US talk show host John Oliver has weighed in on a very important New Zealand matter.
Baby birds our nest big heroes
New Zealand Forest & Bird is conducting a competition for Bird of the Century that has now gone, rather hilariously, global thanks to comedian John Oliver. Jokes aside, after working in baby bird rescue for 15 years, I am perplexed as to why you would want to put one bird so far above another in this way.
All bird species are very different and when you experience them up close and personal, it is very clear just how unique and special each is, even in character.
I therefore suggest we ditch this well-meaning idea and instead vote the baby bird as the Bird of the Century. The delightful and determined, brave and trusting baby bird is forced to contend with constant challenges; bad weather, loss of a parent, rejection, falling and injury, lack of food, tree felling, getting lost, pollution, inappropriate human intervention and direct threats from predators.
Baby birds’ breathtaking instinct and will to survive should be publicly recognised and they above all deserve this award.
Michelle Androu, Narrow Neck
Campaign flying
Occasionally, something appears on the internet that is a real gem. This time it is US talk show host John Oliver’s campaign to get people to vote for the pūteketeke, or Australasian crested grebe, in our Bird of the Century competition. His campaign is absolutely hilarious, and at the end, after asking people to vote for the pūteketeke, he pokes fun at the US by saying: “Do it - after all this is what democracy is all about, America interfering in foreign elections.”
Lorraine Kidd, Warkworth
Call to ‘understand MMP’
The arrogance of politicians appears to know no end. As well as a minority of voters not wanting National or New Zealand First to govern, 91 per cent of voters soundly rejected Act and its policies.
Brooke van Velden’s claim that voters are waiting for her party to impose their policies on us all is laughable and ignorant. A basic understanding of MMP is clearly required.
None of the current “Government-in-waiting” parties has a mandate to ride roughshod over the wishes of the people. They must compromise in order to govern.
Get real and show some humility.
V.M. Fergusson, Mt Eden
Rouse from sloth
Your correspondent’s narrow definition of the word “woke” (NZ Herald, November 7) is disappointing.
The wider dictionary view grammatically assesses “woke” as the past tense of the verb “wake”.
“To cease to sleep, cause to cease sleeping and to wake up and cease or rouse from sloth, torpidity, inactivity or inattention.”
This assessment does not confine “woke” to any one situation or viewpoint as suggested.
Joy Bell, Ellerslie
Hospital staffing
I have recent experience of visiting three senior ladies in two hospitals - Middlemore and North Shore. All three ladies were there because they needed care. This has revealed a difficult situation to me of which I was not aware.
The absolute nightmare has been that they cannot rest at night. Ringing the emergency bell produces [mostly] no results. The needs of the patients far exceed the number of available staff, who are doing their best but are too few to manage. Patients were kept awake by such things as other patients screaming, yelling, moaning, having interminably loudly-ringing cellphones, and, in one case, a four-hour non-stop lecture by a possibly deranged patient. The urge to use the toilet cannot be denied for hours on end. A possible messy outcome occupies someone’s time eventually. One lady was fortunate enough to have her daughter sleep beside her in a chair. (I think this also happens in Third World countries.)
Perhaps our new Government will provide better pay for all medical staff. Encouragement and facilities to train for more of them is also needed. Sadly, I am not hopeful. In the meantime, I am praying that I do not have to spend time in hospital, even though I know that the staff will be doing their level best to look after me.
Fay Weatherly, Torbay
Rules and regulations
The house being built by the McAlpines on Takapuna beach is causing controversy. Their house is to be four storeys, blocking the seaward views of people living behind them. It is being built after winning non-notified consent. The house infringes permitted height-to-boundary standards. How is it regulations are made and then can be ignored? I had to comply with regulations when I built my house, even though these caused considerable inconvenience.
Chris Blenkinsopp, Beach Haven
This is democracy?
And the people watch bewitched. Our elected people in power cannot get along with one another, let alone collaborate. They are costing us more and more each day - to support a political system we can no longer afford and which the dwellers of Aotearoa call “democracy”.
John Veysey, Coromandel
Climate change threats
Hylton Le Grice (NZ Herald, November 7) claims the Green Party’s plans for reducing greenhouse gas emissions will cause economic chaos.
What will really cause such chaos is not doing anything to mitigate dramatic climate change and continuing with business as usual. This is precisely what the incoming Government is vowing to do, including the reintroduction of new offshore oil and gas drilling.
He also considers any reductions in farm cattle numbers as “total madness”. What is actual madness is not reducing our devastating methane emissions, mostly generated by industrial dairy farming, as fast as we can.
If we don’t take climate change very seriously and substantially cut our emission of greenhouse gases while preparing for major climate changes, we will soon be overwhelmed by events.
There is no time left for short-sighted denial of reality even though it’s the easy option. To adapt we must be prepared to change our thinking.
Jeff Hayward, Auckland
A Little plea
Please, Andrew Little, go over to the US, and advise the President (the real one, not the Claimant) how to win an election by standing aside.
Arch Thomson, Mt Wellington
The AI threat
The NZ Herald editorial and Rob Nicholls’ article (NZ Herald, November 7) show the risk of artificial intelligence in the delivery of news.
The high value of human, editorially-curated news lies in the trust placed in it by the reader. I always look for who wrote an article, their relationship to the subject matter and whether the article is news or opinion before reading.
AI ChatGPT 4 is fun to use and, in association with the Microsoft Bing search engine, can be helpful and humorous, and informative up to its level of input date. It will also tell you when it does not have the information sought or the latest update on that subject. I know of instances where AI is helpful in service support and faster compilation of data and reports for management. It will have its uses, but does need control. It’s a pity New Zealand is not one of the 29 signatories to the Bletchley Declaration on safety research into AI.
It is vital that all media protect “human-curated news and journalism” as a protection against misinformation and artificial news (AN).
Gary Carter, Gulf Harbour
It’s all about attitude
While there are valid reasons there are waiting lists or long delays for people waiting for treatment or attention, some of it could be attributable to mindset. Backlogs that have been around for months or years in the end become an acceptable mode of operation. The end sight becomes difficult to see or imagine. To help overcome this situation, a more positive attitude needs to be instilled in some organisations.
One once worked in that type of situation but was jolted out of that malaise by a new CEO who changed our telephone response from “sorry” to “yes we can”. This change made us really look for ways to improve our work procedures etc, and the impossible became possible.
It may not be the complete answer to our problems, but an attitude change can bring optimism and a happier workforce. Doom and gloom never solved anything.
Reg Dempster, Albany
Name your horse
Is it just my imagination or were the horses’ names running in the Melbourne Cup this year more confrontational-sounding than usual? For example, Military Mission, More Felons, Without a Fight, Breakup, and Serpentine.
So nice to note that the two New Zealand horses racing had sweeter names: Virtuous Circle and Dagiansweet Junior.
Colleen Wright, Botany Downs
Time for change
In my humble opinion the Labour Party has missed a golden opportunity to refresh by not electing a new leader to replace Chris Hipkins. Chippy, the sausage roll-loving boy from the Hutt, failed dismally in the election and is simply not up to the job. He was thrust into the leadership only after the sudden resignation of Jacinda Ardern and was never elected by the people of New Zealand. Labour, which supposedly represents the working class, missed an opportunity to make our country a fairer society when Chippy overruled the advice of others to introduce either a wealth tax, capital gains tax or inheritance tax.
I think there are several Labour MPs who could give the party a fresh look moving forward.
Grant Robertson, Ayesha Verrall, Kieran McAnulty or Ginny Anderson would all have been better options.
If something is broken, it needs to be fixed. Doing nothing will simply change nothing, and with Chippy at the helm, Labour could slip even further. With the Greens on the rise, we may well see them become the major Opposition party in the foreseeable future if Labour isn’t brave enough to make changes.
Glen Stanton, Mairangi Bay
On cricket
That was the batting of the Cricket World Cup tournament by Glenn Maxwell - a golden bat and a smashed ball for him. The Aussie “never give up” spirit shone through him, S. Mohanakrishnan, Mt Roskill
On the buses
May I suggest to Blair Carruthers (NZ Herald, November 8) that if he wants to potter around the shops and have a coffee, try getting there on the bus. Stay as long as you like with never the slightest worry about parking the car. Susan Grimsdell, Auckland Central
On bikes
We took some friends for dinner in Mission Bay on Tuesday night. What should have been a pleasant evening was destroyed by the endless procession of motorbikes roaring past. I have lived overseas and this behaviour would not be tolerated in many other countries. Why do we allow inconsiderate people to ruin the peace and quiet for others in New Zealand? J Harper, Kohimarama
On technology
It seems the VAR has become for football what the TMO has become for rugby, something that gets involved with matters other than what they were put there for in the first place. Phil Chitty, Albany
On fireworks
It seems the best chance of getting Guy Fawkes cancelled in New Zealand is for some historian to discover that Guy once made some sort of racist or sexist remark. Huw Dann, Mt Eden.
Fire crews were quickly on the scene and it appeared to be under control within minutes.