Letters: Armistice Day a time to mourn the dead

Armistice Day is an emotional time. Photo / File

I have been struck by how the military have used the 100th anniversary of the end of World War 1 as a sort of parade, firing off their guns and so on.

I wish they would go away and leave us to mourn.

Two years ago I saw my grandfather, Evelyn Worsley's white stone grave on the Somme, where my sister brought him a rose from England, and the inscription to his younger brother, Fortescue, never found.

Then I saw a field of crosses to 40,000 German soldiers, a name on either side of every cross. I was in tears. And then we saw a memorial with 600,000 names from all nations.

Mark Collet
Lake Okereka

Response times

A forestry worker critically injured in rural Rotorua, out of town rescue helicopters unavailable and two ambulances sent to site.

Can we rely on Health Minister David Clark's promise of the new out of town service continuing and improving on response times?.

Matt Dodd
Rotorua

Focus groups

Reynold Macpherson (Letters, November 10) continues to denigrate the efforts of our city council with an attack on our rates review, and then chooses to denigrate our citizens as well.

His letter suggests that those who sat on the rates review focus groups were no more than "confidential focus groups of selected ratepayers [restricted to rates allocations and controlled by officials], with outcomes to be reported by officials", to quote from his letter. In short, he complains that the rates review is nothing but a gerrymandered smokescreen.

In my view, Macpherson insults those who volunteered to give up their time and to freely take part in the focus groups. Those people responded to a call on the council's website that was "open to anyone in the Rotorua District" as stated by the council when calling for volunteers.

People did volunteer, did take part, did give up their time, did look at the issues, and all Macpherson can say is that they have been a part of a council smokescreen.

He owes all of those who took part, all who volunteered to do the same, and indeed all of Rotorua, an apology. (Abridged)

John Pakes
Ngongotaha