Letters to Editor: Sensible social media shutdown

Sensible social media shutdown

I feel I have to respond to Pete Carver's August 25 letter and challenge some inaccuracies.

The suggestion of closing Twitter and BlackBerry actually originated not from British Prime Minister David Cameron but from the Metropolitan Police and was never suggested as a long-term ban. Rather it was to have the ability to close social media down temporarily should it be used to organise rioting and looting. I cannot fathom how anyone can call that a "ridiculous suggestion". The letter then makes the quantum leap that perhaps radio and television will also be banned. Why?

Neither of these were used by the rioters to organise rioting and looting whereas Twitter, Facebook and BlackBerries in particular were. Suggesting they are closed temporarily during periods of rioting seems eminently sensible to me.

The letter then continues in a hackneyed vein with a swipe at "old schools" and rambles on to the class system and families having nothing to lose and many of them being migrant families - exactly what point is trying to be made here?

People were not rioting for better living conditions, neither were they rioting for food. It was feral mob mentality borne out of a new liberal system that seems to promote heavily the perpetrators "rights" but little about responsibility to their society and for their own actions.

What were they on the whole looting? Designer clothes and electronic goods; real must-haves for the supposedly downtrodden masses.

These problems would seem to be accentuated by a chronic youth-unemployment rate (too many people doing nothing all day every day).

In the last year 500,000 jobs in Britain have been filled by recent immigrants keen to work as opposed to some of the existing residents who seem to have little respect for others, no work ethic and a seemingly endless love affair with consumer goods and their "rights".

Finally returning to the question of why not riot when the rioters had "nothing to lose" - they did have a lot to lose and many of them have quite rightly lost it; their freedom. (Abridged.)

Giles Thorman, Havelock North

Wave-break barriers

Having read and considered the letter from Don Sorensen, I feel that there is a solution to the problem of erosion on the Westshore beaches.

Mulberry Harbour was made during World War II to protect the Normandy beaches in France. It is still most effective.

Wavebreak Island, off Australia's Gold Coast at Labrador, is another example of coastal protection. This protection is man-made and withstands violent storms. Wavebreak Island has beautiful marine life around it and is a lure for people who want to snorkel, explore or boat around.

Perhaps the effort of digging shingle on the town beach and dredging in the harbour could be combined to fill several man-made reinforced, concrete shells that would form permanent wave-break barriers, as well as potential future tourist attractions for our grand beach frontage. (Abridged.)

Eleanor Holmes, Napier