In the bonds of love we meet. Hear our voices, we entreat. Photo / Sylvie Whinray, File
Your editorial "Together we are a people", (NZ Herald, June 3) was right on the mark. Our Asian community is a diverse band of differing nationalities with their own distinctive culture, cuisine and religions. They enhance our cosmopolitan lifestyle ... and add to our national pass rates
in state examinations.
Our tangata whenua have a special place in New Zealand society as is their birthright and arising from Treaty obligations. As a proud Pakeha of Canadian-Icelandic and Mid Country UK heritage, I am part of a large number of "the rest" that includes our Pasifika people. A huge diversity of races not often found in one country.
Dame Whina Cooper said that our nation "must learn to love one another". The divisiveness and marginalised views we regularly see on the internet, in the media and now ever more so on the floor of our House of Representatives ... "is not us".
Our genuine "New Zealanders", whether Asian, immigrant or Maori, accept and buy into the words of Dame Whina. That is our strength and is our best hope for an harmonious future.
Larry Mitchell, Rothesay Bay.
Games non-essential
I find it hard to believe the IOC, Japanese Government and their own Olympic officials are still hell-bent on staging the Tokyo Olympics.
This is, at best, an ill-conceived, face-saving exercise. At worst, it's a supercluster disaster waiting in the wings.
We are all aware of the measures some less-than-scrupulous national sporting bodies will take to ensure their athletes achieve the goals expected of them. Is there any reason to believe these same will abide by the ethos of the"Olympic Spirit" and send only drug- and virus-free competitors to Tokyo?
Over the last couple of years artistic, musical, religious and cultural events and gatherings have been cancelled as being "non-essential". I suggest it's time for the IOC, the officials and all others involved in staging such a huge event as the Tokyo games accept that, in our current climate, sport is as " non-essential" as any of the above.
It's time for reason to rule and cancel the Tokyo Games. It's simply not worth the risk.
Jeremy Coleman, Hillpark.
Desk jockeys
Just released figures show NZ Government bureaucracy rising an unacceptable 21 per cent in just three years from 2017 to 2020.
No less than 9897 new employees, where two administrative departments alone show an astonishing staff increase of 69 per cent and 81 per cent respectively.
The outcome is a worsening of desk-bound regulatory red tape which costs the taxpayer an extra $1 billion annually. Our nation needs progress and action, not this out-of-control nonsense.
Hylton Le Grice, Remuera.
Appliance waste
How refreshing to see Bernhard Sporli's reply (NZ Herald, June 2) to Mike Joy's column (NZ Herald, May 31). Clearly some have woken up or are in the process of waking up to this absolutely ridiculous corporate consumption drive to buy short life-span, unnecessary or poorly constructed consumables, which in earlier days were meant to last longer and could be repaired more often.
Nowadays a fridge will last you 10 years, if you're lucky, whereas 30 years ago they were made to last 20 years and sometimes even longer.
Meanwhile, we have also lost an entire qualification layer in services that were able to repair almost any electrical appliance or household item.
The only thing this consumption-hungry time is good for is filling up landfills at rates unheard of just decades ago.
Yes, many will argue, that recycling of - in particular - whiteware is a good thing when, in theory, the energy aquired to regenerate the raw base ingredients (such as recovered metals) defies all logic.
René Blezer, Taupō.
Awful legacy
Bernard Sporli (NZ Herald, June 2) is quite right to draw our attention to the whole issue regarding the global environmental disaster.
Greed and consumption are variables that work hand-in-hand to feed our desire for anything we want at any time. It is the wealth of the few that benefit, coming from the poverty of many. It's called "milking the system" and leaving a terrifying result on our planet. We see it happening right now, climate change, sea, air and land pollution, but still we don't acknowledge it for what it is.
It's the undoing and undermining of our planet and an awful legacy to leave our children.
Emma Mackintosh, Birkenhead.
Camera ready
I fully support Meng Foon's idea for police body cameras (NZ Herald, June 2). A lot of his other outbursts, I don't.
I support the idea of police body cameras as long as it is not edited and we see everything. This will clearly show the amount of abuse and provocation our police are subject to, and the racial taunts.
Jock Mac Vicar, Hauraki.
Water use
So we are asked to continue to save water. That makes sense. The cost of water will climb 7 per cent for maintenance, okay that's understandable.
Then we are asked to wash the recyclable rubbish before putting it out and we have to pay for that as well. Wait, what?
Mike Gartland, Northpark.
Illegal ride
Waitematā Local Board member Sarah Trotman (NZ Herald, June 3) makes a valid point in comparing her arrest for protesting on a community issue and the without-penalty ride Auckland Councillor Pippa Coom took on her bike over the harbour bridge.
Claiming she didn't initiate the breakthrough of police lines still makes Coom at the very least an accessory after the fact and her presence with bike at the rally beforehand clearly indicated approval of the push for a bike lane on the bridge.
Like the protesters who rode the coat-tails of the group that stormed the US Capitol building on January 6, Coom's presence and actions at the bike rally cannot be excused.
That no injury or death resulted from it is no credit to Coom and she should resign from council.
Coralie van Camp, Remuera.
Cycle of dreams
P. Raine's tongue-in-cheek "Fantasy Ride" (NZ Herald, June 2) made me smile.
If all the cyclists that stormed the bridge used the many expensive cycleways built for their exclusive use, I could understand their frustration.
However, to date these cycleways are like our North Shore buses - empty.
Pauline Paget, Campbells Bay.
Cup of kindness
The staging of the America's Cup benefits only a very small number of Kiwis (just ask cafe owners in the suburbs, whose businesses slump at Cup time, as one example).
In the aftermath of the pandemic and out of concern about rising levels of domestic poverty, why not can the Cup and reallocate the $100m to Pharmac?
This is a far more pressing priority and would benefit everyone.
Ian Dally, Royal Oak.
Sailor mutiny
With Team New Zealand rejecting the Government and Auckland City Council's bid to host the next America's Cup perhaps the founding document of the event should be renamed the Greed of Gift.
Apart from the investment and support thus far it would seem they also disregard the fact the NZ Government and the Auckland ratepayers don't have a bottomless honey pot to enter a bidding war amid issues such as rising homelessness, transport woes and child poverty to name a few.
Maybe the answer lies in the sailors forming an association like the rugby players and then refusing to sail if the next event isn't raced here in Auckland. Nailing their colours to the mast would send a clear signal that the event is not just an asset to be sold to the highest bidder, that there's more to it than money, and that it's them who're truly worthy of calling themselves Team New Zealand.
Neil Marsh, Sandringham.
Osaka withdrawal
So, Serena Williams tells us (NZ Herald, June 2) she feels so worried about Naomi Osaka that she would like to give her a hug.
Goodness, it was Serena's outrageous behaviour after Naomi beat her in the final of the 2018 US Open that started this whole thing between Naomi and the media.
Spare us the crocodile tears, Serena.
Phil Chitty, Albany.
Plain vulnerability
The recent Canterbury floods were "precipitated" by too much rain, the kind the West Coast gets all the time without the flood damage. Could it be the West Coast is covered in trees and the Canterbury side covered in grass?
Trees in the high country act like a sponge, slowly releasing water and slowing it getting into rivers.
The obvious solution other than farmers planting trees is we should listen to Sir David Attenborough's warning. It is already too late. Climate change is already here. We can mitigate it or complain the handouts aren't enough - "a kick in the guts." We have been warned.
Steve Russell, Hillcrest.
On Cup
Auckland Council must have more worthy projects on which to spend tens of millions of dollars of our money than the America's Cup, which most people can see only on TV. Pamela Russell, Ōrākei.
On luxury
Perhaps those who have forked out over $100,000 for a BMW, Jaguar, Maserati or other very expensive new car could spare a dollar or two for the flooded folk of Canterbury or the poor, disabled and homeless closer to home. Danna Glendining, Taupō
On rugby
Your correspondent Anthony Browne (NZ Herald, June2) says that if you don't make the final, you are not the best team. Luck plays a role in sport, and the best team often does not win. H Harper, Kohimarama.
On bridge
Chloe Swarbrick claims (NZ Herald, June 2) that "This past weekend, Waka Kotahi NZTA pre-approved the shutdown of two lanes of the harbour bridge for the ...... rally". Really? So why was there any issue? Judy Lawry, Golflands.
On Prebble
Richard Prebble's article (NZ Herald, June 2) "After three years in power, ministers should know what the problems are, and what needs to be done" should be on the desk of the PM and every Cabinet minister, and they should be made to read it. Randal Lockie, Rothesay Bay.
On National
Nick Smith's leaving is long overdue. A couple of other Nat MPs are also way past their use-by date. National is stuck in the past. Pim Venecourt, Pāpāmoa.
On taxes
So, NZ is giving big tech a "free ride" on tax, says an expert. Big everything gets a free ride on tax and the principals often receive honorifics. Andrew Montgomery, Remuera.
Hawke's Bay hosts Christmas lunches for those seeking company and support.