Christmas Greetings

As a futurist how should we view this Christmastime ?

For those of us who are Christians this is always a time of intense mystery - God becoming flesh- Spirit becoming mortal like us - these are not easy concepts to grasp but are fundamental to our faith, without them being real to each one of us we are as others have said "the most to be pitied". Having said this though, for many of us who realise what our true mission in this world is, this is the time of year to ensure that we look over our shoulders and beyond our doors to check on how others are coping and to lend a helping hand in what ever way we can- foodbank parcels, gifts for prisoners' children and families, a meal for a family stricken by an accident, building a house for a family who wnat to escape the poverty trap- just some of the ways people in our local church are helping others, which is what Jesus came to encourage us to do. This kind of action shows we have hope for the future....

For those (the vast majority) who see Christmas as yet another holiday or a time for getting together with family and friends for a feast of consumption, well enjoy whilst the good times roll- next year could be very different ! We all need to approach 2009 with a sense of reality as to what is really going on in the world- it is not just more of the same, 2008 has shown us that many of the core trading and financial fundamentals of our globalised world have not only been shaken to the core- they have in fact moved off their base. Trust and honesty - the core basis for good faith bargaining and market transactions has in fact not just been dented, it has disappeared, perhaps forever ? How is it ever possible for a finance broker to lose $US50 bn of funds and no-one be aware of this ?

Many people's futures will now be highly uncertain due to these massive global financial losses, people who once thought they had enough funds to retire on now find they are all gone, or what is left is now earning pitiful levels of interest. Car workers worldwide will be wondering what their future is especially in countries that can ill afford to prop them up. People who were conned into buying a home they could not afford are perhaps now living in a trailer park or in a homeless shelter.

So for many this may be the last good Christmas they will know- unless they too discover for the first time who is the real reason for this season of CHRISTmas...his future is truly dependable.

Chairing our futures....

Thanks for the confidence a number of locals showed by electing me as the Chair of the Whitby Residents Association last week. I hope to be able to fill Jim Dearsly's shoes adequately !

There will of course be some differences in style and areas of focus. The WRA needs to concentrate on its Village Planning for the next 6-8 months and will need many people to respond to the survey that is published in Whitby Newsbrief this next week. We will also carry a much wider brief to engage with all those authorities who govern aspects of our life.

In the gun this week is.....the Wellington Harbourmaster ! Apparently he controls the activities of those highly noisy and polluting jet skiers on the Inlet ( I presume he has his own jet ski to catch them !). If we see a tug make an appearance we know he's not quite up with the state of play.

At last the drought is broken !

Rain dancers you can finally get a night's rest ! After all those nights soaking up the sun on extended daylight saving hours your antics have finally worked. The view over the inlet today is once again that of windy, misty rain - hooray.

It means....kids can splosh in puddles....adults can cease sneeking out after midnight to water the tomatoes.....and those who collect rainwater to live on can stop paying out for tanker water (well for a bit).

So what do we need to learn about the great dry of the last 5 months ?

We must accept that up there in the weather control department things are a changing, that new homes need to be built with roofs suitable for storing additional water, and learning finally from Kapiti Coast new homes must be built with grey water recycle systems.

Hopefully some of these very practical matters can be leveraged through Parliament as we approach the electoral silly season !

Time to make the best choice

HUTT MANA CHARITABLE TRUST needs change

* Change in its investments to get both ethical and socially responsible long term investments that also benefit our local communities
* Change in its fee structure for Trustees/Directors-let's get real
* Change in types of energy efficiency projects it gets involved in

I stand for change and will ensure Porirua gets the best value from this Trust.

Vote Robin Gunston for Hutt Mana Charitable Trust

Let''s get practical about energy efficiency

Last week Habitat for Humanity dedicated their energy efficient home in Bedford Street, it has many energy saving features, double glazing, under floor insulation, extra wall and ceiling insulation, outside 300l water heater, heat pumps etc. I was pleased to be part of this great community build which sets the standard for years to come. The family that live here will have very low power bills and be very warm and cosy which will be great for their health. Let's do more of this in Porirua !

Standing for Porirua ! Vote ROBIN GUNSTON for Hutt Mana Community Trust

I live in Whitby and am passionate about helping the Porirua community develop. I am currently Chairperson of the Boys’ Brigade Development Trust Inc. and have had experience, as a Trustee, of managing a large pension fund. I am active in social justice policy development with United Future, have several business interests in sustainable areas and am helping to establish several new ventures within Porirua which are designed to build the community’s resilience.

With my engineering background in the oil industry I fully understand the needs for energy efficiency and am accustomed to evaluating proposals and grant applications. I wish to see the Trust’s funds distributed in a way that builds a greater capacity within Porirua’s community groups and householders to withstand some of the future shocks that will affect us.

Who's stuffed up our inlet ?

The Porirua Medical Officer of Health has "closed" the Pautahanui Inlet to users until further notice because of dangerous bacteria levels ! This is a serious business and no one has a clue who has caused this huge problem or what to do about it. There are 4 possible groups of suspects as befits any good conspiracy theory

A. Inlet users- these range from boaties, noisy jet skiers, and we gentle sailors and windsurfers plus a few shellfish collectors from time to time. Certainly those who transfer their craft from place to place may be introducing foreign bacteria but the numbers are really small- no I think these guys are probably Not Guilty.

B. Landowners - now here's a likely bunch- ranging from unscrupulous developers (Whitby has at least one !) dumping undesirable material into waterways, farmers trying to get the most yield by overdosing on fertilisers perhaps , road users on Grays Road and SH58 - perhaps some of the traffic accidents recently have contributed to nasty materials getting in there ? Well worth investigating but the horses may already have bolted.

C. Bio terrorists - we all know that around some of the Porirua villages are little hot beds of dissent, stirring up local issues and trying to create a name for something now that SH1 issues are no more to the fore, what would it take for one of them to obtain a culture of some nasty bacteria say from ESR's labs and drop it into various inlet streams ? Watch out for shady creatures poking around late at night or in the grey murk we now call summer !

or D. Perhaps this is a new ruse by some of our Councillors unhappy with the criticism of the Sports and Rec Centre cost blowout they are now looking for a new issue to divert attention to hoping that the Whitby and Camborne activists will spend their energies on this rather than probing the obscure accounting and governance practices of PCC.

Any other good theories ?