Letters: Humanity is lost in war; is Simeon Brown the best person to question doctors?

One reader has welcomed the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, but laments that the "lives of too many people have been taken". Photo / David Guttenfelder, The New York Times

Letter of the week

Humanity is lost in war

One is very relieved to see the latest ceasefire between Israel and the people of Gaza. Without taking sides, the lives of too many people have been taken and for what end?

When war starts there seems to be an indifference towards mankind itself and the worst thing about it is a few start it but it’s the population on both sides that suffer the most. One is old enough to vividly recall the waste of humanity in World War II and nothing has changed some 80-odd years later. The leaders of the combatants should be given a taste of their own medicine and perhaps locked in no man’s land for a long period with the civilian population from both sides taking pot shots at them day and night.

It has to be accepted that the Israelis and Palestinians will never get on, therefore, they must be kept apart by a permanent force set up by the United Nations.

Reg Dempster, Albany.

Peace should be celebrated

Since the exchange of hostages and peace agreement between Israel and Palestine has anyone noticed how strangely silent the MPs on the minority side of Parliament have suddenly become?

Not one word of gratitude to President [Donald] Trump, or any of our ruling party politicians for steering the right course in negotiating a peace deal, not a mutter, not a snide word, just absolute silence from this spineless lot of representatives in Parliament.

This is how you can judge the true intentions of our MPs.

Bruce Woodley, Birkenhead.

Serving the country

Jim Bolger’s death is a timely reminder of the difference between a statesman, working for the betterment of the country, and a politician, who works only within his party’s political parameters, unable to make decisions for the greater good.

Of particular concern in our current Parliament are those politicians who are so doctrinaire that they have completely lost sight of the effect of their policies on the general population. The sad thing is that I can see no “statesmen/women” in the current Parliament.

Fiona Downes, Helensville.

Structured literacy

The structured literacy programme, “which involves explicitly teaching word identification, including through phonics” is already having success, with Education Minister Erica Stanford saying the recent data shows a “significant boost” in phonics achievement rates.

While these much-improved reading scores are very encouraging, going forward, it’s vital that reading for meaning strategies are taught.

There will be little point for a child to be able to decode words and correctly read the early reading books if they lack understanding of what they’ve read.

Along with the components of instructional reading at school, parental input is essential. Parents/caregivers need to read to their child and actively listen to their child read.

Lorraine Kidd, Warkworth.

Ethical code

The last person to question a doctor’s ethics must be Simeon Brown, a failing Minister of Health, when he ironically claims doctors should put ethics ahead of politics. Is he kidding?

Doctors are about a sustainable health, politicians like Brown are about diverting money from the homeless, the disabled, teachers, doctors, nurses, firemen and poorly paid women to wealthy landlords and big tobacco, for example.

In a nutshell, his coalition’s health priorities are to run public health down and divert resources to the private sector.

The bargaining table is a two-edged sword. Both sides in a dispute are involved in provoking a strike, after all it’s this mean, mingy Government that values its landlord lobby above all and claims no money is available for public services.

Is this unethical politicking because so many politicians are landlords?

Steve Russell, Hillcrest.

Printing money

I read with interest that the Reserve Bank didn’t contribute much to inflation during the Covid-era by “printing money”.

Maybe this is correct, however, the super low OCR set by the Reserve Bank and the wasteful spending of a large proportion of the Government Covid Fund overheated the economy, driving up the rate of inflation. Substantial lifts in housing prices and building costs are prime examples of the damage caused.

Unfortunately, it is my children and grandchildren who will end up paying for these major errors of judgment.

David Henry, Bucklands Beach.