Commonwealth Games freetoair coverage irks

I HAVE been watching (well, trying to watch) the freetoair Commonwealth Games coverage.

It is difficult to follow any one sport as there is constant interruption from ad breaks, show promotions and totally unnecessary switching from one sport to another. Many events involving Kiwis are not even covered.

I realise not everything can be covered with only three channels but surely we can get better than this? Viewers should be able to watch an entire half of a game, such as hockey for example, without interruption. I shudder to think what any other future sports coverage will be like.

If this is an example of modern freetoair sports coverage, give me Sky any time. It may cost but the coverage is near complete.

Johannes Brienesse

Oamaru

DCC longterm plan

‘‘BOTH Sides Now’’ from Hilary Calvert (ODT, 5.4.18) should be compulsory reading for everyone, particularly our mayor, all councillors and council staff.

It is concise, covers all relevant details in the plan that we have been ‘‘lumbered’’ with and presents us with an option in addition to the two listed.

In particular, the muchneeded pool for Mosgiel and the Taieri should be undertaken with speed, and paid for by the council.

The rates paid for the area in question are much higher than any other housing area and, by the graph on the same page as Hilary’s article, these homes are showing an increase in value of more than 9%, which will mean a very much bigger rates payment than they have at present. Graeme Brown

Wakari

HILARY Calvert has expressed real concerns, not just about the LTP but the reality of the thinking of the council in coming to the conclusions they have (ODT, 5.4.18).

It seems that council moves in a parallel universe to that which is available to real people, both in terms of how they think plus their attitude to monies. It is the where it comes from and the importance of it to the average citizen that is of concern.

As Ms Calvert explains concisely, there is no connection between reality and the LTP as far as costs go. There are no holds between the council’s ideas of what is the best for the city and the citizens’ financial welfare, in terms of the ideas of making progress, even if it means filching great amounts from each purse as it goes by.

It is, as she points out, not a matter of whether we have a $20 million bridge or any alternative, nor whether we get a whole new layout of the inner city, regardless of costs. There is the longderided maintenance of the three waters systems, which are really more important to the average citizen than these grand systems that are to require a 10% rate increase next year, followed by some 4 to 5% in each of the following years.

Ms Calvert went to the trouble of pointing out the effect of those increases against the increases one could expect from the normal sources of income the citizens experience. It shows that there will be serious hardship for many if this LTP is implemented as detailed.

Deep thinking ought to be given by the council before executing the most serious aspects of this LTP, even if in their ignorance people simply give the OK for it all. Calvin Oaten

The Gardens

Just common sense

MY mind boggles when I read

‘‘Obesity route starts young’’ (ODT,

29.3.18). The first sentence reads, ‘‘Worldfirst research by the University of Otago’’, etc, etc. It is a longestablished fact that being active from an early age has longterm benefits. Nothing new here, except for the waste of time and money on something that’s been known for decades.

‘‘Worldfirst research’’?

John Leslie

Waitati