Persist with boot camps as one last final resort
It is disappointing to hear of the results of the recent boot camp trial.
I am all for boot camps as a last resort for our hardened reoffenders as nothing else seems to be working, but when this has not been as successful as hoped for, perhaps as an alternative we could use a different approach.
Perhaps send them to a prison similar to Milton correctional facility, where they have an offender training setup which includes carpentry, engineering, and hospitality training. It also has offender employment such as kitchen, laundry, ground maintenance, engineering and farming on a 130ha dairy farm.
Would that perhaps be a better setup for reforming them, putting them to work and training them in the process, so when they do get released they have some form of a skill for a job outside of prison.
It would give them some form of discipline, and responsibility, and hopefully they will also come out of it with a good work ethic and some self-respect.
Keep on talking
I am not sure if there will be much debate and discussion over the viability of boot camps.
Let’s hark back to Sir Truby King, and the formation of the Plunket Society. He said it was a long long game to bring about positive changes to success in life, to reduce and prevent poverty and crime.
Issues and opportunities begin at birth and could easily go back to the choice of a life partner. King was a pioneer, and a visionary.
In some ways we could consider that Mother Britain, from day one, sent the dregs of society to this side of the world, to challenge a new vibrant society.
Modern studies on the topic of neurodivergence will challenge our views, on how to improve life choices. On how to create rich vibrant families and community. Religion, once a force for good, seems to be lagging behind, though still enthusiastic.
It is good that the boot camp experiment is being discussed. This could keep up the momentum, for what is a perennial issue.
Historic relics
Did I confuse the run-up to Guy Fawkes night with groundhog day, when everything seems to endlessly repeat? That thought struck me when I noticed our Cr Walker sporting his keffiyeh at the swearing-in of councillors.
Surely we are not expected to suffer a further few years of the dysfunction, snide bickering and back-stabbing which had characterised the council which so many of us had hoped to see the last of. But, it seems that history is bound to endlessly repeat, as Dunedin seems to possess an uncanny penchant for self-flagellation.
If it comes to back-to-the-future or perhaps forward to the past this incoming council might well be delighted at the state of the street right outside our gate.
When we first moved to Belford St many years ago, as I dimly recall, its surface was still gravelled.
We were excited when it was finally sealed and I stress the word "finally", because the short block between Beatty and Eastbank Sts has not seen seal, except for some highly inept patching, since.
I can only conclude that the council has seen fit to preserve this stretch of roadway as a historical relic, perhaps in association with Toitu Museum, but I have yet to work out how we could charge admission to view this relic of the past,.
Biting, gnashing of teeth, and biting back
Mayor Barker has revealed her bite.
As soon as I read of the attribution of functions for DCC roles, I knew there would be ructions. Cr Vandervis was bound to take his alleged demotion as a personal slight. Dunedin’s most unelected mayoral candidate is always anxious to share his personal frustrations with ratepayers and, while there are a number of those who are happy to have a stirrer on council, there are more who don’t want one for mayor.
As for Cr Simms, a noted businessman and almost mayor in his first run, to be given a subsidiary role on council seems perplexing.
Country customers
As so many large firms seem to be going into liquidation recently, how can others afford to have sales at half price or less?
To me that seems that the prices are too high for a start. Would it not be better for everyone if the prices were lower all year round?
It may be handy to shop online but a lot of people still like to see what they are buying and cannot always be in the city when the sales are on.
Or do country clients not matter to these larger firms?
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