Letters: Ban fireworks, Three Strikes a waste, food fight over school lunches

Some other countries have banned the sale of fireworks. New Zealand should follow suit, argues one correspondent. Photo / file

Please ban fireworks, I beg you for the sake of ALL animals. They cannot speak so we must for them. My granddaughter’s beloved cat, only three years old, got his back leg caught in a fence running away in terror from fireworks. Many vet bills and his leg was saved but he lost his will to live and had to be put to sleep lovingly. It broke our hearts. That is just one story. Many other countries have banned them. Why? I beg Christopher Luxon to totally ban the sale of fireworks please.

Dawn Yore, Henderson.

Inflated expectations

Inflation according to the National Party and because of them is under control. Really? The NZ dollar has fallen below US56c, the lowest it’s been in two years and is 91c against the Aussie dollar which means imports to Woolworths supermarkets, Bunnings goods and all Australian institutions including banks and, in fact, all imports, will trend upwards. Lower interest rates have already seen an increase in property developers and those buying homes as an investment which can only surge house prices and rents with them continuing the trend upwards for property values pushing more first-home buyers out of the market – as does house insurance, health insurance, rates, the cost of water, electricity and the soon to be congestion charges in our biggest cities. In their ivory towers with rose-tinted glasses, they may think inflation is under control but with regard to the cost of living, National Party politicians are living in cuckoo land.

Gary Hollis, Mellons Bay.

Bail on Bayly

Why do we pay our politicians large salaries to waste four days debating what Andrew Bayly may or may not have said? He has apologised – end of subject. Get on with running the country. None of the Opposition parties are in any position to criticise Bayly considering they all have members who have made indiscretions. With our country sliding towards Third World status, one would expect our MPs to focus on the economy, not nitpicking.

Derek Paterson, Sunnyhills.

Prosecution guidelines

Once again Willie Jackson wields the race card when disagreeing with the about-turn of the prosecution guidelines initially advocated by Una Jagose. His comments seem to favour the criminal (and the ensuing reduction of responsibility and consequence) without any regard or concern for the victims. We are all equal under the law of the land – and that’s the way it should be.

Ian Doube, Rotorua.

The cost of Three Strikes

Christopher Luxon’s uncritical adoption of even tougher conditions in the Three Strikes law is odd, when it’s been conclusively proved that this law doesn’t reduce crime. The main result of being “tough on crime” will be a rapid increase in the imprisonment rate. Is this the sort of growth we want? Now even more public money will be wasted on building mega-prisons. Surely we should be prioritising investment in public health and education, instead of squandering our scarce resources on negative and misguided initiatives such as this one. It seems to me that political expediency comes first with this government, and it’s costing us dearly.

Vivien Fergusson, Mt Eden.

Food fight on school lunches

The whiners, do-gooders, and food experts are going on about the school lunches as announced by David Seymour. They sound fancy compared to the sandwiches I and many my age grew up on. We hear talk of nutrition, impossible costing and coeliac diets etc. These are the choices: accept the lunches as they are, or, the real revolutionary idea: parents provide lunches themselves. If a child has a certain dietary requirement, either a medical issue or a tastebud issue, parents need to provide food to cater for their needs. End of story. Let’s quit moaning and be grateful for what is available.

Janet Boyle, Orewa.

Professor Elaine Rush wrote supporting free school lunches (NZ Herald, October 24) – the need for society ensuring good nourishment for healthy minds and bodies which would demonstrate the government supporting the feeding of all New Zealanders. It’s not known why Professor Rush does not believe the parents of their children attending school should not ensure they are well nourished. Are those parents exempt from society?

P. Harlen, Mount Maunganui.

Sailing away

I’m afraid your correspondent Glen Stanton (NZ Herald, October 21) has got rather misty-eyed with the latest win, urging New Zealand to embrace the hosting of the next challenge. To quote, “The benefits will be immeasurable”, and “showcasing the sparkling Waitematā Harbour to the world”. The fact is, the latest challenge passed the world by with a yawn. A minute number of people throughout the world had any interest in the challenge and a similar number would witness the sparkling Waitematā if we were to host the next challenge. Let’s not get carried away with talk of taxpayers’ money being paid towards those with over-inflated egos plying a private challenge.

Lloyd Murcott, Whangamatā

Rake over coals

I take exception to the last paragraph in your article by Jamie Gray on (NZ Herald, October 24) “Genesis gets more coal in for next winter”. He states “The Huntly Power Station requires a specific type of coal, which Genesis can only source from Indonesia.” The power station was built at that location to run off coal sourced locally from Huntly mines and I am sure it was supplemented by other mines around NZ. We need to restart supplying our own coal resources to power generation and not rely on other countries which still mine coal and produce an inferior product. Surely it doesn’t matter where the coal comes from globally?

Bob Dutch, Te Atatū Peninsula.