Driving to survive
The recent, horrible fatal crash in the South Island leaves much to be considered. Everybody is quick to blame the conditions of the road but we are supposed to drive to the conditions no matter what state the road is in.
Countries with the lowest road toll have the highest traffic fines. In Switzerland, overtaking on the inside lane will cost you 2000 Swiss Francs [$3700] and no licence for three months as a first offence. Radar detectors are illegal and the police have devices to detect them in your car.
On some Finland roads, photos are taken and again later a long way down the road to work out if you have been speeding. Fines are based on your income: a businessman was fined €54,000 [$90,000] once.
Britain, a densely populated country with heavy traffic, has a third of our fatalities.
Same as Germany, no speed limit on some motorways with heavy traffic and half of our road toll. Trucks are limited to 80km/h on all roads.
To get a driving licence in most European countries you have to learn a lot - driving schools teach motorway, night, wet weather and city peak hour driving.
Don't blame the road, blame the driver.
Siegfried Jordan, Royal Oak.
But wait
Some weeks ago, we contracted an Auckland-based business with a branch in Christchurch to build us a carport. The carport will, I hope, eventually be built with components imported from China.
The business has communicated well and given us the name of the vessel bringing what is necessary for carports and maybe other things the business supplies. I have tracked the vessel and it arrived in Auckland harbour and anchored behind Rangitoto last Thursday. At the time of writing five days later, there it remains waiting to get into port and unload its containers.
I know there is Covid disruption and I know the port messed up with its automation, but the inefficiency of this delay increases the cost of shipping and impacts the businesses and their employees that depend on prompt delivery of goods.
For us, getting a carport or not doesn't matter much but the performance of our port impacts on our whole economy and the livelihoods of most of our citizens.
We all have a stake in the performance of Auckland Port, and it is far too important to be allowed to underperform.
Norman Wilkins, Avonhead.
Supply sense
Building, residential and commercial, is a very competitive business. A participant who can assure their material and labour supplies would be foolish not to do so.
Fletchers happens to be the producer of Gibraltar board as well as a user of it. Why would it not make sure its own requirements were taken care of before supplying competitors? It would be remiss to sell plasterboard to its customers and leave itself short in the process. The commercial naivete of some critics astounds me.
Peter Clapshaw, Remuera.
Perceived wisdom
Herald Business reports (June 21) John Mendzela, a consultant who advises central banks around the world on governance is "immensely" concerned that Rodger Finlay, the chairman of NZ Post which owns 53 per cent of KiwiBank, is working as a consultant to the Reserve Bank of New Zealand while still holding his role at NZ Post.
Finance Minister Grant Robertson however is not concerned about any potential for conflict of interest. Whether there is any real conflict of interest is not the issue here.
Of much greater import is there is the perception of a conflict of interest and, as such, Finlay should be very much at arm's length from the organisation which has the responsibility of regulating all banks in this country, including KiwiBank.
Rod Lyons, Kumeu.
Return flights
Australia previously rejected its supplied NH90 helicopters; and has ordered instead American-made helicopters. Now, I see that Norway has also rejected NH90s that were previously supplied – even going so far as returning the used NH90s and asking for their money back.
This obviously raises the question of why New Zealand is apparently continuing with them.
Rex Beer, Whangaparāoa.
Friendly hawk
The article "A seat at the top table for the PM in Europe" (NZ Herald, June 20) quotes Geoffrey Miller of The Democracy Project, a group at Victoria University as saying, "Ardern has pursued a more hawkish position on relations with China".
In 2019, Ardern signed up New Zealand's military organisations to coordinate and cooperate with China in training and exercises. She also offered the support of our ports. That is hardly a hawkish position. I believe that neither Australia, South Korea or Japan have such arrangements with the Chinese military.
Roger Russell, Campbells Bay.
Sating a warmonger
Although the action recommended by Laurie Ross (NZ Herald, June 21) may appear rational to end the conflict in Ukraine, this would surely be a mistake.
If all Putin wanted to cease hostilities were Ukraine's neutrality and for it to yield up the Donbas then perhaps Zelenskyy might see a possibility. But if Donbas was the goal then why did he attack Kyiv, Kharkiv and Kherson?
Putin desires the end of Ukraine as a nation-state; he has likened himself to Peter the Great in expanding the Russian Empire and has argued Ukrainians are essentially Russians and their land a traditional part of Russia.
Appeasing him with some territory to call off his barbaric military would only postpone the time when he comes back for more.
Putin, like Hitler, bitterly resents the reduction of the great state he grew up in and wants to recreate the dominion over which his motherland holds sway. When the Allies forced the Czechs to give up the Sudetenland in 1938 the Nazi dictator was not sated and neither will Putin be with the Donbas. Putin is a warmonger - as the Chechens, Armenians and Georgians know only too well.
Gregory Pinches, St Heliers.
Symbolic weapon
The suggestion from Laurie Ross for this country to be a voice for peace and humanity may seem hopelessly symbolic. But so too is the "lethal aid" New Zealand provides compared to the weapons being provided by other sources.
Use of a single nuclear weapon would be a crime against humanity. If symbolism is all we are left with to prevent that, it's surely worth a go.
Jon Carapiet, Sandringham.
Spread the word
Radio New Zealand has a high-power shortwave transmitter that is normally used to serve the Pacific Region. The signal can be directed "more to the West or to the East" depending on the target audience.
I think some programming should be in Russian and used to update ordinary Russians about the war in Ukraine.
I very much doubt the Russian media are provided with correct day-to-day information about the extent of the atrocities that are being perpetrated.
Leo Neal, Ellerslie.
Them days
David Hallett (NZ Herald, June 21) recalls a time in New Zealand when everyone had work and employees belonged to unions. He doesn't mention it, but it was also a time when everyone was housed, children went to school and the health system trained adequate numbers of doctors and nurses. Prison musters were small.
Unusually though, he remembers it as a terrible time because the public service employed people to guarantee it all happened. My preference, however, is a society that is organised around people's needs and helps everyone thrive.
We had it for 50 years after 1935.
Mark Nixon, Remuera.
Stop the bus
A bouquet to the inner city AT bus driver last Saturday during horrid drizzly weather when I accidentally blocked off your access when you were turning from Queen St into Wakefield St.
Feeling rather stressed, I was expecting a blast from the horn and an angry face but instead, I got an understanding smile and patience while I managed to reverse out of your way.
Much appreciated, many thanks.
Christine Mcleod, Ōrewa.
Short & sweet
On fuel
Perhaps the Government could revert to a fixed tax levy based on the March 2020 fuel prices. It would certainly alleviate some of the "pain at the pump".
Ian Doube, Rotorua.
On hospitals
The question we should be asking is how we stop so many people from turning up at any hospital at the dire end of what has been years of neglect by the very same person.
J McCormick, Gisborne.
On democracy
There is no example in history, and no contemporary evidence on offer, to show that a disproportionately weighted voting system will achieve more than it will destroy.
Chris Lonsdale, New Plymouth.
On infrastructure
The National Party had just as much a hand in failing infrastructure as Labour. Maybe we should have an infrastructure party.
Gary Hollis, Mellons Bay.
On apology
Although Chris Hipkins apologised in private in March to Charlotte Bellis, it has apparently taken three months of legal battles to have this apology made public. To err is human; to recover is angelical; to persevere is diabolical (Thomas Jones).
James Archibald, Birkenhead.
On plasterboard
It's great the plasterboard shortage is all but over. Now the Government is forming a task force. When do I stop laughing?
Garry Wycherley, Awakino
The Premium Debate
National can win but can it govern?
MMP. The Green Party brought confusion to voters as to how to keep it out of government. It's why Labour had the increase in vote so it could govern without them. Labour decided to include the Greens as insurance for the future. The same could happen with Act. National gets a bump up as the blend is not fancied by the voting public. Warren B.
I wish that Richard Prebble had written this piece before the 2017 elections and then New Zealand may not be in the position it is in today. Roy H.
This excellent article exactly sums up the situation. National needs to be honest and open on co-governance. This is a vital question for the future of our country. Mark B.
I don't think Prebble is quite on track. The Greens did not even stand a candidate in the Tauranga by-election, so his calculations are not correct. Gail S.
So who did Green supporters vote for? Act? I think not. Presumably, they backed Labour, given their own inability to field a candidate. The point being made is that the left and their supporters had an abysmal result in Tauranga. David P.