Reach out to support those now left alone

The walls of flowers at remembrance sites are a highly visible and beautiful expression of sympathy and solidarity with our Muslim communities following the recent abhorrent mosque shooting. Alas they will not last.

In Islamic tradition, fewer women worship at the mosque, and men and women pray in separate spaces. This accounts for the higher male death toll in our recent tragedy. The corollary is that some affected women may now be relatively alone, thrust into areas where they have not previously ventured; in the most conservative Muslim families, women do not leave their home without a male family member as an escort, and even where permitted, sometimes feel uncomfortably exposed if alone.

Like the girls and other women who took up male-dominated occupations during the world wars, many of these bereaved women will find amazing strength, and will rise to the challenge, but it behoves our social agencies and other communities in New Zealand to be aware of and respond to their needs.

So when the flowers have wilted, invite your Muslim lady neighbour to tea, or offer to take her and her children shopping or to the park with you. Christchurch has form in such acts of kindness.

Beverley McLean, Kelburn

There is no adequate way to express how I feel about what has been perpetrated on individuals and Aotearoa New Zealand as a whole by a person from my country of birth.

It is not enough for us in Australia to say collectively that this is not who we are. Although it may be true as far as individuals go, we have to own that the person who has done this is one of us. He has sprung from our society and what we have allowed to fester in it.

We Australians have facilitated the election of some people with extreme and divisive views. When they are given publicity for espousing those views they successfully divide the community with the fear and hatred they incite in their supporters. The same divisive views are repeated and expanded on by some elements of our media, and when we continue to listen to and read what they say without challenging them at every turn, we only encourage and legitimise them. For this we have to take responsibility.

It is not enough for Australia to simply tolerate those who are different to ourselves. We must accept and embrace the differences and work together, no matter what our skin colour or religion, if any, to create a safe, welcoming and inclusive society.

I am so sorry.

Catherine Moore, Braidwood, NSW

Predictably, yesterday’s editorial and opinion sections were entirely given over to the sad events in Christchurch.

Yet, further back in the paper was an item about a Yazidi girl who had been captured, raped and brutalised by Isis at age 13. Apparently, she now has children from those rapes and doesn’t know where to turn.

Al Azhar University in Cairo, is the fountainhead of Sunni Islam orthodoxy and the head of that institution is on record as saying there is nothing heretical about Isis practices v the Q’ran.

If, when the dust clears, we are to have a meaningful discussion about Islam and the West, it must reference that young Yazidi’s experience, as much as it does Brenton Tarrant.

Rob Harris, Dannevirke

Mention has been made of changing the name of the Crusaders franchise as it is considered that ‘‘Crusader’’ may be offensive to Islamic people.

This concern seems to have been heightened by Friday’s abhorrent events.

The original ‘‘Crusaders’’ were warriors who shared a belief that their religious orientation was the one and only ‘‘true path’’ and who were prepared to commit atrocities to make their point.

Civilisation has made some progress. In present-day idiom the word ‘‘crusade’’ has been softened to mean a determination to promote a view or belief. There is currently a ‘‘crusade’’ to promote better understanding and acceptance of the Islamic point of view in our communities.

Ironically, among the First Responders to the atrocities in Christchurch were many ambulance crews and paramedics – all wearing on their uniforms and vehicles the emblem of St John of Jerusalem, an organisation which is rooted in the original crusades.

There may be many ‘‘knee-jerk’’ reactions to Friday’s events but please don’t let changing a sports team’s name be one of them; the next step might be to change place names which contain ‘‘Christ’’ or ‘‘Church’’ simply because the original crusaders’ beliefs were steeped in both those terms.

Richard Lawrence, Carterton

Better off with ciggies

The Government wants New Zealand to stop smoking. Many generations have enjoyed a pipe, cigar or cigarettes and many have suffered smoking-related diseases, but now smoking is too expensive for most, and only really attractive for robbers.

Now, look at the next proposal from the Greens, as they seek to introduce the free selling of marijuana here in New Zealand.

Cigarettes are bad for the body but science has shown the addictive effect of cannabis on the mind of young people is worse. We will become a country of zombies and our mental health problems will increase. Already New Zealand industries are battling to find people clear of drugs to handle intricate machinery.

What about road safety? Our road toll is high enough with alcohol. Adding freely available cannabis will only send the death toll even higher.

Please consider your vote on legalising marijuana.

Despite the health impact, we are better off sticking with cigarettes.

Jos Verbokkem, Wainuiomata

Mel Taylor says if it was left to him and other frontline people who deal with the outcome of drug addiction, they would not be legalised (Ask the young victims, March 15).

All drugs should be legal, sold through drug stores to people with identifying points cards, so we can hopefully stop the supply to the underage, and the computer would alert us to those overusing or supplying.

When drugs are legal you have quality control, you stop lacing, control strength, have a tax take and stop the flow of money to gangs and cartels. Police could then concentrate on controlling illegal production.

I am sure that much of this despair that drives these children to drugs is caused by the damage done to families by their parents being thrown before the courts and into jail, mainly for possession.

How hard it must be to not suffer despair when your parents are in jail or before the courts; this leaves a child where it is very hard to foster pride in themselves.

Proud kids are happy kids and can get on with the things kids really want to do. Garth Scown, Whanganui

Inner city pressure

In all the interminable, parochial arguing and indecision over Wellington’s innercity roading solutions, let’s not overlook the pressures that will come from the looming completion of Transmission Gully.

Imagine all the streams of vehicles coming south from all over the North Island and finding a free-flowing Kapiti Expressway and Transmission Gully to get to Wellington – only to still come to a shuddering halt at the Ngauranga Gorge because Wellington hasn’t got its act together.

In the mid-1990s, the Wellington Regional Transport Committee developed an agreed roading plan to bypass notorious bottlenecks, make it easier to reach the capital, and get through the city centre to quickly reach essential services like the airport and hospital.

Today, successive governments through the NZTA have played their parts in completing the Ka¯ piti Expressway and Transmission Gully in the expectation that they would feed into well-planned and free-flowing inner-city connections.

Twenty-five years later there is still no agreed plan and Transmission Gully is only a year away from opening.

Chris Turver, Waikanae

Dangerous equals safer

It is great to see articles such as Fergus Tate’s opinion piece (March 13) on bold action on ‘Vision Zero’ road deaths. No deaths at all is too much to expect, but we can expect much better. Nearly 3000 people were killed or seriously injured on NZ roads in 2018.

If NZ can do as well as Sweden, we should be able to save over 1500 deaths and serious injuries each year. But given how bad we are now, we should do better still. The difficult bit is likely to be road design to discourage speeding. What happens today is wide lanes and sweeping curves, so that the road is ‘safe’ at speeds above the speed limit. The result? Faster driving and crashes at higher speeds.

A good solution is to make the road seem more dangerous. It sounds horrific, but in practice narrower lanes are a very effective approach.

Recent studies in California have shown that urban roads developed before 1945 are safer for cars than more recent designs.

The difference is lane width.

Kerry Wood, Wellington

Lack of empathy

How very interesting to read that Willie Jackson, the Minister of Employment, considers the $177 an hour that Michael Cullen is being paid to quietly continue his work on the tax working group to be peanuts (March 15).

If that sum is expanded out to fulltime work, his annual salary would be $368,160. Hardly peanuts. How would Willie then describe the annual salaries of teachers, nurses, midwives and a whole host of public servants? Crumbs, perhaps.

In addition, I think that all teachers, junior doctors, nurses and midwives would give their eye teeth to be on an eyewatering pay rate and do a six-hour day. Come on, Willie, show a bit of empathy to those you represent, by choosing your words more carefully.

Margaret McKay, Harbourview

Fishy at the football

I attended the Phoenix v West Sydney Wanderers football game at Westpac Stadium on Sunday night. Before the game started, I made the fateful decision to buy some food. For $12.50, I was given one less-than-ordinary sized fish and 42 thin chips (some of which looked more like off-cuts from the chipping machine).

When I attended an event in February, the fish and chips offering was two fish and chips for $7.50. Sunday night’s offering was a complete rip-off. I won’t be attending another event and buying fish and chips until there is better value. Tony Davidson, Aotea

Water for Wellington

Not only has the cost of the Oma¯ roro reservoir doubled – and will rise still more as detailed design exposes further problems – so too has the rhetoric about its benefits (Cost blowouts sink water projects, March 14). We now read ‘‘it will reduce Wellington’s reliance on Hutt Valley for its water supply’’.

The undeniable fact is, Oma¯ roro or not, every drop of Wellington’s water supply relies on the Hutt Valley and will for decades to come.

Frank Cook, Mt Cook