Letter of the week: Mary Hearn, Glendowie.
As we put the horrific 2021 year behind us, we need to start a national gratitude register. Yes, we had an interminable lockdown; heartbroken families; businesses that hung
As we put the horrific 2021 year behind us, we need to start a national gratitude register. Yes, we had an interminable lockdown; heartbroken families; businesses that hung on by their fingertips; and stupid, selfish people who believed rules didn't apply to them.
But we also had the lowest death rate in the OECD, an economy that was robustly resilient against a predicted downturn along with manageable inflation rates.
More crucially, we also had beautiful expressions of love and sacrifice, countless good deeds unsolicited and unheralded, and a country that faced its blunders with openness and clarity. We didn't always get it right, and there were tragedies and triumphs along the way.
Under crisis, it soon became apparent that the Government didn't need to urge Kiwis to be kind. That's an intrinsic part of who New Zealanders are.
Think I'm wearing rose-tinted glasses? We could find ourselves in a scenario like my son; double-vaxxed and ill with Covid, sitting in an A&E in New York, being told by an overworked and stressed doctor to go home and hope he didn't die. He doesn't even know what variant he has because America is so overrun with cases that it takes 10 to 12 days for the results of genome testing to be processed,
if at all. It's time we started that gratitude register.
Dear genie
I have three wishes for a better New Year.
For a government that is prepared to listen to the people and lead our country in harmony and put an end to devisive policies.
For all New Zealanders to put aside the arguments of rights and wrongs of the past. Embrace the evolving new world and let us move forward in harmony. Yes, many things occurred in the past that were wrong but we cannot change what happened. It is history and we need to move on and not be continually for what our ancestors may have done.
For all those who are creating disruption with their own personal agendas, please look toward what is good for our country, not what may suit your personal agendas.
These are my personal wishes. I am not holding my breath.
Alexander Kennedy, Gisborne
Vaccine delay
Your editorial (Weekend Herald, January 1), says "let's move it forward" and yet two weeks have gone by since the okay was given for the age of vaccination to be lowered.
The first vaccinations are timed for January 17. Given that when schools resume, they become superspreader events, the lack of urgency about this issue is perplexing.
The editorial extols us "not be in a 2021 loop", but this seems to be a case of deja vu.
Brian McLachlan, Whangārei.
Neglected memorial
On a recent trip to Dunedin, I visited the town of Aramoana, at which the massacre of 13 people took place in 1990. I was shocked to find the memorial in such a secluded spot, almost hidden away where no one can find it.
The memorial is surrounded by bush, down an unmarked path behind a car park. I finally found it after asking numerous people, who all had no idea until I found someone at last who did know.
This is an injustice to the 13 people who died that day, why is the memorial to such a significant tragedy so hidden away. It's almost as if the locals want to erase history & forget if ever happened. So wrong, the tragedy needs to be remembered however inconvenient that may be.
Richard King, Epsom.
Playing the field
I have been reflecting on our New Year's honours as well as the upcoming Halberg awards. It seems the only constant in determining the recipients is the failure to account for the number of active, competitive participants in each sport.
For example, Dame Valerie Adams has a damehood and seven Halberg awards, yet has shone in a sport where there a very limited number of competitive participants. Paul Coll is ranked as the second-best squash player in the world. Will he receive a Halberg? I very much doubt it.
Team NZ has been nominated in the team of the year category for winning a four-horse race in which only extremely well-fed horses can participate. Contrast this with the Black Sox who have been world champions seven times. Rowing teams have won 10 Halberg team awards over the years but how many active, competitive rowers are there around the world?
Lydia Ko tees it up on the LPGA tour as one of well over 100 players; some have had to pre-qualify. She participates in a truly global sport and to cap it all, she is a wonderful ambassador for the game of golf, for sport and for our country.
Perhaps a role in an academic institution being politically correct for a decade or two might get her the nod?
John Swan, Murrays Bay.
Remembering Tutu
I was lucky to have dinner with Bishop Tutu and he giggled and joked, and talked about the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of which he was the chairman.
When he came to give an after dinner talk he again giggled but then got serious and you could literally hear a pin drop.
He then proposed a toast and I wondered what it would be for ... peace? For humanity? for The planet? For Mandela?
No, he proposed a toast "to the women of Africa".
For it was the women of Africa for whom he had the deepest admiration for; they had kept on working, on feeding and educating the children, and trying in most instances to keep the peace and stop the killing and to oppose the abhorrence of apartheid.
Bishop Tutu's relationship with New Zealand and what we stood against is something we can be immensely proud of.
Harvey White, Epsom.
Just not cricket
The Black Caps, in their home environment, with all that means, were soundly beaten by the Bangladesh cricketers.
If the All Blacks had been thrashed at Eden Park by a minnow nation like, (with due respect), Italy, what would the reaction have been?
Unquestionably the hysteria, emotion and vitriol poured on the coaches would have been cacophonous.
Does the muted reaction to the cricketers' loss mean we are maturing as a sports mad nation, accepting that you win some you lose some?
Of course not. It highlights the immaturity, intemperance and arrogance in the rugby realm.
Peter Nicholson, Ruatangata.
Rod Emmerson's cartoon (Weekend Herald, January 1) brilliantly captured the exhilaration of 2021 ending. Lorraine Kidd, Warkworth.
Letter to John Key at age 60: You have the right to remain silent. Please exercise that right. Rex Fausett, Auckland Central.
John Roughan writes (Weekend Herald, January 1) we mustn't let 2022 be the year of inflation. I'm not sure we get to choose. Andrew Montgomery, Remuera.
Why is it that there are so many Covid cases being found at the border when all potential travellers to NZ are supposed to have pre-departure tests? J.G. Olesen, St Heliers.
Mayor Goff has announced the city is ready for business but he forgot to tell his council-owned pools with reduced hours of operation over the Christmas period despite being closed for four months. K.S. Agar, Onehunga.
Dame Sophie, Dame Lisa; choice as. P.F. Dodd, Chatswood.
I wonder when the marriage celebrant at the Prime Minister's wedding asks her "do you take this man to be your lawful wedded husband?" whether there will be a straight yes or no answer. Ian Collinson, Remuera.
After 5000 years of eating bread, in less than a decade everyone is allergic to gluten. Alan Walker, St Heliers.
We are a nation surrounded by water. Surely as a society, we should be making sure that all children learn to swim. Adults too. Gillian Dance, Mt Albert.
Aren't the cherries great again this year? Larry Mitchell, Rothesay Bay.
Every other man and his dog that knows anything about the noble art of cricket is shouting from every available rooftop: "The vital omission from the Black Caps bowling attack was Ajez Patel." Gary Hollis, Mellons Bay.
I'm surprised the Ministry of Health felt the need to tag a Covid positive case in one of the three listed "gentlemen's" clubs as a close contact. Jeremy Coleman, Hillpark.
Was Novak Djokovic held up by border security for having some biohazard in his luggage? Sour grapes, perhaps? Huw Dann, Mt Eden.
It's wonderful to learn that someone who can play vinyl backwards and sideways is essential to the economy. Murray Reid, Cambridge.
DJs to entertain light-headed musical sunflowers takes us back to the second century AD when the Romans provided panem et circenses. Hugh Webb, Huntington.
Premium Painting Solutions’ work on this complex new-build in Maunu, Whangarei, helped it win the supreme 2024 Master Painter of the Year title.