FEBRUARY 29 2020 LISTENER 5
the agency has released only
very broad-based objectives
and not given any clues as to
how it plans to achieve them.
As a result, clinicians and
researchers I know are scepti-
cal that it will be any more
effective than its predecessor,
Cancer Control New Zealand,
the independent ministe-
rial advisory body set up in- The health bureaucracy
obstructed implementation of
important recommendations
made by this body, leading
to it being disbanded in 2015
without having achieved any-
thing useful.
Meaningful improvements
in the cancer journey for
New Zealanders will only
occur if cancer profession-
als have a major voice in the
development of an action
plan, so that implementation
of the plan is supported by
these already overworked staff.
The plan will need to cover
at least a 10-year period,
and will require all-party
political support to ensure it
is properly funded through to
completion.
David Lamb
Victoria University of Wellington
LETTER OF THE WEEKVIRUS QUESTIONS
Amid all the hand-wringing
over the effect the coronavirus
outbreak is having on tour-
ism and the economy (Back
to Black, February 22), no one
appears to be asking whether
these are actually good things.
Could this be a wake-up call toGE
TT
Y
IM
AG
ESTO ENTER Send your captions for the photo above to [email protected],
with “Caption Competition No 372” in the subject line. Alternatively, entries
can be posted to “Caption Competition No 372”, NZ Listener, Private Bag 92512,
Wellesley St, Auckland 1141, or submitted through listener.co.nz/
win. Entries must be received by noon, Tuesday, March 3.
THE PRIZE The winner will receive chef Simon Gault’s collection
of healthy recipes for the season of barbecues, picnics and
holidays at the bach.Caption Competition {[email protected]}
Shane Jones: “Your hat or
mine, Willie? The boss is
about to chuck.” – Anna Gray,
AucklandCaption: Winston peters
out at conference. – Anna
Read, HuntlyJones: “Don’t worry,
I’ve gathered enough
door donations to make
Winston’s eyes water.”
– Donna McKenna, WellingtonCaption: NZzzzzzzz First.
– Anna ReadWinston Peters: “Oh,
God, not Brian Tamaki!”
– Ruary Laidlaw, WaipaJones: “Did Winston say
he would nod, or nod off,
when it was time to pass the
hat around?” – John Stribling,
WellingtonCaption: Winston in hiding.
- Jane Fookes, Christchurch
Caption: Grumpy,
Sleepy, Sneezey, Dopey.
– Geoff Duthie, AucklandJones: “Got any change
for the bus? Got to
get Grandad home.”
– Carol JonesPeters: “No, Shane, I can’t
see who’s giving anonymous
donations!” – Pauline Gough,
WarkworthJones: “Winston is
bagsing the ‘see no evil’
option.” – Margaret Cannon,
Palmerston NorthCaption: Winston winces
at the latest results fromEllerslie. – Alan Petrie, Te Anau
Peters: “Lord, Shane Jones’
bombastic prolixity is
tiring ... ” – Phoebe Wray,
ChristchurchJones: “In our party, Willie,
we hold our hats thus and
people put money in.”
– Warren Shaw, MartonPeters: “Waah! I want a hat
too!” – Rex McGregor, AucklandWINNING CAPTION
Steve Godsiff, Timaruthe fact that most of our goods
are produced by cheap Third-
World labour while a sizeable
chunk of our national income
is derived from pandering to
the desire of an entitled elite to
visit every corner of the world?
Globalisation has enabled
the First World to live at the
expense of virtual slavery
in the Third, while simul-
taneously destroying the
environment, turning largesections of the First World into
a service industry catering to
the whims of the jet set – and
as a side effect, enabling dis-
eases to easily spread.
In a world where we’ve just
had the hottest decade on
record yet again – a 60-year
trend – maybe we should be
fixing the root causes of our
problems. Perhaps our “trans-
formational” Government
should be looking at how weCaption
competition
THIS WEEK’S PICTURE
FINALISTS
Can I borrow
your hat? We
need to make
it two smaller
donations.