Many thanks given but few are received
Thank you, President Trump, for unashamedly demonstrating your greedy petulant bully behaviour.
Thank you also for keeping international fact checkers fully employed reporting so many of your sweeping statements as entirely untrue. Thank you for showing the world (again) how unfit you are to be the president of a rich and powerful nation. Thank you for galvanising more world leaders to speak out against your policies and speak up for what is right, for democracy, and for the free world.
Have I said ‘‘thank you’’ enough to keep vice-president Vance satisfied?
Real thanks will go to those in all walks of life who encourage our government to stop pandering to the American dictatorship, as well as those Americans who fear for the future of their country and the world under Trump and do something about it.
Teresa Wasilewska
Dunedin
Anti-bullying
We have anti-bullying programmes in schools and support systems for victims of online bullying. How can we believe these will protect the vulnerable when we have, in the past few days, witnessed how successful bullying is on the world stage?
We have the watched powerful bullies destroy the vulnerable and weak. Donald Trump denies the reality of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, supports Putin, expects Ukraine to cede large swathes of the county to the aggressor and give America unfettered access to rare resources — and apologise.
The victims don’t stand a chance.
Catharine McGrath
Wakari
Opposing views
I have just been watching the heated debate between two presidents, Trump and Zelenskyy. A relative in America, who is a Trump fan, watched at the same time and we took such different viewpoints of the same discussion.
The American view point was that Trump was right and put Zelenskyy in his place. Zelenskyy owed the American people an apology for his behaviour.
My take was completely different. Trump was a complete bully and interrupted Zelenskyy who never got a chance to put forth his ideas.
Trump fans seem to overlook the fact that Trump stated Zelenskyy started the war which is a blatant lie. I just don’t get it. How can people not see the gross errors Trump makes?
Connie Masters
Balclutha
Payment plans
John Milburn’s anti-Trump diatribe (Letters 27.2.25), fails to address one important issue on payment for wartime help.
The United Kingdom accumulated the present day equivalent of $US61 billion worth of debt to the US and even at the modest interest rate of 2% the final payment wasn’t made until 2006. These payments were in cold hard cash.
Ukraine on the other hand is making cashless ‘‘payments’’ by allowing access to unexploited resources.
Given that Ukraine’s neighbours are not even making the minimum contributions to their military capability, one can understand the president’s reluctance to bankroll another European war.
Rob Harris
Masterton
Some common sense but not all changes good
Some time ago speed restrictions in some areas of Dunedin city popped up. Some made sense, others not so much.
Lowering speeds around schools makes absolute sense, as long as it is at normal drop-off and pick-up times. Reducing the speed limit permanently doesn’t. An example of this is St Clair School in Richardson St. If someone is coming home late at night and passing the school that is closed, they still have to reduce their speed even though children are not being dropped off or picked up.
Another thing that doesn’t make sense is where the zones start and end. For example, outside Kaikorai Valley College, the speed is reduced to 30kmh during dropoff and pick-up times. Driving south the restriction starts at the school’s north boundary but ends just passed the Barr St intersection which is well past the school’s south boundary. This doesn’t make sense.
Why is the section of Chapman St between Lynn and Shetland Sts a permanent 30kmh zone? And permanent speed restrictions have been put in place in Green Island and Caversham business districts, but not in South Dunedin. Surely if pedestrian safety is the concern, wouldn’t South Dunedin be included? Restrictions in Caversham also include most of David St and Thorn St which are well away from the business district.
I’m all for speed reductions in appropriate areas but some common sense needs to apply.
Jack Caswell
Dunedin
Paid and perfect
A letter (ODT 15.2.25) described users of the camping facilities in the Thomas Burns St carpark as ‘‘freeloaders’’. This is untrue: one has to pay set overnight and parking fees. If, like us who live in Wanaka, you need to go to medical facilities or an event in Dunedin the location is perfect.
Julian Warren
Wanaka
Yes, Dunedin does have air pollution woes
Congratulations to the ODT for publishing the photo of air pollution from wood burners in North East Valley (26.2.25). However, the accompanying article of the Otago Regional Council discussion on banning wood burners never mentions Dunedin. I assume this is because the only air pollution recording site is in Albany St near the harbour and its winds indicate Dunedin does not have an air pollution problem.
It is time the ORC installs pollution monitoring devices in North East and Kaikorai Valleys where the real pollution is. Even a cheap array of Wi-Fi-enabled units run by the community would be better than sweeping the problem and its health consequences under the carpet.
John Kaiser
Dunedin
Green wood issues
Has it not occurred to regional councillors (and staff ) that the real problem of smoke in Alexandra-North East Valley etc is the burning of unseasoned /green wood and not the log burner? With electricity soon to rise in price by another 10% it is unconscionable to even waste time even considering the banning of log burners.
Gerrard Eckhoff
Alexandra
Unexpected agreement
In reply to Joyce Yee-Murdoch (21.2.25) , I totally agree with you. I repeated the rhetoric that my last employer used. I never needed the cultural training to be good at my job. It is the world we live in and the different governments over the years have encouraged these practices. Common sense or personal preferences that differ from the ‘‘corporate speak’’ are seen to be negative, divisive and prejudiced.
Susan Johnston
Mosgiel
