Credit where it's due for Whanganui's beautiful status
Congratulations to all the workers behind the scenes for making Whanganui beautiful.
We have a wonderful street cleaner who keeps the place spic and span. Changes the rubbish bins and picks up rubbish, sweeps the footpaths etc. Thanks also to all the gardeners who weed, dig and hoe all the gardens throughout the town.
Yet not one word of thanks to all these people from the grinning mayor accepting the award. Shame on you mayor, give credit where credit is due. It is the people behind the scenes who do all the work, not you.
MARGARET HADDON
Castlecliff
Referendum will divide the nation
David Seymour, aided and abetted by his accomplices in NZ First, is guilty of indulging in cynical politics at its worst.
Their dirty deal was hatched simply because Seymour knew that without it, his bill would likely fail.
MPs who voted in favour included some - such as the Prime Minister - with a stated position against a referendum, but who voted for it anyway.
Not content with polarising Parliament on the controversial subject of euthanasia, David Seymour is now prepared to divide the nation on this difficult and complex issue. Family members will be set against other family members in torturous discussions which will inevitably follow should the bill pass its Third Reading.
Caught in the crossfire will be the frail elderly and the seriously disabled who will hear their own situations described by others as pointless and not worth living. This is cruel.
Many of them have already been traumatised by the public debate on this issue over the last few years. A referendum would take this emotional fallout to a whole new level.
However, it is not too late to avert this damaging scenario. MPs simply need to vote No at the bill's Third Reading.
PAULA SALISBURY
Hamilton
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