Letters: Erebus memorial, average wealth, sex, suppression and the Union Jack

The Parnell Rose Garden on Gladstone Road in Parnell. File photo / Janna Dixon

Opinion

Letter of the week: Hylton Le Grice, Remuera

Against widespread opposition, the proposal for an Erebus Memorial in the Parnell Rose Gardens remains one of the most bizarre and undemocratic decisions by local and national politicians of recent times.
The local community board, the Auckland Mayor and the Labour Coalition Government hastily approved the design of this large concrete mass without support of, or consultation with, the local community.
The Ministry for Cultural Heritage also admits public consultation was not undertaken.
At the last moment, the decision has now been put aside, for three weeks following the elections.
No one would wish to deny a memorial to the victims of Erebus, but this has no association whatsoever with the much loved green space of the Parnell Dove-Meyer Park Rose Gardens.
With the large numbers of the local community, and some members of the Erebus families, opposing the original decision, this must be now be overturned, and the memorial sited more appropriately elsewhere.

Site and size

As a regular visitor to the Rose Gardens/Nancy Steen Garden, which is currently usually a peaceful, restful place, I'm disheartened to hear of the plans to put in what sounds like an appalling monstrosity.
By all means honour the victims of the Erebus tragedy but this type of memorial seems most unsuited to the site. Families, couples, singles all enjoy that lawn overlooking the sea all year round, and the Parnell Rose Festival is held there every year.
It seems as though the scale of the proposed memorial is the crux of the issue, but also the location is wrong. Please reconsider.
R Howell, Onehunga.

Fantasy dollars

So the average net wealth of New Zealanders has increased to $319,000 in Brian Gaynor's fantasy world (Weekend Herald, October 5).
In a closed system, maybe. But New Zealand is an open economy, an open market which can easily be manipulated by overseas interests. As it happened in 1984 and in 1990.
There is no growth of productivity in New Zealand. Why? Because, for that to happen, you need a wide production base which New Zealand does not have.
We got rid of our industrial infrastructure when the money masters declared New Zealand a financial paradise in 1984. No increase in tourists or immigrants will fix that. They only help New Zealand to survive short term.
New Zealand has a fantasy, entertainment industry with lots of lawyers, accountants, advertising agencies and of course investment specialists. They all produce nothing. They only consume. Maybe Brian Gaynor can tell us in another fairy tale this Saturday how we can all get to that $319,000? And then we can all import whatever we need.
Hans Geese, Whangaparaoa.

Epic sex

Discussing pornography and sex education, Lizzie Marvelly stumbles across the truth when she says, "While some students are learning about consent, healthy relationships, and the unreality of pornography, others are learning the bare basics about sperm fertilising ova" (Weekend Herald, October 5).
Yes, sperm fertilising ova is the "bare basics". That's what sex is – the seed of the human epic.
A teaching module that claims to be about sex, but ignores what sex actually is, is incomplete and misleading. If the "bare basics" are ignored, a conversation about "healthy relationships" is really about the safe mimicry of sex, not sex. Because sex is epic, treating it as casual is a profound mistake.
Gavan O'Farrell, Lower Hutt.

Buy gosh

I see various references in the first section of Saturday's edition to the looming climate change crisis.
Turning to the Business section, I see ("Shoppers changing the way we pay") that there is an increasing trend to using contactless debit cards, and increasing use of the option to buy using deferred payments along with online shopping. The article goes on to explain the benefits of these "pay-later solutions" and the "removal of spending barriers".
I guess this means we are going to spend and borrow our way out of the climate crisis by buying more stuff. Gosh, I feel old.
Mark Vincent, Paparoa.

Suppression

The Herald's "victory" in a legal fight to name a man convicted of theft from an injured woman (NZ herald, October 8) raises questions about how our justice system best serves the community.
It is only natural that the victim of a crime feels wounded and may want the perpetrator to suffer as he or she has suffered, however there are clear reasons why the injured party is not the best person to decide what the legal consequences of crime should be, which is why a judge is required to weigh up all the factors including the victim's feelings and the convicted person's potential for change.
It seems possible that the reversal of name suppression in this case is a response to the popular conflation of justice and retribution that is focused on punishment with little regard for rehabilitation.
Public shaming has a long and inglorious history, and while some may argue that it encourages an offender to behave better in the future, I fear it is often more likely to send him or her to a darker place, to the detriment of us all.
Andrea Dawe, Sandringham.

Flag burning

The symbolic burning of the flag marking the arrival of the replica Endeavour lacked an important detail: It was the wrong flag.
The flag flown by the original Endeavour and by its replica was not the union flag of the United Kingdom. If you look carefully at photographs, you will see that that flag comprised the red cross on white of St George of England and the saltire of white on blue of St Andrew of Scotland. This was the union flag of 1606-1801 flown on the Endeavour. The red saltire on white of St Patrick of Northern Ireland was added to form the present union flag in 1801. Northern Ireland had nothing to do with the mission of the Endeavour.
Bill Brading, Northcross.

A brief word

I could have summed up the Auckland malls article in two sentences, not two pages: Same old shops. No variety. Helen Lowe, Unsworth Heights.

I suppose it is right and proper that politicians would want to promote history in schools as, in the main, they are the ones who mostly feature in it. Gary Hollis, Mellons Bay.

Congratulations to Rod Emmerson for his brilliant parody between Trump and the Mr Creosote sketch in the Monty Python movie The Meaning of Life. Cartooning at its finest. Gary Bridger, Greenlane.

When will the Vatican realise they need to allow Priests to marry? God created women to be of comfort to men. It is unnatural to live celibate lives. Doreen Arigg, Mt Wellington.

Great to see Canterbury winning the Ranfurly Shield off Otago. Also great battle between the two first fives; Brett Cameron and Josh Ioane. Sento Mehlhopt, Albany.

Hospitalisation of young party goers due to consuming untested drugs sees the need for safe practise of drug testing, even if they are illegal, in order to save lives. Marie Kaire, Whangārei.

With the demise of the plastic bag, it seems that everyone has jumped on the money making bandwagon, and decided to charge for bags, regardless of the size or what goes in them. Trish Heikoop, Pakuranga.

The people in Albert Street who have lost their businesses altogether also deserve compensation. Genevieve Forde, Whangaparaoa.

Mike Hosking is correct in saying the Government is soft on drugs. Alcohol is the biggest killer, not methamphetamine. Steve Russell, Hillcrest.

Amongst all the demonstrations and publicity over global warming there is hardly any mention of the elephant in the room: unsustainable population growth. Richard Kean, Ngongotaha.

Its time to stop New Zealand becoming a dumping ground for all of the world's problems and to look after our own. Paul Beck, West Harbour.

Our prime minister could take a leaf out of the book of Sri Lanka s president who is not seeking re election after failing to fulfil many of the promises of his first term. A J Petersen, Kawerau.

Brexit requires the EU to sacrifice Ireland and the UK to sacrifice parliamentary democracy. Is that too-big an ask to elevate Boris to sainthood amongst Tories? Dennis N Horne, Howick.

Please when is Mark Richardson returning to the TV3 morning show? It has lost its mojo without him to bring balance to the whole endeavour. Ross Harvey, Remuera.