Letter of the week: George Hawley, Hamilton
In recent interviews, the Prime Minister has stated that New Zealand follows "an independent foreign policy". Has it been explained what this actually means, or is it a useful term for avoiding commitment, which it could be argued may be a pragmatic policy
to follow? However, does it also include an independent defence policy?
All of a sudden, we live in an increasingly uncertain world and there is no guarantee that the international rules-based order, which we support will continue.
Given the size of New Zealand and our location, being independent could leave us exposed to external pressures.
Would it not make sense for us to align ourselves with other countries that share our region and our values? It is a truism that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.
Intensive housing
Oscar Sims (Weekend Herald, June 25) has obviously never heard of the property ladder, where first-home buyers buy what they can afford and then look to move to a better location when they can.
His solution will not work, as demolishing old villas in Grey Lynn and replacing them with two three-storey apartments on the same land will only mean the developer makes twice the money as land values won't go down - it's all about location in those areas.
Perhaps, Sims is suffering from envy as he can't afford to live there.
As a Grey Lynn homeowner, I would quite happily sell my grand old 1903 villa to a developer to be demolished if I was allowed to. Then all the cheap materials like kauri weatherboards and floors, window frames and rimu framing used when building it could be taken to the tip. That would make him and his no-idea cronies happy, no doubt.
Mick Curran, Grey Lynn.
Quality the issue
Oscar Sims is quite right (Weekend Herald, June 25) on allowing higher-density housing developments.
No one wants to see character villas in Ponsonby or Epsom bulldozed but Auckland is rapidly growing. There has to be a more reasonable trade-off between supply and demand.
By all means, protect the good heritage structures but also allow large inner-city sections with single unassuming houses to be developed into higher density townhouses or apartments. This is largely what the National Policy on Urban Development and new standards are all about. This is the new reality.
The key is keeping up good standards, not something NZ is very good at. Save the historic and interesting but please stop all our notorious cowboy developers putting up junk developments. That's what will deliver good homes to cater for increasingly diverse needs.
It's not the density that's the issue, it's the quality.
Jeff Hayward, Auckland Central.
'Happy little jig'
It has been said of Donald Trump (Weekend Herald, June 25) that no matter how bad you think he is, he's worse. I was reminded of this last month when I saw him doing a happy little jig on the stage of the National Rifle Association Convention just minutes after listing with vacuous solemnity the names of the kids killed in Uvalde. As the Bidens paid their clearly genuine respects to the little victims of America's latest slaughter, Trump was applauding himself and his gun-loving audience, unable to suppress even at that moment his delight at being back in the limelight, celebrating his own ego.
Testimonies at the January 6 hearings have only confirmed what we knew already. He's an awful human being who will shamelessly do anything in his own self-interest, and the mere possibility that he could be back in the White House by 2025 fills me with disgust and despair.
Remember, he is even worse than we think.
Ron Hoares, Wellsford.
Served cold
Marisa Bidois (Weekend Herald, June 25) proves that with practice you can learn to moan about anything. We've had 820 days of complaints from hospitality about lack of exceptions for Covid rules; insufficient taxpayer support; fights with landlords over rent; and nobody wanting to work for them.
Now a new one about delivery services charging for delivering their product to customers.
Hospitality is at risk of putting off its customers.
Mark Nixon, Remuera.
