Hottest year claim fails duvet test

For the Herald to announce 2018 as being the hottest year on record on the front page is just so much alarmist codswallop. In Auckland the first month of summer has passed and I can only recall two days that you could honestly call hot and they reached a bare 24 degrees. As for the rest of the year, I kept two blankets and a duvet on the bed throughout the whole year — something which 10 years ago I would never have done. We had truly prolonged summers reducing the bed to one blanket and often even sleeping on top of that. Let us have less scientific codswallop from scientists drowning in their own verbage and more lifetime experiences from people who actually live in the real world.

Gary Hollis, Mellons Bay.

Not so hot

Once again the media is awash with claims of the hottest temperatures ever in the country and yet in November and December when Russia, much of Europe and the United States suffered extremely cold conditions, that caused some scientists to suggest the beginning of another Ice Age, there was scarcely a mention in the media.

Bryan Johnson, Omokoroa.

Drug funding

Listening to comments regarding the potential funding of testing of illegal drugs at festivals to help stop possible deaths of people who choose to take illegal drugs, I was appalled at the money that may be spent on this versus the fact the Government says it does not have enough funds for legal drugs that may save someone’s life. That is the life of a person who chooses to live, who tries very hard to keep on living. The mind totally boggles at the stupidity of any government official who can not see the difference here.

Erin Sullivan, RD Warkworth.

Wrong message

I could not believe my ears when I heard the current Minister of Police, Stuart Nash, state he is willing to push for drug testing pills at future music festivals to ensure the safety of their users. Is this a joke? Surely the first message should be, “Don’t do drugs at all”. More fool the users of these illicit party pills to willingly put these substances into their bodies.

There is enough publicity and talk on the street surely to forewarn them of the dangerous aspect around the make-up of these pills, let alone the harm these drugs will do to your body. What are the minister’s intentions here? Once it is established there are no paint, pesticide, sugar or other non-drug elements in these pills, will he hand them back to the user and say, “Here, go for it, blow your mind”?

N. Harkin, West Harbour.

Wild behind the wheel

Something terrible seems to happen to people of this country when they get behind the wheel of a motorcar. Aside from the boy racers, recidivist drunk drivers, drug addicts and cyclists, there is a hardcore of seriously unhinged people driving, hellbent on not giving an inch or being delayed by even one second on their journeys. Is this just a manifestation of a frustration at life or do we need a nationwide education programme on driver etiquette? Paul Cheshire, Maraetai.

Boy racers

The police giving the boy racers a ticket is a waste of police time because they treat this as a badge of honour. Most of the fines are never paid so why bother? The only thing these people will understand is to impound their cars. They should lose them for 30 days for a first offence and permanently after a second. This should apply no matter who the registered owner of the vehicle is. This will make parents who register the vehicle in their name to get cheaper insurance or if they are letting a person borrow the family car, make sure it is not being used in illegal street racing.

John Laing, Drury.

Lowering speed limit

I am another Auckland resident that supports comments made by Barney Irvine of the AA. I saw him and Shane Ellison of Auckland Transport interviewed on TV about the AT proposal to reduce the speed limit of vehicles in Auckland City to 30km/h. Barney’s comments were realistic, saying safety does not solely rely on reducing the speed limit. I found Shane’s comments less than thoughtful on who he considered worthy of lives being saved. He mentioned mums, dads and kids as if to say single people that don’t have kids are not important.

In my experience trying to communicate with AT is akin to attempting a successful ascent of Mount Everest. Many times I have written to AT regarding various issues and not received a response, including pedestrians putting themselves at risk at the intersection of Broadway and Morrow St in Newmarket.

AT needs to focus equally on pedestrian responsibility, not simply those driving vehicles and snaring drivers who inadvertently find themselves in a bus lane due to misleading signage. Possibly some of that revenue went to fund the $11 million luxury refurbishment of their offices on Fanshawe Street.

Gail FitzGerald, One Tree Hill.

Suffering no virtue

My mother always tried to instill in me the “golden rule”, do as you would be done by. Though I have no religious belief, treating others as one would like to be treated is the tried and tested social tool for living together in harmony. That’s why the Catholic attitude to suffering seems so alien to the 97 per cent who don’t regularly attend Mass. In some mysterious way suffering is supposed to be “ennobling”, a “gift from God”, as Saint Teresa of Calcutta so charmingly put it.

In campaigning against David Seymour’s End of Life Choice bill, the Catholic hierarchy is politically savvy enough to stay silent about the virtues of suffering. But sometimes religious fervour gets the better of political caution. The December 21 issue of New Zealand Catholic details a talk by Dr Colin Harte in which he said, “Suffering is not only a privilege, but it is the greatest privilege in this world”.

This is fine for those masochists who believe that sort of nonsense, but to those of us on the receiving end, opposition to David Seymour’s End of Life Choice Bill is little short of sadism.

Martin Hanson, Nelson.

Legitimate leader

Correspondent John Rudd claims that New Zealand must have a minority Prime Minister because the Labour Party didn’t receive a majority of the votes at the last election. However he has overlooked the fact New Zealand has a coalition government, not a Labour government, and this coalition Government received a majority of votes, which means that the Prime Minister does represent parties which received a majority of the votes.

Under MMP it is not possible for a party to become the government unless it receives a majority of the votes, or is part of a coalition which receives a majority of the votes, thus ensuring there cannot be a minority government or Prime Minister. David Mairs, Glendowie.

Disputed

Stephanie Hawking claims to know science and its institutions, saying none disputes anthropogenic global warming. I can assure her such dispute exists, it is vigorous and it’s been around since the beginning. Organisations and scientists in the US, UK, China, Russia, Poland, Germany, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and other countries constantly present new material casting strong doubt on anthropogenic global warming.

To learn more, I recommend she start with the GWPF in London, look up the Lavoisier Society in Australia and the NZ Climate Science Coalition here in New Zealand. She says it’s possible to write intelligently about climate change, I would add that it’s highly necessary. Scientists who mask basic uncertainties in climate science, deny disputes and consistently allow their followers to take outrageously extreme positions by refusing to correct them, betray their colleagues, their science and humanity itself.

Richard Treadgold, Convenor, Climate Conversation Group.

Predictions

I read with interest Paul Murray’s letter yesterday on the different views being expressed by various economists on the possibility of future rises or falls in house prices. I must be getting old as I immediately recalled the comments made by former Prime Minister Sir Robert Muldoon concerning the worth of views being expressed by various economists at the time he was in office.

Rob said, “I’m sick of reading the waffle of some so-called experts on the direction and state of the economy. In one breath they will tell you that, on the one hand, house prices may continue to rise but in the next breath they will declaim that, on the other hand, given the volatility of the market, prices may very well decline.”

The exasperated PM grumped to his officials, “Haven’t we got somewhere in the country a one-armed economist bold enough to proffer a prediction!”

Russell Goodall, Hamilton.

The dismal science

Paul Murray questions the ability of economists to agree on issues. Despite qualifying as an accountant back in the 50s, I managed to avoid this topic. Is there any truth in the story of the economics professor who set the same questions for end-of-year exams every year but changed the answers? Or the thought that, if you laid all of the world’s economists end to end, they would never reach a conclusion? You may think that, I can hardly comment. P. D. Patten, Albany.