High petrol prices offer a peek into the future

OUR Prime Minister claims that oil companies are ripping off their customers, which must be true judging by the inexplicable petrol variations across the regions.

The oil companies counter that the Government is using petrol as an easy way of collecting taxes, which are especially hard on poorer Kiwis (but so did the previous government).

Economists say the recent fall in the New Zealand dollar has pushed up the price of imports, especially oil, which is a ‘‘bad thing’’.

Yet not long ago, those same economists were saying that the artificially high price of the dollar over the last decade was a restraint on our exports, which was a ‘‘bad thing’’.

Perhaps it is our obsession with free trade which is a ‘‘bad thing’’?

Noone is pointing out the obvious — as oil becomes scarcer, it gets dearer (Economics 101).

Welcome to the future, where, in 10 years time, you won’t be able to give away your brand new, beloved fuelguzzling fourwheeldrive. A future where all cars are electrically driven and will be rented, not owned, and all freight will be on electrified rail.

If we had a government less timid than this one, and which could see the present crisis as an opportunity, we might just save our human culture from its own stupidity.

If... Dennis Dorney

Calton Hill

Easter trading decision

I CONGRATULATE the Dunedin

City Council on its decision to return Easter Sunday to a holiday for everyone, including retail workers.

I’m so glad that our city can recognise the importance of timeout for families and communities from business and commerce.

If Michael Woodhouse admits that blanket legislation allowing Easter Sunday trading would have been rejected through our democratic Parliamentary process, he should be able to accept that our democratically elected council has made a decision after listening to the people.

He is being disingenuous to claim that employees who were pressured to work on Easter Sunday can make complaints to the Department of Labour inspectorate.

If he is so concerned about earnings for retail workers, I’d like to see him campaign to raise their wages.

Dunedin is a great place to visit any time and it has a lot more to offer than shopping. Jenny Olsen

Broad Bay

Euthanasia Bill overdue

THE End of Life Choice Bill is long overdue.

This Bill is what is right for the patient, not the doctor. Bill and Mary English are failing to recognise these patients have no quality of life. Instead, their decision is led by religion, not being made on medical grounds.

Palliative care is not for everyone. Pain relief does not work in every case or for every patient.

Mary English stated the Bill would ‘‘undermine the trust and respect’’ people have for doctors. I think she is questioning the competency and credibility of her colleagues in making the right decisions for their patients and their right to die with dignity.

Her focus would be better placed on the lack of accountability in a number of other parts of the medical field, in which practitioners have failed patients and their families.

As patients, we are the ones best in tune with our bodies. It is an insult to our intelligence to think we and our families are incapable of making the right choice on how we leave this world. Sonia Green

Gore

[Abridged] ..................................

BIBLE READING: God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in Him. — 1 Thessalonians 4:14.