It was a mistake to underestimate the French rugby team. Photo / Getty Images
We should have treated the French with more respect
Some of the more opinionated and outspoken sports journalists and rugby commentators, not for the first time, got it horribly wrong.
In the lead-up to the first test on Saturday, Les Bleus were summarily written off and variously described as France B, France lite and the French development squad.
One even had the temerity to suggest that an under-strength French touring team cheats rugby out of a proper contest.
Sparse learning from my high school French brings to mind “ferme la bouche” as an appropriate response.
To cap off a bad night at the office, the pre-match TV commentary team had the All Blacks’ winning margin at 15, and as for one journo giving Sevu Reece a player rating of 4 when he was on the field for less than a minute, that is nothing short of ridiculous.
Bruce Eliott, St Heliers.
Return to a safer society
Bus drivers attacked by disgruntled passengers, hospital and ambulance staff physically abused while tending to patients, potential local government candidates reluctant to offer themselves for election because of the hate mail and death threats councillors receive.
Years ago bus drivers just got on with their job and it was an unwritten rule that a district nurse on, say, a call-out at night, was totally safe. The worst thing that could happen to a councillor was a bit of heckling and a moustache drawn on his/her portrait on an election campaign poster.
What happened?
Putting on more protective staff is the proverbial ambulance at the bottom of the cliff. If we want change, we need to look back and see how our values have deteriorated, how a sense of entitlement prevails, and what we can do to return to a safer society, for all our sakes.
Anne Martin, Helensville.
Muddled bureaucracy
Singapore has 16 government ministries, Norway has 20 and New Zealand, 78. Bruce Cotterill has made clear comparisons of New Zealand’s governance model with two other countries with a similar population size but more efficient and transparent administrations.
With a sizeable bureaucracy and a perpetually declining workforce, progress in New Zealand transpires at a sluggish rate. It takes more than five hours at hospital emergency departments to triage a patient while qualified nurses sit in bureaucratic offices eight hours a day, five days a week, adding punctuation to policies.
No one is held accountable for the traffic gridlock caused by the irrational decision to simultaneously shut down two parallel roads connecting to an arterial road. Whānau Ora is under investigation over claims of diverting public funds to election-related advertising and Super Rugby sponsorship.
Who would commission funding for such liberal, reckless expenditure with virtually no accountability?
If a patient winds up in ICU on life support due to medical failure, the doctor is scrupulously investigated. A doctor’s role is clearly defined with a responsibility of due diligence and failures are subject to inquiry and prosecution.
Muddled bureaucracy makes roles obscure and less accountable. To advance in economic growth, we need clearly defined roles in the government with consequences for neglect and failure.
Sadhana Reddy, Lynfield.
Air NZ’s unexpected punctuality
I feel compelled to report a most improbable event which, as newspaper of national record, would surely warrant an entry.
On Saturday evening, I boarded an Air New Zealand flight from Queenstown to Auckland. To my astonishment – and that of my fellow passengers, who looked about as bewildered as Grandma confronted by the MyIR login page – the aircraft not only closed its doors on time, but actually departed precisely as scheduled.
Even more miraculously, it landed in Auckland exactly to the minute of the printed arrival time. No apology from the captain for the weather, the congestion, or the obligatory “operational requirements”. Nothing at all – just unadulterated punctuality.
This unprecedented display of reliability has surely rattled the company’s culture, and I await a formal apology for the confusion it has caused.
Yours in disbelief,
Jordan Williams, St Heliers.
Europe’s cone-free roads
In over a month in Germany, the Netherlands, France and England, I saw seven orange cones. On arrival home, I saw about 100 in Newmarket alone.
Either the Europeans have a much more tolerant attitude to traffic safety, or road safety regulations here are grossly over-cautious.
New Zealand traffic safety bureaucrats should find out how the Europeans do it rather than block roads needlessly.
Nick Hamilton, Remuera.