"The area of youth crime and gangs is notoriously complex," says a letter writer. Photo / Hayden Woodward
Let’s get smarter and softer on youth crime
I work with criminal youth. I cannot count the number of times I read, in newspapers like this, that we need to harden up on these young people.
The last letter, in this very paper, that stated we needed to harden up on youth crime and gangs, managed to include John Wayne, John Lennon, marshmallows and a put-down of Jacinda Ardern’s advocacy for kindness. In other words, what on earth did this person know about the issues that underpin youth crime, violence and gangs?
I would suggest this opinion: nothing.
The area of youth crime and gangs is notoriously complex – hence why governments all over the world struggle with dealing with this issue.
However, one thing we know clearly, from practical and scientific-based evidence, is that young people are pushed towards anti-social behaviour because they are fleeing from violence (be it emotional, psychological or physical).
The one thing that all criminal youth have in common is, generally, that they have not been raised in a soft marshmallow, understanding or cherishing environment. This does not mean, of course, that we deal with this by implementing the binary of softness or hardening up.
It means we need to support certain sectors of our society with high levels of time, emotional intelligence, cognitive intelligence and proactive compassion. Indeed, we need to be kind and clever, within a framework of boundaries and education.
The phrase “Harden up” is offered by those who are unsophisticated in their thought and level of smartness.
Anyone, or any system, can state “Harden up”. If a young person has witnessed violence, and never been adequately nurtured, if they have been beaten and shouted at, who, with any reasonable level of human insight and understanding, would argue for a culture of “harden up”.
By 12, a young person involved in criminal activities has already had a lifetime of hardening up. Add more harshness to this young person’s life and what do you get? A lifetime criminal.
Let’s get smart and soft.
Frances Easterbrook, Westmere.
Marvelling at Bruce McLaren
I refer to correspondent Bernard Walker’s letter about safety in sport (HoS, May 26).
He quite rightly points out the dangers of participation in many sports, possibly offset by fame and fortune, and the adrenalin rush of being in the moment.
Bernard asks, if Sir Ed Hillary looked up at Everest and said, “Yeah, nah, that’s too risky” and turned back to Base Camp for a nice hot meal and a warm bed, whose face would be on the $5 bill?
Well, may I suggest that face would be Bruce McLaren’s. A home-grown Kiwi boy who travelled to the other side of the world and reached the highest pinnacle of his sport, winning in Formula One, Indy 500, and complete domination of the lucrative CanAm series in North America, all in cars designed and built with his owns hands.
His legacy lives on with cars carrying his name winning the recent Miami Grand Prix and being pipped at the post in the Indy 500 this week.
What McLaren achieved in his life will never be achieved again, by any human being. In his own words, “Life is measured in achievement, not in years alone.”
Sadly, he paid the ultimate price and lost his life, pursuing his passion, on this day, June 2, 1970.
If I had any say, his face would be on the $100 bill.
Douglas Anderson, Whitianga.
Content with container homes
While many neighbours seem to frown upon the imported, prefabricated container building stacks, one could easily question where the true problem lies.
They are apparently much more economical to assemble, better specced, better insulated and not truly that much of an invasion into the landscape compared to older, much more high-maintenance dwellings in our country.
Maintenance alone could be the deal breaker with a future repaint alone saving a conservative $25,000 compared to an older Victorian-style house.
The judgmental argument by neighbours that these stacks of containers do not fit into “their” existing street scene may have merit only if “they” are residents in Devonport, Ponsonby or some other quaint street scene.
Most streets have such a mish-mash of architectural diversity that a shallow argument like this would be absolutely nonsensical, particularly now that we are so desperate to house a younger generation, who will otherwise become lifelong renters, working to service landlords who can just flick their “investment” whenever it seems convenient or excess to their portfolio.
René Blezer, Taupō.
Budget realities
With Budgets, it is a no-win situation for any government and always will be.
In this latest Budget, we have many who say the tax relief is not enough and want more and probably an equal number who say the tax-cut money should have gone to health, for example. So how do you satisfy us all?
With only a finite amount of money available to allocate and everyone expecting more and more, whether it be for benefits, education, health, law and order and so on, we need to understand the difficult times we are in and we can’t always get what we want.
Alan Walker, St Heliers.
Coalition celebration
Isn’t it great to finally have a Government which, while made up of three coalition parties, has very much delivered the main items promised in the election build-up and has not sprung any major surprises.
How different from the last lot, who (while able to govern alone) introduced numerous new policies never mentioned in the election build-up. Just think of Three Waters and other race-based policies as well as new taxes, which were announced within months of the election, despite Labour having categorically campaigned on no new taxes and without any mention of the introduction of race-based policies.
Congratulations to all three current coalition parties. This is a great start under very difficult circumstances. Every New Zealander wants the Government to be responsible with our tax dollars and do more with less.
I fervently believe many more wasteful and inefficient programmes within government can still be culled to help fund economic growth and more deserving programmes. Keep up the good work, team.
Lucas Bonne, Unsworth Heights.
Adult content
Budget comment is so predictable. Chlöe Swarbrick, from a party of serial offenders, says it’s “an assault … on our values”. Chris Hipkins, from a party of serial spenders, says “they’re spending more money”.
Rawiri Waititi, from a party that doesn’t understand how Parliament works, says: “We now begin the process of establishing our own Parliament”.
Thank goodness the Budget was delivered by the adults in the room.
Fred Wilson, Devonport.
Risking racial tension
I was born and raised in South Africa during the worst of the apartheid years where racial tension, disharmony and degrading race-based laws were commonplace.
Some 27 years ago I married a Kiwi and moved to New Zealand, which has since become home. I am honoured and thankful to hold citizenship of this beautiful country.
But there is a sad contrast developing. With the gradual dismantling of apartheid in South Africa, guided by the extraordinary leadership of Nelson Mandela, the country slowly but surely became a more integrated, diverse and racially tolerant society. Listening to the rhetoric and observing some of the recent protest activity, along with calls for a separate race-based Parliament, I sense the exact reverse occurring in New Zealand.
It seems to me that we are moving inexorably towards a future of heightened racial tension, separation and division. This is not conducive to a progressive, democratic and inclusive society.
If they truly care about the future of our country, the leaders of these political parties and organisations would do well to reflect on this. Is that too much to ask?
William Black, Remuera.
The protest will pass over the harbour bridge this morning.