Letters: Auckland properties, our decline, policing, and the United Nations

Whether they are lovely old homes or impediments to an improved city is in the eye of the householder. Photo / Dean Purcell, File

Opinion

A peopled city
I feel sad, gut-kicked and angry. Governments, local and central, talk only about numbers - nothing for the heart of the community.
Consultation? Government scribes give out feedback forms, boxes to tick, and predetermined choices, with limited room for comment.
I feel bombarded by professionally smooth, well-traversed topical entrepreneurship, all empty of real and lasting government. I feel the soothing tentacles of bureaucracy.
I live on Birkenhead Pt. There are people here, friends and neighbours, building, digging, planting and harvesting. Smiling, laughing, crying, loving and hating one another in our idiosyncratic ways. We know this land best, our heart is in it.
As an 83-year-old retired developer/builder, I understand the numbers situation and am aware of the strengths and weaknesses of this location. I believe we who live here are best suited to adjudicate the future of this area. Yes, Government rules are important.
Please government (local and central), properly consult with us. I fear Auckland, our city, will become a whited sepulchre full of dead men's bones if you do not.
Geoff Tisch, Birkenhead.

Casual observations
Observe the check-out operator as high school kids load up with cans of energy drinks before school.
Observe the teacher as the pupils sip through the day, waists expanding, concentration declining and irritation exploding.
Observe the caretaker needing to dispose of rubbish bins overflowing with those cans.
Observe the dentist extracting rotten teeth all day and every day.
Observe the academic levels of our children descending international scales.
Julienne S. Law, Snells Beach.

Top policing
After all the negative press the police have had lately they deserve huge kudos for the two operations they carried out on Saturday.
A brilliant piece of policing was achieved by the crew of the Eagle helicopter who were supporting ground officers by tracking the movements of some youth offenders near Wellsford. That the helicopter landed on farmland near the unfolding event and two police officers on board sprang into action and were able to detain the seven youths was outstanding.
Recently the Killer Beez gang came under police scrutiny and this Saturday it was the Headhunters' turn. This sort of pressure being put on gangs is certainly reassuring for the law-abiding public.
Lorraine Kidd, Warkworth.

Uninspired response
We need a new head of the UN as soon as possible. Antonio Guterres took 63 days to visit Ukraine and only after being challenged by UN officials. He lost a golden opportunity to put pressure on Putin and Xi Jinping before the start of the winter Olympics.
On the mounting atrocities and genocide in Ukraine, he has been conspicuously silent. We need a shrewd, articulate, leader who has energy and can strategise and navigate the political and military intricacies of modern conflicts; with the ability to marshal the UN to be a bastion in the fight for sovereignty and democracy. Being able to understand and lead on climate change are prerequisites too.
The UN performance over the Russian invasion of Ukraine seems to make it irrelevant, although the initial condemnation from the majority of nations was promising. The UN should be brokering peace talks, not Turkey.
The current UN should be disbanded and reconstituted with nations who uphold democracy, the rule of law, ethical relations with neighbours and the Geneva convention. But in the meantime, we need an UN-brokered ceasefire now.
Steve Lincoln, Botany Downs.

Tough lesson
There is no public transport between my home and the school at which I teach and it is too far to walk. At present, I drive to work but the Education Authority proposes to close my school car park and ban me from parking on the kerb outside.
That leaves me with three alternatives. I could spend $600 a month of my taxed income hiring an Uber every day. I consider that a totally unreasonable demand.
Second, I could learn to ride a bicycle and carry my school books and other paraphernalia on my handlebars unsteadily through the rush hour. That, should I have an accident, would appear to constitute a breach of Health and Safety Regulations by the Education Authority for creating such conditions and be actionable.
Finally, I could leave and take my case to the Employment Tribunal claiming wrongful dismissal.
Isn't teaching hard enough?
Gerald Payman, Mt Albert.

Natural selection
Once again the leader of the National Party is quizzed about the lack of what the press likes to call diversity. This time it was in relation to the National candidate for the Tauranga byelection
Why can't National leadership just say they select the best person for the job, irrespective of gender, race or religion? Knowing that selection on these grounds will lead to competency in government and benefit the entire country.
Trevor Stevens, Pukekohe.

Throw back
Congratulations to Kiwi Wealth for excluding DGL Group from its investment list after the disgraceful attack on Nadia Lim by CEO Simon Henry.
Unfortunately, there are still a number of bigoted, misogynistic dinosaurs who apparently believe their own self-importance qualifies them to insult at will.
I hope Henry feels the wrath of the DGL board and suffers any consequences forthcoming.
I personally find Nadia Lim to be a very bright and personable light in the world of food and suggest perhaps that Kiwi Wealth add her enthusiasm and enterprise to their investment list pronto if they haven't already.
I can also assure Ms Lim that any offence felt by her over this issue is replicated by all the more enlightened among us. Good on her for taking Henry to task.
Jeremy Coleman, Hillpark.

That figures
"Data should be a tipping point for us" was the title of Tuesday's editorial (NZ Herald, May 4). The topic was the alarming sea-level projections produced by a new model.
"Data" is a nice short word, easy to fit into a heading. But data are facts; events which have been observed and quantities which have been measured in the past.
No doubt NZ Searise has done its best to construct an accurate model. Time will tell. But the output of a model can only ever be projections; never data.
Phil Robinson, Ngunguru.

Bloated bureaucracy
When ministers start writing opinion pieces to justify their excessive spending on the public sector (NZ Herald, May 9), you know they are in trouble.
Rather than employing thousands of people to make yourselves look better, how about increasing the wages of those on the frontline? After all the police, teachers and nurses have been put through over the past two years, they deserve that. No one minds more front line staff where they are needed, but Chris Hipkins overlooks the fact that the number of those in the public service earning over $400,000 more than doubled to August last year. And the promised wage freeze rule for those earning over $100,000 in the public sector has more exceptions than a slab of (now priced out of reach) Swiss cheese.
Don't get me started on the over $300 million this Government has paid the spin doctors to keep the public in the dark.
We are all having to tighten our belts. Time this Government did too.
Jo Malcolm, Parnell.

Getting antsy
In Australia there is an expression, "white-anting" (undermining,) and weekly Matthew Hooton gives a master class in this with his attacks on the Labour Government.
Why doesn't he write a column outlining the good things Labour has done - or is this against his principles to ensure National are not made to look like the incompetent outfit they are?
Tom O'Toole, Taumarunui.

Spike the word
These ram raids and dairy hold-ups are not spiking, they are surging. It's only a spike if it has fallen since.
But people love the dramatic "spike" word – it sounds sharp. Tsk, tsk, no wonder modern communications have become so confusing, everyone tries to dramatise everything, and you have to guess what really occurred.
I'm gutted by all the exaggeration, meaning my intestines have been violently removed.
Jim Carlyle, Te Atatū Peninsula.

Short & sweet

On bicycles
Am I the only correspondent who has divided $2 billion by 250km of cycleways to work out the cost per kilometre? Paul Field, St Heliers.

At what point in time are cyclists going to contribute to the millions of dollars that are going to be, and have been. spent on them? Perhaps some form of "cycleway" registration fee. Richard Carey, Manly.

On buses
The opening of the Northern Busway is a cause for celebration. But until suburban streets are serviced by smaller feeder coaches, the big buses will run half empty. Larry Mitchell, Rothesay Bay,

On raids
It is not the severity but the certainty of punishment which can act as a deterrent to crime. Jeanette Grant, Mt Eden.

On boosters
The time has now arrived for increasing numbers needing a second vaccine booster, but where is any announcement concerning this? Dr Hylton Le Grice, Remuera.

On ambitions
Sarah M. (May 9), hits the nail on the head with, "we are a third world country pretending to be a first world country". We perhaps have not quite arrived there yet but give the present Government a little more time and I am sure it will succeed. A J Petersen, Kawerau.

The Premium Debate

Hipkins: Growth in public service 'a good thing'

"One of innovation, flexibility and better services." What a joke. Ask the one million Kiwis who were trying to get back to NZ if this Government was innovative, flexible or offered superior service. Luka D.

A bloated system that relies on consultants. Paul W.

Just hang around a year guys. Wait for National to shrink the public service again. Small government, minimal regulation, less compliance. Same spin doctors though. See how you feel about getting access to public services after November 2023. The same generalisations have been going around for years guys. Time for new tricks. Better ideas and less moaning. Thomas M.

Correction: Efficiency and effectiveness in public service spending is a good thing. Geoff N.

I am not sure Hipkins just didn't transfer a few out of Immigration. After all, they stopped working on processing resident visas or working visas. Robert M.

Word salad. Labour can't deliver on anything as evidenced by the mental health spending and the recent story of $800k being spent for around 600 people to attend Zoom meetings for work placements. National is correct in saying this Government is addicted to spending without any thought for results. Mark Y.