Lime the new green?

Cycling and electric scooters are generally acknowledged as being good all round ( Editorial, November 24). Like it or not, the reality is that these activities will only increase, so we just have to live with them.

That being so, and at the risk of being too simplistic, I suggest that to achieve reasonable safety where there are no cycle lanes, the authorities paint white lines down the centre of the footpaths and require cyclists to be nearest to the roadway.

Most suburban street footpaths are wide enough and foot traffic is not as frequent as it was, so the sooner a trial, at least, is run, the better.

What other option could be cheaper or more effective? James Young (Takapuna, Auckland) The Editorial perpetuates the false impression that electric scooters are good for the environment by referring to them as “environmentally friendly” and appealing to the “green-conscious”.

Although the scooters are a low-emission form of transport, the business practice that makes them available is not. “Juicers” – those responsible for collecting, charging and redistributing them – reportedly race across Auckland in vehicles large enough to collect up to 12 scooters, competing to be first to reach them. In a recent NZ Herald article, one juicer describes making a 40-minute trip only for someone else to reach the scooter before him, another talks about driving around in circles and there is a description of a “diesel-belching truck” collecting scooters.

Allocating juicers an area for servicing scooters and eliminating the competitive element would significantly reduce the emissions produced.

We need to make good decisions as we face the onrush of technology, including looking carefully at the environmental effects, and not be seduced by each new gimmick. Lesley Young (Mt Albert, Auckland)

UBI A SUPER IDEA

There seem to be a couple of different conversations going on at the same time in relation to superannuation (“Retiring with dignity”, November 10).

The Labour Party in opposition led one with the establishment of the Future of Work Commission, which talked about robots and the disappearance of jobs. This thread leads to consideration of a universal basic income (UBI) and the need to ensure that work is shared around, inequality is reversed and everyone has a decent life.

The heavy work that older people can’t do is reduced, and presumably use of robots would mean productivity and national income don’t fall.

If one follows this logic, then a person on NZ Super is effectively on a UBI. So the conversation about making Super start later is meaningless. Many more people will be on the UBI than are currently on Super. Or am I missing something?

A UBI comes with benefits that include the opportunity for people to volunteer, try new things, exercise more and care for children, rather than rest on laurels or backsides. Much like the lives of the “young old” on Super. Helga Arlington (Sandringham, Auckland)

HARSH HISTORY LESSON

Katrin Eickhorst ( Letters, November 24) is selective in her lament that history has left the German people hard done by. Yes, there was the famous 1914 Christmas carol singing across the front line in Belgium, which Germany had invaded a few months earlier. An apology and withdrawal would have meant much more to history than exchanging candles across the mud.

She writes that after the 1918 armistice, “Germans attempting to repair the battlefields and rebuild their lives were stung

by sanctions”. These sanctions were in part to pay for the costs of repairing war damage in Belgium and elsewhere.

The lesson is, don’t start wars and then complain when you are beaten. Germans better get used to being reminded of the 12-year existence of the Nazis’ “1000-year Reich” for at least another generation or two – it’s one of those inconvenient truths of real history. Alan Smith (Lower Hutt)

THANKS FOR THE MEMORY

David Hill’s story about Miss Finnis (“Memory lane”, November 24), who lost her love in World War I and subsequently never married, reminded me of my music teacher at Henderson High School in 1959.

This lady was also formidable and could not abide any pupil who liked the popular music of the day, which was, of course, most of us. Only classical music was good enough for Miss W, and she made sure