Maybe the All Blacks should only do the haka after they win? Photo / Photosport
Maybe the All Blacks should only do the haka after they win? Photo / Photosport
Spending more time on our health
Unless we do something to improve our doctors’ lot urgently our health service will continue to decline. One wonders how a GP can diagnose an illness and if necessary write a prescription or refer them on for future treatment, all in 15 minutes. Wehave similar conditions in Australia and the United Kingdom but that does not necessarily make them right. The 15-minute window does not mean that the appointment is the end of the consultation, as often there are still actions needing attention A recent interaction in France was much different, with time apparently not an important focus of the consultation. It is no wonder that our doctors are often stressed as time seems an important factor in their work. An increase to, say 20 minutes, with an increase in remuneration, could make being a doctor in NZ a more desirable vocation. As for doctors working in hospitals, one wonders just how do they do it. Without our health we are nothing so why do we treat those that can help us most with so little respect?
Reg Dempster, Albany
Facing consequences
National’s proposed tax on overseas buyers of houses above $2 million is being questioned by all sorts of economists. Fair enough, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to work out the flaws in the maths; but it is the possible unintended consequences that bother me. Here are some of them. Distilled to its naked basics, it is the classic selling off the family silver to pay the grocer. When that is gone, what next? So we sell off half of our $2m-plus houses to overseas people who won’t be living here. Will they use us as a bolthole in case things turn to custard elsewhere? Beyond the 15 per cent initial tax where is the economic benefit? What this will do to our empty house percentage is obvious. What will happen to the people currently in those homes? Some, I guess, will move overseas themselves — not a good outcome. Most will move down a grade of house, pocketing the difference and doing up the newly occupied house, pushing up the demand, and therefore the price of that bracket of house. This must surely exacerbate the current housing shortage, pushing up the price across the board? It will have a further knock-on effect of necessitating more new builds, in a time when we are already desperately short of new builds. Almost certainly this will all require more planned infrastructure: building of roads, sewerage, water etc. (National’s only answer so far to the problem of new, and crumbling infrastructure is to suggest that local authorities should be allowed to borrow more). I doubt the above list is exhaustive. This is just sloppy policy-making. National does have serious intellectual grunt, it’s just they are not using it. They owe it to themselves and to us to start doing so. We already have a Government caught up in all sorts of unintended consequences, we don’t need another one.
A big thumbs up to Todd Scott for doing what we would all like to do in a similar situation but don’t have the courage to do (NZ Herald, Sept 15). What a disappointing and farcical situation. I’m having a party this weekend and need to get the appropriate supplies in. On the basis of Todd Scott’s experience I’ll get a few mates together, work out a supplies list and we’ll head down to the local supermarket to get the goods. To fit with the law and any health and safety issues I might even phone ahead to the supermarket and let them know we’re coming but don’t intend paying for anything. We’ll have a great party and I might even take the empties and recyclables back to the store on Sunday, just to be a good citizen.
Dr Hilton Le Grice believes large notices warning that abusive behaviour “will not be tolerated” can prevent assault in our hospital emergency departments (Weekend Herald, Sept 9). We have become a nation that tolerates and encourages this violence with such naive ideas. “Jail time”, Dr Le Grice? Surely a spot of home detention, Sky Sport, an easily defeated ankle bracelet and some entertaining ram raiding is the realistic punishment those signs must advertise.
Stewart Hawkins, St Heliers.
Troubled times
The case of the delusional Whangārei man role-playing an FBI agent, carrying a mock Glock pistol and at risk of death from the Armed Offenders Squad (Weekend Herald, Sept 9) is just an example of the much more bizarre behaviour these days in our troubled post-Covid society. Increases in violent behaviour, in some cases leading to homicides, are often linked to psychiatric illness brought on by obsessive behaviour linked to violent and anti-social computer games. These games must be better controlled or better still outlawed completely.
With the election campaign well and truly in full flight we are all being tempted with dreams and promises of better times to come. I’m confused. Parties on the opposite side are warning us of false promises, and certain disaster, should we vote the wrong way. I may have missed an announcement but since when did anything promised during an election campaign resemble anything that may, or may not, happen after the election result? If you believe anything currently being put on the table at present, then you will no doubt still believe in the tooth fairy. Good luck, I hope it all ends well for you.
Douglas Anderson, Whitianga.
Short & sweet
No wonder our health system is in such a mess. All the recent Health Minister Hipkins seems to eat are sausage rolls and pies. Setting a fine example! Ian MacGregor, Greenhithe.
Just imagine the cost savings to the average household if we didn’t have iPhones and internet, Sky, Netflix etc, coffee addiction, large SUVs to drive the children 500 metres to school, takeaway food, recreational drugs etc. Interesting to see that despite the cost of petrol skyrocketing we still won’t get out of our cars and petrol usage remains the same. Jock Mac Vicar, Hauraki.
Apparently there are to be more cameras on Auckland roads. This time, though, they are called “safety cameras”. Why doesn’t NZTA come clean and call them what they really are — speed cameras? After all they don’t film unsafe driving practices. They are there purely to capture speeding cars. There is a difference. Janet Boyle, Ōrewa.
What’s the point training new doctors if we don’t pay them enough to keep them here? We’re just training them to benefit Australia. GPs in particular are underpaid, stressed out and leaving. Janet Drake, Remuera.
One of the earliest signs of meddling with the old simple joining-up-letters method of teaching to read was the introduction of “Look and Say” in the early 60s. I will never forget meeting a 7-year-old who proudly told me that he could now read. A nearby letterbox had the surname “Bond” on it. I asked him to tell me what it said. He squinted at it, pondered a while, and said “fish?” Pamela Russell, Ōrākei.
I don’t think Winston Peters should be underestimated. He seems to have a massive fan club following among the elderly; clearly his SuperGold Card was a huge hit from its outset. I envisage a Grey Power uprising of mammoth proportions should it be tampered with. When I asked my mum why she doted on him, her reasoning was a little more superficial ... “He always wears a tie.” Colleen Wright, Botany Downs.
A spokesperson for Wellington Water responding to a consumer who has waited three months for repairs advises “the company can’t fix every leak with the resources it has”. This is a staggering admission. It means for every month that passes, more leaks have been identified and not repaired — and will never be repaired. I understand that many of these leaks will be minor, but we all know that they will never repair themselves and they will always get worse. There are no savings to be made by waiting until they become emergencies. Someone needs to check their priorities. Quentin Miller, Te Atatū South.
It would appear that most people trust politicians, but not when they are politicians. Ian Doube, Rotorua.
The All Blacks perform the haka before their World Cup loss to France. Photo / Getty Images
Your views
The All Blacks’ Rugby World Cup campaign got off to a stuttering start, comfortably beaten by hosts France in the tournament opener. Herald readers shared their views:
* Move the haka to the end of matches and only if we win. The ABs are unravelling its mana. Jeff Tallon
* Well done France. I can only see the ABs exiting next round after that if we play South Africa as it seems will be the case. Hope I am wrong. Alan Walker
* Is it all black in Paris? I notice no one is mentioning the F-word. I don’t want to foster any unrest — but has anyone got a razor? Clyde Scott
* We will be in the quarterfinals so build up quietly All Blacks and always remember we can win and we will win the Rugby World Cup final. Gary Stewart
