Buck passed on station QR posters

Further to G Conway’s letter about QR poster placements (Jan 20), it was mentioned on the radio that this was particularly noticeable at Wellington Railway Station.

As a rail commuter, I have noticed that between my train, and the station entrance on Bunny St, there are no tracer app posters available to scan. The only posters at the station are at the information and ticket counters, which are not conveniently located for most commuters, unless they are buying a ticket.

When I contacted Metlink, it advised that it has posters only in the areas under its jurisdiction, and that I needed to contact KiwiRail, which is responsible for the platforms and station egress points. KiwiRail referred me back to Metlink.

Surely it is not too difficult to resolve this issue, especially when businesses are required to display the posters; and some cafes now have them on almost every table.

Some clarity on who is responsible would be good.

John Sherborne, Tawa

Unjustified criticism

John Bishop (Smiles all very well but we need bold vision, Jan 21) rather messed his own nest by lauding Donald Trump in the same breath as Michael Joseph Savage and Norman Kirk, especially in the light of the ex-president’s many failings and documented lies.

Bishop’s criticisms of Jacinda Ardern are far from justified in respect of serious issues which had their roots in the last National government’s tenure. Following on from the self-contrived resignation of John Key, a forgettable person who was more smiles and syrup-laden words than a real leader, National has been running around like a headless chook.

Rather than use National’s selfappointed ‘‘born to rule’’ tactics on the new majority government, Bishop would be better employed in promoting the complete restructuring of the conservative movement in New Zealand, as happened following their big defeat in 1935.

Don Hutton, Christchurch

Government serves us

Professor in Taxation Jonathan Barrett claims that Government funds are not

’taxpayer money’ (Jan 20). Of course they are. Barrett just has his cause and effect muddled, and in so doing unfortunately advocates a totalitarian state. We the people are the first cause from whom all wealth originates and with whom all wealth must remain.

The government is the servant of the people: the people give the government money to administer for the collective good. The laws are just the rules according to which that happens. If the money effectively becomes government property, then tax is theft.

It is like when you take out a mortgage to buy a house: you live in it and maintain it; but if you sell it the bank gets its money back, or if you don’t make the repayments the bank repossesses it. Regardless of laws regarding title, it was effectively the bank’s money and the bank’s house. If taxation laws do not accommodate this concept, then the laws must change. Barrie Davis, Island Bay

Honour in sport

Now that the fortress at the Gabba has been breached by a team of second stringers from India – who have inflicted a series defeat on Australia, for good measure – other cricket teams from around the world should be able to replicate this feat.

Team India has shown that real strength comes from quiet courage, that resilience stands resolute in the face of intimidation, and that only brittle bullies resort to sledging because they lack the capability to otherwise transform intent into victory.

Australian cricketers need to realise that playing with dignity brings appreciation for your country whether you win or lose, that playing by the rules is intrinsic to sport, that the sports field is not an arena for battle, and that you should respect your opponent because your opponent gives you the opportunity to develop and demonstrate your skills.

The tragedy for organised sports in this age is that commercialism has brought with it the win-at-any-cost mentality, which brings sports – and the sportsperson’s nation, by extension – into disrepute again and again.

It is time we restored honour into sports and stopped snarling at each other simply because we’re rivals.

Anand Kochunny, Karori

Terrorist attacks

Jonathan Depree’s letter (Jan 20) demonstrates ignorance about Martin Niemo¨ ller, dangerous movements in contemporary United States and New Zealand, and American history.

The Centre for Strategic and International Studies, hardly a ‘‘leftie’’ organisation, issued a report in June 2020 examining terrorist incidents in the United States since 1994.

It concluded that ‘‘right-wing attacks and plots accounted for the majority of all terrorist incidents’’, which had ‘‘grown substantially’’ since 2014. According to the report, right-wing terrorists accounted for 335 deaths and left-wing violence for 22 deaths.

In the case of American history, more than 600,000 died because of the Confederate effort to defend institutional white supremacy in the form of slavery. Lynchings and other violence killed many more African Americans over the course of the late 19th and 20th centuries. Who built a gallows on Capitol Hill on January 6, 2021?

The right-wing Capitol invaders included Neo-Nazis as evidenced by symbols, white supremacists waving Confederate banners, gun rights advocate and militias. Neimo¨ ller, a critic of the most atrocious form of white supremacy in recent history, would hardly have agreed with Depree’s claim of equivalence between such dangerous groups and those who protested over police killings. Dolores Janiewski, Highbury

Presidential pardons

Charles Manson, Jeffrey Epstein and Phil Spector, who all succumbed during the Trump presidency, must be turning in their graves (Trump pardons ex-strategist Steve Bannon, rapper Lil Wayne, dozens of others, Jan 21).

If only they could have hung on a bit longer the irrationality of the outgoing president could have presented them with a real chance of a pardon.

Meanwhile, Sirhan Sirhan, Mark Chapman and Ghislaine Maxwell have every reason to be feeling very aggrieved at their continued incarcerations. Crispin Walters, Chapel Hill, Queensland

Politicising language

O¯ po¯ tiki councillor Louis Rapihana has signalled that he will complain to the race relations commissioner after giving a speech in his own language to a room of attendees who couldn’t understand him (Councillor to lay complaint after use of te reo at Grey Power meeting was labelled an ’insult’, Jan 20).

It is a good thing that he’s using his own language, but I agree with Grey Power member Siva Panadam’s comment that an English translation should have been provided.

Politicising language is a losing game for everybody. Outbursts like that of Rapihana don’t encourage me to learn Ma¯ ori; rather they reassure me that it was the right decision to learn other languages instead.

Sam Russell, Belgrade, Serbia

What next?

Is Tiwai Point a sign of new times ((Aluminium smelter to stay open until end of 2024, Jan 14). What next, the banks? Power companies? Private land speculators?

Graham Howell, Newtown