Learned behaviour: Is it time to have mandatory, professional driving lessons? Photo / Stuart Munro
Your correspondent Rod Lyons (NZ Herald, February 7) effectively pointed out the over-riding problem on our roads is "a total lack of courtesy".
Backyard graduates to driving - probably on public roads before they even get a learner's licence - must contribute greatly to our very low standard of
driving.
Courtesy is rare and unexpected. Speed and aggression are the norm of too many. An attitude of "I'll get there before you" prevails.
More professional instruction would appear to be needed.
I sympathise with tourists who drive and new immigrants getting their first taste of driving in New Zealand. Their attitude surely must be: "What sort of a barnyard
Is this?"
Uel Young, Mount Maunganui.
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Just wondering what dreamboat thought of creating a false beach at the ASB Showgrounds in Epsom on the carpark for a big party? Sand was trucked from Kaipara to Epsom, then unloaded, then the event, then reloaded on to trucks to be taken to places to be stored for future use. All using heavy machinery powered by diesel.
Furthermore Puriri Drive was left covered in pieces of blue and white plastic, plastic strings are in the trees, plastic pieces all across the league fields and even in Wheturangi Rd on the other side and having to be raked up by workers.
It is my understanding we are meant to be saving our planet.
Jane Heim, Greenlane.
I read how the road workers are suffering in the current heat wave with a couple nearing collapse from the heat (NZ Herald, January 30).
This problem affects everyone who works outside and is bad enough when you are able to shed layers of cloths however our overzealous safety fanatics force the workers to not only wear hard hats where no overhead hazard exists but also make workers wear arm and leg cover such as overalls for the silliest of reasons, which is to prevent sunburn, never mind any individual is able to go to the beach on their days off and get burnt to a crisp, which is even more likely now that they will all be a pale white from not being able to tan gradually
What does it have to take before these safety zealots are reigned in?
I would have thought that the health and safety of all workers would not only be their unions concern but also the employers.
Perhaps the people who dream up these rules should spend a day operating a lollypop sign, forget about doing any physical work just stand there in the 40C heat for a day.
Geoff Nieuwelaar, Whangarei.
Correspondent B Darragh (NZ Herald, February 10) claims that, under the Trumpian route, all that matters is the economy stupid and asks whether the same route will be used to decide the 2020 elections in New Zealand where half the population are not getting the trickle-down benefit. This seems to be inferring that people in the US are receiving the trickle-down benefit under Trump, but a recently published report from Credit Suisse on the subject shows that while 5.6 per cent of the US population have assets in excess of US$1 million compared to 4.2 per cent of the NZ population, almost 30 per cent of the US population have less than US$10,000 in assets, compared to only about 10 per cent of the NZ population which means the trickle-down benefit is working much more effectively in NZ than in the US and also explains why there is so much poverty in the US.
David Mairs, Glendowie.
Radio NZ's half-baked decision to remove Concert FM from the airwaves (NZ Herald, February 8) is nothing short of cultural vandalism.
The "ratings" boys at Radio NZ and the current Minister of Broadcasting, in their urgency to cut Concert FM off at the knees and replace it with vague plans for a youth channel, remind me of the cowboys who tore down the beautiful His Majesty's Arcade in Auckland in the 80's. Just look at what we've got in its place.
Those wielding the axe against Concert FM, seem to have no idea of what they are destroying and the wider implications their shallow decision-making could have on the total arts scene in New Zealand.
Barbara Graham, Tokoroa.
Only a few years ago, New Zealand-only music radio station Kiwi FM, which was originally partially Government supported, was eventually run into the ground by MediaWorks. The three FM frequencies it used in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch were given back to the Government when the network was closed. My research suggests these FM frequencies are still allocated as the "Youth Network Set". They are certainly not currently being used.
If we really need a taxpayer-funded youth radio network, why not use these in the three main centres and augment them with a streaming service for the provinces. Undoubtedly the target youth audience is better equipped to cope with streaming radio than the typical Concert FM listener, who is also likely to want to listen in the car where realistically streaming is not viable.
Another option is to get Digital Audio Broadcast back up and running. This was trialled for several years but the pin was pulled by the Labour Government with very little reason or media attention. From my experience in Auckland, it worked well. It would have given potential for a raft of new stations. And you could listen in the car.
As for putting classical music on AM – forget it. The fidelity it needs just ain't there.
If you need to, why not shove a few advertisements on Concert FM to partially fund it.
Please do not, on a whim, throw away a radio station which has been enjoyed by so many since 1933.
Philip Mansell, Grey Lynn.
Sooner or later the "cracks" had to show in the changed ethos at Auckland Airport.
This took off with the dumping of the amazing and well-patronised upstairs viewing area in favour of high-yielding commercial space in the spirit of shareholders ahead of service. And now it has hit the tarmac running.
Véronique Cornille, Devonport.
The latest mess on Auckland's one airport runway is just another reason for opening up an auxiliary airport at Whenuapai. The residents and developers who have squelched it need to realise that airports all over the world have used facilities in urban areas without undue results, and the people below have managed to live without trauma. If they chose to live next to an airbase they should be willing to do so.
Anne Wilks, Devonport.
Rob Berg's view of Palestinian "intransigence" in negotiating (NZ Herald, February 4) echoes the often-repeated slur that Palestinians "never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity". It also paints Israel as the party always making concessions whereas Palestinians are uncompromising rejectionists.
Both views are the result of propaganda that perpetuate righteous evasions. Those holding such views are thus able to avoid responsibility for the "original sin" of wholesale forcible displacement – and deprive the real victims of rights to self-defence. And justice.
This playing the victim while acting as victimisers has become deep-seated, explainable only by the fact that a majority of Israeli society has been deprived of records detailing what actually happened during the "catastrophe" of 1947-1948. And has, since 1993 especially, been fed distorted histories of those negotiations.
The former concealment was revealed in 2018 by Israel's retiring chief archivist. Oral testimonies and cabinet records, pieced together by Arabic-speaking, Israeli historian Ilan Pappe's books over the past 30 years, have confirmed the latter.
Exiled in England's Exeter University, Ilan Pappe is due to speak in New Zealand this year. Meanwhile those wishing to hear exactly why Berg is misinformed can YouTube Pappe's worldwide talks. Or read his 20 books.
Steve Liddle, Napier.
Viewpoints about Israel are based largely on where you start.
The Jewish people originated in Israel as the line of descent from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. They then spent 400 years in Egypt, returning to their land to find may tribal groups occupying their territory. One of the groups that caused the nation of Israel grief was the Philistines (who lived in what is now Gaza having arrived from somewhere in the Mediterranean). Around 2000 years ago, the Roman Empire labelled Israel "Palestine" and the term Palestinian referred to the Jewish inhabitants of the land. Land wars have seen Israel in the hands of Turks, Brits and Arabs over the years. Meanwhile many times exiled Jewish people had no homeland.
During World War II many nations either secretly or openly agreed with the Nazis and willingly handed over "their Jews".
Following the shame of that war Britain recognised the need for a Jewish homeland and plans were in place to hand them a territory. Slowly the plan eroded leaving them with a tiny parcel of land (about the size of the Manawatū region). The Jewish capital of Jerusalem (for at least 3000 years) and many other parts of the land were immediately attacked upon Israel's statehood in 1948. Each war fought since statehood has been a defensive one.
Israel is also home to a number of free, largely Arab, villages.
The Palestinian territories were ceded by Israel to Palestinian control in an effort to secure peace. Unfortunately, many Palestinians aim for nothing less than total control of Israel and removal of Jews from the land as the only way for "peace".
M Donne-Lee, Aramoho.
David Lee (NZ Herald, February 7) is certainly not the only viewer upset with TVNZ's new weather presentation. In particular, TVNZ's display of temperature information omits so many important centres, such as Tauranga, and is, therefore, misrepresentative and quite useless.
Perhaps the fact that Tauranga and some other centres are often 5C warmer than Auckland (mainly due to Auckland's exposure to cool southwesterlies) is the reason for their blatant omission? In view of TVNZ's obstinacy, the solution is to switch to TV3 whose weather bulletin is much more representative and informative.
Barry Nesdale, Tauranga.
On RNZ
Okay Boomers. Your life-enhancing RNZ Concert FM will now be confiscated. Jane Livingstone, Remuera.
On airport
The Auckland Airport CEO should resign for spending most of the budget on retail instead of maintaining the single runway in good order. Simon Gilmore, Kohimarama.
On drivers
I spent nearly three years in Germany investigating traffic accidents involving British service personnel. At the end of my stint, I concluded that Germans were the worst drivers I had ever encountered. Later, I emigrated to NZ and changed my mind. Peter Rodriguez, Whanganui.
On coronavirus
I'm wondering, all those local manufacturers who closed down their factories at the cost of thousands of New Zealanders' jobs and shipped the work to China, how clever are they feeling right now? John Capener, Kawerau.
There is an even bigger epidemic alive and well in NZ and it is killing us by the thousands and we seem to accept it passively - obesity. Jock Mac Vicar, Hauraki.
On Waitangi
Simon Wilson, you rock. Can we please clone you? Anne Brown, Tauranga.
Perhaps Brian Tamaki needs to be reminded that his ancestors were immigrants. Tony Sparkes, Albany.
On cricket
We had no coach and a replacement captain, yet we beat the great Indian side twice. Am I missing something here? Rex Head, Papatoetoe.
You can't knock Trump for his competitive streak, maybe we should put him in the Black Caps. Glenn Forsyth, Taupo.
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