Letters: Don’t try to tinker with transport, just build a new waterfront stadium for Auckland
Transport supports idea of new stadium
Wake up, Auckland. We don’t need to tinker with train and bus services to Eden Park for concerts at the venue, situated in an area out on a limb.
What we do need to do is to bite the bullet and build a stadium in the central city where ferries, trains and buses already serve.
Sell Eden Park (our so-called national stadium), which we ratepayers don’t own even though our rates help keep it running, and build a fantastic and spectacular stadium on the harbour we can take pride in and also attract more concerts, sports events and festivals and the like and really make it New Zealand’s national stadium, one all of the country can be proud of.
Warwick Squire, Devonport.
Political blame game
I watched Nicola Willis and Barbara Edmonds on Q&A on Sunday, and while it may be boring, it has to be said again: National continues to trot out the blame game in lieu of its own inability to solve problems itself. In psychology, it’s called the illusory truth effect. It’s a human tendency to believe false, unverified or exaggerated information simply because we have read or heard it multiple times. Unfortunately, it does not fix our current problems, which are well documented.
Promises that things will get better tomorrow are getting more than hollow. We all know tomorrow never comes.
Jack Tame did manage to get the pair to agree to do something constructive together. His plea for a knighthood went unheeded as they are reserved for Prime Ministers.
Reg Dempster, Albany.
Driver distractions
I smile when I see all the election billboards as they distract drivers. I can imagine some drivers making comments while looking at the boards.
We are told to watch the road, so this is the biggest joke of all.
Marilyn Cure, Pāpāmoa.
Backing billionaires
The Green Party abhors billionaires and, judging from some of your correspondents, so do many others.
Yet they disregard the philanthropy which flows from them. You can easily check the generosity of Sam Morgan, Sir Stephen Tindall, Graeme Hart, Hugh Green, George Mason and many others, funding a multitude of facilities which would otherwise have had to be paid for by other means.
They probably have health insurance and aren’t a burden on the public system, send their children to private schools and they pay 15% on whatever they buy here.
I agree with Sir John Key. Slagging off at wealthy people can be counterproductive in more ways than one.
Mike Brooke, New Plymouth.
An insider’s view
Reading the Herald on Sunday society insider’s salivating accounts of the extravagant and luxurious lifestyles of our billionaires surely helps us more ordinary citizens understand why the Harts and the Mowbrays so generously donate to Act and National. It would be just dreadful if they had to pay a bit more tax.
Samantha Cunningham, Henderson.
Rally coverage
Coverage of Saturday’s Palestine solidarity rally at Britomart Square and a counter-rally by Israel supporters highlighted sharply contrasting views.
A longtime member of a solidarity group said it had held weekly rallies since October 2023 to remember civilians killed in Gaza. A pro-Israel supporter accused the group of supporting terrorists.
Green MP Ricardo Menendez March, who attended the rally, said human dignity was “not up for negotiation” and called for an unapologetic stand against genocide. Act MP Simon Court, who supported Israel, said it was very unhelpful to describe civilian casualties in a war zone as genocide, adding that Israel had tried to minimise them.
Court’s claim contrasts with conclusions by human rights organisations and genocide scholars, including Israeli experts Omer Bartov and Raz Segal, who have described Israel’s actions in Gaza as genocide. More than 20,000 children have been killed, and thousands more have suffered physical and mental scars. Satellite imagery and reporting indicate that most buildings in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed, while families search the rubble for loved ones.
Dana A. Patterson, Ōneroa.
Time for a new President
Look at what President Trump has done to the world order since becoming President of the United States with his deceit and lies.
He has an egotistic and narcissistic personality in his belief that he is always right and also that he is worthy of a Nobel Peace Prize.
I believe that America needs a new President before more damage is done to American and world society.
His and Netanyahu’s attack on Iran is no different from Putin’s attack on Ukraine.
David F. Little, Whangārei.
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