Climate march protesters last year called for action, would giving them the vote help their cause? Photo / Michael Cunningham, file
At 16, I knew it all, and adults were mostly idiots. At 17, I looked back on my 16-year-old self with contempt, knowing that only now did I know it all. Until I turned 18, that is, but even that conceit evaporated with the onset of maturity
at 19. And so the revisionist hubris of youth continued year after year as my experience and knowledge accrued.
Now, well into my 70s and some way up the hill of life, I believe I have the perspective to know better than adolescents. But who knows how I'll feel when I hit 75?
In the meantime, I strongly recommend raising the voting age to 74.
Ron Hoares, Wellsford.
I hope we are not going to copy the United Kingdom in subsidising people's meals in expensive restaurants.
If the objective is to help these restaurants survive, why not give them government money to make simple meals packaged into bags to be picked up by agencies that will deliver them to the thousands of people in desperate need in South Auckland and elsewhere? Help those in real need.
Susan Grimsdell, Auckland Central.
When the New Zealand Stock Exchange experienced its second day of DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attacks on August 26, those in the security community were probably thinking the same thing I was. Why would the NZX not have basic protection?
Most web service providers – Amazon, Wordpress, and so on – offer services to detect and reject DDoS attacks. A DDoS attack is when a site is hit with a huge volume of web traffic from multiple services, like a politician trying to answer a hundred reporters at the same time.
A DDoS attack can be devastating and you can purchase one on the dark web for a few dollars. The highest percentage of these attacks are on gamers, by rivals wanting to knock them offline for enough time to win the game. Some things are almost too strange to be true.
Services like the Wordpress plug-in Jetpack, or Amazon Web Services, offer DDoS protection. In the last few years, these protective services have become more and more commonplace around the world. Most designers build them into the websites they create.
So why, again, would an organisation like the NZX not have these protections? And why isn't the conversation turning to why they should?
Aeryn Dunmore, Titirangi.
Back in June of this year, an in-depth study of excessive council payrolls, together with findings from similar research by the Auckland Ratepayers Alliance, found New Zealand councils were paying staff wage and salary rates in excess (yes, in excess) of their private sector counterparts - on average more than 30 per cent higher.
The release by Stats NZ of updated employment data for the year ended June 2020 indicates that comparable private-sector weekly earnings have fallen by 7.6 per cent.
In deepening recessional economic circumstances, we wait for our councils to recognise these challenging facts and to react appropriately.
To date, no New Zealand council has come anywhere near the payroll reductions suggested by the research data.
Larry Mitchell, Rothesay Bay
It is rather alarming to hear the Prime Minister and the Minister of Heath say that keeping the border secure from Covid-19 is hard, that no system is perfect, and that further breaches are inevitable.
There is, of course, a perfect way of securing the border. That is by allowing nobody in. But we are doing the right, fair thing and allowing citizens to return. So we have a hard system to make work perfectly.
Perhaps, rather than wringing their hands and saying it can't be perfect, the responsible ministers should call to mind what Sir Peter Blake used to say to his crew: it wouldn't be worth doing if it wasn't hard. We should remember his legacy, embrace the job and get it done - perfectly.
Peter Newfield, Takapuna.
I am one of Hosking's "dimwits" (NZ Herald, August 27) who follows the science-based leadership and advice of the Prime Minister and her Government.
His Trumpesque "open the gates" advocacy may well appeal to his deplorable followers who swamp him with back-patting texts every morning, on a broadcast where it appears that no dissenting text ever arrives. However such an "open up now" policy has had disastrous results abroad and we dimwits are content to be part of the PM's army rather than victims of too-early socialising.
In this case I'd rather hear the strains of Nero's fiddle than receive the gnat bites of Brutus.
Paul K. Madigan, Takapuna.
Mike Hosking might think I am "dim-witted". I am not.
He might think there is no point in "good hard, go early". He's in a minority of one, when compared with actual experts, on that.
The video? The removal was likely a reaction to the likes of lobbyists such as Hosking and Seymour and the propensity of many to believe what these guys say, regardless of any actual of wrongdoing.
"Watch the country go bust"? Another of young Mike's opinions, when the fact is our bounceback had already surprised the business community. No doubt we are facing another blip but, compared with international experience, going bust is not the reality.
Judy Lawry, Golflands.
Surely no one denies the rights of New Zealanders to return, even those who abandoned us for better climes.
But where is their responsibility to be tested to show they are Covid-free before they return home? Don't they have a responsibility to ensure they do not undo the hard work and sacrifices of Team 5 million NZ?
And aye, I strongly tautoko (support) Norm Murray and Peter Brooks (NZ Herald, August 26). Our current Government may not be perfect but it has done a darn sight better job than other governments around the globe.
Kia kaha New Zealand.
Colleen McMurchy, Blockhouse Bay.
Reading the letter on kindness (NZ Herald, August 26), I can't agree.
I feel no compunction to, as is said, "respectfully listen and include" those whose political views and values I despise. People who express racist sentiments, support the views of leaders such as Donald Trump, believe that Covid-19 is a hoax, have no understanding or sympathy for the homeless, the list is endless.
I believe we need to take a stand and oppose bigotry and ignorance in all its guises. I have no intention of respectfully listening to and including such people and certainly don't see any reason to extend kindness and goodwill towards them.
L Anstey, Rānui.
Your correspondent David Tyler repeats climate alarmist warnings of coral reefs dying, increasing extreme heatwaves, insect habitat reductions and escalating negative feedback loops - all resulting from our carbon emissions.
The alarmists' predictions are based on faulty computer modelling, which has been making increasingly strident catastrophic forecasts for over 30 years now, none of which has actually happened.
To take just one example; the death of coral reefs due to a predicted 2C temperature rise. Modern-day corals first evolved when ocean temperatures were 10C higher than today. Studies of 7000-year-old fossil coral reefs revealed high coral mortality every 50 years due to winter cooling events. Most researchers believe past coral extinctions were most commonly due to cold events. As the last Ice Age ended, coral expanded its range with warming temperatures. At the peak of the Holocene Optimum, 8000 years BC, coral adapted to tropical ocean temperatures 2.1C warmer than today.
David Gibbs, Beach Haven.
Rod Emmerson's cartoon (NZ Herald, August 26) about the Prime Minister's response to Madeline Grant's article in the Daily Telegraph was excellent.
We should be able to laugh at ourselves more.
However, jokes aside, Madeline Grant has said "New Zealand's lust for lockdown is the latest example of vapid political virtue-signalling".
There's the rub.
Pauline Alexander, Waiatarua.
On killer
NZ Herald's reporting of the Christchurch killer's sentencing is prefaced by the warning "Graphic content warning: This story contains details which readers might find upsetting"
I respectfully ask that the word "might" be replaced by "should" or even "must". Greg Hawkins, Pakuranga.
In years ahead, the families and friends of those you envied - your victims - will be loved and be doing meaningful things. You will sitting insignificantly in a small cell, unloved and be doing nothing. W Hopkins, Kohimarama.
On Warriors
It's a pity Paul Turner isn't playing for the Warriors against Newcastle this Saturday. He had an excellent debut last week and is one to look at for future glory. Rex Head, Papatoetoe.
On elimination
We have a unique opportunity to once again enjoy a Covid-free lifestyle if we can get on top of the current outbreak and do better at keeping our border secure until an effective vaccine is available. Is it worth the effort? Absolutely. So let's do it. Joe O'Brien, New Lynn.
Regarding the people who are protesting about their rights being taken away by being forced into lockdown for everyone's, including their own, safety - would they also have us get rid of traffic lights? Angela Signal, Papatoetoe.
The Team of 5 million are over it? No, we are not, we don't want Covid rampant in our communities, no matter what some conservative small business owners want and others for whom the dollar rules. People matter, not wealth. M Mildon, Hamilton.
On schools
If Auckland school students are serious about catching up on missed schooling due to the lockdown, then why don't they exchange their upcoming school holidays for an extra two weeks in the classroom? Vanessa Kuran, Kelston.
On National
With apologies to Winston Churchill, maybe National will come up with the right policies -- after it's tried everything else. Dennis N Horne, Howick.
On Hosking
In an all-too-familiar adjustment, I note that Mike Hosking now sees as Machiavellian a Government he has previously labelled as politically naive. It's good that he retains his openness to change in his thinking. John Wilkinson, Stonefields.
On flights
Airlines have a built-in mask system providing fresh air to every seat via the emergency oxygen mask system. Could this not be used to give every passenger fresh air as soon as seated? Lance Driver, Waiheke Island.
Deputy Political Editor Thomas Coughlan interviews Americans on the streets of Philadelphia ahead of next week’s election. Video / NZ Herald