Letters: Economy freeze, funerals, provisional tax, and tūi fodder

Almost everything is closed during a Covid Alert Level 4 lockdown, so why not the economy? Photo / Edward Rooney

Opinion

Everybody, freeze

During lockdowns, I don't think wage subsidy and government support for businesses is the best approach. Why not freeze the economy instead?
During the freeze period, this would basically involve no wages being paid to those not working, no ongoing residential or commercial rents being incurred (premises free during freeze), no debts to be paid until after freeze (with generous repayment terms) and no accrued interest, and no mortgage repayments required or interest on such.
Basically, during the freeze, people would only need money for groceries. People would live off their savings until they're exhausted and thereafter rely on free government funding for groceries.
I believe this approach would mean that after the freeze most businesses could start up again where they left off and the government would be in a far better fiscal position to help those most in need during and after the freeze.
David Kidd, Ohauiti.

Lonely funeral
I feel compelled to share from experience a deep sense of loss of not being able to be physically and emotionally present to farewell my beautiful mum who passed away recently. During this Level 4 lockdown I am grieving alongside family and friends and am now faced with a surreal situation that is far from ideal where I must now say goodbye to my mum without being surrounded by the support of family and friends. Death is final and simply can not be planned for at a later date like a wedding, party, conference or other event.
If Covid is here to stay, we seriously need to think more deeply about how we manage the death of our loved ones.
Surely, a small bubble of 10 or five could perhaps be appropriate during level 4 for a funeral? What if family have had Covid vaccinations?
A person should have the right to dignity and respect in death as they do in life, to have some family present when they are buried or cremated.
It's certainly not what I envisaged for my very much loved mum.
Hazel Spinnler, Sunnyhills.

Who waives the rules?
So in the lockdown Alert Level 4 you can buy liquor in Waitakere or Avondale, but not in Remuera or Tauranga. You can buy food in a dairy, but not in a butcher shop, greengrocer or fish shop.
Who makes these idiotically inconsistent regulations that put people out of business? Probably the same folk who prescribe a 30-hour course for using your VHF (safety radio) on a boat, but do not require any demonstration of capability to operate the boat.
Ericson List, Pāpāmoa Beach.

Compliance costs
After 30 years of running a small business, I know the pain of compliance costs. Provisional tax is one, generally calculated by your accountant, therefore adding another cost. Also, if the provisional tax amount isn't paid, the IRD imposes further costs.
Small business, it is often said, is the backbone of our country, and most fail within the first five years.
Covid has created further failure for the small business. I know it would be a perfect world if we all had reserves of capital put aside for such events, however this is not a perfect world or Covid wouldn't exist.
This Saturday is provisional tax day. Our current Government would be doing us all a huge favour to abolish this outdated cost, especially at this difficult time.
Yes, the Government has offered wage subsidies, but this does nothing for the actual business owner, it doesn't pay their bills or the additional cost of refinancing their private home to keep their business functioning.
Very soon, the cafe you buy your morning coffee from, or the plumber you call in when your toilet is blocked will not be around. Reduce compliance costs and you may just save one from going under.
Delwyn Dingle, Whangārei.

Futile war
The big mistake of, primarily, the US and UK in Afghanistan was starting the war – not ending it 20 years later. The mess we are now witnessing was totally predictable. It couldn't have ended in any other way. The key driver of the war was American hubris.
All those who signed up to participate made a mistake. If New Zealand has signed up for humanitarian aid, it would not now face the consequences of having participated in an unwanted war in a country that posed no threat to us.
The strength of an army sits in the spirit that dwells within it. As that spirit was not there, teaching the Afghans how to fight was futile.
The invaders from the West were living a chimera, just as happened in Vietnam 50 years earlier. That war too could not be justified without lying about progress and purpose. No wonder large parts of the Afghan population resents "the West". The learning must be to avoid getting involved in totally meaningless wars in faraway countries.
Frank Olsson, Freemans Bay.

Ute dispute
The share of utes in total new vehicle sales has gone from 20 per cent in 2000 to 30 per cent in 2020. That's a 50 per cent increase in the share, and total ute sales have gone up by more than 50 per cent, because total vehicle sales have increased over those two decades.
Ashley Clarke (NZ Herald, August 23) is making the common mistake of confusing percentages with percentage points. The ute share has increased by 10 percentage points (not per cent), but that tells us nothing unless we relate it to the base (20 per cent), which is what I have just done.
Tim Hazledine, Department of Economics, University of Auckland.

Word limit
On a daily basis we tend to rely on only a minute number of the words available to us. There are over 170,000 words in the English dictionary and approaching 20,000 in the present Māori language.
So why are many of us, perhaps unthinkingly, limiting ourselves to the low hundreds? l find it interesting there is talk of encouraging more Māori to be taught in schools.
The bottom line is surely to enrich future generations by introducing more meaningful and beautiful words from both languages, rather than the present over-reliance on buzzwords.
Part of the problem stems from the constant street language used in many films, media programmes and advertisers taking the easier path of generally dumbing down.
John Norris, Whangamatā.

Interpretation of law
While Nishi Fahmy (NZ Herald, August 23) and UK journalist Yvonne Ridley may be right in trumpeting how well women are treated by authentic Islam, for many under the yoke of the Taliban or the Arab Emirates such "good treatment" is not for them - nor likely to be in the near future.
Stoning, beheading, and public hangings are still their lot under Sharia law, if they "offend" under the Islamic interpretations of some of the less tolerant regimes.
Dennis Pennefather, Gisborne.

Feeding tūi
Your correspondent (NZ Herald, August 20) takes issue with the "hackneyed image" of a tūī in a Taiwan cherry tree at Ōwairaka/ Mt Albert. She suggests kōwhai and kākā beak as alternatives for photographic and environmental reasons.
There are not many flowering natives on Ōwairaka, and during the cold months, the fauna flourishes on the blossoms of introduced trees.
Banksia, bottlebrush, silky oak, flowering gum and flame trees are all favourites for tūī, and the cherry trees on the maunga are not of the pest variety but were planted by the grandmother of historian Mary Tallon, long before Taiwan cherries made their way to Aotearoa in the 1960s.
The label "pest" is subjective and changes with time but I suggest if we were all restricted to our original diets, life would be boring indeed. I'm sure the kākā we filmed feasting on the bark and flesh of a big old willow was not complaining.
The tūī is enjoying a comeback to our cities, owing to trapping and a wide variety of diet.
John Clark, Glen Eden.

Cherry pai
In Warkworth there are three streets lined with these trees and as soon as the blossoms appear, right on cue, the tūi arrive. Each year many people go to see the trees with their delicate pink blossoms and the noisy, energetic birds that are feeding on their nectar.
The cherry tree is a perfect example of an introduced species providing food for a native bird at a time when a food supply is really needed.
Lorraine Kidd, Warkworth.

Short & sweet

On lockdown
I resent having to shut the doors to my small business because of this government's inept vaccine rollout. Wendy Tighe-Umbers, Parnell.

Is there a vaccine against cabin fever? Heather Stonestreet, Mt Roskill.

According to the rest of the world, New Zealand is doomed. Let's stick together and show them that we can do it. Kay Hunter, Nelson.

On Parliament
The rest of the world has managed to operate businesses successfully via Zoom for months. It seems the NZ Government can't, or won't, operate like this. Janet Boyle, Ōrewa.

On shops
The spirit of community is destroyed by preference given to large Australian supermarkets versus local community butchers, greengrocers and fish shops. Chris Parker, Campbell's Bay.

On vaccine
Vaccinations minimise symptoms and death, not to mention allowing medical staff to tend to other conditions. Get the vax. Trina J Northcott, Gisborne.

On amusement
Many thanks to you for the extra puzzles. Much appreciated in these times of lockdown. V. Hall, Whangaparāoa.

The Premium Debate

World reaction

Agree, we are now looking ridiculous as a country. Kiwis are such timid people and this is just pathetic. Get jabbed like UK etc and get on with living with it. It ain't going away. Raewyn C.

We need to get vaccinated And open the borders. Plain and simple ... This really is having a huge impact on people's lives and businesses. Sandy M

My UK-based son thought I was joking when I messaged him with "We have one case and just gone into level 4 lockdown". He and his 40 and 50-year-old friends and family have all been fully vaccinated for some time now. Our rollout is an absolute joke. Marie F.

While much of the international criticism feels like schadenfreude, the low vaccination rate is problematic and does raise questions about the strength and efficacy of NZ's public health system. David G.

I think when Nigel Farage is criticising you that's an indication that you are on the right track. Dee R.

There are plenty of legitimate criticisms of our Government to be made, but describing the lockdown as an overreaction because "there's only one case" is absurd and marks Farage et al as completely non-serious. We have already seen that that "one case" was just the tip of a 100+ case iceberg, which is exactly what the Government expected when they decided to impose the lockdown, and thank God they did. Robert O.

Everyone who wants to will be vaccinated by Christmas and NZ can start opening up. We have only had a few weeks lockdown since Feb 2020 compared to other countries. Heather B.

I would suggest that anyone who thinks a few deaths here and there are worth the price of opening up the country consider that those deaths could be their own family members. Gerry S.

On the same day that NZ went into lockdown after detecting a single case, the UK registered 26,852 cases and 170 deaths. Rory H.