Letters: Cullen one of NZ's best

Your letter writers Alan Davidson and G.R. Scown are two gentlemen who are determined not to let the facts get in the way of a good (or should that be bad?) story — refer to the Chronicle of February 27.

Davidson states, "Financial wizard Sir Michael Cullen can make billions vanish in a puff of smoke. The last Labour Government made a strong economy and tax surpluses vanish within six years."

This is incorrect; in fact, the opposite is true. The Helen Clark Labour Government inherited an economy in a parlous state having suffered the body blows of Rogernomics, the "Mother of all Budgets", and Ruthanasia.

Cullen, one of the best Finance Ministers NZ has ever had, turned this around completely, running continuous Budget surpluses. No tax surpluses disappeared. He reduced government debt below $20 billion, started the "Cullen Fund" to help pay for National Superannuation, and created KiwiSaver.

The politician who made billions disappear was Sir (he of the Order of the Hopping Kangaroo) John Key. His tax cuts for the wealthy made billions disappear into the back pockets of the rich and super-rich. These he paid for by increasing GST, something he had promised not to do, and borrowing hand over fist, running continuous Budget deficits.

He managed to increase government debt to almost $90b and, by some strange coincidence, he himself is one of the super-rich.

Mr Scown seems to think Rogernomics was a good thing. Once again, indeed it was for the rich and super-rich, but for ordinary Kiwis it was an unmitigated disaster, including such evils as GST on food, suicides (which Mr Scown recognises), the leaky building syndrome (with the removal and non-enforcement of building regulations) etc, etc, etc.

It is fortunate we again have a Government that is running Budget surpluses after the borrow-and-spend policies of the previous National administration.

ELWYN EVANS
Gonville

Isis recruits

Regarding your article about Shamina Begum (February 20), there is now a call for those young people who joined and fought for Isis to be locked out from their home countries.

After the Anzac survivors of the trenches returned to their homelands after World War I, many admitted they went for a "bit of an adventure" or "foreign travel". Some also mentioned that they went because they felt coerced by social pressure and their compatriots' patriotic vitriol. Almost all were appalled by what they experienced.

During the Spanish Civil War, many foreigners joined up to fight for the Republican or Monarchist cause. Returning from both conflicts, many withdrew into solitude and some became anti-war advocates. Seumas McKee wrote about his experiences in I Was a Franco Soldier, admitting his folly for joining a fascist army all because it was Catholic. McKee was Irish. Others, like Ernest Hemingway and George Orwell, became great, opinion-changing writers.

It seems to me that, in the past decade, young men and women were also enticed to current military enterprises by clever posters or wilful and manipulative online propaganda. It is probable many Western young men and woman who left the comfort of their working or middle-class existence and spent time with their Islamic State hosts realised what a dummy they had been sold.

However, a lockout can have the opposite effect. By not allowing them reintegration, we may push them to further radicalisation, even if they decided their initial choice was stupid. Also, by removing their citizenship and passports, we make them other people's problem. If we allow them back, after facing possible criminal charges, they get a second chance, and may even teach others about their folly.

Of course, others who found an avenue for their bloodlust, may want to come home to die a martyr's death blowing up people. With those who want to do us harm at least, we know who they are and we can keep an eye on them.

Remember what a difference it may have made if Adolf Hitler had been allowed to enter Vienna's Academy of Fine Arts instead of being cited as "unfit for painting [pictures]" and thrown back on an unsuspecting and ill-prepared world.

CHRISTODOULOS MOISA
Durie Hill

Road design

Good news. The asylum escapees have all been recaptured and now work for the Whanganui District Council on roading and traffic design; working on bike lanes, traffic lights, concrete islands to congest traffic, building bike lanes that no one uses, concrete islands to damage as many vehicles as possible. You would say it has been a raging success.

C WISE
Whanganui

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