Ethical behaviour
Congratulations to Brian Fallow on his column "Spendthrift Robertson – says who?" (NZ Herald, June 24).
National (the party of pop-up leaders) is looking more and more like the American Republican party in pandering to its voter base at a cost to national wellbeing. They are part of the
"lower taxes and run like a business" set of mantra floggers.
Labour also panders to its voter base by looking the other way when problems arise with certain segments of the population, but, for the time being, is more convincing than National in its general focus on the wider interest.
We have plenty of experience of businesses letting us down. Air New Zealand suffered like all other airlines from the Covid restrictions, but has a long history of squeezing out competitors and occasionally needing to be rescued by the taxpayer. We have had a long string of other businesses that have abandoned subcontractors and investors. The attitude expressed by some CEOs in written articles was that their only obligation was to shareholders, and ethics were irrelevant.
Let us run the country ethically and in the interests of all levels of society.
The low-wage economy suited the asset strippers, but it has magnified poverty.
Hugh Webb, Huntington.
Sense of proportion
The latest OECD Economic Report confirms New Zealand as a very low-producing country compared to other nations of similar size. We also lack expertise in many sectors and our supposed number 8 wire mentality is just about non-existent.
History portrays this tendency to lose important skills and attitudes when there is a mildly socialist-leaning government in place. Labour has approved over 30 billion dollars of infrastructure projects in Auckland and Wellington. This is over the next 25 to 30 years. It will be double and take nearly twice as long. Look at any project worldwide of similar magnitude in a small populated country and you only see disaster. We will need help from China or Korea as the major project constructors to achieve anything like the projections. They have the skills and machinery to do it. In addition, it is absurd to predict so far ahead in the modern world. Smaller steps would be more appropriate. Although we are a small nation with a big heart, trying to make such huge predictions with massive debts is a disaster for future Kiwis.
Mark Lewis-Wilson, Mangōnui.
Conservatism collides
I have no desire to enter the very contentious fray of Roe vs Wade, but rational dialogue does matter and it could conceivably set a precedent for further incursions into civil liberties.
The Supreme Court, comprised of purportedly the finest legal minds in the country, should have considered the following facts. Fewer than half of US high schools and less than a fifth of middle schools teach all 20 topics recommended by the CDC as essential components of sex education, and abstinence is the predominant tool in the curriculum for avoiding unwanted pregnancies used in 35 out of 50 states. The result? In American women aged 15 to 19, five out of every six pregnancies are accidents, and 92 per cent of those are conceived pre-maritally. When conservatism collides with logic and reason, this is the outcome.
Is the Federal Government prepared to mop up the educational, societal, and healthcare messes that will ensue?
Remember the facile argument that guns don't kill, people do. Look how well that's working. God bless America. It will need all the blessings God can bestow.
Mary Hearn, Glendowie.
Other side
Why is it okay for politicians and celebrities to criticise the repeal of Roe v Wade, some in the crassest of ways, and yet not for those who passionately believe abortion to be evil to celebrate or even comment?
Have we reached a stage when only one viewpoint is acceptable?
Do we want to live in a voluntary North Korea where any divergence from controlled thought is vindictively punished? So much for genuine diversity.
Mark McCluskey, Red Beach.
Secure units
The letter from Gary Hollis (NZ Herald, June 22) regarding mental health and institutions is timely and disturbing. Institutions like Lake Alice, Tokanui and Kingseat were no doubt run as well-meaning places where those who needed special care would receive it. The reality was, that patients were sometimes admitted with illnesses that were not fully understood.
During my youth in the 1940s and 50s, mental health was seldom talked about. A boy about my age was placed in Tokanui and stayed there for 20 odd years until he was correctly diagnosed with a muscular condition which prevented him from living a normal life. In the language of those times, he was considered an idiot and was kept in a secure unit. Eventually, he was rediagnosed, released from care and lived his life out at home with his family.
I don't know why mental health and suicide is such a problem today but as an 80-plus-year-old who has a body which aches most days, I know that life is a gift to be embraced and treasured. The last thing we need is institutions like those above.
P J Burrell, Morrinsville.
