Putting work at Eden Park on the list of fast-track projects is not supported by everyone.
Letter of the week
To clarify, Eden Park is not our national stadium. That is a self-proclaimed title suggested by the ailing ground as a ruse for sucking money out of central government, as they already do from local government. No Parliamentary resolution has dubbed it “national”.
As for fast-tracking consent for a roof for the white elephant, I sincerely hope that some wisdom at Auckland Council will prevail and see that any more funding for it would be a case of good money after bad.
For the 2011 Rugby World Cup, central government gave Eden Park $190 million and they came up with a misshapen Frankenstein of a ground that the biggest games in town, the Warriors and Auckland FC, have rightly shunned.
Surely the politicians will realise this?
Tony Waring, Grey Lynn.
Food for thought
Is the school lunch system about providing one nutritional meal each school day or about saving money by providing meals lacking in fibre and fresh vegetables at the lowest budget price possible?
The $3 meal options shown are the same those families on the lowest wages or benefits can cook for themselves.
Many children, unfortunately, are raised in homes on such un-nutritious meals, where fresh fruit and vegetables are foreign to them and their taste buds.
What does the Government hope to achieve by providing such unhealthy options? Would David Seymour dine on such fare every day as his main meal? Have people who have approved such options forgotten that children’s bodies are still growing?
My generation and my children were raised on three plain meals a day with the main meal of meat and three veg plus a milk pudding. Grains with milk for breakfast and sandwiches and fruit for lunch.
No junk food, very few sweets or soft drinks, and plenty of exercise. My parents had the added privilege of being hunters and gardeners. They had no packaged or processed foods. Give a man a fish and it will feed him for a day, teach a man to fish (and cook and garden) and it will feed him forever.
Money would be better spent providing community gardens, free courses on cooking on a budget, budget shopping lists, simple one-pot/pan meals, free exercise and sports facilities, and funds for organisations to provide this service.
If you are really serious about preschool/child/youth health, make junk food, all takeaways, sugary drinks, alcohol and tobacco products unaffordable with higher taxes which will fill the government coffers and cut the health bill.
Marie Kaire, Whangārei.
True cost of fireworks
So many of us, who could be bothered to write about the ridiculous state of fireworks laws, have had to eat our words after many government and past ACC officials apparently found it funny to close their eyes and ears to the damage that these ridiculous devices inflict upon our society.
Just ask a veteran vet, an animal rescue officer, a long-time fire rescue volunteer or a retired hospital emergency surgeon, what they have seen during their horror shifts at work. Unfortunately, these professionals at the horror end of fireworks have to patch up the damage. Damage that is totally avoidable and in essence solely the result of one driving factor: greed.
Should we just switch off to other individuals’ suffering and pretend it is not really relevant? This approach has gone a long way and has certainly helped increase hospital waiting lists, while the fireworks’ wholesalers and retailers are laughing all the way to the bank.
René Blezer, Taupō.
Bayly’s apology
Andrew Bayly doesn’t deserve to be an MP, let alone a minister, after his incredibly rude and childish behaviour. The gushing apology sounded too lavish to be sincere.
Diane Anderson, Sunnynook.
The Ides of March
“Beware the Ides of March,” the oracle warned Julius Caesar. He ignored the warning. Christopher Luxon seems to think he can ignore the warnings of history and the Royal Commission into the mosque shootings.
The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet brainlessly echoes his ignorance. Relying on the same old blinkered security systems that failed to see the Christchurch massacre coming is a guaranteed recipe for history to repeat itself.
Christopher Simmons, Papatoetoe.
Lab rats
Science is far more than atoms; its study is the basis by which we learn, imagine, research, experiment, test. This Government’s disdain for evidence is obvious, personified in the position of the chief science adviser being unfilled.
Why would you do this? Perhaps because you certainly don’t want any OIA evidence to point out “you were told, idiot”. Only a fool ignores science. Sir John Key tried – famously saying he could always find someone who could refute anything.
Fact-checking is becoming a contentious issue in politics in the US – Donald Trump recently dismissed this when he said, “They’re eating dogs in Springfield” because “someone on TV said so”.
We’re told by the Minister of Transport Simeon Brown “speed doesn’t kill, it’s alcohol and drug-driving”. His words don’t need fact-checking.
Associate Health Minister Casey Costello decides heated tobacco products are safer so cuts the excise tax. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says it’s a trial, otherwise known as an experiment. Any guidelines on using live human participants?
Minister for Resources Shane Jones ridicules while the Greens protest at a lack of science experts reviewing mining.
The actual Minister for Science Judith Collins is standing by as scientists lose their jobs in many fields of expertise.
Who needs science advice? They said – so, it is. This is an inexplicably backward step, towards the collapse of reason. Ultimately one more step for mankind’s annihilation as scientific method is given the boot for political expediency.
Steve Russell, Hillcrest.
Work from home debate
Diane Anderson (Herald on Sunday, October 20) presents several reasons why people should be working from home. She does miss one major group from her list of those who cannot work from home. We are all well aware of how important in-school contact is for teachers and students.
She also misses a couple of factors which are positive with people working from home. One is support for suburban businesses. The second, and one which is critical to our threatened planet, is that working from home immediately takes significant amounts of traffic off our roads. The benefits to our air purity, reduced demands for infrastructure development, etc are far too important to just be ignored.
Judy Lawry, Pukekohe.
Police say they are following lines of inquiry to catch the offender.