Road cones on Queen St. Photo / Michael Craig
Letter of the week: Denis Edwards, Tauranga
My Christmas-time drive on State Highway 2 south of Auckland provided an unexpected glimpse of a potentially innovative way to calm traffic and possibly usher in changing driver attitudes. It was in seeing lines of cones placed to block off the highway passing lanes, forcing traffic into keeping orderly lines. Is there potential for a wider benefit? It did force leaden-footed adrenaline and testosterone-fuelled drivers, ever-eager to demonstrate power and urgency, and ability to manage blasting speeds, into a different mental space. Like it or not, and suspicions are some didn’t, they were living the yoga mantra - accepting the things they cannot control, and finding themselves in a moment where patience, improved breathing techniques and the proper aligning of their chakras eases them towards peace and stumbling onto the first steps on the path to serene bliss. It gives the humble orange-red cone a power few realised existed, becoming a helpful player in death and injury reduction on the roads. It also must be noted this is merely the start of a long journey. While some once-aggressive drivers might be soothed, the cones cannot do everything. We still have tailgating.
Soft and slow?
It will be interesting to see New Zealand’s response to China’s rollback of its strict anti-virus controls, and Chinese people travelling overseas in numbers. When Covid-19 first appeared our prime minister was very quick to sternly tell us that it was necessary to hit it “hard and fast” and imposed one of the world’s strictest lockdowns. A lot has happened in the intervening two years and we now have a large percentage of the population vaccinated. However, the efficacy of vaccinations wane over time and booster shots also start to lose effectiveness. Just how vulnerable and how prepared are we for visitors from China, in the midst of that country’s major Covid outbreak? A slew of countries have already put in place Covid tests for Chinese arrivals and found that some tested positive. Quite a number of people in Aotearoa might be hoping the Government’s reaction will not be “soft and slow”.
James Gregory, Parnell
Roading work
Waka Kotahi has proved to be unfit for purpose. A major reason is a lack of capable staff and their inability to manage and negotiate with road builders and repairers. A friend once represented an overseas road-building company in New Zealand who had proven road-building systems and material specifications that were markedly better and a far better long-term return on investment than that offered to Waka Kotahi currently. All the local road builders approached agreed with the superior performance, but all gave my friend the same answer “why would we take on a better product when we can make much more money with our current continuous repair model”. This experience demonstrates that Waka Kotahi does not have the requisite personnel skills to source and negotiate for the best product and return on investment for New Zealand roads.
Gary Carter, Gulf Harbour
Unemployment insurance
Many commentators miss that unemployment insurance is a six- to 12-month time-limited benefit to help those who lose a job mainly through no fault of their own, like redundancy. To assist them in finding another job without the stress of being unable to pay the rent or mortgage, losing their home etc. We live in a capitalist society where employers can lay off staff swiftly to adapt to economic changes. And, as we can see today, 4 per cent unemployment is considered desirable by RBNZ and employers for the labour market to function efficiently. Why should we punish the unemployed if that is what we desire, economic policy? There should be an adequate safety net. Unemployment insurance is the norm in most developed countries, especially in western Europe. And many have far more generous schemes than those proposed for New Zealand. We shouldn’t be near the bottom of the developed world.
Kushlan Sugathapala, Epsom
Political incompetence
I just don’t get it: why is the Labour Party being portrayed as incompetent? If you look at the history of the National Party (first won an election in 1949 then governed for most of the next 50 years, which took New Zealand from the 4th best economy in the world to 40th) then introduced electricity reforms in the 90s, saddled Auckland ratepayers with a $6 billion bill for leaky homes settlement with the Building Act 1991, legislated for overweight trucks to pothole the roads, ran hospital infrastructure into the ground, funded a tax cut for the rich by raising taxes on the poor, initiated Three Waters and now is against their own policy, and don’t get me started on Muldoon’s scrapping of compulsory superannuation, which is the sole reason we are owned by Australia now. There seems to be a movement afoot to brand anything the Labour Party does as incompetent as if the mere statement makes it true. Beware pages from the Donald Trump playbook people.
Paul Cheshire, Maraetai
Problem-solving
We have such a conundrum in election year: it is our duty to vote, so we must guess which politicians might address long-term problems. Don’t hold your breath. Few people like to think that their breakfast eggs come from caged hens, but now that we have a supply problem, it is surely time for the government to relocate them to motels. A very thoughtful wellbeing budget might allocate millions of dollars to compensate moteliers. Potholes could be dished out as designer feed and water troughs. Alternatively, the chooks could be sent to prison, where the cages are more spacious, and the prisoners could be released into the community on good behaviour bonds. The latter could be given electric motorbikes to save the planet. Small communities could be centrally funded through an agency like the Government Stores Board.
Hugh Webb, Hamilton
Port land
I agree with Derek Paterson (NZ Herald, December 29), that the wealthy of Auckland are not in such dire straits that they need the publicly owned port land on which to build their luxury apartments. I don’t have a firm view as to the port’s future site. However, it does seem extreme that a city the size of Auckland, with our current supply issues, does not have a working port. What is apparent is that port land is public land and public land is the public’s right. It should not be hocked off to the rich. But if the port was not retained then the land should be maintained as a regional park or similar for the enjoyment of all the people.
Grant Gillon, Devonport
Feedback loop
We are genetically programmed to pay greater attention to bad news. Good things are interesting, but bad things can, quite literally, kill you. The algorithms that drive social media sites know this and are programmed to feed us a constant stream of bad news “click-bait” to keep us logged in and available for the advertising messages from which profits are derived. This negative feedback reinforcement loop is the process that drives us down the rabbit holes of fake news and misinformation, a phenomenon virtually non-existent 20 years ago before the inception of Facebook et al. The answer is simple. Make it illegal to utilise these algorithms. Simply make all promoted links random so that positive and negative feeds are served up in equal measure and the reinforcement link is broken. The alternative, an accelerating spiral into nihilism, is an existential threat even more urgent than global warming.
John Denton, Napier
Sports streaming
Chris Keall, (NZ Herald Business, December 29), heroically documents the tortured recent history of the Spark/SkyTV sports TV streaming wars. To most viewers, the convoluted head-spinning intrigues played out by the New Zealand content providers resulted in widespread discontent. Rural viewers were short-changed and price-gouging put streamed sports content beyond the reach of many viewers’ budgets. We can only hope that the next phase of this saga will benefit the viewers rather than the providers. The advent of sports online apps (F1, Chelsea FC, NBA to name but a few) may make the decision for them ... and for us.
Larry Mitchell, Rothesay Bay
A quick word
There are dairies that would not be ram-raided if they did not stock tobacco products. Leave that to the safer supermarkets. Julie Fulton, St Heliers
Why would dairy owners want to sell a product that is essentially deadly for thousands of New Zealanders? The lure of profit comes before conscience every time. Kudos to the Government for current Smokefree Bill but brickbats to them for allowing vaping addictions to make a replacement. Marie Kaire, Whangarei
Returning home to a stack of unread Herald newspapers, the gem on December 24, The Secret Diary of ... was Steve Braunias at his best. Journalism to be cherished and framed. Jackie McCabe, Kaitaia
When she says that governments have always used consultants, Julie Pearce is correct but misses the point of Mike Peet’s letter. Peet was concerned not about the fact consultants are used, but rather that extra millions are now being spent on “expert advisers” to do work once done by public servants. Graeme Robb, Te Atatu South
I find the Government’s position on caged hens vs EV heavy metal mining hypocritical and upsetting. While banning hens in cages for egg production is regarded as animal cruelty and not compatible with their rights, young children being forced to mine the metals needed for EV batteries, is acceptable. These children in Africa, many under 10, are forced to work in tiny pits virtually as slaves to collect the metals. Dr Alan Papert, Queenstown
On December 29 I went to the supermarket to buy eggs and bread. Not a single egg was available. Wonder who in the present Government came up with the idea to stop the sale of caged eggs without making sure there will be plenty of free-range eggs for consumers. What about the caged chicken sold in supermarket and all fast food outlets? Don’t they know the caged eggs come from those caged chickens? Mano Manoharan, Hamilton
Chris Leitch’s Dialogue piece (NZ Herald, December 27) identifies the NZ Reserve Bank’s timid adherence to economic orthodoxy as a huge cost to the taxpayer. Reserve Bank Governor, Adrian Orr’s choice of QE (quantitative easing) rather that direct monetary financing via the NZRB helped fuel insane house prices and inflation. We need third-party input for wider options and bold decisions. David Howard, Pakuranga
Ukraine must win the war by military means. A negotiated settlement is unacceptable. Russia would never keep to settlement terms, Russia would never agree to reparations and Russia would not agree to the prosecution by Ukraine of the Russian war criminals. Ukraine and Russia could end up in a similar position as between North and South Korea, where a formal peace document has never been signed. Lloyd Murcott, Whangamatā
The woman was shaken by the incident.