Letter of the week: R Anderson, Pukekohe
As the country is another lockdown, consideration needs to be made to supermarket workers who are very much at the frontline and in a high level of risk,
being in stores crowded with people.
After public pressure during the last level 4 lockdown, supermarkets begrudgingly agreed to pay their staff a bonus to acknowledge the risk they were putting themselves in by coming to work to ensure the country remained fed.
However, as soon as the lockdown ended, the supermarkets promptly stopped this bonus despite having made considerable profits with the exclusive monopoly on trade given to them during this period, such as is occurring again now.
The country has seen and acknowledged the critical importance of supermarket workers during lockdowns, yet despite the massive profits supermarket owners make, the staff in these stores continue to be some of the most poorly paid in the country, with many on minimum wage.
It is time for supermarkets to pay their workers their true worth and the Living Wage would be a good moral start as a thank you for keeping the country going during these unsafe times.
Voting against change
John Roughan's (Weekend Herald, August 14) "cold blast of reality for the Government" nails it.
The final paragraph of his piece concludes that if our government applies climate change policies to the detriment of our living standards then "they-us" ... will change the government.
Quite so.
Larry Mitchell, Rothesay Bay.
Red code status
John Roughan (Weekend Herald, August 14) seems very satisfied with the warmth generated from gas installed at his place. There seems, however, to be no recognition nor link to the damage our planet is suffering by the use of fossil fuels.
He represents a small number of citizens, entrenched in their right to have what they want, usually because they've "worked hard and earned it", but show little regard or responsibility to any harm they accrue in their take.
It is hard to fathom how someone who participates intellectually can completely ignore damage right now of the continual burning and flooding in the Northern Hemisphere. We have scientists saying we are at the most dangerous point in our existence. We have the United Nations panel on climate change giving us all a red code status and a strong message to stop using heat-producing fossil fuels or we won't survive.
Pretty clear, don't you think?
Emma Mackintosh, Birkenhead.
Seven billion problems
How long before world governments finally acknowledge the inevitable conclusion that the solution is population control?
Emission penalties and electrification incentives can barely nibble at the edge of the zettawatt heat generation rate of seven billion busy humans, and climbing.
John Roughan (Weekend Herald, August 14) actually stated the widespread delusion that "people shouldn't have to lower their living standards". Deluded people won't vaccinate either. New Scientist reports that all humans have some delusions, and that it's actually usually helpful for survival. But not always.
Only sensible governments can save Earth from its self-indulgent inhabitants.
Jim Carlyle, Te Atatū Peninsula.
Trouble at Mill
I read Bernard Orsman's article about Mill Rd (Weekend Herald, August 14) with interest.
How is it that a group of wealthy climate activists think they have a right to veto roading initiatives? Perhaps they think South Auckland residents aren't employed and have no need of decent roading.
Houses on 1/5 acre sections are being removed and four to five houses are replacing those houses, with the consequences of more traffic on roads that are inadequate to cope. Housing is being built right through Takanini to Papakura and beyond. All of those homes have at least one or more occupants working in different parts of Auckland with inadequate and slow public transport.
Mill Rd at peak times is extremely busy and, at the intersection of Redoubt and Mill roads, there is a dangerous spot if one is turning right into Redoubt Rd.
The Government is spending $1.8 million dollars to build a cycle and walkway from Papakura to Drury, when they should be widening the road. How many residents will be using that cycleway to get to work, as it finishes at the Waiata Shores housing development?
Patricia Guptill, Wattle Downs.
Electric avenue
It seems one of the main reasons South Auckland's vital Mill Rd project was downgraded/cancelled (Weekend Herald, August 14) is due to Green Party concerns about carbon emissions.
Given that the highway would probably take 10 years to complete and, apparently, we will all be driving EVs by then, what is the problem?
Maybe the Greens just hate the freedom personal transport represents?
Alex Findlay. Pukekohe.
Hideous offending
The crimes of Andrew Alan Williams and Laken Maree Rose certainly merited the lengthy sentences imposed upon them.
However non-parole periods of nine years and four months and seven years and nine months, respectively, are pathetically lenient.
One can only hope that their time in prison will be made as unpleasant as possible. If ever a crime merited the death penalty, surely this one does
Ray Gilbert, Pāpāmoa Beach.
A quick word
Congratulations for getting much of the Olivia Podmore story (Weekend Herald, August 14) into the sunlight before the obfuscation machinery was able to obscure the truth. Neville Cameron, Coromandel.
For those of you who haven't been to the Howick Historical Village, I would suggest you go soon or you will miss out as it depicts European settlers in a very positive light. Jock Mac Vicar, Hauraki.
Top article Mr Braunias (Weekend Herald, August 14). You fought them in the benches, Winston would be proud of you. Jackie McCabe, Kaitaia.
"LOTR's Kiwi exit tourism nightmare" (Weekend Herald, August 14), According to the Tourism New Zealand chief, the benefit of this country's association with Lord of the Rings will endure. Bill Mathews, Auckland Central.
It would be interesting to see what the odds are at the TAB for which victory comes first – the Wallabies winning at Eden Park, or the Warriors winning the NRL. Glenn Forsyth, Taupō.
If I go into a supermarket and pay for a kilo of rice but only receive 500 grams, I feel cheated. I get much the same when watching a supposed 80 minutes of All Black football. Rod Lyons, Kumeu.
A big thank you to the Herald delivery people. When so many things in our day are very different, the NZ Herald still appears in the box every morning.Lorraine Kidd, Warkworth.
All of those shoppers that crowded into supermarkets hours before lockdown, without protection. You are all now potential super-spreaders. Linda Beck, West Harbour.
Can we move the border somewhere else please, even just for a while, and give Auckland a break? Colin Nicholls, Mt Eden.
Not content with giving us possums, magpies and wallabies, the Aussies have now given us the unkindest gift of all: Covid-19, Delta variant. Elaine McGlinchey, Kawerau.
I am getting e-mails from friends and family around the world all very impressed by how quickly our government reacted to the latest outbreak. David H Fisher, Howick.
A friend just emailed me with the encouragement to: "Stay positive, but test negative". Martin Adlington, Browns Bay.