Letter of the week: Johan Slabbert, Warkworth
I have practised criminal law for over 40 years and, although I am not a psychiatrist nor a social worker, enough of the tragic end to youth has passed through my hands to enable me to understand how the young may fall into criminal behaviour.
Although poverty and domestic abuse are clear frontrunners I have seen that wider social issues combine to play a prominent role in young crime.
There is much common ground among these young criminals but many will find this social truth unpalatable: struggling single-parent families; lax discipline at home; no setting of reasonable boundaries or respect for others; no meaningful accountability for anti-social behaviour; truancy; gangs, boredom and the social media.
The disdain for authority or accountability is fortified by the knowledge that the police will not chase them when they drive away in their stolen cars, and even if they are caught there are no serious repercussions for a 10-year-old in the "justice" system.
Turning to crime is thus not a big step for them – and then the mother comes to a person like me. Too late. Too late.
Comparable deaths
"The land of the long Covid cloud" editorial (Weekend Herald, May 21) contained much-needed advice to our Government on what should have been explained before we were all "set free" from Covid restrictions. There was also good advice to businesses and other authorities on procedures to help reduce risk.
What is questionable, though, is the emphasis on the stated death toll of more than 1000, which is true to a point.
Announcing the total death toll on its own is a distorted view of our death rates overall, as the great majority of those dying are over 60 years of age and many of these within their 90s.
Daily figures reported come with an explanation that many of those over 70s entered hospital for other reasons and found later to have had Covid.
For a true reading of the "over a thousand" deaths, we need to know what our pre-Covid death rates were for this obviously vulnerable age group and then compare it today's. The findings could be surprising.
Emma Mackintosh, Birkenhead.
Plain speaking
Referring to your story about the new inheritance law (Weekend Herald, May 21), it is essential that such is couched in terms that are intelligible to the layman.
As an English honours graduate, I asked my lawyer what "devise" means in the current wording "to give, devise and bequeath" and he was unable to say.
Similarly, I was told that commas made a long sentence subject to misinterpretation. Yet I could not parse it at all. Such legalese is antiquated, condescending and dare we say colonialist?
Julie Daymond-King, Helensville.
Budget shortcomings
When Keri Hulme's The Bone People won the Booker Prize, a reviewer in The Economist opined he could not imagine anyone finishing the book unless paid. On that score, John Roughan's arguments (NZ Herald, May 21) are mercifully short.
The function of government is to keep society going. There is no point in choosing a destination if the trip will kill you. If we used gold instead of fiat money there would be no inflation, but we would be unable to cope with catastrophes. Like the very real Covid pandemic and Putin's senseless war.
There was nothing for me in the Budget except the comfort that Grant Robertson is doing a good job. Jacinda Ardern should retire now, taking the blame for the pandemic with her. Yes, it's unfair, she's been a great prime minister, but the family wins.
Robertson would thrash Luxon. Surely Kiwis are not so dumb as to fall for Trumpy table-thumping and slogans? God, I hope not.
Dennis Horne, Howick.
Make crime pay
Have we lost the capacity to say thank you?
When Police Minister Poto Williams announced a $6 million assistance package to small businesses suffering from burglaries/ram-raids, Sunny Kaushal immediately responds, "Too little too late." Sigh.
That's not the view of my local dairy owner who thinks the decision to make payment from confiscated criminal funds is inspired. Make criminals pay for the bollards, fog cannons, etc for protection against criminals. Smart on crime beats tough in crime, every time.
Thank you, Minister Williams.
Roger Laybourn, Hamilton.
Grain blockade
Vladimir Putin's blockade of the Black Sea, stopping the delivery of vital grain supplies to the most vulnerable people in Africa will cause a severe famine that will cost the lives of millions if it is not stopped.
What international credibility can Putin still retain?
Surely, Turkish naval power could escort the ships that normally export those grain supplies to where they are desperately needed, and if they are impeded by the Black-Sea Russian fleet, the United Nations must intervene with their own naval assets or deploy Nato to enact this humanitarian necessity.
Brian Main, Hamilton.
Harried to act
Covid, blah-blah-blah. Lockdowns, blah-blah-blah. Team of five million, blah-blah-blah. Fifty-two Delta deaths, blah-blah-blah. World opening up now, blah-blah-blah. Government is too cautious, blah-blah-blah. Learn to live with it, blah-blah-blah. "Trust business," says Sir Ian Taylor, blah-blah-blah. "Open up!" says media commentators. blah-blah-blah. Government responds, blah-blah-blah.
Omicron deaths now 1000+ in four months - and rising. Learning to live with it now, New Zealand? Blah-blah-blah?
Clyde Scott, Birkenhead.
A quick word
When a squadron of pigs can be seen flying over Auckland, Grant Robertson will know that a new Auckland port is operating on the Manukau Harbour. Ted Brock, Milford.
If Larry Mitchell wants to increase the size of football goals (WH, May 21), l want larger golf holes. John Norris, Whangamatā.
No one should experience the loss of a son, as cyclist Levi James. Make the "Dutch reach" compulsory teaching and in our Road Code. Deborah Railey, Royal Oak.
Why is it that former politicians seem to have an opinion on everything? It is far easier to have an opinion when losing your job is not part of the equation for having said opinion. John Ford, Taradale.
The 70c an hour offer to the lowest paid healthcare workers only days after splashing cash everywhere in the 2022 Budget is disgusting behaviour. Gary Carter, Gulf Harbour.
If all politicians, from top to bottom, used the word "we" a lot more than "I" when they address us in the media – we may even start to listen. Glenn Forsyth, Taupō.
There's them that understand compound interest and there's them that pay it. Richard Carey, Manly.
Will we go into lockdown when the first case of monkeypox occurs in NZ? Wendy Tighe-Umbers, Parnell.
Any person living in Australia and who was born in NZ could always stop committing crimes. Janet Boyle, Ōrewa.
Why would I bus to the polluted, cold, lifeless city for dinner, shopping and movies, when I can drive to a vibrant, warm, smoke-free mall with parking right outside the door? Helen Lowe, Albany.
I am seeking funding for a feasibility study to determine if the public can require politicians to have qualifications and experience in anything useful. Stewart Hawkins, St Heliers.
Jacinda Ardern received a standing ovation from Stephen Colbert's audience when she walked out, every time he went to an ad break, and again when she left. Imagine how crazy they would go for Christopher Luxon. Doug Hannan, Mt Maunganui.
So ram-raiders are now to be given the vote? Ian Doube, Rotorua.
It appears Abraham Lincoln's famous words have now developed to become "of the people, by the people ... for the arms industry". God bless America. God help Americans. Peter Judge, Wharewaka.
The Farmers free bus regularly took customers to and from their store. A regular free Queen St bus from various locations around Auckland could have a similar effect. Fenton Cooper, East Coast Bays.