Recent Herald opinion pieces appear to endorse Winston Peters as the right and proper person to negotiate with the US Government and indeed his trenchant, increasingly peevish anti-diversity prejudices may well equip him to fit in with Donald Trump’s similar politics and in no way represent a majorly tolerant, inclusive and caring Aotearoa. If his are the qualities we need to represent us, we could just as well send Brian Tamaki. Not to be outdone in a week full of Winston, David Seymour piled into Auckland University resourcing for Māori students. There seems to be some sort of alpha male one-upmanship going on between them to prove who is the most dedicated to anti-Māori and anti-“woke” tub-thumping. Neither speaks for us.
Peter Beyer, Sandringham.
Speed limit changes
Auckland Transport increasing speed limits back from 50km/h to 60km/h and from 30km/h to 50km/h. Most traffic will drive at speeds in excess of 60km/h due to the increase. The only people who will gain from this will be the contractors who are being paid $8.8 million to change the signs and the local funeral directors.
Bob Wichman, Botany.
Women’s rugby
No scrum resets. The side that doesn’t get forced down first or doesn’t wheel the scrum to their advantage gets a free kick. Pure and simple, speeds up the game no end and makes the game what it should be, predominantly a fast-running ball in hand game that it’s meant to be, and why rugby followers are turning to rugby league. A good example of that was the Blues versus Matatū. All male rugby union coaches and referees should watch the replay and learn from that.
Gary Hollis, Mellons Bay.
School lunches
How long does this shambles of school lunches have to go on? How many letters have I written? For God’s sake bring this waste of taxpayers’ money to an end. It is a big joke now and Chris Hipkins is laughing at you all the way to the bank. End it now. David Seymour. and stand up Prime Minister, step up and finish it now: otherwise you maybe finished as PM over school lunches, Mr Luxon.
Gary Stewart, Foxton Beach.
Fact v fiction
In Saturday’s NZ Herald Media Insider page, there is a quote from Jim Grenon where he wants “an emphasis on factual accuracy”. Is it possible for him to explain what this means? Does he have examples that aren’t “factual”? Or is he taking a play from Trump’s playbook on what Trump determines what a fact is?
Rick Vine, Ponsonby.
Springboks' strength
South African Rugby is one of the finest examples of the success of a diversity policy. There was a huge uproar when quotas for the number of coloured players in the Springboks team were first introduced. Now they have a coloured player as an inspirational captain who led them to a World Cup win. They also have a huge new pool of excellent coloured players to enrich their teams. Diversity and Inclusion could be the key to developing and nurturing our Māori and Pasifika to achieve their full potential and revitalise our economy. Turning our back on diversity is short-sighted.
Kushlan Sugathapala, Epsom.
Foreign investment
Christopher Luxon’s talk-fest, trying to obtain foreign investment in public infrastructure, does not fool me. It is simply another form of borrowing, as it will have to be paid back, with interest. We must stop living beyond our means, instead of saddling future generations with higher debt repayments.
Rex Beer, Whangaparāoa.
Trump’s tariff war
I would like to endorse Derek Bean’s excellent “Letter of the week”. He notes that Canadians have had strength and unity in their resolve against the US tariffs and Trump’s crazy notion of taking over their country.
Derek also draws similarity between Trump’s threats to take over Canada and Greenland to Putin’s attempt to take over Ukraine. The UK, Germany, France and many other countries in Europe have come to realise that they can’t rely on the US with Trump in charge. His imposition of punitive tarrifs and threats to take over Canada was truly shocking.
If he treats their closet neighbour that way, what’s in store for them?
Glen Stanton, Mairangi Bay.
