Isabella Niki-Harper Ahlawat in the Auckland High Court on charges of wilfully attempting to pervert justice, manslaughter and arson with danger to life. She also falsely accused taxi driver Riwander Singh of assault. Photo / Michael Craig
Letter of the week: Ross Harvey, Remuera
The article by Steve Braunias (Weekend Herald, April 8) begs a question after the shocking treatment Riwander Singh received by the NZ Police and the Independent Police Conduct Authority in rectifying a dreadful wrong that only happened due to the inadequacies and incompetency of investigating officers. This poor man has been thrown on the mental scrap heap; understandably bitter, depressed, and scared after being wrongfully incarcerated for six months and left with legal bills of $45,000. Adding insult to injury was the flippant comment from the authority that no action on Riwander Singh’s complaint would be taken, as if it considers a good job was done in investigating all aspects of the case. I wonder if this injustice had happened to one of their family members, would the police and subsequent authority investigations have reached the same conclusion?
No incentive
Mark Lewis-Wilson (Weekend Herald, April 8) writes that capitalism has failed. He provides no examples of the alternative, a socialist nation that has succeeded. Capitalism works as it incentivises people to work and contribute. Socialism, on the other hand, does not. Socialism is a centrally planned economy without market prices or profits, where the state owns property, it is a system without an effective incentive mechanism to direct economic activity. By failing to emphasise incentives, socialism is a theory inconsistent with human nature and is therefore doomed to fail. Mark Young, Ōrewa.
Adapting capitalism
Your correspondent Mark Lewis-Wilson (Weekend Herald, April 8) blames society’s every ill, except toe-nail fungus, on capitalism. I am a capitalist and I also have volunteered as a financial mentor at the local budget service. I readily agree that capitalism has mutated from Adam Smith’s original 1776 version into something unrecognisable. However, rather than going full bathwater/baby, I suggest that we address capitalism’s flaws so that it can live up to its original claim of wellbeing (not welfare) for all. Capitalism changes with society. In America being rich means that God loves you, and everybody else can talk to the hand. In the UK, you find upstairs-downstairs capitalism, a leftover from feudalism. German capitalism is governed by the “social (not socialist) market economy”. Workers have a say in the affairs of the company, and the shareholders of Porsche have just given each employee a $10,000 bonus. In my view, labour and capital are not enemies. They live in a symbiotic relationship. Each needs and benefits the other. They should treat each other with respect and courtesy. I am confident that, with fact-based analysis and arguments, we could bring capitalism back on the straight and narrow, for the benefit of all. K.H. Peter Kammler, Warkworth.
Open categories
Your editorial (Weekend Herald, April 15) demonstrates a misunderstanding of the purpose of sports categories. Sports categories exist to widen the scope of fair competition. Allowing transgender females (biological males at birth) to compete against biological females takes away one of those categories. It’s no more valid than a heavyweight boxer “identifying” as a middleweight or a 25-year-old “identifying” as a 15-year-old. There are no complicated conversations around the involvement of transgender women in top-flight women’s sport or women’s and girls’ community sport. It’s wrong and there should be no place for them in that category. There is a solution that allows inclusion. It’s recategorising men’s and boys’ sport to open sport. Open sport is, as it suggests, a category open to all in most sports (there are safety issues in some combat sports). Some sports have gone down this road and been applauded. That self-identified trans girls (biological boys) who choose not to do sport if they can’t be included in girls’ sport may feel more vulnerable, but so do the girls whose right to have their own category is being removed because of that claimed vulnerability. Ken Maclaren, Napier.
Nuclear family
Re: Your editorial (Weekend Herald, April 8) on securing alliances, it may be time to take the heat out of nukes per see. Some sensible explanations on the status quo of the nuclear world at the moment would be helpful. New Zealanders need to outgrow the 1970s vision of the mushroom cloud and Hiroshima. It seems we still want to bask in those heady days when New Zealand was the poster child of the free world. Then Prime Minister David Lange nearly attained sainthood, if not international acclaim. New Zealand became the “mouse that roared” in the eyes of the global community. At the time it was a brave and decisive move to demand that the Pacific be nuclear-free. Times change. Countries are taking sides on the basis of a growing chance of serious international conflict. Because of New Zealand’s nuclear stance, our Government is forced to tip-toe around potential defence partners. Cars have improved (arguably) since the 1970s so why not nuclear technology? We all know things can go wrong but hey, we’re still having earthquakes, eruptions, floods and storms. Just add a potential nuclear mistake. Aukus partners know, whatever happens, they will have to protect New Zealand. Let’s hope they don’t have to attack it. Jeanette O’Shea, Ōrewa.
Vote recount
In the letter you published last Saturday, I endeavoured to correct Bruce Cotterill regarding Mayor Brown’s casting vote on the LGNZ membership issue. I didn’t check properly until a friend pointed out the error. I was correct in stating: “The only time he would get to use his casting vote would be if the scores were even after he had used his deliberative vote. This could arise at Auckland Council where a member is absent or abstains from voting and an even number of elected members (including the mayor) participates in the vote.” I was wrong to assume that all 21 elected members were present. When I did actually check the minutes, it was easy to discover that Christine Fletcher was absent. This meant that the vote was tied at 10-10 until the mayor used his casting vote. This means that Bruce and your journalists were right all along. Mark Vincent, Otamatea Ward councillor, Kaipara District Council.
Choice words
Your correspondent Gary Hollis (Weekend Herald, April 8) shares his collection of political-speak designed in most cases to disguise a lack of action. His favourite being, “that is not acceptable”. He does not mention my personal choice: ”I reject the premise of the question.” A perfect response to avoid a difficult question. No way to proceed after that. Best of all though is the one word, “absolutely”, which best translates to “maybe”. John Billing, New Plymouth.
If all peoples of the world were poor, the natural world surrounding them would be inversely and proportionally richer. Gary Hollis, Mellons Bay.
Marama Davidson insults an entire class of white males and faces no censure from her party, but dare to criticise one of your own and you’ll be stood down. What a bunch of hypocrites. Maxine Samson, Whakatāne.
Memo to the Stuff newsroom: Use a recording of someone blowing a conch shell. It is culturally bulletproof. Michael A. Smith, Waitākere.
To quote the wonderful Sean Lock, I could hear about six blokes at Oxford go “hher hher” after reading Stewart Hawkins’ quick word (WH, Apr. 8). Peter Lange, Mt Eden.
Rather than “Dixi, Vici, Effectus Sum Partum” ( I came, I said, I’m little affected), the better quote to describe Jacinda Ardern would be, “Venit, Vidit, Vicit (she came, she saw, she conquered). John Capener, Kawerau.
Lewis-Wilson (WH, Apr. 8) is welcome to leave “capitalist” New Zealand for Putin’s Russia, Akhundzada’s Afghanistan, Kim’s North Korea, Khamenei’s Iran, Lukashenko’s Belarus, Assad’s Syria … Don’t forget that capitalism in China lifted more than 300 million people from poverty. Mary Tallon, Hauraki.
Christopher Luxon claims he would have returned to “work” earlier if he had not been required to complete seven days in isolation. Just because he felt better does not mean that he was no longer infectious. Greg Cave, Sunnyvale.
When considering Covid-19 restrictions, I would much rather heed the advice of an epidemiologist than a businessman-turned-politician. Brian Millar, Titirangi.
Dark blue Luxon and powder blue Seymour have once more expressed a view, contrary to best practice, to make everyone vulnerable and at risk of losing more than money. Who wants to work next to a Covid-infected person? Mary Thompson, Te Aroha.
If all those whinging about national debt have parents who are over 70 and alive, then you need to rethink the government that led us through Covid. National wanted to run things the way NSW did and, had they had the chance to do so, your parents would be dead. Jim McCormick, Gisborne.
So are all of those highly paid Auckland Council officers, who failed miserably to prepare a disaster plan for the city, still in their jobs? Are we yet again being fobbed off with “must do better in future” excuses? James Archibald, Birkenhead.
Wayne Brown seems to be out of his depth on a number of fronts. Bruce Tubb, Devonport.
Give Wayne Brown and his team 18 months and only then feel free to judge his revamped council emergency procedures. Larry Mitchell, Rothesay Bay.
The first casualty of war is truth. The first casualty of our General Elections is they never reflect genuine democratic representation. Kenneth Lees, Whangārei.
'You don’t want to be doom and gloom your whole life. That's just a miserable way to live'