One way to shut down PM mania

Headline in Weekend Herald, February 10: “Jacindamania. Will it ever end?” Of course it will. When and only when the nation’s largest media publication stops reporting on the banal publicity-seeking antics for which it would appear is its current modis operandi for which it appears to be gleefully sucked into relating, and in its place starts relaying what is of importance that is happening in the nation.

Much of it will be news to the PM, I am sure. For instance, the how, where, and when of the billion trees to be planted. The how, why, and when the 25000 young people out of work all being taught how to become trades people in the construction industry. The how, why, and when the immigration numbers will be cut to 30000 per year-plus nor minus.

All of these pre-election promises, on which so many unthinking people voted, the latter being a sop to Winston Peters to inveigle his support.

Or are we to have inquiries on all of these promises to see if they are realistic?

This minority Government finds itself with the Treasury benches, totally unprepared to carry out even one of the “promises” other than to rename them as “aspirations”.

Then and only then Sir, the Jacindamania will cease.

The answer to your own question lies in your own hands. A.D. Kirby, Papamoa. we must look back to a moment that could have ended this genocide. In August 2012, the leader of the free world Barack Obama maintained that Syrian dictator Assad would be held accountable for using chemical weapons against civilians. He spoke of a “red line”, and that there would be “enormous consequences”.

Unfortunately, his rhetoric was just that. He did nothing and the death toll in Syria has reached over 400,000. Moreover, Assad has a new partner in crime. Putin’s Russia now has a sphere of influence in Syria and is using its military to continue the slaughter of women and children.

Criticism of Obama is viewed through the prism of identity politics. Consequently, most people will never accept any negativity towards him. However, I ask these people to focus on the victims. The bottom line is that Obama with the backing of the UN had an opportunity to stop the killing.

Brent Innes, Birkenhead. Charter Schools should have no place in NZ education. They are an overseas market construct, and only serve to fragment and impoverish our public education system. They are here, as Chris Hipkins correctly states, because of National’s Right-wing ideological principles (in this case, Privatisation of Everything). Also its ploy of “appeasing Act’s wishes”, in whose name Charter Schools were foisted on us.

It was part of National’s attack on the education system, and its resolve to break the strong teacher unions. The strategy involved constantly changing ministers and key policy disruption — introducing experimental school systems based on hugely flawed analysis, and issuing spurious and specious misinformation to the public, demonising teachers and asserting it was all about “improving and rewarding teacher quality” and “what parents wanted”.

It has resulted, over a decade, in unbearable workloads for teachers and staff, a critical teacher shortage (who’d want to be a teacher under such pressures?) and our country’s continuous slide down all major international education performance tables.

Stop the rot now. Put our taxpayer resources into making a better PUBLIC education system — better funded, better resourced, better maintained. NZ is too small for the kind of fragmentation Charter Schools represent.

Clyde Scott, Birkenhead. sequences of failing to help.

In recent decades wages have steadily fallen with relation to productivity and inflation such that more people are unable to earn enough to meet daily needs even if employed.

High housing costs, illness and other adverse events (including contraceptive failure), and the temptation to use high interest loans to manage, contribute to people becoming poorer. This results in chronic stress that impacts on their health and wellbeing and that of their children, and the resulting transience that often occurs leads to changes of schools, disrupting education.

All these make it difficult to break out of the poverty cycle. Should we abandon these children to their fate? If we fail to ensure they are healthy and able to achieve to their full potential, our prospects as a society will be lessened.

Karla Rix-Trott, Raglan. If congestion is so bad in Auckland, why is the council extending footpaths and cutting main arterial routes to the city from two lanes each way to one lane? My drive from Titirangi to the city through Mt Albert was extra quick after the Waterview Tunnel was opened. Now it’s a nightmare, with only one lane each way in Mt Albert. They created a complete bottleneck in New Lynn as well with their changes a few years ago. At first I thought it was through incompetence, but now I’m wondering if they want to increase congestion so they can bring in a congestion tax. Either way, it’s frustrating.

Kristie Rogers, Titirangi. Your editorial describes the removal of Charter Schools as “knee-jerk” and “sad”. It is not.There was no public mandate for their introduction. They were not even in the Act Party’s manifesto. They are a stalking horse for the privatisation of education and that is why Act, and elements in the National Party, wanted them.

They do nothing that cannot be done under the “special character” provisions of the Education Act, and most of them will now return under that umbrella. Charter Schools were always unnecessary, and dangerous to the health of the state school system. They were imposed on an unwitting public who knew nothing about them and did not ask for them. Now they are gone again. That is what should happen.

Gavin Kay, Remuera.