Skills required for tight economic times
Thanks to your reporter Jamie Gray for an excellent article (NZ Herald, January 19) in which he writes that business expects to feel the pain and all eyes are on the Reserve Bank as inflation and labour shortages start to bite.
These are but two of
several economic problems facing us. But to point the finger at the Reserve Bank, albeit correct to do so as a theoretically so-called independent economic arbiter, does beg the question of what part our Government has to play.
Even more to the point, do our Government Ministers have the relevant skills? They seem to be relying on the Reserve Bank, on Treasury and indeed on other public servants and independent consultants.
Does our Government actually have the skills itself to manage a clearly very difficult set of circumstances?
Steve Clerk, Meadowbank.
Tests pre-boarding
Each day we learn of Omicron cases "detected at the border" with the ever-increasing chance of this virus strain getting into the community.
Those arriving must pass a pre 48-hour Covid test and be double-vaccinated. The infection then is occurring between this test and the 10 days within MIQ.
Does this not call for a further level of protection? It seems the highly infectious Omicron Covid variant might be occurring within the 48-hour period and boarding.
A rapid antigen test could be applied pre-boarding, with the results apparently available within 15 minutes. This could easily detect infectious travellers rather than waiting until they arrive in New Zealand.
While rapid antigen tests are apparently less sensitive at detecting cases, the time and cost of this further level of checking might easily reduce the number of Omicron cases arriving at the border.
Des Trigg, Rothesay Bay.
Tongan relief
It's interesting to compare the Tonga response to the earthquake in Napier almost 90 years ago.
At the time of the quake, the mine-sweeping sloop Veronica was at Ahuriri Wharf in Napier. The quake started at 10.47am on Tuesday, February 3, 1931. It killed 256 people. After securing his ship and sending relief teams ashore, the Veronica captain contacted Devonport Naval Base. Because the telegraph system was down and the valves in the ship's radio had been broken, the initial communication was in Morse Code.
Two cruisers at the Naval Base, the Dunedin and the Diomedes, loaded medical and other relief supplies, embarked 26 doctors and nurses and departed for Napier at 2.30pm.
According to the Naval Historical Review, they maintained a speed of 24 knots most of the way to Napier, arriving 8.20am the next morning. During the run down the coast they kept radio contact with the Veronica and worked out a preliminary relief plan. The ships' bakers were making as much bread as they could.
We have been told the Aotearoa and Wellington will take three days to get to Tonga. At an average speed of 24 knots, the Dunedin and Diomedes would have made the trip in less than two days.
Keith Hay, Waihi Beach.
Individual entitlement
What is the point of anti-vaxxers harassing and upsetting families getting their vaccination? These families have made their democratic choice in the same way that anti-vaxxers have, and we all need to peacefully respect personal decisions, whether we agree with them or not.
The anti-vax movement is on a destructive path of action that promotes the "entitlements" of the individual at the expense of a democracy.
R Young, Kerikeri
Protests too much
Voices for Freedom, and other groups who hold views against Covid vaccination, try to impose their views on people and disrupt people who are lawfully going about getting themselves or their children vaccinated.
This activity is trivialised by both Government and the police, who talk about peoples' right to protest. These are not protests, the anti-vax people have the right not to get vaccinated, they have nothing tangible to gain from their actions, neither does anyone else.
These are attempts at intimidation, trying to spread their disbelief in science and medicine, often to vulnerable people, in a way that would endanger the health of our entire population.
They should be stopped, not excused as protesters.
Graham Carter, Herne Bay.