Alan Lord
Rotorua
Displaying tagging counterproductive
Whilst I agree that the damage caused by graffiti attacks is an eyesore and abhorrent; surely displaying a photo of some miscreant’s tag is affording them the notoriety they crave.
The cost of removal is alarming but the quickest way to discourage tagging is surely to remove it in the fastest possible time so they don’t get any satisfaction from their vandalism.
Therefore, giving the tagger a front page photograph of their work (Rotorua Daily Post, September 7) - any retailer would tell you the cost of that kind of advertising space is immense - is surely counterproductive to the desired outcome.
G Parker
Rotorua
Do we need a tyrant?
Ryan Bridge’s thoughtful article in the Rotorua Daily Post (Comment, September 12) prompted some very anti-democratic thoughts.
History records some astounding achievements by societies ruled by visionary dictators.
Consider Rome, conquering at least half the known world, building viaducts and roads, some still in use 2000 years later.
Yes, they colonised cruelly, but still the longest surviving commonwealth historically.
Much earlier, tiny Israel under King David then his son Solomon, ushered in a period of peace and vast prosperity unknown in those times.
The Ottoman Empire conquered much that was once Roman and only disappeared after World War I.
For sure there have been unsavoury kings and Caesars and more recently, Idi Amin and Pol Pot.
But it seems that democracy with its “rule by the people, for the people” motto has so many times shown itself to be cumbersome, fostering division with progress squelched by short-sightedness and cross-party animosity.
Perhaps these successful tyrants laid aside personal ambition, pitting self, promoting their nation, their people as the vital components of success.
Do we need a tyrant to tie the good components of this country together and so move forward in an uncertain age?
John Williams
Ngongotaha
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