Inflating frustration
Inflation has emerged again to the astonishment of Grant Robertson and Adrian Orr.
What did you they think would happen when you pump a billion dollars a week into the economy?
With inflation running at 13.5 per cent in China, 6.2 per cent in USA. and 4.9 per cent in New
Zealand, they haven't seen anything yet.
Assets go up in value with inflation, and yet Grant and Adrian are telling us houses will stabilise or fall? Yeah right, get in quick before they double, like they did in 1973.
New Zealand imports approximately 40 per cent of all the food we consume. Flour prices for our business are going up 17 per cent on December 1 and we use hundreds of tonnes a year. That will flow on into the prices of bread, biscuits, McDonalds, KFC and Subway to name a just few.
Twenty dollars a week for beneficiaries on April 1, 2022, is not going to go far, is it?
Tom Reynolds, St Heliers.
Coming out on top
Some say New Zealand was slow with the vaccine rollout, but it's how you finish the race that's important, not how you started.
Right now New Zealand is smashing it and 90 per cent double vaccinated will put us on top of the world in protecting our vulnerable. We can be proud of the team of 5 million.
Roger Laybourn, Claudelands.
Heroes or victims?
I am puzzled by Andrew Barnes' comment piece "How many deaths is our freedom worth" (NZ Herald, November 17). Is he really suggesting that we equate those who die from Covid-19 with heroes who sacrificed their lives in world wars? Our fellow citizens who die of Covid are not noble foot-soldiers paving the way to freedom – they are the victims of a viral enemy.
Our first line of defence against more casualties, both from Covid and an overwhelmed health system, has been restricted contact. The second is vaccination. Vaccine passes will maintain the line of defence.
We do not, as Barnes claims, "tolerate road deaths". Road rules, registration, licences, warrants of fitness, fines and other sanctions limit our "freedom" to endanger the lives of others. We spend millions on making roads safer and policing driver behaviour.
Let's stop complicating the issue and get on with applying the best tools and strategies to achieving the safety and hard-fought freedoms we all want.
Michael Smythe, Northcote Pt.
Rights to object
There seems to be a "rose-tinted" view of history by a number of correspondents that all actions by governments past, when faced with a perceived common threat, were greeted with unanimous support and universal acceptance.
That's never been the case, we have had conscientious objectors, illegal aliens, internment camps, protests against sports tours and participation in wars on foreign soil, just to mention a few.
The current actions attracting commentary, on vaccinations and all things Covid, are the right of all. Regardless of the nature of views expressed, this is critical a democratic right, it's up to the rest of us to form our opinion.
Whilst our Government obviously doesn't have all the answers, it has kept us safe from horse medications, high volumes of vitamin C, household cleaners and other ridiculous medications.
Now if it could recover $36m from MIQ users and repatriate our citizens for Christmas, we will have something to celebrate rather than object to.
John Tizard, East Tāmaki .
Detailed, accurate, timely
Kudos to Derek Cheng (NZ Herald, November 17), and to all of the other NZ Herald staff who helped to create and publish a detailed, accurate, timely, and important piece of investigative journalism on the spread of the Delta variant of Covid-19 in our country.
I am confident this article will be found to meet the highest standards of scientific journalism for newspapers, after experts have confirmed that it has not resorted to either oversimplification or distortion when writing an attention-grabbing story about a scientifically-complex topic.
Its large infographic is beautifully designed, and is highly informative. Well done.
Clark Thomborson, Titirangi.
