Council unfair to Govt over red-zone offers

The Christchurch City Council is being unfair in its criticism of the government’s 80 per cent offer for uninsured land in the red zone.

We in Christchurch are not alone in suffering a natural disaster. Wanganui and Dunedin have had devastating floods. We are fortunate in being offered so much help.

Insurance is there to cover our own risks. Many of us were underinsured. It would be marvellous if the government topped all of us up to market value. It would also be marvellous if money grew on trees. JEANETTE FORBES Christchurch central

Orion’s bounty

Nice to see that Orion has boosted the council’s coffers to the tune of $50 million. It all helps the shareholder they will say.

Perhaps they could give some consideration to the poor suffering ratepayer who really has no choice but to use Orion and who is the ultimate shareholder anyway.

Following the February 2011 earthquake a large number of residents in the eastern suburbs went without power for up to four weeks because the Orion network failed.

Those customers were still charged the Orion network charge even though the network was not working.

To charge for a service that does not exist is called fraud in a lot of places, but Orion insisted on payment.

A small dividend from this monopoly back to the ultimate shareholder would not go astray. GRANT CHELLEW

Rangiora

Good food

As a mother of two adult and one mid-teen child, I was concerned to read the content of your ‘‘Well and Good’’ article on July 9.

Having three very sport-- involved offspring, we have always been aware if the need for healthy nutrition that lasts the distance – wholemeal breads, veges, fruit, etc, while minimising high fat/sugar/ salt. Takeaways are rare.

To replace the classic snacks, we went for smoothies, fruit and nuts, fruit juice, rice snacks and protein bars for periods requiring extended output.

We avoided the chips, chocolate, sweets and fizzy drinks that are happily advertised.

Now the author tells us the items we chose are also unhealthy, everything coming back to a calorific count. The author suggested no alternatives, just a longer list of what we shouldn’t be eating.

When refuelling is needed between meals and sport activities and sleep, we don’t all have time to roast some kale chips. I would love dietitians to applaud good choices, or we run the risk of our children thinking this healthy eating lark is all too hard.

All of the foods dissed by this article have their place in a healthy diet, and as soon as we fixate on counting calories rather than assessing our need for fuel, we ourselves fuel this obsession with the perfect diet. ELIZABETH FRASER

Hillsborough