From my own experience, people like Kirsten, who are prepared to go the extra mile are few and far between.

Kirsten's leadership qualities remind me of a former liaison officer of Patients Rights Advocacy group in NZ who helped me survive.

From 30 years in the medical profession Anna de Jong used to draw on her experiences for her advocacy work in supporting people coming off psychiatric drugs - some of whom I met.

For her loyal service to the community from 1981-2011 Anna received a well deserved medal.

What recognition could we give Kirsten for her commitment to the homeless?

WE have a great opportunity to restructure society with new priorities.

Instead of a major projects bill to support fantasies that mainly benefit large corporations, we could be funding lots of small initiatives that directly benefit local communities. Otherwise, the government is condemning people to the poverty and discrimination of the dole.

Everyone needs to be involved in some project for the good of their health, but volunteering doesn't pay the bills and machines don't spend money at local shops.

Everyone needs to be, and can be, employed. This is a political decision, not an economic one. If the government wants a major project, let them revitalise the rail network for passengers and general freight.'

This can be done as a standalone project that would eliminate the suspicions around the proposed generalised bill, and encourage everyone to get on board.

IN a letter in (The Examiner, April 25), Peter Doddy refers to a speech by Winston Churchill in which he quotes him as saying "never has (sic) so many been in debt to so few".

May I suggest that if he is going to quote one of the most famous speeches in history he gets it right.

What he actually said was "Never was so much owed by so many to so few", which was much more lyrical and Churchillian than Mr Doddy's version.

THERE is a proposal to build a wind farm on the state's North-West and at first it seems like an excellent idea for producing large amounts of clean, renewable energy.

There is however, a large amount of opposition from various groups concerned about the impact on areas through which the transmission lines must pass.

Here is my suggestion for what it is worth. There is talk of building a plant to produce hydrogen, a clean form of fuel for vehicles and other purposes, which would need large quantities of power to produce.

Why not build a wind farm dedicated to producing hydrogen gas? It would not matter if it could only be produced when the wind was blowing as gas can be stored, and the need for long transmission lines would be eliminated.

I ONCE saw a movie called The Smartest Man on Earth.

It told the story of how a virus had infected earth's human population resulting in no one having an IQ above 90 or so.

The populist president had instructed the farmers to use sports drinks on the crops, after all it was good for sports folk. But the salt killed the crops and there was widespread famine.

The people couldn't understand what had happened. An ordinary man from the 20th Century arrived by time travel and proved that by using water on the crops they would flourish.

The crops grew and everyone was saved.

I used to think that plot was fanciful and silly, until in 2020 I observed what has happened in America, Russia, Iran, Brazil, England, the Philippines, to name a few populist led countries.

It seems I must reassess humanity, democracy and human capabilities.

That silly plot is scarily, far too close to current reality.