Timely action the best remedy

It was encouraging to see the matter of schoolyard bullying being addressed in The Press’ Sticks and Stones series last week because if it is nipped in the bud there it will most likely not be seen later in life’s staff rooms, such as on the sports field and in the workplace.

If it is to be stopped in the ‘‘yard’’ then perhaps some of the successful strategies employed to stop it in the workplace might be adapted also for use in schools. For example, schools might care to embrace the notion of an ombudsman with powers to coerce tardy schools to toe a line in addressing such an issue.

In the workplace, trade unions have made positive contributions to seeing such a dog off the premises and they could serve as useful sounding posts for those at a loss in knowing how to deal with it. There is a lot that can and should be done. College, Garth Wynne, said: ‘‘One of the key challenges we face is to help our young men grow emotional confidence’’ (May 3).

I suggest then that he advise the boys to avoid watching the continuous male putdown ads on TV.

We realise the advertising agencies would not dare reverse their frequent male-specific putdown ads and show the female of the couple as stupid, ignorant, useless or irrelevant, as the man is usually depicted, but the fact is, the unavoidable mindconditioning of these ads will be producing the opposite of Wynne’s laudable and socially vital goal. A Royal Commission of Enquiry into the banking system in New Zealand is long overdue.

Just this week ANZ and BNZ have posted massive six month profits.

This represents a massive transfer of wealth to wealthy shareholders and no doubt huge bonus payments to the board members of these companies.

We need an answer as to why such massive profits are made at the expense of hard working Kiwis. Christchurch City Council city services general manager David Adamson told The Press water from aquifers beneath the city was extensively monitored and secure (May 5). But with talk about the Government mandating chlorination of drinking water there is nothing in the previous sentence that makes an argument for Christchurch getting an exemption.

A visit to the CCC website informs me that ‘‘There are 38 routine chemical tests carried out . . .’’. What does routine mean – weekly, monthly, annually? Let’s say each of the 153 bores is tested weekly. What if the council were to make those results available on its website, and The Press were to publish an abbreviated form of maybe five of the 38 test results (the interesting ones like nitrates and E coli) quoting the results by location of the best and worst performing bores?

Would publishing the results be more or less expensive than permanently chlorinating our water? Far, far cheaper. And in trying to deny an exemption from chlorination the Government would be fighting against publicly available data proving the water is safe. So, unless there actually is a problem with some of these test results, why not publish?