\n Have you been in a hospital recently? In 2024, I was in
\n Auckland Hospital. There were holes in the walls, broken and missing toilet seats, blood on the floor and urine on the toilet seats.\n <\/p>\n
Last week I was in the Greenlane Clinical Centre. Mould on the ceiling in the xray department, dirty floors etc.<\/p>\n
The level of basic hygiene is shocking in establishments serving vulnerable immune compromised patients.<\/p>\n
Successive governments have allowed the buildings to run down to the point where major rebuilds or major renovations are required.<\/p>\n
All parties need to agree on a way forward to ensure our health system doesn\u2019t collapse altogether due to neglect over decades.<\/p>\n
Kathryn Bailey, Freemans Bay.<\/p>\n
Lobbyists and government<\/p>\n
If big tobacco, big emitters and big alcohol keep costing us big time, we need to know if this is corrupting our governments.<\/a> <\/p>\n There\u2019s nothing wrong with lobbyists and nothing wrong with governments considering their advice. The problem exists when the connectivity between lobbyists and who they lobbied gets lost in the ether.<\/p>\n This coalition is making a habit of severing the links. First, with heated tobacco products, the lobbyist evaporated without trace. Then, with Fonterra and Z Energy, the paper disappeared into thin air. <\/p>\n The links are important. Climate change affects us now, and smoking costs us dearly in health costs. <\/p>\n This is another case of NZ being an outlier. How much longer will it be before the public trust evaporates, or has it already? It\u2019s so blatantly obvious, it reeks. <\/p>\n How many lobbyists become MPs? Nicole McKee was a gun lobbyist, and David Seymour was the only MP who voted against Jacinda Ardern\u2019s gun legislation after the Christchurch mosque massacres. Lobbyists are MPs and vice versa.<\/p>\n Steve Russell, Hillcrest.<\/p>\n Bledisloe tests<\/p>\n Gregor Paul sets out the options for Anzac Day Bledisloe Tests being considered by NZR and RA. Once again, it\u2019s all about the money, not the fans. The answer is simple \u2013 play two games each year, one in Australia and one in New Zealand, one of which is the Anzac Day Test, switching countries each year. Fans will fill stadia for the one test in country each year. The six nations keep its ticket demand by playing the other five nations only once each year.<\/p>\n Gary Carter, Gulf Harbour.<\/p>\n Ruthe right to withdraw<\/p>\n