Gap between rich and poor

What is wrong with the administration of our Hamilton City Council? Look here your dictatorship and adamant attitude will not be tolerated by Hamilton Residents.

Beggars in our streets were created by the present Government by increasing the gap between the rich and poor. It gave bigger tax cuts to the rich and smaller tax cuts to the middle and low income earners.

Now banning the poor from the streets, selling the pensioner housing building with our rates, increasing our rates to satisfy the central government saying capital value system and all nonsense.

In time to come all pensioners will join the beggars opposite the council building same as the public protest against former CEO in Christchurch. (Abridged) B SASA Hamilton

Thumping music on TV?

Has anyone else notice the loud, thumping music in all the new TV programmes? It is even there for the ads. Recently everything is accompanied by this noise I often [find] too loud to hear the dialogue behind. This noise must be added in New Zealand as it isn’t present over Police Ten; Code 1; Benefits Street; The Block, some of the programmes we get from United Kingdom and USA.

Are we trying to be more modern or make people deaf? It certainly makes one appreciate the quiet when it is turned off which I frequently do these days. (Abridged) M JACKSON Hamilton

Blue hoardings

I think your correspondent Bea Braun (Left-wing hoardings, September 12) must be colour blind! There are twice as many blue (National) hoardings in Hamilton East, within 50 metres of intersections, than there are for all the other parties.

National has more money to

INSANITY STREAK

spend on hoardings, so it stands to reason there is more National advertising. GILLIAN DENNY Hamilton

Short memories

Everyone knows the election is near.

What is worrying me is that John Key is still popular. I think a lot of people have got short memories. What about a number of things he planned to do, but only are part done or not only fully done, because the ministers have left the job, because overworked, not my problem.

I am angry that around 500 people from Christchurch still haven’t had their earthquake damage homes done after four years. Is this New Zealand today? Not so, for me. (Abridged) S GALLOP Cambridge

Dotcom controversy

When Georgina Beyer, candidate for the Internet-Mana party and woman of credibility and discernment, publicly questions the trustworthiness of her party funder, Kim Dotcom, New Zealand needs to stand up and take notice.

Indeed, why would anyone trust this German with criminal convictions? It should be of huge concern to every Kiwi that a foreigner with untold wealth and serious criminal convictions is able to gain residency here then use his wealth to cynically exploit the imperfections in New Zealand’s MMP system simply to pursue a personal vendetta against New Zealand’s Prime Minister.

While controversy has raged over the sale of prime New Zealand farmland to foreign interests, there is not a whimper about this brazen manipulation of our electoral system by Dotcom.

Forget the controversy over the buy-up of farmland by foreigners; we’ve just sold our soul to this German criminal with his big money politics and ‘seig heil, jackboot’ style rallies.

Is it too much to expect a greater standard of morality, propriety and respect from a guest of this country?

Would it appear too unseemly to summarily revoke his residency and deport him back to Germany? (Abridged) ROGER CLARKE Te Awamutu

Recent political controversy indicates we rightly expect high standards of performance from our parliamentarians.

We also expect our local government councillors to resolve complex problems and decide between battling community factions with equally high standards, empathy and wisdom.

Some of these decisions are relatively straight forward and require only courage and reliable information to get right.

Others, like the vexed and often emotional issue of fluoride in reticulated waters supplies, will confound the wisdom of Confucius and Solomon combined.

Not only is there no easy answer, there is no answer to allay the genuine concerns of people on both sides of the debate.

The decision of the lobby group Safe Water Alternative NZ to withdraw a legal challenge to the reintroduction of fluoride to the Hamilton City water supply brings an end to one such battle but probably not the war against mass medication.

In March this year the Hamilton City Council resolved to reintroduce fluoride to the water supply following almost a year of controversy and opposing argument.

Supporters of fluoride claim the addition of the chemical to everyone’s water will help prevent tooth decay in young people and so save, what is left of our once world-class welfare state, significant costs in the future from those who neglect their childrens’ teeth.

There is some truth to that ar-

A number of dental and health experts from throughout the world have provided compelling evidence to support the argument for fluoride in everyone’s water.

Opposition to fluoride is more than an objection to mass medication on principle.

Opponents claim the chemical poses significant health risks and, like the dental lobby, have presented impressive evidence to support their contention.

They also say, with some justification, that fluoride for those who