Letters: Central governance, spin, grounded pilot, free trade, and Republicans

Is every facet of our lives being brought under control by a oddly-shaped building in the lower North Island? Photo / Mark Mitchell

Letter of the week: Lucas Bonne, Unsworth Heights
The current Government is creating a worryingly all-pervasive system of state dependency. It is more and more centralising our institutions because it seems to feel only those living in Wellington can competently decide for New Zealanders in their daily lives. We now have socialist centralised control of tertiary education, health, state media and (soon) the Three Waters.
Citizens are told they don't have to look after their own wage bargaining or saving for times in between jobs. The Government will soon sort this out for you too. No wonder the state housing waiting list has grown exponentially. Why would anyone work hard to better their lot? Small business owners, mums and dads investing in property for retirement and entrepreneurs have seen the Government consistently attack them. Maybe they should just join the ranks of various beneficiaries. Our Finance Minister was proud to announce that in August, 80 per cent of the population will receive state aid. A worrying state of affairs. Soon there will be no one creating the income for the minister to "re-distribute".

Prole position
Bruce Cotterill's article (Weekend Herald, July 2) on the loss of trust in public institutions is timely. New Zealand is not the only country where we proles are distrustful. Last week, the University of Chicago Institute of Politics released its USA poll on just this subject.
Question: Is the Government corrupt and rigged against everyday people like me? Fifty-six per cent said "yes" - almost an even split between Republicans and Democrats, indicating majority of American people in general distrust their government.
Twenty-eight per cent are so alienated from the Government that they believe that it may soon be necessary to take up arms against it. That explains why the power structure in the US is so desperate to get rid of the second amendment. It may also be worth noting that $40 billion for Ukraine and only $10 billion for Americans did not go down terribly well at home.
G.N. Kendall, Rothesay Bay.

So many questions
Bruce Cotterill (Weekend Herald, Sat July 2) considers how trust in a government can be eroded, making way for corruption to occur.
Made up of mainly hypothetical questions, Cotterill builds his case, incrementally, on half-truths and suppositions, that ultimately build to a series of conspiracy theories. Lots of words like "I suspect ... ","Deep down, I fear that ... " and "We start guessing ...", while providing no actual facts to justify these suspicions or this guesswork. It amounts to very sophisticated "white-anting" of this Government.
He posits: Is Jacinda Ardern concerned only about promoting herself? Does she have her sights set on a UN post, rather than doing the best she can for NZ?
So I posit: Is Cotterill building a populist following of readers as voters, in preparation for a late run at the Auckland mayoralty? Or does he have his sights set on a seat in Parliament?
Clyde Scott, Birkenhead.

Grounded pilot
Wrongly accused pilot Graham Lindsay wins apology from CAA (Weekend Herald, July 2) is a very sad end to the career of a man who obviously loved his job and wanted to share his profession flying with his son.
Clearly, the CAA bears fault here but, in its defence, most of us would be concerned if anyone who knew him well were to make such allegations.
That type of accusation must be investigated thoroughly and, clearly, the CAA didn't do that, damaging the pilot severely.
Blame for this miscarriage of administrative actions by the CAA in part rests on the shoulders of his ex-wife and her new husband. It would seem to me to be a case demanding resolution and settlement in the civil courtroom with a jury trial for libel damages.
Quentin Durward, South Dakota.

Meat markets
Re: your editorial (Weekend Herald, July 2), a European political party that allows more sheep and beef imports into their market would be committing political suicide in their respective countries.
This has been evident for decades because of the strong farming unions who are happy to close their countries down to get what they want.
It doesn't matter how efficient we are or how much we howl, they will always win the day.
Tony Barnett, Pukekohe.

Historic times
Such a great Steve Braunias column (Weekend Herald, July 2) with the Diary of Christopher Luxon. I was just a tad disappointed that he didn't manage another reference to oxen in the field - maybe their disappointment at Jacinda not getting a better deal for them with the EU.
And am I the only one who has noticed that the letters to the Herald supporting the US Supreme Court's ruling all come from people with Irish surnames? Should I draw any conclusion about their religious proclivities?
The comment about the Democrats being slave-owners, is lifted straight from a right-wing US Twitter post. In the 19th and first half of the 20th century, the Democrat Party was the party of the South. Just about all southern states politicians were slave owners up until the abolition of slavery.
Melanie Scott, Mangawhai.

Southern voters
Dan McGuire (Weekend Herald, July 2) writes, "the Democratic Party has not been this offended since the Republican Party removed the right of Democrats to own slaves".
Southern Democrats, known as "Dixiecrats", started voting Republican in the 1960s because they objected to the Civil Rights Act. Some had switched to Republican before that because they objected to desegregation. Before the 1960s, there had been a coalition between liberal northern Democrats and the Dixiecrats.
These days white southerners are more likely to be Republican and meanwhile many northern Republicans switched to Democrat.
Catherine Baty, Shelly Park.

Special characters
Simon Wilson comments that the site of the "old and unremarkable" house in Mt Roskill is protected from development because it is in a Special Character Area.
While Special Character Areas do have rules protecting character houses in them from demolition, it is possible (and indeed desirable) to demolish non-character supporting houses or other buildings in those areas and replace them with new, more intensive developments as long as they are of a scale and type which is consistent with the area's character.
That is the case now under the present Unitary Plan rules, and will be the case under the new Plan rules as well. There are plenty of examples where that has already happened.
He may have bought into the "heritage v intensification " debate, but as his Cohaus example shows, it is quite possible to have both together.
All it requires is a bit of good planning.
John Burns, Mt Eden.

A quick word

"Negotiate free trade" is an oxymoron. If it has restrictions, it is not free. Guy Bloomfield, Hauraki.

The success of the new health authorities will depend on the accountability of how and where every cent of funding is effectively spent, beginning with primary care. Marie Kaire, Whangārei.

Bruce Cotterill (WH, July 2) really does make sense when discussing the issues facing all of us today. Make this man Prime Minister. Phil Dunbier, Kerikeri.

Bruce Cotterill's rant about Government spin and power grabs (WH, July 2) was totally eurocentric, unmeasured, and vitriolic; it almost jumped off the page and performed a pom-pom dance for the National Party. Masina Blennerhassett, Ōpōtiki.

Bruce Cotterill's correct identification of New Zealand's loss of trust in politicians, their promises and unilateral actions (WH, July 2) is spot-on. Gary Carter, Gulf Harbour.

The Leader of the Opposition is Bruce Cotterill. What a pity he's not in Parliament. Brian O'Neill, Chatswood.

NZ is, broadly, law-abiding, honest, and free from the corruption Cotterill has imagined. Simon Sheen, Narrow Neck,

Now that we can't use the name Feta, how about naming ours Te Aroha cheese? S Mohanakrishnan, Mt Roskill.

Steve Braunias' The secret diary of... Christopher Luxon (WH, July 2) was great satire. Try as he might, Luxon would never be able to say he knows what women think. Show me a man who can. Lorraine Kidd, Warkworth.

The Mormon church makes the likes of Brian Tamaki's church tithing system and manoeuvrings seem tame in comparison. Glennys Adams, Oneroa.

With the current surge in cases why is not easy access to anti-viral drugs being widely made available. Andy O'Sullivan, Royal Oak.

Our PM says that Russia's war with Ukraine is morally bankrupt, yet we still have a Russian ambassador and his staff in Wellington. Dave Miller, Tauranga.

Congratulations to the ABs and Ireland for a splendid contest on Saturday. And wasn't it fantastic that the gaudy, garish boots were missing? John Willis, Morrinsville.

The amount of traffic control trucks and traffic control people turning stop-go lollipop signs amazes me when companies like Chorus, Watercare, etc, are doing a little job on the footpath. Brent Cottle, St Heliers.

The Government in the UK has about 40 ministerial vacancies. We could lend them Chris Hipkins. Keith Berman, Remuera.