Hay still isn't covered with plastic, writes Bruce David Turner. File photo / Glenn Taylor
Lyn Barton states (Herald, December 23) that "while growing up on a farm our hay was not covered with plastic".
News flash: It still isn't covered with plastic. Hay is made in three shapes, small bales, large squares and large rounds, all of which are stored in barns. They are held together by string or netting. The thousands of plastic-wrapped bales you see around the countryside are silage bales (wilted grass). Silage has been made on farms for decades, it was and still is made in large stacks with black plastic covering it and used tyres holding it down.
Plastic is essential to keep the air out and stop the silage from rotting. The plastic is recyclable. We recycle plastic off about 250 bales a year on our farm.
Bruce David Turner, Cambridge.
Your article on the rights of 16-year-olds to consent to vaccination — even if their parents disapprove — raises an issue relevant to the End of Life Choice Act.
One of the best-kept secrets of David Seymour's campaign has been the concerns in the Attorney-General's report on how the act sits in regard to the Bill of Rights Act. The Attorney-General stated the restriction to 18 years and above is discriminatory and could not be justified if challenged. He said the inconsistency could be resolved by reducing the age of eligibility to 16 or removing the age criterion altogether and relying on the other criteria and safeguards to ensure the patient is competent.
Not only has Seymour ignored this concern but he has toured the country claiming the Attorney-General has given his bill an unambiguous tick of approval.
A law change to lower the age of those eligible could arguably come through the courts without any reference to Parliament — another reality Seymour has been quick to deny in order to maximise support for euthanasia and assisted suicide.
Voters need to be aware they may be supporting the future extension of these provisions to minors.
Mariano Mendonza, Henderson.
To close the Leys Institute so suddenly, with no replacement of library services, is cultural vandalism of a high order.
It does not add to the image of Auckland as a vibrant place, nor as an attractive destination for enlightened visitors. Additionally, the structural strength of the building does not appear to be an immediate risk.
Many notable people have worked there, serving their public until this brutal announcement. They deserve informed discussion, at the very least.
Ian Free, Devonport.
Hooray for the "Turn Ardern" guy. He speaks for us blue-collar workers, making a statement about artificiality and superficiality. There is not much of that in bricklaying, buckets or brooms. There are lot of us in the real world and we do the real work.
We are pretty fed up paying for the petrol to get us and our gear to work. We know we are being overtaxed in that and other ways. It's an insult to us a fair amount of our taxes are wasted.
All the political parties need to keep in mind it's the "blue collars" that keep the "suits' in a job. If we feel mistreated, we will decide who governs us. Who speaks for us?
Philip Neil, Manukau.
Contributor Emma McIntosh should feel sympathy for Colin Wilson rather than heap scorn on him.
Colin obviously has not recovered from the bricks that fell on his head earlier in the year.
Reg Dempster, Albany.
Evidently our cousins across the ditch have a nickname for their Prime Minister, Scott Morrison: ScoMo. Am guessing they might be thinking up new ones after their esteemed leader chose to sip cocktails on a beach in Hawaii while his country burned. In history they said "Nero fiddled while Rome burned" and there is an obvious parallel there.
My prediction is Aussie voters will consign ScoMo to the scrap heap at the first opportunity. Makes me realise how lucky we are to have Jacinda at the helm.
Australia calls itself the "lucky country". Assume that comes from its mineral wealth. Not snakes, crocodiles, droughts and bush fires.
I think we are much more lucky to live here in NZ. Not only do we have a moderate climate but we have a fabulous Prime Minister who is kind and caring, and on the front line in times of crisis.
Glen Stanton, Mairangi Bay.
Jon Addison is not quite correct when he says the full cost of roading is met by users.
The road transport industry does not meet the full cost of road building or maintenance without considerable extra money from motorists.
Road-user charges and the fuel excise tax bring in about the same amount, but trucks cause about 99 per cent of the damage and bring about 99 per cent of the costs of maintenance and road building. Not only that, trucks are a major hazard and nuisance to motorists.
There is no sound reason why, if motorists were to subsidise road transport, they should not also subsidise rail and then enjoy less congestion, safer roads and reduced carbon emissions.
In effect, road transport is uneconomical, too. I do not have a problem with taxes funding infrastructure, we pay here or at the shop, but all modes need to be competing on an even playing field.
Niall Robertson, Balmoral.
Considering the current onset of wildfires on the other side of the Tasman Sea I find it hard to understand why anyone now does not accept these events are the result of human-induced global warming (i.e. the burning of fossil fuels).
Australia should stop mining, burning and exporting coal as soon as possible irrespective of what the mining companies might say. It should instead invest heavily in solar and wind power. Northern Queensland would be an ideal location for the production of environmentally friendly liquid fuels using abundant energy from the sun and water piped from further north and extracting carbon from the atmosphere to incorporate into the fuel. To make this idea viable would require a realistic carbon tax on all fossil fuels. When scaled up this could make Australia the new Saudi Arabia of the energy market exporting to the world.
George Wingate, Mt Albert.
Dylan Cleaver is off the pace when he says Melbourne Cricket Ground Boxing Day tests are a 1980s/90s phenomenon.
I was at the MCG Australia/England test on December 26, 1974, the day after Cyclone Tracy ripped through Darwin. The crowd was close to 80,000 and, apart from a memorable day's cricket, there was a collection for the victims of the Darwin disaster, a mile race for the fastest runners in each of the AFL teams during the lunch break, and an announcement mid-afternoon that the MCG food outlets had run out of meat pies ...
For the record, England finished up at 176/8 after a runout decision against Tony Greig nearly as bad as the plumb lbw decision denied Danny Morrison in 1987.
May we fare better this time on all counts.
Duncan Simpson, Albany.
Bruce Cotterill rightly wrote (Weekend Herald) about the evils of plastic rubbish in the environment.
Did he grab the plastic bag floating near him in the sea and dispose of it properly?
When he walks along a beach and by the stormwater drain after a storm, does he collect family and friends to pick up all the nasty objects he describes?
It is easy to encourage businesses and others to change their ways but if everyone cleaned up anything they found, together with all the other things mentioned in the article, we may start to improve our environment a little.
Bob and Sue Stevenson, Pukapuka Rd.Grinch who stole Christmas?My wife and I had not been in the Auckland CBD for a few months so on Saturday we decided to catch the bus from Sunnynook to have a look at the Christmas decorations in the city.
We could not believe what we didn't see, and wondered if the council was so busy it had cancelled Christmas or had just forgotten it was December. Finally we decided we had elected a Grinch instead of a mayor and he had stolen Christmas.
Peter McNee Forrest Hill.
On cartoonist
The Herald could not have a more "woke bloke" than cartoonist Body, who must gladden the hearts of the national and international media's Marxist Lefties.
Bryan Johnson, Ōmokoroa.
On Kerikeri
For a small town, Kerikeri seems to produce a rather large number of writers of observant and readable letters to the editor.
Ted Walker, One Tree Hill.
On road toll
Heartbreaking! The road toll! In recent weeks we've had so many accidents, so many deaths, and the holiday season hasn't begun. This holiday, drivers, please take regular deep breaths, give yourself plenty of time, and practise defensive driving.
Rosemary Cobb, Takapuna.
On vision
Your correspondent Morris Jones wonders whether 2020 will be observed as the Year of Perfect Vision. One way to promote this would be to put a picture of the late Professor Fred Hollows on our $20 note. During his lifetime, New Zealander Fred Hollows enabled thousands to regain 20-20 (metric 6-6) vision.
Chris Kiwi, Mt Albert.
On royal visit
The Herald reports the recent royal visit cost taxpayers some $443,000 dollars for which we get no concrete return. The sooner we cease supporting this irrelevant anachronism the better off we'll all be!
Rod Lyons, Muriwai.
On road cones
Although a "surfeit" of cones seem to be represented on North Island passing lanes and in other areas, travelling the last two days from Picton to Dunedin there were none to be seen! One could surmise that South Island drivers are more trustworthy perhaps?
Andrea McCartney, Thames.
The PGG Wrightson livestock agent is passionate about stock and auctioneering.