An astonishing effort
For the shock jock and armchair pundit, Covid provides a never-ending feast. Any action can be too harsh or not harsh enough, too soon or too late. This measure should be included and that one left out. With selective hindsight and no need for coherence, hours of fun can be had
For those charged with responsibility, it is not a parlour game. The world over, livelihoods and health, mental and physical, are affected. And for millions, it is a matter of life and death.
NZ has done astonishingly well so far, but we have reached the point where our elimination strategy must give way to accepting that the virus will become endemic. This was inevitable after the rest of the world failed to eliminate.
Deaths will happen. If we wish to avoid the death rates that other countries are experiencing, the vast majority need to hold their collective nerve and see this through, hopefully with the unsure joining.
But what should be done with those who actively seek to undermine our monumental collective effort?
Jim Colvine, Mangawhai Heads.
Gormless irony
The Freedoms & Rights Coalition protest group set up their traffic gridlock on Saturday to impinge on the freedom and right of citizens to go about their business in a normal way.
Signage on vehicles like, "Let Freedom Reign" and "It's not about health it's about control" perfectly depicted the gormlessness.
"Freedom, no more control" while limiting the freedom of others by controlling the way they could get around?
Peter Nicholson, Ruatāngata.
Roll up or out
David Seymour (NZ Herald, November 15) wants to see an end to the "no jab, no job" mandate because companies are becoming under-resourced and finding it difficult to cope.
However, what he might have considered in reaching that view is that I - like many others, well in excess of the 5 per cent he quotes - am not prepared to be forced to work in close proximity to those who who are unvaccinated and threaten my health and the health
of my family and friends.
I would suggest that that presents a far greater risk to the business community and the economy of our country than kowtowing to an irresponsible minority.
Gerald Payman, Mt Albert,
Testing too late
Act Leader, David Seymour (NZ Herald, November 15) wants the Government to relax the no vax, no job policy and allow regular testing as an alternative for people working in the educational, health and disability sectors.
Unfortunately the test does not provide any defence against being infected by the Covid virus, which the vaccine does. It only advises that the person being tested has already got the virus and has potentially already passed the virus infection on to their pupils or patients which would be very unfortunate.
The policy being advocated by David Seymour should not be adopted.
David Mairs, Glendowie.
Housing as a product
In reply to one contributor to The Premium Debate (NZ Herald, November 15), housing is not like an antique. It is a basic need, like food, water, medicine, and safety.
Allowing it to become a "product" like any other is the reason we have runaway prices which have created the widening gap between those with a house and those desperately trying to get on the ladder. Electricity has doubled for the same reasons due to the predatory actions of companies to benefit their shareholders.
Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett, two British health researchers, wrote "The Spirit Level" in 2009. They looked at the negative effects of wide social inequality.
Using graphs on life expectancy, imprisonment, teenage births etc as evidence to support their theories, they concluded that equal societies do better on many measures of social health and wealth.
New Zealand did not come out well in their book, which they attributed to the introduction of free-market ideology; such as treating the housing market as a "product".
S. McLaren, Titirangi.
Our world war
The last few sentences in Simon Wilson's article "Extremists fool good people as chaos sown" (NZ Herald, November 12) resonated with me.
I grew up at a time when my parents and grandparents had lived through the first and second world wars.
Since early in the first Covid lockdown, I have reflected on how it must have been for people during those difficult times. I believed it was now our generation's time to do the best for our country.
Things were tight, economically, and scary during that time.
I wonder how the anti- crew of today would have managed during those wars. I have a good idea how they would be regarded.
Michael Smith, Glenholme.
Don't lie, Stan
With respect to the article "Looking at how Kiwis may catch disinformation virus" (NZ Herald, November 15) and with disrespect to those who have willingly infected themselves with said disinformation virus, I get the unpleasant feeling that we are now
living in a SouthPark episode, and have been doing so for the past few years.
With all the trimmings except the humour, and with the unpleasant punchline that we are ourselves the punchline.
And the only cure is, of course, recovering our sense of humour. Which the conspiracy theorists, anti-vaxxers, and the like, notoriously lack.
Wesley Parish, Tauranga.
It is people
Every day, the world population increases by around a quarter of a million - roughly that of Wellington.
The wants of around 7900 million are the primary cause of all the ills raised at the Glasgow conference, yet the 200 or so delegates plumbed the depths of stupidity by not placing unrestricted population growth first and foremost as central to all issues. And it is disingenuous for the poorer nations to blame the richer nations for their increasing ills, when their populations are increasing at roughly twice that of the more developed
nations.
Kenneth Lees, Whangārei.
Define extreme
Three recent articles have detailed the appalling never-ending abuse, including death threats, of neighbours by Kāinga Ora housing tenants and their visitors.
Kāinga Ora says eviction is a last resort reserved for "extreme" cases.
It would be helpful if Kāinga Ora would publicly explain what its definition of "extreme" is.
P Harlen, Tauranga.
Well written
The editorial about Covid-19 (NZ Herald, November 15) showed careful and thorough consideration had been given to what is happening worldwide and how that is impacting on our government's response to the virus.
Unfortunately, the very people who need to read writings like this don't.
Lorraine Kidd, Warkworth.
Something's fishy
Bring home a few too many snapper and you risk losing your boat, trailer and car, plus a big fine.
Escape from MIQ or cross the Auckland border by deceit and you may get a telling off, but little else. Common sense seems to be missing.
Murray Reid, Cambridge.
Short & sweet
On Christmas
The Salvation Army is talking about the poverty at Christmas and the need to give. Why is it that we need lots of gifts? Let's let it go. What about just nice food and a hug? Gillian Dance, Mt Albert.
On COP26
So much jet fuel. So many, oh so important, people. Greta was right. Blah blah blah. Marius de Geest, Remuera.
On Petrie
What a treat it is to have Wendy Petrie back on our screens... a shining star in the gloom of Covid and lockdown. Lois McGough, Ōrewa.
On rugby
The All Blacks have two foes now - South Africa and Ireland. Must be spooked by the colour green. Glenn Forsyth, Taupō.
On Trump
I'm not sure which is more crazy; Trump thinking he can run a second term, or those that believe he should. John Ford, Taradale.
On protests
Great to see pictures of various lockdown or vaccine-related protests over the past few days. Now we know what stupid looks like. Jeffrey Langford, Belmont.
The Premium Debate
We are living in the land of confusion I agree, but there are far too many confused people out there that are not going to get used to it, and hence the problems begin. David S.
This country is in more of a confused state than most simply because our government is running this show off the back of an envelope. They've replaced deadline dates - which lay the foundation for certainty - with announcements about announcements. How long have you got to get vaccinated before infected Aucklanders descend on your region? Don't know? Then no hurry right? Duane M.
There is no confusion about inflation. Anyone buying pretty much anything from food, fuel, power, water, insurance, construction materials etc. knows inflation is rampant and Alan Bollard left it too long to start tackling it. He is not alone, the other major central banks are taking a huge risk by dragging their feet on money printing and low interest rates. You don't need to be an "expert" to know this, only to have lived long enough to see history repeating itself. Steve S.
"Be wary of people offering certainty." Good advice. Robert H.
This tells you the unpredictability of human behaviour during stressful times. Ultimately, this manifests in economic patterns. Good article. Anyone who says they know what's going on what will happen, is either lying to you or lying to themselves. These are unprecedented times. Rajbir S.
I can't understand why economists are confused. Demand bounces backs after lockdowns assisted by record low interest rates from central banks, which together with difficulties in supply caused by Covid labour, cause scarcity and inflation - major issues. We have reduced labour force as no immigration and all the visitor labour has left. My business lives this every day, freight cost, labour shortage, purchase price inflation, lifting selling prices, Covid. Confusion? No. Kim C.
I'm not surprised we are confused. Different lockdown levels, traffic lights, borders, Covid tests, etc. So much rhetoric of "we are looking into that" and "we are making changes". MIQ is full of Covid-free people whilst hundreds are out there in the community. The list goes on. Peter M.