Plus Caption Competition, Quips & Quotes and 10 Quick Questions
“Death waves” (April 17) highlighted yet more dangers for our islands. This is all very well, and there is a mention of risk assessment, but I felt its suggestion that people’s perception of the risk was what mattered. As we have seen with the rejection of the AstraZeneca vaccination in Europe and Australia, public opinion on risk is frequently misguided. Australians know the risk of death is one in a million, compared with one in 25,000 from road accidents, yet choose the much greater risk of death from the virus.
Our Government’s assessment of risk is also confused at best, and has seriously affected us. The estimates of earthquake-prone buildings have resulted in numerous buildings being closed and loaded a huge financial burden on many organisations.
Risk of loss of life is surely the key factor in risk management, and this fails to take into account the vital factor of occupancy rate. A large office building is occupied 24/7 with workers or cleaners and so an earthquake at any time is likely to cause loss of life if it fails. Yet a church is usually occupied for perhaps four or five hours a week, so an earthquake there is less danger to life since the building is likely to be empty. So, why are churches and other organisations being forced to close or rebuild when the risk of loss of life is 30 or more times lower than for an office building of the same rating?
Do we care more about buildings than people? Or is this just part of the overzealous approach to safety coupled with the blame game, both of which have reached ridiculous proportions? Clifford Studman (Wellington)
IN DEFENCE OF PARENTS
Is no one going to defend the Stead family in the light of the stunning memoir by first-rate writer, lawyer and daughter Charlotte Grimshaw (“The unauthorised version”, April 3)? It’s brilliantly written, like all her work; her loving parents can only be proud.
I’m moved to ask: how many parents, struggling to “do it right” throughout the permissive times of last century, would welcome criticism from offspring living now in these super-judgmental times?
Indeed, what parent anywhere would welcome exposure of their inevitable mistakes? Parenting is a joyful and frightening task. You’re making it up as you go along. I went into it, as we did in those days, armed with Grantly Dick-Read, Benjamin Spock and the Gesell Institute’s Child Behavior. Plus love and natural instinct. That’s all.
Writers need to write. How else do we survive? God (or Dog) preserve us from the literary brain-fruit of our loins. Marilyn Duckworth (Wellington)
EMPTY HOUSES
Max Watkins and Brian Gore (Letters, April 17) call for penalties for owners of empty houses. Ignoring the quite rational reasons for a house to have been unoccupied on census night, many of these houses could be quite unsuitable for rental occupation.
The “healthy homes standards” for tenancy now far exceed those deemed suitable for owner-occupiers. Under tenancy law, it is possible for even a new home, signed off as compliant for owner occupation, to be classed as unfit and therefore unhealthy for tenants. Improvements could be needed before it was legally able to enter the rental market.
Also, many older properties are built in such a way that it would be impossible to make them compliant. You cannot fit ABS brakes and airbags to a Morris Minor. How do you compel property owners to rent out homes that cannot meet rental standards? Peter Lewis
(Auckland)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES
Electric cars (Letters, April 10) would have been of little use to the police or public in Christchurch after the 2011 earthquake, as some areas were without power for some time. Also, the police have to work within a budget and EV cars are expensive. Hopefully, by the time the current fleet needs replacing, price and range will have improved. Trevor Sennitt
(Christchurch)
ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS
Dirty dairying is not a mere “smoke screen” (Letters, February 13). It is a real threat to waterways, as shown by the recent fine of $103,500 imposed on a Wairarapa farmer for fouling a stream with dairy waste. The offender said he would refuse to pay. Just another rural-sector clown who thinks producing food puts him above the law. G Henderson
(Auckland)
With news that “nearly 40 Auckland beaches are overwhelmed by faecal contamination and deemed unsafe for swimming after heavy rain …”, maybe Tourism Minister Stuart Nash needs to divert his attention from freedom campers to the poor state of city wastewater disposal. Rob Buchanan
(Kerikeri)
MĀORI STUDENTS PUNISHED
John Northcott (Letters, April 3) fails to tell all concerning punishment that had an adverse focus on Māori at school. In Napier, in the 1970s, Māori youth who truanted were driven to borstal or detention centres – much to police displeasure. Gang membership resulted. Pat Magill
(Napier)