The University of Auckland is at the centre of a debate over where cultural knowledge fits in the study of science. Photo / Dean Purcell, File
The suggestion made by some academics that science is Eurocentric is breathtaking in its ignorance.
Science and scientific method have been around since ancient civilisations thousands of years ago. Science and experimentation establish fact.
Cultural knowledge is both useful and important as it provides society with a successful method of existence and, indeed, can sometimes lead science research into new and useful investigations.
However, to give cultural knowledge the same weight and value as scientific fact is both ludicrous and dangerous.
Ludicrous, as when we hold up a motorway because of the so-called existence of a "taniwha".
Dangerous, as when babies in Samoa died from measles because traditional healers insisted that rubbing with oil and leaves would cure them instead of using medicines; in New Zealand, a woman's death caused by a beating to "drive out evil spirits".
The Covid pandemic has produced example after example where fundamentalist religions have insisted that prayer, not medicine, can cure it.
By all means value cultural knowledge, but it is not necessarily fact, nor should it be treated as such.
R Jenner, Bayswater.
School standards
I fully support Macleans College (NZ Herald, August 6) in their effort to try to maintain high standards.
Nobody should be permitted to use foul language to another regardless of any provocation. It is the pupil and the parents who should be apologising, not the school.
The Chief Ombudsman's ruling has now sent a message to all pupils that anything goes and they can't be stopped. When is all this nonsense going to cease?
Respect has gone out the window along with commonsense.
Ayleen Riesterer, Te Kauwhata.
Collective responsibility
If we were to heed the recently released Treasury advice about the electric car rebate decision, we would be in danger of continuing to do nothing. It is painfully obvious to 99 per cent of the population that climate change is out of control.
The Government takes action to stop exploration for new fossil fuel sources; the economists paint a picture of doom and gloom. A scheme to encourage the use of electric vehicles and discourage the use of vehicles making up the majority of transport pollution; and there's a scream about how unfair it is to the farming community.
Actually, the farming community has the most to gain from action to reduce the effects of climate change. Already they are hard hit economically by excessive droughts, extreme weather events that inundate their farms with floods; and with climate change adversely affecting their ability to deliver their agricultural products.
Urban industry is no different, complaining about the cost of converting their boilers to cleaner burning fuels. To fix climate change, all of us have to accept there is a cost.
Neil Anderson Algies Bay.
Cloth ears
A senior Hawke's Bay police officer has now told us they absolutely don't support the government funding of the gang aligned drug treatment programme. Treasury, it now appears, opposed the e-vehicle subsidy and tax on utes, saying it showed no positive benefits to the environment but risked serious harm to tradies and farmers. There was no business case for the cycle bridge over Auckland harbour but let's announce it anyway, and even the KiwiSaver mastermind and former Labour finance minister can't find a case to support the Auckland light rail proposal.
Exactly who are the government advisers they listen to? It certainly doesn't appear to be any of the highly paid bureaucrats or professionals working in these fields, those who actually understand the problems.
Likewise mental health, housing, child poverty, immigration and numerous other ill thought out policy moves. Surely after four years in power, they can do better than this? Maybe, this is as good as it gets.
James Archibald, Birkenhead.
Skin in the game
A quote from Dr Thomas Sowell, a black American economist, social theorist, philosopher and author is a timely reminder to our politicians who employ and consult numerous state servants and others to advise and implement policies which impact on our future.
"It is hard to imagine a more stupid or more dangerous way of making decisions than by putting those decisions in the hands of people who pay no price for being wrong."
David English, Northcote.
Worth a welcome
It strikes me how often letter-writers to the Herald seem to have better insights about New Zealand than politicians do. James Fernie's letter (NZ Herald, August 9) describing the shambles at MIQ shines with clarity next to Kris Faafoi's wooden one-liners about how he's doing nothing to fix it.
Fernie could have added one more thing: the 6000-per-fortnight MIQ intake excludes just 38 Afghan aides for the NZ Army who have been left behind, facing probable beheading in Afghanistan.
For New Zealand to abandon them to this grotesque fate is just horrific. It's even worse because it comes from a government with a mantra of "be kind".
Jeremy Hall, Hauraki.
No exceptions
People, please stop it with the whingeing about special treatment for "rugby players" (NZ Herald, August 9).
The Wallabies did not require or use MIQ. They therefore took up no spaces at MIQ.
They were already in a bubble and have been routinely tested. They simply got on a plane (and there were plenty of spare seats for these flights) and entered the country like thousands of others returning from Australia.
I am sure it was a huge boost for struggling businesses in KIngsland and the city. Witness thousands of happy families at the rugby on Saturday night.
What's the big deal? Let's get the facts right and allow a bit of joy.
Samantha Cunningham, Henderson.
Wait a second
Dr Chris Smith, a medical consultant specialising in clinical microbiology and virology at Cambridge University was recently interviewed regarding getting a second vaccination. His advice was that the goal is a higher antibody level. He recommended at least eight weeks or, better, 12 weeks apart.
Wanting a longer period between vaccines I made use of "book my vaccine" number: 0800 28 29 26 where a helpful woman accepted my request to change the date of my second vaccination from a three week gap to 12 weeks.
This gives meaning to the full page newspaper Covid-19 health notice: "The stronger our immunity, the greater our possibilities."
Warren Johns, Remuera.
Defer projects
Financial institutions, corporate accountability and commercial and personal debt is exactly the same as 2007. We quite simply have not learned a damn thing from the global crisis. Add Covid to the mix and the market is set to completely meltdown at the right time. When it does implode, housing will be just one of the areas of concern to dominate our lives.
A prudent government and city council would be wise to look at the timing of huge projects and show some constraint. Every country on earth is in serious debt.
We may live in a beautiful location but we carry serious debt as well. It would be great to see people in governance display genuine wisdom and caution instead of flippantly offering scintillating ideas with irrational budgets.
Mark Lewis-Wilson, Mangonui.
Generous country
How amazing that correspondent Fred Caesar from Dunedin is encouraging the government to spend $800 million (the price escalates constantly each time quoted) of taxpayers' money on a cycling and walking bridge in Auckland.
How kind he is to promote a cause for cyclists in a city not of his residence.
Now that advertisements have been aired encouraging the public to engage in discussion on light rail for Auckland, estimated at $10 to $15 billion (we don't really know as costings are elusive on this vanity project adopted by Transport Minister Michael Wood), perhaps canvassing for approval should be nationwide.
Maybe South Island folk will see more merit in trams along a limited, fixed-route in Auckland than Aucklanders who are being presented with the same old blurb tarted up on a fancy website and in glossy information day brochures, designed to elicit a different, favourable answer.
Coralie van Camp, Remuera.
Talking Turkey
Matt Heath referred to the "Turkish philosopher Epictetus" (NZ Herald, August 9) and I experienced hurt and dismay.
We normally use "Turkish" to mean the Ottoman Turks, who conquered what we now call Turkey in about 1300 CE.
There were Turkic peoples 2000 years ago, but Epictetus wasn't "Turkish".
Arch Thomson, Mt Wellington.
Olympian effort
I would like to offer my congratulations to the editorial staff at the NZ Herald for the superb coverage of the Olympic Games.
The images presented, on a daily basis, showed so many joyful moments.
I can't wait to start on the souvenir scrap book.
Rosemary Howell, Ellerslie.
On women
More often than not the word "women" is pronounced "woman" instead of "wimmen"on the radio by presenters. Are they not told the difference? Pamela Russell, Ōrākei.
On Carrington
Moana Lisa. Tom Davies, Te Awamutu.
People ask whether we should refer to Lisa Carrington as a girl or a woman. Lisa answers the question herself by referring to her teammates as girls. R Herd, Kohimarama.
On fuel
In the past four to five months, petrol prices have risen by 40 cents a litre. Now $1 a litre more than Australia. There is no correlation with the normal criteria, the exchange rate and world oil prices, to justify this. R Gibson, Tuakau.
On National
The election of the same president, who has overlooked the diminishment of a once-great party, is an act of folly. Does anyone accept a role in its demise? David Jones, Parnell.
The Nats should declare themselves politically bankrupt and call in Act as receivers. Brian O'Neill, Chatswood.
On Labour
First there was Phil Twyford's KiwiBuild fiasco and now Michael Wood's "trams to nowhere". Ego has more to do with their pontifications as they seem to lack any kind of reality check. Mark Tunnicliffe, Eastern Beach.
National has missed the opportunity to demonstrate to NZ that it is prepared to change. Even if Goodfellow is the best man for the job it's all about perception and this is a bad look. It smacks of somebody grimly clinging on to power for dear life, so sorry National, I've been on the cusp for a while but you just lost me to Act. Ross P.
David Carter is known to spit the dummy at times. Better to have a president closer to the main population base than one from Banks Peninsula. It would have been nice to see a Paula Bennett or Steven Joyce have a crack at it. David S.
You do get the impression they are simply brushing their troubles under the mat. They have had a disastrous few years. How the person who presided over that is allowed to stay is a mystery. Why did they have a review of what happened and then let no one read it? Conservatives are hopeless at change but sometimes it is required. A new broom. Look to the future. etc. They do seem stuck in the past. Ross W.
Apparently, rural New Zealand is no longer represented on the board and, of course, Act picked up a lot of votes unexpectedly in rural areas, maybe more now. Hector O.
Open debate is good for all democratic political parties. That's how new and better ideas come through. You do get "unity" with communism, however. Having different points of view does not imply a party is in disarray, but that might suit some readers. Jim S.
Open debate is fine and good, but there's a time and place for it. The annual talkfest is not the place for it, unless it is in a workshop environment. From the weekend, I took the following: what chance do National have of being a coalition partner if they can't hold the line for 72 hours, and this is their "shop window," so people can see they have moved on or not. I think the hierarchy is self-serving, arrogant and thinks it is entitled to govern.
Grant Robertson was right when he said David Seymour was the leader of the Opposition. Kevin C.
Labour equally, have shown a sense of "arrogance" and "entitlement" in recent months and that is now reflected in polls. I still think it's "game on", when perhaps earlier this year Labour were already banking a third term. Jim S.