Hello, is Phillip there?
Last Tuesday I received a text message that said, "Phillip, your Covid test was positive, you need to fill out the following form on your contacts and return to us." It was a long text. The problem was, I was not Phillip and they had the wrong
number.
There was no message at the beginning telling me if I had incorrectly received this text please advise us asap - no number, no email address.
Of course, I replied to the text messages but, obviously, they were never read. Each day I got a follow-up text message saying, Phillip, we have not received your completed form. Finally, on Friday, I received the inevitable phone call from an unknown number, first words were: "Is that you, Phillip?"
So, Phillip has been spreading Covid for several days that could have been fixed immediately with a simple message and 0800 number at the top of the text I could have phoned.
We are two years down the track and they still cannot get the simple things right, how many others have experienced this, do they ever learn?
John Oliver, Remuera.
Treaty law
By ignoring the meaning derived from the Māori Treaty text, Richard Prebble (NZ Herald, March 30) fundamentally misrepresents the Treaty. Article 33 in the 1969 "Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties" states that in treaties of cession with two languages (such as Waitangi), each language text is "equally authoritative".
But, International Law's "contra proferentem" principle also applies. Where the party to whom the treaty is presented has "already relied on such a treaty … to their detriment", the indigenous language text is "the primary source by which that treaty is interpreted."
This means Prebble should have relied upon the Māori text to write his column.
Actually, even the 1841 Great Britain Parliamentary Papers (311), pp 98-99, recognised "contra proferentem", printing the Māori text as "Treaty" and Busby's English text as "Translation".
Furthermore, International Law's principle of "estoppel" prevents a state, which induced indigenous people to enter into a treaty of cession, from denying subsequently "that substantive legal obligations were created for both sides".
Sorry, David Seymour, we're stuck with our Treaty contract and "co-governance" until both parties agree to their demise.
Gary A. Clover, Nelson.
Changing history
Andrew Milroy, writing from the UK (NZ Herald, April 4) is right to point out that destroying cities only serves to rally the population living in them. He could have also pointed out that the destruction of German cities by the air forces of Britain and the United States only served to unite the people behind the Nazi regime.
Putin has not learned from history because he does not want to, but history tells us that regime change can happen anywhere, even in the Kremlin.
Greg Cave, Sunnyvale.
Hands of fate
Katie Todd's comprehensive explanation (NZ Herald, April 4) of why a significantly greater number of males succumb to Covid than females may have left out one of the major factors for the difference: handwashing.
The health department warned of the importance of washing one's hands in soapy water to prevent the virus from entering the mouth or nose.
Various studies have shown that 15 per cent of men don't wash their hands at all compared with 7 per cent of women. When they did wash their hands only 50 per cent of men used soap compared to 78 per cent of women.
A bigger study published in the UK using high-tech radio data of 200,000 restroom visits over a three-month period found that only 31 per cent of men washed their hands with soap compared to 65 per cent (twice as many) of women.
Gary Hollis, Mellons Bay.
Outdoors type
My husband and I have finished building our deck, so it is off to buy some outdoor furniture.
It has to be comfortable, easy to get in and out of, good quality and we both like it. Not much to ask.
We were looking for seating as well as a table and chairs.
The helpful woman serving us explained the furniture needed to be put away after use. The table needed to be treated every three months.
I said I wanted outdoor furniture. I do not want to move everything undercover, we have built a deck, not a storage shed.
One shop we visited, the outdoor furniture came with a tag that read, "use undercover".
Am I the only one who thinks outdoor furniture should be fit for purpose?
What does everyone else do?
Beth Graham, Mangawhai Heads.
