A new Espiner

I NOTE that Colin Espiner has departed and his shoes appear to have been filled by Ali Ikram. Having read his first piece, I find that you have replaced one snotty Leftie with another. The whole piece was a scattershot, incoherent sneer at anyone who does not agree with his political views. He shows the usual Leftist contempt for, and total misunderstanding of the motives of, those who don’t want a larger, more intrusive and more expensive state. Our (not ‘‘their’’) way of life is precious and precarious; so we do need to choose the best guard dog for all of our sakes. A bigger state, more welfare and wasting money on fictional problems like CO /

2 methane emissions will not make any New Zealander, including the poor, better off. I vote National for that reason but I am not now, nor have I ever been, a conservative; I call myself a liberal. Ali would no doubt change that to neoliberal, intending it as an insult; but what’s not to embrace about being a new liberal.

Denis Purdy, Wadestown

IS ALI Ikram really the best you can find to replace Colin Espiner? If so that is a great pity. When I was an MP, I regarded Espiner as just another waspish Left-leaning journo.

Now and again he would get nasty (since we never met, and certainly never socialised together, I always wondered how he worked out mine was ‘‘a drinker’s paunch’’ when my mate Boscawen’s was much larger).

However, he at least knew the rules of grammar and syntax, and that was something . . . Imagine my surprise when, after he became a columnist for you, I found myself agreeing with his arguments more often than not – and when I didn’t, they were at least always well argued and well written.

David Garrett, Kaukapakapa