Several health entities have once again highlighted the inexcusable, terrible ongoing suffering of those harmed by surgical mesh procedures. When the surgical mesh suspension was announced, one of the medical colleges stated there can be a “delay in mesh-related symptoms with women presenting up to15 years after the original surgery”. The difficulty of managing mesh complications was also formally acknowledged. Even with surgical training, a national registry and optimised informed consent, in my view, it is the device (not the surgeon) that is the “culprit”. Setting up mesh centres to “pick up the pieces” while still implanting the same medical device makes no sense at all. Is the “time limit” a political move to reassure the medics, clinical societies and royal medical colleges? This suspension came from a government official, the Director General of Health. Therefore, any future reversal of a pause needs to come from a government official. It would be a serious political risk for anyone to reverse the pause. What official would take such a risk, especially as the severity of harm is well evidenced both internationally and now in New Zealand? Who would put their hand up to say “I condone this harm”?
Charlotte Korte, co-petitioner for Sally Walker’s petition.
Striking home
I am a retired hospital laboratory scientist who led the team that controlled Hepatitis B in NZ. I am appalled to see that university-educated senior public hospital paediatricians are to strike on three occasions as they seek more pay and better conditions. Have they no other ways of getting their complaints accepted and supported? Coalminers and boilermakers were condemned for striking in the past. I respected miners more than I respect the NZ doctors who complain that an average wage exceeding $300,000 is not enough and wages in other countries are better. Wages in other countries have been better ever since I arrived here from Scotland 58 years ago. New Zealand workers who choose to go overseas leave one of the loveliest and most promising countries in the world. I urge workers tempted to depart NZ to stay with us and help improve the lives of us all, including other workers whose income is a fraction of the amount paediatricians already get. Health workers have a duty to care for patients, not use them as pawns in wage disputes. Use your university-assisted brains to devise a better strategy, cancel the plans to strike, care for the children, and earn our respect.
Any of us familiar with living during world wars, or having relatives who did, will know their survival became a tribute to resourcefulness. Growing your own vegetables, having chickens, sewing, knitting, repairing. Whilst mockery of such thriftiness is abundant, how wonderful it would be if the opposite was the case and the opportunity embraced? Charities like Garden to Table, for example, are brilliant at teaching children how to grow things from a packet of seeds using things like old milk bottles as growing containers they can hang on the balcony of a rented home. Come on NZ. Number 8 fencing wire and optimism time.
Like any business, a country’s economy exists on revenue to pay expenses and, like any business, if the expenses are higher than revenue, there are a few ways to balance the books. The culture of balancing the books by finding new places to clip the ticket has to change. For such a little economy to have 450,000 public employees all being paid relatively high wages while, according to Xero, almost 50 per cent of small business owners cannot draw a salary, emphasises the fact that we very urgently need a change of culture and a reversal of fiscal direction. Our political leaders need to turn their minds to increasing New Zealand’s GDP. $250 billion is simply not enough and our top-heavy public sector needs a radical restructure if we are to survive economically. Our leaders need to begin aggressively thinking sales; we need new international business partnerships, we need visitors from overseas, we need economically stable migrants and we need financially viable families - tens of thousands of them - to bring their resources and ideas here. The local ticket has too many holes and the conductor has grown too large.
Paul Vermaak, Beach Haven.
March on Washington
I was 18 when I joined those who took to the street in Lexington, Kentucky, 60 years ago, to protest against the mistreatment and disadvantage suffered by African Americans. With high hopes, I went by bus to the March on Washington to change the entrenched prejudice and disrespect of people of colour. Sadly, the discrimination suffered by African Americans is still happening. When I took to the picket lines 60 years ago, I idealistically thought and even assumed that the prejudicial mistreatment of African Americans would stop. I was outraged at the treatment my fellow white friends inflicted on the two African American students who bravely suffered abuse at my school. Sadly, even today, there remains prejudice against African Americans in the US. I am pleased to be living in New Zealand where we all mingle together regardless of colour and cultural differences.
There’s talk of “taking the country back. Back to what? That’s my question. A time when housing was affordable and there were no food banks? That would be the 1950s and the 1960s - a good time for some as I remember but not so for others. Yes, petrol was 50c a gallon but good luck to you if you wanted a new car. Or are we talking about back to the 1980s and 1990s? Fun for some but to hell with the rest of us. But how can any New Zealand political party “take our world back”? Where once (still are?) we were vulnerable to oil shocks (the 1970s) we are now vulnerable to the Chinese economy tanking, and Russia playing merry hell with Ukraine’s grain exports and India banning the export of rice. Don’t even mention the implications of climate change. It seems the whole world is now in fire or flood mode. I’m just hoping there are enough intrepid journalists out there ready to ask some specific and pointed questions.
Elizabeth Urry, Devonport.
Hold the lollies
It appears the word “party” is being taken literally – the main event being a lolly scramble with voters treated like kids, arms up, waiting for the next treat. Where are the serious discussions about solutions to the problems besetting New Zealand? Where is there even talk about what those problems are? How can we hope to make this a better country if we don’t even talk like adults, if leaders just keep chucking things at us they think we will like? For example, what’s the best way to reduce the worst problem facing us today – inequality? Is it to reduce taxes for rich people? Let’s talk about that. How about the provision of houses for the thousands of New Zealanders with no home or a slum-level home. Perhaps we can adopt an answer that succeeded overseas - pre-fab houses that can be built in their thousands in a matter of weeks. Let’s talk about that. Let’s agree on what’s wrong, and agree on how to tackle those things. We can argue about the detail, but we will all be on the same page striving together for a better, happier New Zealand. Like intelligent adults.
Susan Grimsdell, Auckland Central.
Justice done
Finally, an appropriate sentence has been handed down to the Jaz brothers, (NZ Herald, August 25). They are despicable humans who hopefully will serve a minimum of three-quarters of their sentences, and who deserve the proportional amount of mercy and compassion accorded to their victims: Absolutely none. Their lack of understanding and remorse for their actions is proof that any rehabilitation efforts would be a colossal waste of taxpayer’s money. One can only hope that the bar owned by their father, which helped to enable their egregious crimes, can now provide reparation to those brave women who have suffered so much. To quote Amy Rees Anderson: “Here’s to strong women: may we know them, may we be them, may we raise them.” I’m confident all of New Zealand sends aroha to you.
Mary Hearn, Glendowie.
Playing away
South Africa came here and lost heavily to the ABs because they had jet lag. The Boks were weak under pressure, and we were full of vim. Now we have just experienced the opposite. South Africa is in the same time zone as France, so the Boks fly north and get no jetlag at all. They still sleep and wake at the same time. The ABs fly to France, and their misguided medics tell them that after a few days jet lag is not a problem. Wrong. The ABs have never won the World Cup in Europe because our 12-hour difference turns upside-down our whole sleep/wake cycle. And we do not recover quickly. No problem for the Boks. The ABs’ medics need to do a lot more research on jet lag, and get the ABs to Europe months before the World Cup contest rather than just a week or two. If they don’t, we will have repetitions of what is happening now, and has already happened before so many times. Don’t blame the players, or the coach.
John Elliott, Hamilton.
Singing praises
Over the past month, two exceptional music events featuring secondary school students have been held in Auckland - The KBB Festival for instrumental ensembles in Holy Trinity Cathedral, and the finals of the nationwide Big Sing Competition in the Auckland Town Hall. It was most uplifting watching and listening to hundreds of young people making music so skilfully, and acknowledging and supporting their “competitors”. Competition was fierce, but recognition of the fine performances of others illustrates how powerful and important music is in our lives. Congratulations to all the students participating in these festivals, and a special congratulations to the choral and instrumental teachers and directors who encourage our young people in their musical endeavours. But why was there little reporting of these events? It is a sorry state of affairs when our media outlets are dominated by stories of wayward youth. What about featuring and celebrating the efforts, teamwork, perseverance and skills of these teenagers in the media - they are our Kiri te Kanawas, Jonathan Lemalus, Dave Dobbyns, Lordes, Rodger Foxes of the future.
Michael Gifford, Mairangi Bay.
Bonjour Mr Brown
So Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown is off on a so-called business trip to India to talk about prospects for this country. He will then travel on to Paris for the Rugby World Cup. I would have thought that his time would be better spent in Auckland to sort out the many loose ends involved in settling the claims for the $1 billion flood claims, rather than taking off on a junket, some of which is being paid for by the ratepayers. Furthermore, given what appears to be a distinct inability on his part to speak confidently or coherently in public, I hate to think what value his presence on a speaking panel will be. Thank goodness deputy mayor Desley Simpson remains in his place. She comes across as a very astute and skilled orator and would have been the far better choice of the two to undertake the trip to India - if, in fact, it was so necessary.
J R Jones, Mairangi Bay.
Cone zero
I heartily endorse Lesley Baillie’s sentiments (”Cone-y island”, NZ Herald, August 25). During our recent visit to London, Copenhagen, Oslo and Vienna, we did not see a single road cone let alone cumbersome poorly parked safety management trucks and unoccupied staffers. Indeed, in our suburb in Vienna, the tramway was being refurbished but the trams were not suspended and pedestrians could cross the road where gaps in the protective fences had purposely been left. Good old-fashioned commonsense prevailed. Auckland should spend its rates first on a fully integrated and implemented public transport system before wasting money on Vision Zero.
L Johnstone, Grey Lynn.
Short & sweet
On rail
Forget light rail; bring back trams and trolley buses. Bruce Tubb, Devonport.
Gary Hollis (NZH, Aug. 14) references “underground light rail networks” in Melbourne and Sydney. For the record, no such networks exist - Melbourne’s superb tram system is almost entirely street level and, if you are underground, you are using part of the suburban rail network. Ross Nielsen, Half Moon Bay.
On All Blacks
Wake up people. How quickly we forget. Does the name Susie ring a bell? Roger Pheasant, Whitianga.
On Sky
Sky must have an interest in television sales and is waiting to see how long it takes subscribers to pick up this cute little box, along with the cute little remote, and throw both through their TVs, thereby having to purchase new TVs. Arthur Amis, Red Beach.
On symposium
A luxury ski resort in Wyoming is the wrong place for the worldwide meeting of Reserve Bank governors. The symposium needs to be held in the slums of Mumbai. That environment should encourage some better-balanced policies. Eric Skilling, Milford.
On learning
As a teacher, I can assure Derek Paterson that students learning financial literacy will indeed be taught reading, writing and arithmetic. This is because they will be taught to read the financial passages, write literate responses, and do the arithmetic required to balance finances. Four birds with one stone. Victor Rosendale, Laingholm.
On fare
Why do so many cafes no longer clearly display the prices of their cabinet food, i.e. cakes, slices, pies, etc? Is it because they are embarrassed or ashamed?Pauline Blithe, Karaka.
The irony here is that while we load our farmers and economy up with emission reduction costs in a vain attempt to stop global warming and “fix” the weather, the very country that our economy and way of life depend on is doing absolutely nothing to reduce their emissions. China burns over 3000 million tonnes of coal in a year and imports a million tonnes a month from Australia alone. Meanwhile, in NZ we are also importing coal because we are running out of gas, thanks to this Government’s policies. The virtue-signalling ETS is increasing fuel and energy costs for farmers and all of us, and we are still wasting money on the Lake Onslow scheme that will never be built. We are buying electric cars that cost twice as much as the internal combustion alternative and then having to fund the infrastructure to power them. To add insult to injury, most of the cars, wind turbines, solar panels, etc, come from China. Does nobody see any problem with all this? Scott R.
Reading your comment, Scott, it’s easy to see why Australia is getting richer and NZ is getting poorer. David S.
Your problem as a farmer is not the NZ Government and its climate change policies. Your problem is foreign consumers telling Nestle and Danone to clean up their supply chains. If the NZ dairy sector can’t sort out its Scope 3 emissions, it is doomed. Greg M.
Rubbish. Nestle and Danone can’t get lower emissions powder from anywhere else. They just want to cash in on our low footprint without paying a premium for their own profit. And you are okay with this? Garry R.
I’m the wrong person to ask, Garry. Why don’t you take it up with Nestle and Danone? By the way, how is the dairy business going right now? How’s the export of low-value commodities looking like as a future? Greg M.
With the present standard of education in schools I am really concerned what quality of ministers we will have in next 10 to 20 years. God help us all. Kishore B.
