Yesterday I caught up with Karl du Fresne’s article ‘Heaven protect us from righteous zealots’, first published in the Nelson Mail and Manawatu Standard on April 10, which condemned unbridled perfectionism as manifested in the promotion of a test to detect Down syndrome in utero.

Funnily enough, I wrote to the Dompost about that on March 22:

‘If the three beautiful young people ‘rewarded for lives well lived as part of World Down Syndrome Day’ (High Achievers, March 22) had been conceived a generation later, they might not have had lives to live, well or otherwise. They could have been snuffed out in utero under the National Screening Unit’s search-and-destroy mission on Down Syndrome. They’d never have discovered their talent for skiing, gym, speech, drama, photography, swimming or dance. And New Zealand would never have had the ‘fantastic example’ they’ve set.’

The Dompost printed a letter making the same point, but more politely.