Hurricanes Poua haka ‘disrespectful’
Winston Peters is certainly correct when he says the haka performed by the Hurricanes Poua women is disrespectful and damaging to the sport and brand.
They claim the new version has been misinterpreted. Regardless, it is proving divisive and has no place in this sport - and one wonders, looking at the pitiful crowd size at these games, if they are having any positive impact at all.
Alan Walker, St Heliers.
E-scooters need rules, not free-for-all
Would it not be wise to recognise the enthusiasm for what is considered low-carbon footprint transport - the e-scooter - has come at a high cost, due to lack of planning?
You can’t ride a 50cc bike or ride a bicycle without a helmet, yet these convenient but fast scooters are free-wheeling among foot traffic at speed, weaving between pedestrians with no warning, no sound of approach and no rules - and it’s frightening for most people.
Why is the widespread fear many pedestrians have of being hit by speeding vehicles coming within centimetres of them not being addressed? Wouldn’t careful planning, some rules (wear a helmet, walk your bike, not drive among foot traffic, have some sort of bell as a warning) instead of a free-for-all approach be wiser to avert the inevitable accidents that result from mixing foot traffic with speeding machines?
Rita Riccola, Albany.
Risky investments with online platforms
I haven’t lost any money to a scammer, although I’ve come close.
What I struggle to get my head around is how people are naive to the online platforms in financial investment and seem to entrust life savings of a large scale to these options - and then when it’s all gone, turn on the banks for a scapegoat.
Banks’ profits have nothing to do with a customer’s stupid error of judgment as Denis O’Rourke (Weekend Herald, March 9) suggests. Banks are not required to do customer due diligence. Banks are only required to be the conduit for directing the money where the customer asks them to send it.
hy have people not realised by now that investments are risky and the amount invested should equate to what you can afford to lose when it goes wrong?
John Ford, Napier.
Flood-damaged properties
Your article (Weekend Herald, March 9) on flood-damaged properties and payouts raise many questions, one of which is, does our world-beating EQC system induce false hope for those contemplating the purchase of properties which may in a flood situation lead to the demolition of their property?
Perhaps, if the council or state authorities stated clearly that buying properties prone to future flood damage would not be covered by any future claims made upon councils or central government, then the problem would inevitably be a reduction in the number of claims from householders living on clifftops and steep, bush-covered hillsides, as they would be forced to meet their own costs.
Most sensible people will ask why should their rates be increased to cover house damage which could have been avoided by a residence purchased in a more sensible and stable location?
Bruce Woodley, Birkenhead.
TV licence
Back in time, when New Zealand television first appeared in the 1960s, everyone paid a TV licence fee.
Now it is being proposed as a funding source to take it out of government hands and influence.
People pay for Sky, Netflix etc so maybe it could be reintroduced for those who enjoy watching their authentic news on TV, as opposed to TikTok Facebook etc on their smartphones.
This could take the ads out and place them squarely back on devices where they belong. Just a thought for the present Government which is “taking New Zealand back”!
Marie Kaire, Whangārei.
Do what the airlines in Europe do
Air New Zealand should be like airlines in Europe.
When travelling just before Covid, I was on a flight from Vienna to Amsterdam. On a Friday afternoon, an announcement was made: “There are too many cabin bags, 20 must be put in with other luggage and not in the cabin, if there are no volunteers, we will choose 20 at random”.
Wendy Galloway, Ōmokoroa.
