P. Salvador, Hobsonville.
Greedy, not great
America is greedy not great. That is the message the world is reading into Trump's birdbrained twittering and dictatorial actions. A vulture would be a more accurate symbol than an eagle.
Jeanette Grant, Mt Eden.
Fate of Kurds
President Donald Trump's lack of empathy knows no bounds. His initiative to withdraw US forces from Syria is contested by his staunchest Republican allies expressing outrage, claiming "it is a catastrophic mistake".
The Kurdish Syria Democratic forces, acting as a US proxy army, repelled the advance of the Isis caliphate in a bitter 4 year struggle — unlike the PKK, a group which Turkey has targeted but unfortunately absorbed within the Kurdish nation.
Stateless in recent history, persecuted and brutalised by Saddam Hussein, the Kurds will confront Turkish reprisal if US troops withdraw, the abandonment complete. The vacuum created would embolden Russia, Syria, Iran and the remnants of Isis but their nemesis Turkey would threaten Kurdish survival.
His ego deemed paramount, the fate of the Kurds may instead be placed at risk and his presidency defined forever.
P.J.Edmondson, Tauranga.
Political view
Is Rod Emmerson the new New Zealand Labour Party president?
M C Neumann, Hauraki.
Farming facts
As a farmer I feel compelled to reply to Lesley Munro whose letter had blatant untruths or he/she is totally ignorant of facts concerning milking cows and their progeny.
They state "all boy calves are unwanted and are killed within days of birth". What a load of rubbish. Most male calves are kept. Thousands are used to get young replacement stock in-calf and hundreds of thousands are kept for the beef market, as steers or bulls.
Bruce Turner, Cambridge.
Goff's mandate
Before the right of centre or other grumble brigades talk about how few people, as a percentage of the number of eligible voters, voted for Goff, please remind them Goff gained more votes than the next 12 candidates added together.
Russell Baillie, Mt Eden.
Compulsory voting
Perhaps the only way to truly engage the population to the local body election process is to make voting compulsory so the winner can claim an electoral mandate.
Nigel Bufton, Pauanui.
Poor timing
Why hold the Rugby World Cup in the middle of the typhoon season?
Bruce Tubb, Belmont.
Online fallout
We are still dealing with the problematic results of the online census. Why would anyone claim that online voting is the solution to low turn out?
Judy Lawry, Golflands.
Gender bias
While Jacinda Ardern is garnering plaudits internationally, some in the NZ media have been very critical of her recently and I think it is because she is female. They conveniently forget that she is the leader of a coalition government and bound by its agreements.
After all, what did John Key do for NZ besides glad-handing a few international dignitaries, pulling ponytails and making a prat of himself on American TV. But nobody called him weak or ineffectual.
His government bumbled along, as governments do, for nine years and he did not get any of the vicious personal flak that Jacinda is getting. As for Simon Bridges,does he get away with his ridiculous rants because he is male?
I am very proud of Jacinda and think she is doing a great job under very difficult circumstances.
Sue Rawson, Tauranga.
Reinstate reserve
The residents of Mission Bay have shown a proper concern for the development of their area. The return of the control of the city to elected councillors should be a suitable time to return Selwyn Reserve.
The historic site intended to preserve its original environment has been developed as yet another income producing carpark. The 140 spaces should be removed and the area returned to its proper purpose.
Observation shows it is almost exclusively used by shoppers having no interest in the reserve and only encourages more car traffic into the congested waterfront.
J. Billingsley, Parnell.
RWC planning
So the Rugby World Cup is now officially a complete dog's breakfast because of disastrous planning and a singular lack of any connection with reality. Was Phil Twyford on the board by any chance?
Rod Kane, Henderson.
Narcissistic leaders
If the outcome in Syria is mass killing of Kurds due to the pullout of US troops then Trump should be prosecuted for allowing it by a deadly tweet.
India also needs to open up Kashmir"s links to the outside world where Kashmiris, like Kurds, are under constant military bullying and human rights crimes.
Modi and Trump seem to have little compassion for these Muslim groups who are caught up in global intrigue by leaders whose narcissism and self-importance mean more than the many tragic deaths and brutality they could prevent.
Rob Buchanan, Kerikeri.
Bad for consumer
Regarding competition between Sky and Spark for sporting content providing possible future benefits for consumers: Competition in a market made up of middle men is only ever bad for the end consumer, driving the price up.
Unlike with comedy or drama (or even dreadful reality shows), with sport the broadcaster can't create exciting new content, only pay more for existing content and hope to pass the cost on.
For most people rugby will never be interchangeable with soccer or gridiron, and watching the Rugby World Cup cannot be replaced by watching the NRL playoffs instead.
A market which effectively deals in the sale of a monopoly (i.e the right to watch the Rugby World Cup or Black Caps live) is no market at all.
Whichever company wins the bidding, as a consumer I will only ever be left with one choice as to how I can watch the Rugby World Cup.
Steven Bryce, Pakuranga.
Comparing codes
Your correspondent Jeff Hayward goes to great pains to try and diminish the place rugby union has in the world. Yet the history between the Fifa and Rugby World Cups is not too dissimilar.
After 8 Fifa World Cups there were 5 winners (England, Uruguay, Brazil, Germany and Italy), after 8 RWCs, there have been 4 winners. Furthermore, there have been 21 Fifa World Cup tournaments with only 8 nations having won the event. It is not beyond comprehension that in another 52 years Wales, Ireland, France and Scotland could take the list of RWC winners to 8 as well.
Mr Hayward tries to diminish the RWC by mocking the inclusion of minnows such as Uruguay "to make up the numbers". Yet the Fifa World Cup has included many minnows such as New Zealand and Iraq to make up its numbers.
A world sport is not measured by the number of participants involved but by the international competitiveness of that sport. Granted, rugby union is clearly a smaller team sport than soccer. Yet the comparison between the world cups shows they are not so far apart as Mr Hayward believes.
Kent Millar, Blockhouse Bay.
Top tax take
Several correspondents hope that the Government's surplus will not be squandered in tax cuts for the "rich."
Whatever the Government chooses to do with their apparent surplus it should be remembered that, according to the NZ Treasury, New Zealand's top 9 per cent of earners pay 42 per cent of income tax revenue. The bottom 48 per cent of earners contribute a mere 8 per cent of income tax revenues. It's no wonder tax cuts benefit these higher earners disproportionately.
Henry Hawkins , Mangere.
