‘Boys will be boys’ must end

My heart embraces those young women who were trapped as Christine Ford claims in her case against Brett Kavanaugh. The “boys will be boys” attitude towards sex with unwilling women must end.

My story happened in 1968. When I went away to the State University of Iowa (USA) at 16, I lived in a public dormitory, the inexpensive option. The rich students joined a sorority for girls or a fraternity for boys to live in large houses of 20 or so elites.

Older male students believed they were privileged by their wealth and unquestioningly followed the American male stereotype; have sex with beautiful women and be seen to be successful.

These students were a real menace to us innocent freshmen girls.

I was invited to attend a party. I soon realised I wanted to leave but the situation didn’t allow it easily.

My glass was constantly filled with alcohol which I surreptitiously poured into a nearby large plant. The air of excitement in the air seemed ominous.

I didn’t exactly know where I was because I was new to town. It was dark.

Suddenly, banging at the door. Like a freak storm the fraternity boys panicked: “Police, Police!”

Another girl and I were rudely dragged down a corridor and stuffed physically out the window and told to run away. I don’t remember how I found my way back to the dormitory. Name and address withheld.

Ardern’s minor impact

How naive are the people here? Okay so our Prime Minister made some minor impact in her UN visit.

Her press coverage here was huge, But . . . how much coverage did we ever see of anything any other leader spoke on, other than the United States and French presidents?

How much coverage do you really think NZ got in the 100+ other countries’ press over and above what their heads of state did and said?

Disappointment was expressed about the number of empty seats when our PM was speaking.

Did she personally attend every other leader’s speeches? Alan Gautier, Pakuranga.

New Zealand values

So NZ First wants immigrants to be forced to accept New Zealand “values”.

What, like boozing, domestic violence and xenophobia? Richard Irwin, Te Atatu South.

Epic film’s misquote

How disappointing to see that Sir Peter Jackson’s latest project, a World War I epic with cutting edge colourisation of the original black and white footage, and beautifully crafted in 3D by NZ’s cinematic genius, is lumbered with an oft-misquoted line for a title — They Shall Not Grow Old. What Robert Laurence Binyon actually wrote in verse 4 of For The Fallen (1914) is “They shall grow not old” . . .

Renton Brown, Pukekohe.

Ardern’s leadership

What I really admire about our Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, is that her leadership is not reliant on the usual model of beliefs and aspirations, which other prime ministers have shown.

She is very much her own person and is bringing her own style to her role with confidence. Thank goodness and, at last! Emma Mackintosh, Birkenhead.

Strange speed limit

There is a strange speed limit situation in Greville Rd, Browns Bay.

In the middle of a suburb, approaching traffic lights and shops there is a speed sign of “80”, then a short drive to the next traffic lights and roundabout.

Driving back towards East Coast Rd it is 80, through traffic lights and back to 50.

None of this makes sense. I have asked Auckland Transport but they can’t explain it, Can anyone? J.M. Page, Browns Bay.

Name shaming

Poor Brett Kavanaugh. Imagine going through life with a name one immediately associates with sleaze and debauchery.

How much better if he had a name Democrats would associate with a high moral tone and uprightness. Something like Kennedy or Clinton. Rob Harris, Dannevirke.

Anti-American crowd

The Ryder Cup gallery was openly hostile and anti-American.

Another sign that Trump’s diplomatic wrecking ball has had a wide-ranging effect? Larry Mitchell, Puhoi.

Cheap honours system

When is New Zealand going to wake up to the cheapening of your honours system by granting titles to anybody who happens to stick their head above the ground?

You have conferred knight and damehoods upon rugby wingers, shotputters, rugby sevens coaches, former prime ministers, finance ministers, jewellers, clothing designers and business men and women all of whom were just doing the jobs they were handsomely paid for.

Compare that with Australia with six times the population where there are 14 knights and five dames.

In my opinion the only New Zealander worthy of a Sir is Ed Hillary who not only conquered Everest but spent the rest of his life assisting the poor of Nepal.

That deserves a title but for the rest . . . Paul Brown, Queensland.

PM’s speech coverage

Much is being made of the fact that Jacinda Ardern delivered her big speech to a three-quarters empty UN assembly chamber.

However that level of attendance is quite normal for the leaders from small countries like New Zealand.

It is only the most powerful world leaders, such as Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, who will command a full assembly chamber.

What is significant though is that newspapers with worldwide internet audiences did give Jacinda Ardern’s speech a lot of coverage.

Especially significant was the article in the Guardian which compared points raised by President Trump in his speech to the opposing points made by Ardern in her speech.

This article has made the New Zealand Prime Minister the spokesperson of the world’s countries, the majority of whom are opposed to many of President Trump’s policies dealing with nuclear threats and world trade.

So far from being ignored, as some people would suggest, she is rapidly becoming one of the world’s international spokespersons for a better future for the people of the world. David Mairs, Glendowie.

Rate boarding kennels

The loss of a loved pet is not unlike losing a family member.

We use a pet care facility when we go on holiday, and have found only two that were acceptable.

Here’s a sample of what we found at the other kennels: Three people to look after 100 dogs, dogs locked in cages and let out for only two 20-minute sessions, small dogs in crates over large dogs, dogs left unsupervised while facility owners were out shopping, a 3m x 4m doggy run covered in faeces.

Currently, the only law regarding kennel operation is local noise abatement.

If the SPCA could inspect and rate the kennels (stars, like restaurants and hotels?), pet owners could refer to the SPCA website to select a kennel to care for their pet.

That might cause them to clean up their act until we have laws to regulate operation and set standards for licensing. Please, let’s try to prevent rather than punish. Maureen Pribble, Northcross.

Reducing road accidents

Anyone studying the various intentions to reduce the toll of death and destruction on our roads will have noticed the almost total absence of ways of reducing accidents.

Surely if the overall accident rate is reduced, the death/injury toll will also reduce.

Various surveys over the years have concluded that speed is not a major factor in accidents (not death or injury), so this obsession in targeting speed is extraordinary to say the least.

The police themselves say that “Travelling too fast for the conditions is a contributing factor in about a third of all fatal crashes and 15 per cent of all injury crashes”.

So what factors cause the other 85 per cent?

Surely this is where maximum efforts should be concentrated.

A proactive approach is required — changing driver attitudes to road safety.

There is however no hint anywhere of ways to do this — the focus is currently on accident mitigation, not on accident prevention.

Tail-gaters, dawdlers, failing to allow others to pass, cellphone users, cutting off and other dangerous driving practices, despite being major accident contributors, attract little attention from law enforcement.

Until authorities change priority to accident reduction rather than mitigation, little change can be expected. Robin McGrath, Forrest Hill.