If I did have any quibbles it would have to be that the singing of La Marseillaise — in my opinion, the most rousing national anthem around — was too short and that there was no surprise reveal of who the person was taking the torch through and over the rooftops of the building etc.
Meanwhile the Games continue. Au revoir.
John Capener, Kawerau
Gold standard
The Olympic triathlon must have been an extremely absorbing sporting spectacle for most Kiwis.
This is about bringing a nation together as two great athletes fought it out for Olympic glory. No matter what gender, age, nationality and ethnic origin, if you were a Kiwi you would have been both proud and disappointed for Hayden Wilde as he slipped to second just as Olympic gold was in sight, sport’s greatest prize.
The sheer drama of it was both compelling and captivating as Wilde placed New Zealand centre stage in his dramatic duel with Alex Yee, of Britain.
Then came the backstory with the knowledge that Wilde’s teammate, Dylan McCullough, had sacrificed his chances to come back and drag his teammate through the field within striking distance of Yee and give him the chance of ultimate glory.
Although this was not to be, this grand gesture of self-sacrifice, this race, this contest, and particularly the end of it will be emblazoned on the Kiwi psyche for many years as one of the most dramatic in our sporting history.
Forget the opening ceremony and all its controversy. Isn’t this what the Olympics is all about?
Bernard Walker, Mount Maunganui
Tax cuts vs hospitals
We’re on the bones of our arse when financial literacy determines what a hospital needs most. Is it too dangerous to suggest a hospital might need at least one doctor on duty? Covering one’s arse is the most important quality. Christopher Luxon wisely leaves that to Health Minister Shane Reti.
You don’t need to be financially literate to realise every dollar spent on tax cuts wasn’t spent on hospitals. You’re a financial genius if you think spending money on restoring landlord entitlements is money available for hiring emergency department specialists.
Being a CEO tells you when to cover your financial arse, but not how to run a hospital. Finance Minister Nicola Willis determines financial priorities, an ED specialist at triage determines patient priorities. Both have a shortage.
It’s obvious money for specialists comes from tax. Who could have, in their wildest dreams, guessed that the coalition is struggling to fund hospitals, tax cuts and landlord entitlements? You voted for this.
Steve Russell, Hillcrest
Feast and famine
I can’t help but wholeheartedly agree with Nigel Owen’s letter on how we are in dire need of health prevention government assistance (HoS, July 28).
A pro-active government would do well and be remembered for centuries if it starts to work on avoidance or abandonment of processed, low-nutrition-value foods. If this means a total ban on general media advertising from all these Americanised obesity-driven fast-food chains, so be it.
We are struggling to keep enough ambulances on the road and nurses in the country, whilst specialists are being declined access to work here because these desperately needed overseas specialists don’t understand the “te reo value of Te Tiriti”.
Where are we heading? We have eaten and drunk ourselves into becoming one of the most obese nations on the globe, the hospital system is in tatters, just when we have another advert of unhealthy, reconstituted fat food fodder rammed down our throats. It is downright disgusting.
Thank you, Government, for listening to people like Nigel Owen and myself, people who actually care about the sorry state of our health.
Collectively, we just have to find a way to stop this nonsensical, careless attitude about the only important thing we have in our lives: our physical body.
René Blezer, Taupō
Ranfurly relevance
What has happened to the Ranfurly Shield? It used to be the most important thing in NZ rugby, but these days it hardly merits a mention.
Perhaps it’s time to change the format: holders seem to take challenges from only teams they expect to beat. What about a knockout competition for all NPC teams with venues decided by the luck of the draw instead of the holders always playing at home.
The English FA Cup has worked this way since 1876 and is still relevant, whilst the Ranfurly Shield is becoming close to extinction.
Tony Turner, Auckland
Untrained malady
It almost beggars belief when you are told that an independent investigation has found the reason a power pylon toppled was that an untrained crew removed all the nuts from three of the tower’s four legs.
Surely a saboteur couldn’t have found a better way to bring down the thing, so perhaps we need Winston Peters to have a look at this in the same way he did with the Cook Strait ferry where again, a so-called untrained bridge crew managed to put that on to the rocks.
Let’s hope this so-called untrained malady doesn’t spread to the airline industry flight decks.
Paul Beck, West Harbour
Scooter pays
E-scooters litter our streets nowadays. Any idiot can rent one.
On Sunday morning, no fewer than two idiots doubling up swerved around from behind us on a footpath, with no warning. If one of us had taken a half-step, then there would have been injury and even death. And, of course, our health service’s already-stretched resources would have had to clear up the mess.
So why not levy the renters and the companies that make profits from them to cover those costs? A 10% increase in the rates would be a good amount, requiring notification from the companies and permanent payment of that levy directly into our health budgets.
Stan Jones, Hamilton
