Let's work together to beat Covid-19
I wish to commend Rob Rattenbury for his straightforward, unbiased summary of the Covid pandemic and the challenges it has presented to us all (Opinion, December 20).
Let's not forget the root cause of all this chaos is the coronavirus. Many thousands of people are working to keep us safe.
We are on a steady ship, piloted by a competent crew, navigating dangerous waters. Let's all work together to ensure we reach safety and calm waters again.
Margaret Downie
Pāpāmoa
Cartoonist on the money
Emmerson, who draws the comical cartoons you print in Emmerson's View is right on the money (Opinion, December 10).
While smoking is a filthy habit and kills the odd person, some dying very undignified painful deaths, it probably doesn't cause as much domestic and social harm as booze. The anti-ciggie mob are obsessed with their cause to the point they can't figure out that more deaths are caused by alcohol-fuelled activities than smoking cigarettes, including drugs.
The Government is quite prepared to turn a blind eye to booze use because of the many millions of tax dollars it gets. It is just going to push smoking into a black-market situation where smoking will still happen and they won't get the tax take. There are always people who, for their own reasons, won't stop. I wonder why booze isn't a big-enough problem to deserve the same treatment as smoking.
The situation definitely shows we have a one-eyed government. If I'm still breathing in 2025, I'll probably die laughing.
Rod Petterson
Pomare, Rotorua
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