In last weekend's Herald on Sunday, in the article written by Catherine Masters, OneRoof editor Owen Vaughan states: "Ponsonby and Grey Lynn had gone from down-at-heel working class and bohemian suburbs to ... ".
I really do take offence at that statement, as I was brought up in Norfolk St, Ponsonby, in a house exactly like those shown in the article's photograph. Our house, owned by my grandparents, was a well-kept and tidy property with a lovely garden and mown lawns. Both my parents were teachers with my mother being the infant mistress at an Auckland school. The neighbours all had nice properties and far from being "down-at-heel", all had jobs of various kinds. My Auntie Jean, who was a registered nurse, lived in the next street in a house also owned by my grandparents.
Class distinction has never had any place in Aotearoa, and I really wish that all media personnel would remove the words "working class", "middle class", etc, from their vocabulary.
James Cameron, Howick
Handling crises
Steve Braunias in his article on December 28 compares Jacinda Ardern's ability at handling crises in 2019 with that of John Key who, he states was "rubbish in a crisis".