Plus Caption Competition, Quips & Quotes, Life in NZ and 10 Quick Questions

“After the fall” (April 21) was fascinating and enlightening. I now understand why sport has become such a huge part of people’s lives.

The camaraderie of sports fans is a welcome relief from the powerlessness many people feel in the face of the scary state of “the real world”.

Sport is viewed as a healthy activity, and a better escape than addictions like alcohol and drugs. Pity the poor players, who may be financially rich but have become the playthings of the public, robbed of privacy and derided.

I wonder, though, what the world would be like if some of the energy, enthusiasm and money spent on sport was redirected to solving some of the planet’s problems. Clare Dudley (Tuateawa)

CURBING ROAD DEATHS

May I suggest that we need to take a deep breath on the road-death statistics ( Editorial, April 21)? In 1997, our population was 3.8 million; by 2007, it was 4.3 million; and last year, it was 4.8 million. The road deaths for each of those years were 539, 376 and 333 respectively. Registeredcar numbers for each of those years were about 2.6 million, 3.8 million and 4.1 million.

Thus, the deaths per million population were 141, 87 and 69. The deaths per million cars were 207, 99 and 81 respectively.

In other words, over the past 20 years, the number of deaths on our roads per capita has halved and more than halved per car. We just need to keep doing what we are doing with safety work, better cars and tougher driving standards.

This should keep improving the total figures. Warwick Bishop (Richmond) Associate Transport Minister Julie Anne Genter’s goal of zero road deaths is well intentioned but will never be achieved. The answer to reducing the road toll, as the Editorial says, is more considerate and responsible driving by each of us. Brian Collins (Aro Valley, Wellington)

BASSETT HOUNDING

Michael Bassett may be correct in saying that Jacinda Ardern doesn’t know much about some areas of international relations ( Shelf Life, April 21), but he incorrectly says that she doesn’t have time to go out and learn. On the contrary, it is he who is running out of time to learn. He appears to be falling into the category of curmudgeonly old white men. Brenda Nightingale (Diamond Harbour) Michael Bassett revealed himself to be the kind of person many of us older people fear becoming. When asked for his view of race relations, he said, “We have this rather extraordinary liberal preoccupation with everything Māori while we push Pakeha culture aside. Māori are having a whale of a ride on the back of the Treaty.”

Oh, dear. Such views were being expressed in the 1970s and 80s and were found wanting. Bassett trots them out as if they’re gems of wisdom he has recently come up with.

The statistics don’t show that Māori are the captains of industry or occupying our most expensive homes. They remain at the top of all the worst health and jail statistics.

God help me if I am ever content to express views held 30 or 40 years ago. David Shapcott (Mt Albert, Auckland) Michael Bassett’s comments on the seemingly cobbled-together nature of the Government are fair as far as they go. However, history shows that multiparty governments aren’t the only ones that are risk-prone.

When the Lange-Douglas Labour Government was elected in 1984, it had an absolute parliamentary majority, no coalition partners to worry about, youthful energy and talented leaders with more than bachelor of communication degrees. In spite of the economic crisis it faced, three or four terms in office should have been possible. It had a lot of support from Labour Party members and voters at large.

Instead, these advantages were squandered. By 1990, Labour had enacted unpredicted and unpopular reforms, had lost support – particularly among its traditional base – and was afflicted by leadership infighting. The voters booted it out of office.

The Jacinda Ardern-led team may fare better than expected. Their coalition and support partners have differences, but these are widely known, and there are agreements between the parties that are intended to manage them. As a result, Government MPs stand a chance of staying on track and avoiding political custard. Tom McGrath (Karori, Wellington) Reading the Michael Bassett interview gave me the biggest laugh I’ve had in years. A PhD thesis on the history of the US Socialist Party? That makes my dissertation on General Franco’s hairdresser sound profound. Thank God time and manners keep moving on. Simon Rolleston (Bromley, Christchurch)

KEEPING QUIET

“Breaking the silence” (April 14) referred to the restriction placed on victims who had had their complaints settled with confidential agreements. APRIL 28 2018 LISTENER

This raises an interesting question. Presumably a significant penalty would be imposed on a victim of discrimination who breached a confidentiality agreement and went public. Who would pursue this penalty and how? Ultimately, what could anyone do about it?

Jerome O’Malley (Masterton) LYDIA KO’S RECORD

The column on golfer Lydia Ko ( Sport, April 21) is misleading. During 2017, Ko had 11 top-10 finishes from 26 tournaments, including four finishes in second or third place. She missed four cuts from her 26 tournaments and had an average score of 69.86 shots per round.

Shanshan Feng, the world No 1, finished in the top 10 12 times in 2017, three of which were wins and three were second or third placings. She missed two cuts from her

22 tournaments. Her average score was 69.78.

Ko is ranked No 15 in the world. Her position is a reflection of the increasing depth of the LPGA. She raised the bar with excellent shot-making and a short game that took her to No 1. The bigger hitters have, inevitably, raised their own games and caught up with Ko’s accuracy.

This is a sign of strength in the women’s game, not weaknesses in Ko’s. Sally Shaw (Dunedin) John Moore ( Letters, April 14) makes a good point by linking embedded carbon to the capital cost of new vehicles. The good news is that, according to Stanford University professor Tony Seba, electric vehicles will, in the US at least, achieve cost parity with compact internal-combustion-powered cars within the next two or

three years, then continue to get cheaper as production volumes increase.

More good news is that, thanks to the simplicity of electric vehicles, the nonbattery components can be expected to last at least 500,000km. Tesla’s Model S has an eight-year, unlimitedkilometres warranty on both the battery and drive unit. Andrew Thorpe (Tauranga) A 2015 Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA) analysis concluded that in New Zealand, even taking account of the energy used in

manufacture, pure EVs have around 60% fewer carbon dioxide emissions than petrol vehicles.

Also in 2015, the US-based Union of Concerned Scientists produced a report that concluded that “over their lifetime, battery electric vehicles produce less global warming pollution than their gasoline counterparts – and they are getting cleaner”.

This varies by country, depending on how the country produces its electricity. A full lifetime comparison study by researchers at Belgium’s VUB University in 2017 found that, in Sweden, EVs produced

85% fewer emissions over their life cycle than diesels, and even in Poland, where electricity production uses high volumes of coal, EVs produced a quarter less emissions than diesels. Jim Heffernan (Northland, Wellington)

RANGATIRA’S GROUNDING

Erick Brenstrum ( Letters, April 14) wrote that in the storm of 1936, the Rangatira hit rocks when approaching the entrance to Wellington Harbour “on the south coast at Red Rocks”.

A check of reports at the time would find the grounding occurred 1.5km offshore from the Karori Stream, on Thoms Rock, just east of the Karori light and 5km west of Red Rocks, which are on the other side of Sinclair Head.

I have some interest in this event as I was on the Rangatira – although I have no memories of the occasion. A Williams (Napier)

WHAT JORDAN PETERSON THINKS

Listening to online interviews with Jordan Peterson will tell Mike Cole ( Letters, April 21) all he wants to know about Peterson’s view of transgender issues. Peterson says he would be open to using the preferred pronouns of transgender people if he was asked. What he opposes is legislation that would make the usage of specific language mandatory. Ray Calver (Grey Lynn, Auckland)

SKID-LID PROS AND CONS

I agree with Simon Miller ( Letters, April 21), who calls for the removal of ACC cover and a quadrupling of fines for non-helmet-wearing cyclists. With one proviso: that the same logic (if you can call it that) be applied to motorists who crash and injure themselves while breaking the speed limit. Colin Kemplen (Matamata) Individual anecdotes cannot be a serious foundation for a

national policy. The issue is not that cycle helmets may, in isolated instances, prevent serious injury, but that the enforcement of use has discouraged people riding bikes.

Building separate infrastructure for bikes is all very well, but if people are not encouraged to use it, then it merely gives more ammunition to those who believe the car is the answer to all of the country’s transport problems.

For those seriously interested in how a car culture can change, take a look at the bike history of Amsterdam. It wasn’t always the bike paradise it is today. Michael Bowman (Takapuna, Auckland)

MURDOCH LEAVES THE FIELD

The story marking the death of Keith Murdoch (“‘A real wild boy’”, April 14) says that his “punching a Cardiff hotel security guard” led to his being sent home from tour.

It goes on to report that photojournalist Peter Bush believed Murdoch’s “loosecannon reputation and intimidating appearance” made him a target for the hostile UK media.

What is not mentioned is that a few days before, in the Hydro Hotel in Peebles, Murdoch had also attacked a journalist, who was reportedly British. No wonder the UK media were hostile towards him.

Years later, I learnt that the supposedly UK journalist was New Zealander Norman Harris, who had worked with and been mentored by TP McLean at the New Zealand Herald.

Harris wrote many books about New Zealand sporting heroes, including Beyond Cook’s Gardens: A Writer’s Journey, which details the assault at the hands of Murdoch.

Is it any wonder, then, that Sir Terry McLean was less forgiving than Bush of Murdoch’s short fuse? Alan Belcher (Hornby, Christchurch)