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The technology races forward, making life easier, more customer friendly. Really?

I have recently needed to contact a number of organisations, either at their request or for information. Unfailingly, they are delighted to receive my call, even perhaps using it for “training purposes”. Invariably after this, they tell me how busy they are and that my call is so valuable that it will be returned asap.

In one incident, my call was answered after five hours, so late on a Friday afternoon as to be of little value.

With the seeming failure to employ enough staff to field inquiries and so on, the staff employed are often skilled enough to answer a phone or an email but not able to answer questions related to the organisation employing them.

Then comes the music and the reiteration of the organisation’s mantra of being there to serve. Customers, clients, patients are at the heart of most enterprises but seem to be the smallest cog in the machine.

Kafkaesque scenarios of trying to explain one’s dilemma to multiple, caring listeners and the many “songs of self praise” by the company, organisation or government department would give the old master of the labyrinthian a chuckle.

Barbara Matthews, Onehunga.

Populists

The word “populist” is usually grossly misused today. A populist is a person who is working for justice and due influence of those downtrodden by the system. Trump supporters, by contrast, know that they are enabling the new god-class of billionaires even when it disempowers them. Trump and his supporters are not populists; they might be called demagogues as they are supporters of a fundamentally exploitist system which looks down on the poor, our ecosystem, and any kind of “other”.

Similarly, Boris Johnson and Brexit are intended to make Britain Great Again by rejuvenating the old feelings of empire, even though that 500-year period may be crashing into the dustbin of history as evidenced by the Brexit fiasco.

In New Zealand, an example of populists might be the kaitiaki (land protectors) at Ihuma¯ tao. Old demagogue Winston Peters seems to see his unearned title of populist threatened by them, which would be why he called them “imposters”. We shouldn’t be surprised to note he supports Johnson and Brexit.

Richard Keller, Wellington .

OCR cuts

The editorial “Why OCR cuts don’t work anymore” ( Herald, August 7) nailed it. When borrowing money at almost no cost while savers get nothing for their hardearned deposits becomes the norm in order to “stimulate” the economy, New Zealand has entered the realms of a slide into recession.

All the big Australian banks will survive but fools will borrow too much and some elderly savers relying on a reasonable rate of interest to supplement their pensions will be poverty stricken.

Why does New Zealand’s Reserve Bank have to follow world trends like a sheep influenced by big overseas corporates when all it boils down to is robbing Peter savers to pay Paul borrowers in a fake fix?

Coralie van Camp, Remuera.

Alien contact

It is a sad reflection on our view of mankind that the American Association for the Advancement of Science in America should express concern at the wisdom of advertising our presence to extra-terrestrials (Herald, August 6). Clearly, its members think that any other races out in space will bear the same inherent characteristics as ourselves; an insatiable desire to conquer and control others. Perhaps we should start to refer to ourselves as man-not-so-kind.

Gerald Payman, Mt Albert.

Covenant protection

A possible solution to the Ihuma¯ tao dispute could be for the legal owners of the land to apply for a QEII National Trust Covenant over the land. This would preserve this historic land in perpetuity for the nation, in private title which can be sold to any citizen, and with public access with the permission of the owner. Maintenance by the owner would be assured and further development, particularly for housing, precluded.

Chris Thomas, Morrinsville.

Ideology driven

The world, including New Zealand, is in the grip of the murderous expressions of angry, ideologically driven young men.

It is true that Americans have a predilection and obsession for guns. However that is a side factor. New Zealand hasn’t, and look what happened here.

There are universal elements in the spectre of “domestic terrorism”. These murderous acts are being perpetrated by young men and they are ideologically driven. They represent a particular performance of masculinity and acts justified through a belief system. Until some hard truths about such a dynamic are faced, we are all running blind.

The disciplines that might shed light into what is happening include philosophy, theology, anthropology and sociology — that is to say, the humanities. This entire field has been sidelined and run down in most secular universities. In addition, religion in the west; that seeks to answer fundamental questions of meaning, worth, purpose and hope — has been locked down to the exclusive performance for the few and relegated to another world, place and time. No sociocultural and religious-ideological movement occurs in a vacuum. Domestic terrorism is such a movement.

Russell Hoban, Ponsonby.

Car-less days

If the Government and councils are so concerned as to announce a “climate emergency” followed by the placement of impositions on our major export earners, why hasn’t a car-less days scheme been reintroduced so that urban folk contribute equally to the reduction of emissions?

The potential for a 20 per cent reduction in car emissions, along with a considerable reduction of cars on the road that would relieve traffic congestion in Auckland in particular, partnered with an increase in the acceptance of public transport and carpooling networks, seems a logical action in an emergency situation. Could it be that the politicians are more interested in their popularity than they are in their proclaimed emergency?

I M Phillips, Muriwai Beach.

Sensible eating

We were impressed with the letter by Gary Bridger of Greenlane (Weekend Herald, August 3) about sensible eating habits and would appreciate it if he could let us know how to purchase the book he mentioned, What the Fat by Auckland dietician Dr Caryn Zinn and Professor Grant Schofield, both senior lecturers at AUT. What a shame that this information is not more widely available. We have looked at online book stores to no avail.

Fairlie Blake, Waihi. * Editor’s note: Try www.whatthefatbook.com

US spending

A huge influence on the apparent prosperity in the US is that government expenditure exceeds government income by over 20 per cent.

Defence spending is greater than the sum of China, Russia and the EU. This creates huge employment, the tax concessions for companies has allowed the companies to buy back shares and increase dividends, both of which encourage the recipients to increase their outgoings and a virtuous circle evolves.

How is it financed? Government borrowings, so much so that within years the interest bill will exceed defence spending. The Government dare not increase interest rates. The debt is so great that it is inconceivable it will ever be repaid. Rolled over yes, or so the Government hopes.

Imagine if the NZ Government expenditure exceeded income by the same percentage. Every sealed road could have a median barrier, hospitals could be upgraded, essential services provided by teachers, nurses, police could be better remunerated, the homeless housed.

The nursery rhyme “Humpty Dumpty” fits the likely US scenario like a hand in a glove. David Reid, Tindalls Beach.

Endorsements

I was amused to read a number of articles on social influencers. As a person who is not on social media, am I the last human to say that? I don’t have followers but I do have some readers from time to time.

Although George Clooney seems a nice person and I do drink the coffee he spruiks, there is no connection between the two matters for me. If I buy something it’s because I need it or want it, not because some pretty person (sorry George) tells me to. Dennis Fitzgerald, Melbourne, Australia.