised by the suggestion that it provides the perfect base for the adversarial structure of politics with its attendant bullying given the refrain that he is now a "better man". The words call to mind Beyonce's powerful 2008 ballad "If I were a boy". The song calls out male insecurity and says that instead of upgrading themselves to be a "better man" they perpetuate a culture of elitism, bullying and misogyny.
Is this fair to Uffindell? Maybe yes, maybe no, but sometimes we pay a big price for our stupidity and sometimes none and that's just life. Politics is about perceptions and a good leader needs to read the public mood accurately, however unflattering, and then act ruthlessly.
The last word should go to Beyonce: "But you're just a boy, you don't understand... someday you'll wish you were a better man."
Josie McNaught, Freemans Bay.
