Editorial: Take heart from them, they are right

I was encouraged to read of Judge Andrew Becroft’s change of heart regarding the latest spate of pointless road fatalities. I refer to ruthless police cars chasing down a car full of teenagers, often with tragic consequences to both the occupants and the innocent motoring public. We’ve all seen it, 20 something police officers, roaring past us hell bent on bringing these children to justice, often imposing what in effect is the death sentence, for stealing a car or some other minor crime.

I particularly admired Judge Becroft’s description of what in effect are children, who go straight to panic mode and behave irrationally under stress. In this day and age where it’s almost impossible to escape the very long arm of the law, let us join the example set by many developed countries and refrain from further escalating what must be a peer pressure hotpot in those cars.

The police can instead work a little harder, and subsequently bring the offender to justice at a later and safer date, when they are not in control of two tons of speeding steel and glass.

Kim Hegan, Grey Lynn.

Immature drivers

Well done to Andrew Becroft. He is absolutely correct when he says teenagers’ brains are not fully developed and flight is their only response when chased by the police. I speak from experience in this as it’s what me and my mates did when being pursued many years ago for a very minor matter and crashed into a lamp post. Lucky for us no one died.

To the hundreds of law abiding citizens who say they have broken the law, chase them down — wait until it happens to one of yours. The other point is, maybe there are some police out there who love the pursuit no matter what.

Mick Curran, Grey Lynn.

Not fit to drive

Andrew Becroft writes, “evidence shows that teenagers’ pre-frontal brain cortex is not developed enough to allow them to objectively assess risks before and during pursuits”. This would mean that this cortex is limited in its ability to assess logic and err on the side of mindless attitude which seems to be a reason for these goons to flee. If this is indeed true, then we need to seriously look at teenagers having a driving licence in the first place. Driving a vehicle requires risk assessment and logical decision making generally, so perhaps “no licence until cortex fully developed” is in order. Imagine trying to get this through the system such as it is.

Graham Johnson, Orewa.

Construction companies

New Zealand has had a long construction boom. Yet several large companies in that sector have collapsed. What does this say about the abilities of their highly paid management? How can you go broke in buoyant times? Those rather dubious surveys about business confidence often report that business leaders are anxious about the Government. Well isn’t the public entitled to be rather anxious about the quality of the business leaders in some areas of the economy?

Russell O Armitage, Hamilton.

Facing death

In response to Katherine McLaughlin, see it from the other side, the side of those who are suffering. I have had my brain cancer return after a four and a half year battle to beat it, followed by two years of remission. Due to the side effects from the first round of aggressive treatment, I was left disabled and live with daily pain. With it now back, I cannot do any further treatment, which means this will end my life.

Due to the type of cancer it is, this is a slow painful death as on its own it doesn’t kill me. Instead it causes all of my body functions to shut down one at a time. This would leave me bedridden, and suffering from bed sores and everything that goes with that. For me the passing of this bill would bring relief, and I would apply for it.

However, like most overseas where they have this choice, I wouldn’t take it until the very last minute. My life would only be shortened by up to two weeks, the worst at the end.

I don’t actually want to die, as my previous battle shows. Unfortunately my previous treatments have also shown I am in the approximately 6 per cent of people that painkillers don’t help and the last thing I want to do is die while in an induced coma (known as palliative or terminal sedation where they actually kill you by removing your feeding and fluid tubes) as that would not stop the pain, just my ability to tell people about it.

Do you think I am the only person in this position? Do you think that perhaps one day it could be you or someone you love facing this before dying?

Esther Richards, Tauranga.

Breast feeding

Mothers should be supported to successfully feed their babies whatever their feeding choice. However, the assertion by Smart Mothering author Natalie Flynn that it doesn’t matter whether your baby gets breast milk or formula is simplistic and disingenuous. Meta-analyses of studies involving nearly 250,000 participants have shown that breastfeeding reduces childhood obesity — by 10 per cent in children breastfed for less than three months, by 21 per cent in those breastfed for more than seven months.

As it is unethical to randomise mothers to breastfeeding or not, “gold-standard” evidence from clinical trials proving the benefits of breastfeeding in developed countries is not available and never should be. No clinical trial has proven that jumping out of a plane at 30,000 feet with a parachute is better than no parachute; sometimes this sort of evidence is superfluous. Frank Bloomfield, Director,

Liggins Institute, Professor of Neonatology.

Lifestyle block tax

As a lifestyler, I thank Simon Bridges for highlighting, in his article, the inequities of the tax as proposed by the Tax Working Group. He is right that the proposal to limit the area of a home to 4500 sq m would hit lifestylers whilst multi-million-dollar home owners would be exempt, which is unfair. The answer, which he did not point out, is to change the 4500 sq m limit. The Kiwi dream is to have a home in a quarter acre plot, so why not make this the basis for the limit.

A limit of 2000 sq m, which is approximately half an acre, could be a compromise. The extra tax for lifestylers would be minimal, rural land being much cheaper than urban land, and the multimillion-dollar home would in most cases become liable, which seems much fairer and meets Simon Bridges’ point.

Where a home had a greater area than 2000 sq m it would not matter if the building was valued and deducted from the sale price with the balance being subject to tax.

This approach would improve the fairness Simon Bridges seeks but I wonder if this is the solution he would prefer.

Michael Wrightson, Ararua.

Capital tax

So the Labour party does not want to encourage hard work, saving for retirement or wealth creation. Invest in growth assets and they propose to tax you at up to 33 per cent as a penalty for your efforts. If, on the other hand, you spend your money on a bigger home, art, an exotic sports car and/or boat you may not be helping the country become wealthier but that's okay. Labour will still not tax you as these items are excluded from a CGT. Lucas Bonne´, Unsworth Heights.

Meals on Wheels

I refer to Wednesday’s letter, “Thanks for nothing, WorkSafe”. WorkSafe has never had any involvement in the Papakura Meals on Wheels service as suggested by your correspondent and was in no way responsible for the departure of the group. In this month’s eLocal magazine the group cited dwindling numbers as the reason for disbanding. Volunteer organisations do have obligations under the Health and Safety at Work Act but WorkSafe is not in the business of setting out to stop good Kiwis from doing good things. Jo Pugh, Head of General Inspectorate, WorkSafe NZ.

Netball coverage

For the second week in a row the Herald

has failed to cover an ANZ Premiership Netball match played in Auckland. Not a skerrick of a review let alone a result. In contrast, in between these two matches featuring the Northern Stars, you fully reported on a premiership match played in Invercargill. Bizarre.

A reminder for the Herald.

Women’s sport does exist in Auckland and in particular at a venue in South Auckland, Bruce Pulman Arena.

Bill Francis, Chairman, Northern Stars Netball Franchise.