Congratulations to Emmaline Pickering-Martin for her article published in the NZ Herald on Tuesday. A brave and courageous piece of writing and in my experience absolutely accurate. When living in Michigan back in the 1970s and learning about racism in the USA I had a memorable lesson from a man named Richard. Richard referred to people like me as being of "no colour". Pickering-Martin concludes her article with the sentence — "It must be nice to be white". Richard would re-write this as "It must be nice to be of no colour". For me this has been subtle but powerful.
Isabelle Sherrard, Auckland.
Racism in plain sight
Thank you to Emmaline Pickering-Martin who gave voice to the uncomfortable feeling I'm sure many people have had over the "outing" of the person who posted the malicious rumours online.
Much gratitude and respect to the woman and her family for making the difficult decision to get tested.
They had been doing what many of us have been doing — supporting our regional tourism spots — and should never ever have been vilified the way they were.
Commentators (and all of us) had a choice when they wrote or said things about this person, sadly most of them defaulted to the usual societal cliques. It was racism hidden in plain sight.
Ngaire Malpass, Epsom.
Ports buyout
Councillor Darby's proposal of a 50 per cent buyout by the Government of Ports of Auckland makes sense.
That some members of Council have made more noise about the means of presentation than the message casts more than a little doubt on their elected responsibility to ensure ratepayers get value for money. Thanks to the Port Companies Act, Council as owners, strangely have no power to direct how POAL must spend ratepayer money and the Port has used this freedom questionably.
With a current debt of half a billion dollars and a three-year history of almost nil return on investment, ratepayers now own a port with little saleable value.
Time is of the essence and Council should show some financial acumen and get on with it.
Neal McCarthy, Auckland Central.
Policy costs billions
It is important to note that Covid-19 did not cause the economic turmoil we and the world are currently experiencing. It is not the virus but the policy response to it that is costing billions for NZ and trillions for the world. Therefore it is important that responses and policies are refined as we learn, such that they can become more effective in containing the virus, supporting those who do catch it and at the same time less obtrusive to society at large.
Frank Olsson, Freemans Bay.
Supermarket cover-up
It is sensible policy to mandate the wearing of masks on all modes of public transport, but what about in supermarkets where everyone must shop for food? It is not too late to add this to the rules kicking in from next Monday.
Leaving shopping bags outside to pack goods later from trolley seems silly if someone unmasked may have breathed the Covid virus at you inside the store.
It would be easy for staff to prevent entry to anyone not wearing a mask and to give them the option of buying one on the spot or going without supplies.
Coralie van Camp, Remuera.
Lasting health issues
As John Martin (NZ Herald Aug 26) says, a large proportion of Covid-19 infections are of young people at no risk of death — but some small proportion of these end up with residual health issues that may be lifelong.
But as commenters have been saying on forums devoted to Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and other chronic health issues, "so what's new"? No-one has been interested enough in these residual health issues that begin with a mild viral illness, until the heavily-politicised Covid-19. There are many things attributed to Covid-19 as unique, that are nothing more than "just the way things have always been" with viruses. Including the common cold, which is a coronavirus, just not as evolved as the latest one.
I bet the common cold could be statistically made to look like a terrifying killer if everyone who happened to have a cold when they died of heart disease, hypertension, smoking-related lung congestion, pneumonia, or whatever, was classified as a death "from" the common cold, scarily renamed as "coronavirus XYZ".
Phil Hayward, Naenae.
Unreasonable expectations
What a pack of moaners we appear to be right from the front page to the Editorial and Letters to the Editor in this paper (NZ Herald Aug 26). Apparently the team of 5 million are fed up and over it. Where the problem lies is unreasonable expectations after over 100 days of freedom, something only a handful of countries have achieved. Yes it is agreed that there was not enough testing at the borders but this does not prove that was the reason for the outbreak. As emphasised so often, testing is only one tool in the box.
It is noticeable that we no longer get the bad news from overseas where the virus is rearing its ugly head again and again with Britain introducing compulsory isolation for all incoming people. There will be more outbreaks despite the hardest of restrictions but getting fed up and doubling down on the government who have worked tirelessly for months is not the answer to our problems. C'mon, we are better than this. What's happened to the Kiwi spirit?
Reg Dempster, Albany.
Voting rights
Young people are campaigning and arguing to have the vote at 16 years of age. They have my full support. Their claim the voting age of 18 is unjustified age discrimination and inconsistent with the Bill of Rights Act is correct and a strong case.
But their real strength lies in the conduct of these young people today. They have the right to drive, fly aeroplanes, have sex and even babies. There is good evidence they are not binge drinking, many do not drive, some young women I have talked to are undecided about bringing new life into this world.
The convincing argument for their case is the actions these young people have demonstrated with their concern for climate change and the future of our planet. This is bigger than Covid-19. Their conduct and solidarity when they marched calling for government action over climate change was exemplary. All our futures are in their hands: teach Civics in school and let them vote.
I sign off, a white and grey stale male.
Pieter van Dongen, Ōhaupo.
Show some respect
For nearly six months now I have endured the blatantly rude and derogatory commentaries that journalists make about our PM Jacinda Ardern. This takes place on radio, TV, newspapers and in digital media, and displays unmistakable political bias. The office she holds should command at least a modicum of respect, however, on a daily basis, interviews and reports are openly critical of the way the PM is managing a situation for which we have no text book or written instruction.
Any Government, of any party, would be experiencing the same hurdles, indeed as all governments worldwide are, to a more serious degree. If we open up on lockdown and the borders it is inevitable our casualty rate will increase markedly, likewise if we don't, businesses and our economy will suffer. The Government are taking the best advice that they can find, and the country should recognise that. This advice is from experts, not people like journalists who are so often destructive in their reporting, if only to be controversial. Furthermore they can say what they like without there ever being a chance they will be held accountable, unlike the Government, who we must believe ultimately have all of our best interests at heart.
Bruce Kay, Hillsborough.
Short & sweet
On KFC
So will the new KFC logo read "Fork lickin' good"?
Helen Lowe, Albany.
On opinions
Colin Flavell (Herald 26 August) seems aghast that people would dare to make negative comments about the Prime Minister. Last time I looked we in NZ had the freedom to express our opinions with impunity just as Mr Flavell has. Long may that freedom last.
Janet Boyle, Ōrewa.
On language
Anthropomorphising the Covid-19 virus as "tricky", "elusive", "wily", subtly shifts the emphasis away from the very human failures of governance that have led directly to its re-emergence here.
Mike Wagg, Freemans Bay.
On voting
If the voting age is lowered to 16, will the 16-year-olds expect to have the drinking age and smoking age lowered as well? Where will it stop? How low can we go?
Marie Kaire, Whangarei.
On tail
How long is a piece of our Covid-cluster's tail? And what's the distance back to its elusive head, or the possibility of multiple tentacles?
J. Livingstone, Auckland.
On isolation
There was a call to set up dedicated quarantine centres. I would suggest Somes Island in Wellington harbour. The first customers could be a few opposition politicians and right wing media commentators.
G. Spencer, Pukekohe.
