Neville Cameron, Coromandel.
Floating an idea
As the Americas Cup will not be with us forever, the new facilities required do not need to be either. We should be looking at invasions such as D-Day. The facilities could be built on concrete pontoons that could be positioned anywhere in harbour or Gulf for the duration of the events. They could be built anywhere on our coast (Marsden Pt to keep NZ First happy) and after the Cup has finished, be recycled to be used elsewhere in the country or sunk as artificial reefs offshore.
P. Phillips, Morrinsville.
Comparable work
In Tuesdays Herald, Simon Collins wrote about teachers struggling to cope with growing numbers of violent children. In yesterdays Herald, Collins wrote about teachers gearing up for industrial action over pay equity, higher pay and lower workloads. The article goes on to state a case put forward by the NZ Educational Institute that a Corrections officers work should be compared for pay equity.
I couldnt agree more. We live in ironic times. As primary schools and early childhood centres become increasingly violent, perhaps we should call teachers correctional educators.
Steve Horne, Hamilton East.
Poor parenting
We are once again reminded of the increasing plight of early-school teachers faced with disrespectful, undisciplined, untrained kids. Clearly it is mainly a result of years of worsening parenting. Liberal societal changes since about the 1970s, and the crazy legislative ones like shaming corrective smacking, and lately the uncontrolled use of devices and social media, have all exacerbated the problems.
Anyone who has had a good childhood (and therefore now enjoys a mainly stable, responsible, productive adulthood) knows children only need devoted, consistent, firm parenting especially in the first three years. Words such as kindness, routine, fun, consequences and self-control are essential ingredients in early brain formation. Low parental incomes are also no excuse - indeed a frugal existence is proven to develop good habits for life.
Children having changing, insecure or delegated parenting have a raw deal. The natural mother and father of children (except in rare circumstances) must be held to account until their children are around 16. Is this not in law anyway?
Simon Guinness, Greenlane.
Tie the tail down
We can embrace the benefits of MMP without the tail wagging the dog. National was the party most people voted for. What if the party with the most votes had to choose the minority party it wanted to work with to take them over the 60 seats - not the minority party deciding who they want to run with.
There would be some simple rules: a party chosen must be over 5 per cent, one or more minority parties may be chosen, parties must adhere to rules that set out where they must give and take to form a government. The negotiations would be chaired by an independent person.
Then we wouldnt be faced with the Greens saying we wont form a government with a particular party (what is the point of kicking yourself out of contention?) and wouldnt be faced with Winston parading around with the say over who will run the country.
Mark Alsen, Royal Oak.
Labours budget
Jarrod Gilbert lambasting Bill English and his supporters for adhering to the view that there was a very large hole in Labours budget is surely a case of the pot calling the milk bottle black. If he would only take off his blinkers and read, for instance, what Cameron Bagrie said, he would see the economists, while doubting the nature of the hole as described by Stephen Joyce, nonetheless expressed great scepticism as to the reality of the budget.
And once he has educated himself on that point, he should read on and note English consistently referred to that scepticism rather than to Stephen Joyces conclusions.
Peter Newfield, Takapuna.
Anti-nuclear response
Brian Rudmans description of Donald Trump poking at the North Korean wasp nest with his Twitter stick is a metaphor par excellence. I like Ambassador Brown but hes infected with the DTs by trying to rope us into defending his scary master using fear of the fallout from hydrogen bomb dropped in our Pacific. What can we do? We are a non-nuclear nation. We cannot endorse a brinkmanship game played between the orange blob and little rocket man.
Our only weapon is protest. Our new Government should send a warship, and a sharp message, to a spot in the Pacific equidistant between North Korea and the US mainland, just as Norman Kirk decades ago did to Mururoa to give France the bums rush. I wonder whether Oz would have the courage to join us?
Tony Kaye, Hamilton.
Good port call
A letter yesterday complained that Cunard has cancelled the Queen Mary 2s call to Auckland because Ports of Auckland has told them Jellicoe Wharf is no longer available. Instead they are going to stay an extra day in Tauranga.
As a former Aucklander and now a resident of Tauranga, I applaud Ports of Auckland for making such a remarkable decision. Port of Tauranga regularly welcomes cruise ships, giving Taurangas economy a much needed boost.
Aucklanders need to stop moaning, its not all about Auckland all of the time. New Zealand has spectacular scenery and all Kiwis should be proud of our beautiful country no matter where the cruise ships stop. Best decision we ever made making our stopover in Tauranga permanent.
Christine Frayling, Ohauiti.
One-man band
What seems to have escaped everyones notice is that the NZ First party is that in name only. In reality it is the Winston Peters party. Take Peters out of the equation and NZ First will sink without trace.
Given that he is 72, his prospects for the future are limited at best. Why is everyone hitching their wagon to a passing phase? Whoever saddles up to NZ First will find that they have a dead horse under them sooner rather than later. If only the Greens and National could accommodate each other, New Zealand would be the better for it.
Peter J. Fahey, Rakino Is.
Airport bus
SkyBus runs an express bus service from the central business district to the Auckland airport. A Herald report states that in the past 12 months, the company made 200 trips daily to and from the airport carrying more than 900,000 passengers. This averages out at about 12 passengers per trip who are carried either down the Dominion Rd route or the Mt Eden Rd route.
Perhaps the advocates of a light rail service to the airport via Dominion Rd would outline the added advantages, if any, that such a service would provide to these 12 persons and, in particular, show how the anticipated revenue would cover the construction loan repayments and the annual maintenance and running costs.
David Chandler, Mt Roskill.
Bad move
A number of people, Jim Bolger included, have called on the Green Party to explore the possibility of a coalition government with National. The Maori Party did exactly that for a number of elections. Where is the Maori Party now?
In fact, there are no benefits to the Green Party in such a coalition. The Greens have a very small number of seats compared with National and would have to work with very experienced politicians who, we saw during the election campaign, are often economical with the truth.
Gerry Beckingsale, Torbay.
