DAVE LARGE
Taihape
Singing praises
How fortunate we are in Whanganui to have a choral ensemble as gloriously uplifting as the Schola Sacra. Saturday's (July 6) performance of Midwinter Gloria at Heritage House was outstanding, enjoyed by a capacity audience.
The venue always adds a sense of occasion, and lends itself so well to performances of this kind, with the graciousness of the decor complimenting the dignified austerity of the black dress, black tie attire of the choristers. Their voices rose in rich tones and lofty ringing swoops of sound to the high, domed ceiling, perfect acoustically.
In Vivaldi's Gloria, after the interval, the choir was joined by the Gloria orchestra, adding a Vivaldi timbre with violins, violas, cellos, trumpet, oboe and pipe organ. The room resonated with joyful sound.
Congratulations and thanks to conductor Iain Tetley, the choir and the orchestra for bringing to us such a delightful performance.
APRIL PEARSON
Durie Hill
Climate of uncertainty
While I agree with Nicola Patrick (Chronicle, July 6) that there needs to be a climate emergency declared, I don't agree that weather patterns are the reason to do so.
Even the consensus agrees there is no compelling evidence that climate change affects weather patterns and that climate science is settled and there is no debate that CO2 is causing catastrophic climate change.
However, an emergency declaration should lead to further action. The Government has banned offshore oil exploration but has allowed the opening of a further 32 petrol stations (Chronicle, July 4). They have imposed a petrol tax increase of 3.5 cents but allow companies to discount the price at the pump. They have allocated $14 billion on public transport but will require a further $14 billion for the trains to run on time.
Patrick says some of the 102 climate models are understating the problem, some of which project the end of the world within 12 years, while others estimate the cost of change at trillions of dollars.
It will be interesting to see how this Government will deal with this emergency.
ROB THOMSON
Parapara
Life without assisted-dying
Shame on Parliament for passing the life-threatening euthanasia bill to its second reading. It has abandoned its commitment to legislate for the protection of the lives of every human being from conception to natural death and not to preside over our destruction. It is not the role of Parliament to decide who shall live and who may be killed. This life-threatening bill, if passed, will destroy the medical profession.
Parliament has now decreed there are some lives not worthy of life. It has placed in jeopardy the lives of our most vulnerable, the aged, the disabled and the seriously ill. It is disappointing that 33 Labour MPs and all the NZ First and Green MPs voted for the bill.
Parliament has ignored the overwhelming rejection of euthanasia and this bill by the medical profession, disability groups, Aged Concern and 91.8 per cent of the 39,159 written submissions received by the Justice Select Committee.
The bill was rejected by 85 per cent of the 3600 oral submissions heard by the Select Committee. The chairman of the Committee in reporting the bill back to Parliament advised that the Committee was unable to agree that the bill should be passed. We can live without euthanasia.
KEN ORR
Christchurch
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