Retirement villages not Ponzi scheme: it’s home
Thank goodness for Michelle Palmer, the executive director of the Retirement Villages Association of New Zealand (Opinion ODT 22.8.25).
She took the time to respond to an over-zealous article (Opinion ODT 18.8.25) written by Brian Peat, the president of the Retirement Villages Residents Association), who stated in one of his tirades, that retirement village contracts are unfair: he compared retirement villages to a Ponzi scheme.
My husband and I have lived in a retirement village since 2017 and at no time have we thought we are trapped or exploited.
It was completely our choice to come in and we enjoy the lifestyle, camaraderie, security and safety our village offers. We understood details of our contract and our lawyer was there to clarify anything if necessary.
It is so disappointing that Brian continues to run down retirement villages, at such an over exaggerated, unrealistic level.
Our village is our home, not a trap.
Risk management
It is interesting to see the Dunedin City Council is forcing homeowners and property developers to spend thousands and sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars to clean up supposed lead contamination, when it has done nothing with the millions of litres of coal tar it owns and is stored in South Dunedin.
I know what is the greater risk.
Grass is greener
One can only wonder at the comparable cost of the proposed new medical school as against the State paying the final year’s fees for doctors and nurses, in exchange for them being bonded to New Zealand for a set number of years.
Maybe then the need for another school would be eliminated, as more of these special people would be available to work here, and not float off overseas looking for other prospects.
Delving into the phonics of being At The Marae
Metiria Stanton Turei (Opinion ODT 22.8.25) might better name her weekly column "Provocatively Unreasonable". The decision by the Ministry of Education to eliminate Mãori words from books being used to teach 5-year-olds how to read is, to her mind, "an act of white supremacy". Oh?
What she did not say is that there is also a list of English words deemed unsuitable for children at this stage — a stage where phonics is all important. An example is "yacht" which could well be spelt "yot". Such words are not "abnormal"; they are merely unhelpful to the task at hand.
She is also being misleading; the decision by the ministry has nothing to do with linguistics; it has everything to do with learning to read. There is nothing to stop children learning the phonics of the Mãori language concurrently using separate books; the ministry is solely concerned with the basic elements of learning to read. In its considered opinion, mixing two languages each relying on different phonics is likely to be confusing.
Letter on Gaza was driven by horror, disbelief
In response to my appeal to the Jewish Council and our government to support Israelis resisting the killing in Gaza, Francis Noordanus claims it "crosses the line by linking the calls of Jewish New Zealanders to their government with his evaluations of Israeli conduct in Gaza," and fears it may fuel anti-Semitism (22.8.25).
My letter was driven by horror and disbelief that a state born from the victimisation of its own people could inflict such obscene treatment on another.
If influential Orthodox Jews believe mass killings hasten the Messiah’s arrival — what kind of Messiah would that be?
Peter Beinart, author of Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza: A Reckoning, and Jon Stewart, in their YouTube discussion, speak as both Americans and traumatised Jews.
Jon Stewart describes a "moral clarity" about what he sees.
They lament the American Jewish lobby’s sway over US policy and its complicity in Palestinian suffering.
Speaking out for peace and equal rights is met with "shut up" from many fellow Jews fearing it threatens Israel.
Yet they argue that true safety for Israeli Jews is contingent upon safety for Palestinians — suggesting the real threat to Jewish values may come from within.
South Africa has shown reconciliation is possible, even after seemingly irreconcilable conflict.
Given the deep connection many Jews feel towards Israel, it is reasonable to ask Jewish organisations in New Zealand to use their influence.
That could be directly — or via our government — to help end the killing and promote reconciliation.
Such action would surely reduce, not inflame, racial prejudice.
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