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• Published date: 04 March 2021

Perhaps we could forgive Michael Bassett for being so uniformed about our country (Racism on a grand scale, March 2) due to his age and upbringing.

Most of us who live in this country have a huge respect for the first people and language of our country.

What is unforgiveable is your paper would give voice to such views in order to sell news copy. I do not think this reflects well on the editor or the newspaper.

Quentin Abraham

Greenstone Consultants

Road recipe

I say again to Ray Paterson (Judging by personal experience, letters February 25), that I know nothing of Spains Rd, but I do know this. You must always drive to the conditions.

If you have an issue with a local road, if you can, find out if the contractors are doing what they are contracted to do. If not, why not? If that is not what is wrong, then go talk in the correct ear, council or whoever. And if that gets no joy, then as a last resort go to the media.

Sylvia Bryan

Motutangi

Ignoring reality

The irony is almost unbelievable. Kerikeri oldtimer Sam McHarg (Borrowed time, Letters March 2) wrote that “reality can’t be ignored”, in a letter that is almost all fantasy.

Just one illustration will do.

Sam claimed that, “The ruination of world climates by fossil fuels has disturbed food production in many countries”. Well, food production has certainly been disturbed – since 1961, global cereal yields have tripled, and food supplies per capita have increased by 31 per cent (https://www.dropbox.com/s/qgq9f6nj9m4gc3n/Goklany-EmpiricalTrends.pdf?dl=0), but I don’t think that’s what Sam was meaning, do you?

The same impeccable source of reality tells us also that human wellbeing has flourished while CO2 has been increasing as a minute portion of our atmosphere. Global life expectancy has soared.

Apparently, in Kerikeri, reality can be ignored. Certainly the utterances of most of its spokesmen confirm that.

Sam, please widen your circle of acquaintances, especially outside of Kerikeri.

Leo Leitch

Benneydale

Another way

When you try and force things on to a democratic people, which are totally undemocratic, you will get a reaction.

The forcing of Māori wards on council is completely undemocratic, and completely unnecessary, especially in the Far North, where Māori already have 60 per cent-plus representation.

The thing that worries is that once you have separated us and divided us far enough to stoke animosity and hate, and you get enough radical haters from both sides of the ridiculous, divisive, segregating, nation-destroying, family-wrecking evil that Nanaia Mahuta wants, and not many others, we could be back to brutal, bloody, ugly civil war and killing each other in no time. Cheers, Jacinda.

The Lord knows a...