Matter of choice
Regrettably it appears that eventually the vast majority of people in New Zealand will eventually get Covid-19; be it by direct infection or by the lesser infectious way after vaccination.
Please be the latter as it will less damaging to the New Zealand economy and society.
Please get vaccinated.
Geoff Williamson, Mission Bay.
Going harder
This Government is characterised by making decisions and laws to try and please all of the people all of the time. Perhaps it's time for tough love with respect to Covid.
How about mandating that all persons in companies or location who have first contact with overseas visitors must be vaccinated. No exceptions.
How about mandating scan codes or contact registers at all check-out counters or places of business: no scan, no service.
Is it really that hard?
Rod McMahon, Birkenhead.
Fighting talk
I would have thought we were more an army of 5 million rather than a team, facing a common enemy.
Teams win maybe one time out of 10.
On the other hand, with armies, there's only two chances: win or lose.
Gary Hollis, Mellons Bay
Taliban record
Charlotte Bellis, the Kiwi working for Al Jazeera, should be commended for asking the Taliban questions about the expected future life of women and girls in their country.
But she should be condemned if she believes anything that they promise, as prior history and their past record show.
Bruce Woodley, Birkenhead.
Sharia and women
Make no mistake, Sharia supports women's rights, inheritance rights, and supports educating themselves. Muslim women were granted these rights through Sharia while Western women still did not even have the right to own property.
UK journalist Yvonne Ridley was captured by the Taliban and, when released, she converted to Islam and now is a champion for Islam.
Her story is available for anyone who cares to know about how well women are treated in the authentic Islam, unadulterated by Taliban or men of other cultures.
Nishi Fahmy, Avondale.
Ideological cycle
With the ridiculous Auckland cycle walkway bridge proposal rightly dispatched to the looney file, Simon Wilson (NZ Herald, August 18) is back with his dedicated cycle lane passions. The Dominion Rd Business Association has released a concept visual and factored in cycle lanes up another narrow busy Auckland arterial.
Maybe, in these all-inclusive times we live in, is it just virtual signaling?
Cycling as a recreation, exercise, sport etc is great in the appropriate environment. On a typically wet Auckland day, up a busy main street, is not only dangerous but hardly practical.
If you are cycling to work, hopefully your employer has hot showers and towels to freshen up with – in their time.
Good luck if you want to cycle, in fact most cyclists move with the main traffic in any case.
Spotting a cyclist in a dedicated cycle lane is as rare as a kiwi bird in a suburban reserve.
Even if we had a world-class public transport system, cars would continue overwhelmingly to be the most preferred transport.
Please, less of this ideology.
Mark Evans, Oratia.
Spot the difference
The "Toyota utes" letter (NZ Herald, August 20) is a good example of confusing "relative" difference with "absolute" difference. Neeraj Lala, a Toyota executive, was quite correct in stating that the increase in sales of utility vehicles over the past 20 years, is 10 per cent.
According to sales data, out of every 100 vehicles sold in the year 2000, about 20 were utes. And out of every 100 vehicles sold in 2020, about 30 were utes.
The "absolute" or true increase is in fact 10 utes per hundred vehicles sold, ie 10 per cent, and not 50 per cent as claimed.
Those with an agenda often use this "relative difference" calculation as a way of presenting figures to make what may be only minor differences in "before and after" results appear much greater than they actually are.
Ashley Clarke, Beach Haven.
Cherry pips
If Taiwan cherry trees are a "pest" as Janet Vaughan (NZ Herald, August 20) states, then why do so many people travel to Cornwall Park from all parts of Auckland and beyond every spring in order to view a small cluster of these beautiful trees?
Cherry trees traditionally signal the start of spring due to their brief two-week spectacular flowering representing life, death and renewal.
Have we become so insular that some diversity in nature and a worldwide view cannot be tolerated?
Annette Perjanik, Mt Roskill.
Short & sweet
On Sir Michael
Sir Michael Cullen wasn't just "Labour's Sir Michael Cullen" as your headline suggests. He was "our" Michael Cullen and he did us all a great service. Bruce Foggo, Parnell.
On adjectives
Having previously written, regarding the extravagant use of certain adjectives, l now wonder if we can "absolutely" and "definitely" rid ourselves of this verbal pandemic? John Norris, Whangamatā.
On Covid
Until now I have thought that probably the only thing that our current Government has done well was in regard to Covid issues, but I have changed my view. Mike Baker, Tauranga.
Thank you to all those people who went on and on about opening a bubble with Australia. It's worked out really well and we are very grateful. Geoff Leckie, Flatbush.
On shopping
To all those good folk panic buying: Please stock up on condoms as well to stop producing more idiots. Paul Christiansen, Mairangi Bay
On masks
The main newsreader crosses to the reporters in the field, who then remove their masks on camera before talking. Is there a medical reason for this strange behaviour? R Hardaker, Kohimarama.
The Premium Debate
A long lockdown
Everyone who is complaining about the Government not giving certainty around the length of the lockdown should consider how humans react to bad news. Look at the run on supermarkets, for example. If the Government announces a two to three-week lockdown, the supermarkets will get swamped, the share market will take a hit, the value of our dollar will fall, crime and anti-lockdown protests will increase. Put it simply, some humans can't be trusted to react in a sensible way to bad news. Jordan C.
Covid Response Minister Chris Hipkins said, in excusing the one-vaccine policy, that supplies of alternative vaccines couldn't be obtained until Medsafe had approved alternatives.
Medsafe approved Jannsen on July 7, and AstraZeneca on July 29. Medsafe couldn't even review them until requested by Government. Hipkins isn't saying when the Government sought approvals.
Further, when Jannsen was approved, Hipkins said publicly Cabinet wouldn't even consider using it until August. Still no word.
The Government, though, has been donating AstraZeneca to the Pacific and elsewhere.
It is obvious this Government could have vaccinated us months ago, had it tried. Walter H.
Elimination is just more PR spin. It is totally impractical - as the rest of the world has found out. But we will remain prisoners due to our abysmal stroll-out of vaccinations.
If you are lucky enough to have had two jabs, the effect of Covid is minimal. And that's the problem: a lack of ordering and preparation. Only economic carnage can prevail with the ruinous "elimination" strategy. John H.
We need a task force here that realises that Covid is not going away and we will need to live with it for many years. Therefore infrastructure and systems need to be in place - permanent MIQ facilities, emergency healthcare, annual vaccine contracts and staff recruitment. Kath H.
A lot of people are going to complain no matter what they do. The Government can't give certainty, and if it tried to do so it would have to err on the side of caution. There is no certainty with this pandemic and bleating for one isn't going to change that. Apart from the certainty of major disruption, sickness and death if we leave the pandemic to play out its natural course. Ed W.
