Civilised veneer
I liked Max Wagstaff's comments on "what lies beneath" (NZ Herald, June 2). I was reminded of an incident not long after the Queen St riots in the 1980s. A university capping week prank caused some problems at a Queen St movie theatre during Friday night. Someone had cut up a broom handle into what looked like sticks of dynamite and attached an alarm clock.
At the time I was a shift engineer for what is now Vector. By myself for that evening, I received a call from one of my field staff requesting a power blackout between Wellesley St and Victoria St in the CBD. He said the police had requested it as an explosion could rupture a gas main and one spark could create an even larger explosion.
I replied that I would do as ordered but the area I could blackout was about four times larger than requested - basically, all of Queen St from the Town Hall to Fort St.
I suggested they think more about the request as tens of thousands of people would be plunged into darkness followed by "remember the riots".
Cooler heads prevailed and we kept the lights on. Who knows what would have happened otherwise, given how thin our civilised veneer actually is.
Roger McCall, Taupō.
Working together
We have a Minister of Finance, Grant Robertson, who believes that we can trade ourselves out of the massive debt hole that we have fallen in without have to increase taxes - yeah right.
On the other side we have a Prime Minister suggesting that we should have more public holidays and also supporting having more firms working a four-day week all of which will probably be counterproductive to increased worker productivity which, in New Zealand's case, is already close to a third lower than that of Australia.
And now we have unions wanting the doubling of the sick days allowance from five to 10 days, per annum, when we already know that the average NZ worker takes 4.8 sick leave days a year. I can just see this increasing along with an enormous hit to future productivity levels.
If we are going to reduce the massive debt levels that we are about to experience and also return to future budget surpluses, the country is going to have to work together and not impose restrictions on employers that will reduce productivity levels even further.
Mike Baker, Tauranga.
Brilliant book
The Luminaries is a disparate male group identified by their star signs and all having motive for murder in the early South Island goldfields of New Zealand.
I bought this book to entertain me on a long haul flight several years ago and it didn't disappoint.
But standing next to Eleanor Catton at an Auckland Writers Festival, I just couldn't bring myself to ask her to identify the murderer. Perhaps that is the lure of the Victorian novel.
Taika Waititi won an Oscar for screen adaptation, get him on the job. The story and the costumes reflect the history of our country in spectacular fashion.
Julienne S. Law, Snells Beach.
Landfill waste
With the Green Party in our Government, it is unbelievable this Dome Valley landfill plan got the go-ahead.
Have a look what is happening in the Netherlands and Scandinavia with the burning of rubbish for electricity in an incredible, environmentally safe, way during the last 20 years. The latest ones are incredible.
No, we want to bury it in the Dome Valley, with pollution for decades to come.
We polluted the Manukau Harbour and now is the time to pollute the Kaipara Harbour.
W. A. Houtman, Waiau Pa.
Want not
I have to agree with Robyn Brown's (NZ Herald, June 3) sentiment entirely. The disposal of waste, and creation of it, should be to the forefront of all our minds.
The fact that Waste Management sold out to a Chinese company, which is now given carte blanche to dump it all in landfill, and prime land at that, is sickening.
Wake up New Zealand and think hard before you make that next purchase.
Bronia Butler, Whakatane.
Chinese sanctions
Last week the foreign ministers of Australia, Canada, the UK and the US signed a joint statement on Hong Kong, condemning with high sanctions the Chinese Communist Party's crushing of democracy and freedom in Hong Kong.
The only member of Five Eyes that didn't was little old New Zealand, timidly trying to have it both ways, as it so often does. We think we are cosying up to China to protect ourselves against the iron throttle-hold it has on our economic wellbeing.
Instead of cosying up to the Chinese Communist Party, we should be cosying up to the poor people of China, intensely bullied and brain-washed by their ambitious new Emperor, Xi Jinping. When the Chinese Communist Party is history, like the Soviet Communist Party and other totalitarian regimes, and the down-trodden people have democratic freedoms again, those people will remember who their true friends were in their direst hour.
It is those people, not the CCP, who will have the longer influence over our economic wellbeing.
Despite appearances, cultural, spiritual, demographic and economic factors may bring about the end of the present regime quite suddenly - possibly triggered by what all evil fears most: The show of moral strength.
Tony Molloy, Morrinsville.
Short & sweet
On America
Trump's lack of judgment; revealed in his decision to go for law and order over human rights/freedom of the press/respect/democracy and free speech does not bode well for the "Land of the Free". M Mildon, Hamilton.
If there's ever a time we have questioned the misuse of the Bible in the hands of man, it is reinforced right now by Donald Trump. Emma Mackintosh, Birkenhead.
Don't just brandish the Bible; open it and read. You'll find "blessed are the peacemakers". Eion Field, Hamilton.
On training
Apprenticeships should have always been free, paid for by the current workforce's tax, to ensure the country's future. That neo-liberal user-pays mantra is destructive to society. Jim Carlyle, Te Atatu Peninsula.
On level 1
We will be envy of many countries if we move to level one next week. It may not be as soon as many wanted but it's all for a very good reason and that reason is you. Reg Dempster, Albany.
On photos
When Mr [Matt] King distinguishes himself on the national scene then I too may ask for a photograph with my local MP. I doubt, however, if this will occur anytime soon. Eric Cronshaw, Kerikeri.
On protests
David Seymour suggests that "a couple of thousand people who don't give a crap" about level 2 lockdown is a justification to change the law - effectively sanctioning mob rule. D B Hill, Freeman's Bay.
On Bunnings
More job losses for small NZ townships. That's just the beginning!" Steve Hoeft, Pt Chevalier.
