Move over, Shrek and co

As we start moving out of our Chernobyl phase and into the real world I worry about the inevitable haircut crisis that is coming. Those of us who remember the ‘‘Swinging Sixties’’ recall the dire warnings of our short-back-and-sides fathers: long-haired men undermine the natural order of things, society falls apart amid sex and drugs and rock’n’roll, pornography, feminism, student riots, Communism, poetry reading and all manner of terrors. Oh, how things have changed. Now, for my g-gg-generation, the tables have turned. I predict things getting a bit hairy as lines of men wait for their turn in the chair.

Dean Donoghue, Papamoa Beach

The Government will need to ensure nobody is going barhopping under level 2. You will never stop the idiots who break the rules unless you make the fines harsher, stop giving warnings and start prosecuting. David Mackenzie, Canterbury

Any transition to alert level 2 must be based on the medical health facts and not on hype around public gatherings and breaches of level 3. The public are not fools and deserve far better than being treated as such.

Active and hospital Covid-19 cases are now in very low single figures. The supposedly at-risk public health system is certainly no longer at risk.

We are told by the authorities that we are streets ahead of the rest of the world in handling this pandemic. If this is correct the Government and authorities must reflect and compensate for the pain inflicted on our country by returning New Zealanders to our full rightful civil liberties without any further unwarranted bureaucratic delays from Wellington. Andrew Williams, Taupo¯

The editorial ‘‘Peters well placed to say: Make it happen’’ (May 3) is surprising.

Medical advice that ignores realities should be questioned and a trans-Tasman bubble is very likely to be in the interests of both countries. But to cast Winston Peters as the nation’s saviour because he has advocated the obvious. Really?

The NZ First Foundation is currently under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office. Numerous office holders, including the party’s former president, have resigned over the workings of the foundation. Peters has tried to distance himself but no decision of significance is made within that party without his approval.

To retain ‘‘the baubles of office’’ Peters has compromised his party’s principles on many issues. With an election pending he is now distancing himself from his coalition partner. Yet it is being suggested that Peters is the man to ‘‘make it happen’’. If there is not a more trustworthy alternative we are in deep trouble.

Bruce Anderson, Christchurch

Star journalist

Tova O’Brien (‘‘Living at peak troll’’, Focus, May 3) is the only worthwhile journalist on television. She is amazing the way she holds MPs and others to account.

I notice that when Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is giving a press briefing she calls O’Brien by her name. That is a ploy Ardern uses – keeping your friends close and your enemies closer.

O’Brien is a strong enough person not to get sucked into Ardern’s web, unlike Simon Bridges, who recently fell for the Ardern offer to lead the epidemic response committee.

Ron Williams, Christchurch

Fuel rip-off

The price of crude oil has decreased by 29 per cent in 14 years yet the price of petrol at the pump rose 36 per cent.

Just since November of last year alone we have seen the price of crude oil go down by a whopping 76.9 per cent and yet at the pump there has only been a reduction of 19.2 per cent.

The sheep aren’t the only ones being fleeced, it seems.

Maybe with so many Kiwis feeling the pinch financially, the Government could consider a price freeze on petrol and power if the companies that supply these essentials cannot be trusted to provide them at a fair price.

Steve Plowman, Wellington

Charities collect

It is not only businesses that are taking advantage of the loose rules around applying for the wages subsidy (‘‘Kiwifruit wage claims obscene’’, News, May 3). If the Government had required evidence of wealth as well as a now debatable decline in income as the primary eligibility criteria, then there would have been more than enough money to support those businesses that genuinely need it.

Charities and societies have taken advantage to an incredible degree, with 10 charities and societies claiming $13 million while having $738m in investments.

Michael Gousmett, Rangiora

Tourism costs

The exhortations to ‘‘support local’’ are all very laudable, and I hope that most of us will follow this suggestion.

However, I think this should be tempered with criticism of many of those who offer local services. Given the over-priced