Letters: Students are the solution to school lunch woes; NZ and a history of tariff trickery

'A more practical and empowering approach would be for the Government to fund schools directly to purchase the food.'

Letters to the Editor

Students the solution to school lunch woes

It’s time we moved past the relentless media commentary on school lunches.

I support the Government’s initiative to provide healthy midday lunches for school children who need assistance through no fault of their own.

However, a more practical and empowering approach would be for the Government to fund schools directly to purchase the food. Indeed, the cost of purchasing bread, butter, fruit and other healthy sandwich fillers in bulk would be comparable, if not lower, to the expense of pre-packaged meals now being delivered to schools.

This approach would foster a sense of achievement, independence and teamwork among the students while ensuring they receive nutritious midday meals in a collaborative and supportive environment.

Organising children into lunch teams would allow students to prepare their meals under the supervision of volunteer parents or school staff. If a school has 100 lunch children, forming teams of 10 students to each team would mean each student would have to make school lunches twice a month.

My guess is that simplifying the methodology of lunches for school children and giving schools ownership may not be well received as we increasingly rely on government support and social services, fostering a culture of entitlement.

Neal Catley, Tauranga.

Tariff trickery

Peter Beyer’s letter “Winston’s war on woke” compares the ogre of Trump’s America with “our majorly tolerant, inclusive Aotearoa” (Mar 17).

Can I offer a little balance from my experience in the dairy industry? In the 1960s and 70s, we had milk technicians scouring the US Tariff Code seeking loopholes we could exploit to get disguised dairy products across the US border.

We regarded it as reasonable practice and even gave it the name “tariffmanship”. In time the US authorities caught up with the deception and in the ensuing fallout, New Zealand was able to claim continued access albeit under quota. Imagine that happening over multiple industries over decades.

Sooner or later a US leader would emerge who took a dim view of the cheating. That leader is Donald Trump.

Rob Harris, Riversdale Beach.

The bottom line

I derive great pleasure from playing the card game of 500. Especially when I can trump say an ace or another high-ranking card when I do not possess any cards in the suit that was led.

And so I feel that it is just a matter of time before the President of the United States singles out NZ. For many years NZ has not spent 2% of GDP on defence. So President Trump will be justified in describing NZ as a country that is not pulling its weight.

Our problem is that NZ cannot afford to spend more on defence. NZ is living beyond its means.

It would make a lot of sense for NZ to pull out of Nato. NZ should admit to the US and Australia that we cannot afford to spend more money on defence. Many countries are now involved in an arms race, which will benefit only the large multinational companies that make massive profits from selling weapons that are grossly overpriced.

Why should NZ contribute to the bottom line of companies that already make obscene profits from products that kill and maim and mutilate innocent victims.

Johann Nordberg, Paeroa.

Life sentences

Correspondent Frank Greenall says Scott Watson has already served eight years more than his allotted minimum sentence (Mar 15).

Watson was given a life sentence, there is no legal requirement for him to ever be released if he is deemed a threat to society, a view shared by three psychologists who interviewed Watson for his recent parole bid.

Of note, the only psychologist who deems him safe was one Watson had privately engaged. They never met with him, but read the various reports and also said they read media reports.

A minimum sentence is just that, a minimum time to be served, it is not a time when parole is guaranteed. In my opinion he got off lightly, a double homicide with only nine and a half years for each. He should have been handed a 40-year minimum.

What his supporters tend to forget is that there is no guarantee of parole. And rightly so.

Mark Young, Ōrewa.

Wasteful thinking

What a ridiculous idea it was to do away with the rubbish bin tags. A $5 tag was a great incentive to recycle.

As a two-person home we put our bin out once every five or six weeks. Now we are forced to pay the cost of weekly service.

This is an encouragement to put all and any items into the bin – doing the exact opposite to what the council wanted. Why make any effort to recycle or fill the food scraps bin? The tags were a perfect example of user pays, encouraging all of us to recycle and reduce landfill.

Vince West, Milford.