We should put rail before roads

Keep it flexible Sex and subservience War’s waste Radical solutions called for

National MPs complain the Government ‘‘puts rail before roads’’. (Nov 9). The ‘‘evidence’’ is a wish-list and mutterings about congestion costs.

Auckland’s Waterview tunnels cost a lot and achieved a little, for a year or two. Now there is more traffic than ever. This boosts the economy: petrol, cars, crashes . . .

The biggest Wellington gridlock for years was a storm washing out the railway line, not the road. This effect is well-understood: the average peakhour travel-time by car is very close to the average by train. This means:

■ Investing in faster commuter rail reduces road congestion.

■ Investing in roads to ‘‘fix congestion’’ increases congestion, because it attracts rail passengers back to driving.

MPs should look up the DownsThomson Paradox. Before the Government ‘‘gets cracking’’ on State Highway 1 north of O¯ taki, it should see what happens when Transmission Gully opens.

How will the extra traffic get into Wellington, where there is no space for more roads, without wrecking a beautiful city?

Rail freight uses three times less energy than road freight, for the same tonnage; electric rail uses 20 times less. Kerry Wood, Wellington [abridged] Dame Claudia Orange reportedly says (Nov 10): ‘‘We don’t have a constitution. How fragile is our present understanding of rights in our nation without any defined constitution.’’

If by ‘‘defined’’ she means ‘‘written’’ then it is better we don’t hidebound our unwritten constitutional tradition by having a ‘‘defined’’ constitution. Rather, governments should continue to work through the Treaty of Waitangi settlements by negotiation, as they have done for decades now.

Henry Cooke (What NZ can learn from US midterms, Nov 10) points out Americans aren’t naturally more divided or partisan than New Zealanders are, and yet their system has entrenched and encouraged deep divisions in recent years. ‘‘Unlike our evolving democracy, they can’t fix the issues with their system because it has been solidified in a constitution.’’

Let’s avoid such solidification by continuing in the Westminster tradition of an unwritten constitution, and adapting it where necessary to meet New Zealand needs, as has been done with the MMP system.

Lance McEldowney, Melrose Verity Johnson (Why can’t we all learn to be cooler about sex, Nov 9) provides a very readable account of what’s wrong with the way young men in particular find relating to young women so difficult. However, there are no clues as to why this has come about.

Might I suggest that single-sex schooling is one contributory factor? The idea that, from 11 or 12, thousands of boys and girls should receive segregated education at a time when they are growing into young adults is surely quite irrational.

I also believe that religion – whichever one – being principally male dominated, has always pushed women into subservience.

Lastly, there are generations, most obviously at the moment in the US, where 50+ per cent of white women voters are strong supporters of Donald Trump and the egregious, debasing views he expresses about women.

Why? According to research in the States, it’s because these women want to please their (probably redneck) husbands. I do not know how the last factor may be resolved.

David Townsend, Miramar

One’s life is one’s own

Though she didn’t explicitly say so, Melissa Hardy (Letters, Nov 10) came close to implying that one’s life is not one’s own, but belongs to a higher entity.

Though half the New Zealand population has no religious belief, our institutions still show the residual effects of centuries of conditioning by the religious view that suicide is ‘‘selfmurder’’. Indeed, the very word ‘‘commit’’ in reference to suicide is loaded, for it implies the perpetration of an illegal or immoral act.

Though attempted suicide has not been a criminal offence since the Crimes Act of 1961, it is still illegal, for section 41 of that same act (‘‘Prevention of suicide or certain offences’’) states that ‘‘every one is justified in using such force as may be reasonably necessary in order to prevent the commission of suicide’’.

Philip Nitschke’s message is that one’s life is one’s own, and that one has the right to end it when one has had enough. David Goodall was an outstanding exemplar. Having lived an unusually full life, this 104-year-old Australian scientist exercised that fundamental right last May by peacefully ending his own life in Switzerland, listening to his chosen piece of music, Beethoven’s Ode to Joy. Martin Hanson, Nelson The Dominion Post is subject to the NZ Media Council. Complaints must be directed to editor@dompost

.co.nz. If the complainant is unsatisfied with the response, the complaint may be referred to the Media Council, PO Box 10-879, Wellington, 6143 or info@media council.org.nz. Further details at presscouncil.org.nz Email: letters@ dompost.co.nz

No attachments. Write: Letters to the Editor, PO Box 1297, Wellington, 6040. Letters must include the writer’s full name, home address and daytime phone number. Letters should not exceed 200 words and must be exclusive. Letters may be edited for clarity and length. Whilst I acknowledge the need to honour with gratitude and respect those whose lives were sacrificed in military conflicts, I am haunted by Edwin Starr’s lyrics, ‘‘War, huh, yeah, what is it good for? . . .’’

Pamela Ferguson, Waikanae Beach

Let’s get te reo right

As a resident of Martin Square, I particularly enjoyed Sunday’s Armistice Centennial celebrations at Pukeahu National War Memorial Park. A fitting tribute to those who gave so much, and worthy acknowledgement of the suffering and sacrifice made by many who remained at home.

Both the governor-general and the prime minister acquitted themselves well with their te reo introductions; indeed the whole event had a genuine bicultural feel which all Kiwis could be proud of. At one stage there was a confetti cannon which fired out a message of hope, peace etc.

Whilst walking my dog yesterday, I picked up a piece of confetti with the word tu¯ manko (sic) printed on it. Who was in charge of the spellcheck? If we are going to use te reo, one might reasonably tu¯ manako that we could get it right.

Andy Ferguson, Wellington

Nafta negotiations

Rob Harris (Letters, Nov 10) fulminates about former US Democratic president Barack Obama’s ‘‘crazy lopsided Nafta that exported the jobs in the first place’’. Nafta developed out of an idea put forward in 1979 by Ronald Reagan and the full agreement, including the United States, Canada and Mexico, was negotiated in 1994 when George H W Bush was president. Both of course were Republicans.

Clive Litt, Paremata

Strike action overdue

With Wellington teachers on strike this Friday, some grumble of a return to the bad old days of union strength. It will be ironic if they make that complaint on a Friday, considering it was the labour movement which won us the weekend.

Inequality is out of control in New Zealand, and it is wonderful to see workers confident enough to stand up for ourselves again. Strikes are a temporary inconvenience that lift wages for everyone. This wave of action is long overdue. Alastair Reith, Brooklyn Disappointingly, politicians from all parties seem to have had at best a lukewarm response to the New Zealand Drug Foundation’s recent report. Politicians can’t say on the one hand that the war on drugs has failed and then advocate for more of the same.

Big problems need radical solutions. The Drug Foundation has offered these solutions. We just need all our politicians from all parties to show courage and leadership to bring about the change necessary. More of the same doesn’t change anything. Let’s be smart and try another direction.

Tim Pate, Newtown