Android and the new app
While I strongly support the introduction and mandatory use of the Government’s My Vaccine Pass, I am extremely concerned about the difficulties people have encountered trying to use it on Android phones.
For example, I have twice installed My Vaccine Pass on my cellphone’s home screen; twice it has disappeared a few days later. This occurred despite the fact I locked my phone’s home screen after installing the app.
No-one I know has had problems with the Government’s NZ Covid Tracer app.
The new application we are now required to use has to be upgraded urgently to ensure it’s of a similar standard if the battle to control the pandemic in New Zealand is to be successful.
Nigel S. Roberts, Wilton
Robust exchange
I am dismayed by the approach of the media to Question Time in Parliament on Wednesday. It was dramatically described as an upcoming gladiatorial event, with Christopher Luxon up against Jacinda Ardern.
In the event it was a robust, wellmannered Q and A between the pair. The only distraction was the discourteous interjections from the opposition benches.
That was enough for the media (print, radio and television) to escalate it into a points-scoring game. Shame on them all! Derek Wilshere, Eastbourne
Denial’s now mainstream
Michelle Duff quotes conspiracy theory researcher M R X Dentith, who doesn’t see that tendencies to distrust authority are new (Avoiding the rabbit hole about vaccines, Dec 7). That’s a good place to start.
But then she loses her way a bit by focusing on narrow disinformation sources and social media, along with the notion that today’s level of denial and hostility toward the vaccine has somehow ‘‘infiltrated’’ the mainstream.
Instead we must look into the question of ‘‘who we are’’ because denial has become mainstream. The understanding of the monumental changes necessary to combat the worst of climate change is spawning terror, leading to denial.
This denial is so fundamental it has brought us the Post Truth Era and is spilling over into today’s vaccine discussion, spawning irrational so-called conspiracy theories in ways Duff explores without apparently seeing that cultural/ historical broader source.
To examine the best approach to combating Covid-19 look at Last of the eliminators? (Dec 6), which analysed China’s successful approach of massive testing to control, even perhaps eliminate, Covid. Would it be impossible to do massive testing and isolation here in NZ? Not impossible. Would it be too hard? Probably not.
That would lessen the need for the hyped vaccination campaign which has exacerbated hostile responses to it. Richard Keller, Lyall Bay [abridged]
Curing the squeeze
Before he gets carried away on his ‘‘squeezed middle’’ campaign Christopher Luxon should research the issue more fully (Opposition turn focus to ‘squeezed middle’, Dec 8).
When he does he will find that it was the last National government that created the high-price, low-wage economy that has resulted in the bottom and middle being squeezed and the top getting wealthier by the day.
If Mr Luxon is serious about curing the squeeze then let’s hear his policies and economic thinking, rather than politically motivated point-scoring.
When and if such policy announcements are made you can guarantee there will be nothing in the policies that will really fix the problem, such as wealth and capital gains taxes. Tim Reddish, New Plymouth
Heart of Christianity
Wayne Church clearly doesn’t understand Christianity (Letters, Dec 8). People who want to associate it with the Taliban destroy their own credibility.
The heart of Christianity is about God changing our hearts. I would have thought in today’s world where we believe we can eliminate violence, this should be something we should seek.
The heart of being Christian in the world is loving and caring for our neighbours, for we believe they are created in the image of God. If Christians do not do this, judge them, not Christianity.
For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world but to save us. Do you not think we are a generation that needs saving?
John Beach, Christchurch
Culture of foolishness
The arrogance of anti-vaxxers is now encroaching on Auckland shop owners, other businesses, and residents of Auckland.
Vaccinated New Zealanders should rally against these super-spreaders with counter rallies simultaneously. Stop blaming our Government’s strategic plan to identify, isolate and possibly eliminate the threat of Covid.
New Zealand’s ongoing shutdowns are due to mini outbreaks, costing numerous local economies millions of dollars of revenue, and mental instability. Problems would have been avoided if our police and Government had a backbone to eliminate this culture of foolishness.
I say to Aucklanders tired of lockdowns and worried about your businesses and mental wellbeing, rise up and rally against anti-vaxxers.
The wellbeing of the vaccinated supersedes anti-vaxxers’ right to choose. It’s no longer a choice but a responsibility. Willie Moana, Turangi [abridged]
Celebration’s off-kilter
Cas Carter (A gift of family under my tree, Dec 6) has perfectly summed up where Christmas has gone wrong and how the way it is celebrated today is so off-kilter.
Such as the frankly unhealthy relationship encouraged between children and this weird Santa person and his freaky flying sleigh, unlike our good old Father Christmas and other healthier iterations of St Nicholas.
Also, as Cas says, the over-emphasis on buying more and more stuff is unsustainable and needs to stop.
No, I am not the Grinch! I enjoy the feasting and fun, the giving and receiving of well-chosen presents, and most of all the freedom to gather with family and friends as I wish. This is what the world really needs for Christmas and which so many are being denied by Covid, among other causes. Well said, Cas.
Jane Duncan, Darfield, Canterbury
Density in housing
Whatever is Dileepa Fonseka thinking of with his statement that, ‘‘It is against this context that Labour and National have been trying to change some of the rules around densification . . .’’ (Politics of housing is changing – albeit slowly, Dec 8)?
The United States historical example he refers to has no relevance whatsoever to the New Zealand ‘‘context’’, is concerned with an entirely different matter, and is completely unjustifiable under any jurisdiction.
Part of our own context, ‘‘Nimbyism’’, while by no means wholly justifiable, is nevertheless partly so, as Jane O’Loughlin’s letter (Dec 8) about the risk of reduced sun so well points out.
Martin Bond, Brooklyn