My heart fell as I looked down Queen St. What must tourists think? Our city is an embarrassment.
Many years ago while studying I worked at S&C. I was taught about service, manners and the importance of making the people you encounter feel special.
Thank you to the dedicated staff and the Caughey family. I know you will be devoted to making the legacy of excellence live on.
If Auckland has a beating heart, the Caughey name is engraved on it. Thank you for the memories.
Melissa Spragg, Lynfield.
Turning NZ around
Shane Te Pou’s analogy of this Government being like someone trying to blame a previous owner for faults found in a car a year after purchasing it was ridiculous (HoS, Dec 15).
Referring to the Government he states: ”On almost every indicator things are heading in the wrong direction. For a Government that promises to get us ‘back on track’ we are far from where the majority want us to be.”
Te Pou seems to have conveniently forgotten that Labour spent six years borrowing to spend on ideological ideas, and the country was being brought to its knees by the time they were ousted by the silent majority in the last election.
Contrary to Te Pou’s views I’d suggest the majority think the current Government is on track to turn New Zealand around, but given the mess it inherited and not having a magic wand, it will take longer than one year.
Lorraine Kidd, Warkworth.
Classroom challenges
Your Letter of the Week clearly outlines many of the woes, we as a nation, are facing at the moment (HoS, Dec 15).
Lorraine Kidd’s view that the lack of respect for authority, whether it be for teachers or the police, goes to the heart of the problem - as a society, without law and order, we have nothing.
Individuals without an appreciation for the value of a basic education set themselves up for a life of poverty and crime. Ms Kidd is correct in believing that “education begins at home”.
Sadly in a large percentage of homes, the horse has already bolted. The parents themselves are badly educated and show no will to get their offspring off to school each and every day.
Having taught overseas in a high school in a very under-privileged neighbourhood, I appreciate the challenges faced in the classroom by today’s teachers in New Zealand.
Chris Parker, Campbells Bay.
Heart-Breakers
As we approach the time when we are most open to the lessons from the previous year, I draw your attention to the plight of the Breakers.
From four Australian basketball championships in their first 12 years, they now find themselves in cycles of boom and bust. Take this year: from a team that personified the X-factor in mid-November, beating the best with ease and earning a deserved top of the table standing, they are now second-bottom.
How? Lacking investment in players for more than a one-year cycle, Breakers’ management has this year reduced even that timeframe and changed the winning team’s key players at just the wrong time. This has resulted in their freefall to second-bottom in the space of seven short losing games.
These were not close losses. These were losses dispirited by management’s desire to turn a brilliant team into a circus. Having this year relinquished my front-row season tickets held since game one, largely due to constant player changes, I am now torn between my love for the team and its heritage, and the apparent respect the current owners have for the concept of team, both on and off the court.
My heart is not lost though; I am with the players and the coaching group. Their climb is steep now and they are up to it, in spite of the decisions being made around them.
Simon Young, Ponsonby.
Belittling Labour
Some on the Right seem intent on belittling the previous Government’s Covid policy.
When they were providing wage subsidies to businesses, we didn’t hear many complaints from the business community. Many people are grateful we didn’t have Boris Johnson’s “Let it rip” policy imitated here by Simon Bridges and David Seymour. Many lives would have been lost needlessly.
Some on the Right also seem intent on labelling the previous Government’s spending as “profligate”. When the Labour Government was elected in the United Kingdom in 1945, I wonder if Labour MPs spent a lot of time criticising Winston Churchill’s handling of the war and blaming him for the parlous state of the country’s finances. Probably not.
Craig Clark, Devonport.
Devil we know
After over one year since the last election, despite what the coalition Government’s claim to be their best efforts, there is still no real evidence of any improvement in the economy - despite much hardship - and it appears likely that this will continue until the next election in two years’ time.
This may well lead to the disgruntled in the community voting to eject the current Government, but before that happens we should consider the resulting situation.
There would be a new coalition government, and with the Greens unlikely to put on the handbrake as long as they get what they want, the current Labour and Māori Party in an unholy partnership would rejoice in passing legislation which, with little imagination, would have the inevitable detrimental effect on much of the country let alone our fragile economy.
A choice then: the devil we know, but find it hard to like, or probable chaos. Just a thought, but a frightening one for us all.
Rob Peterken, Golflands.
