Heritage calls emotion, Archway response mixed
I wish to dispute M. McCoy's notion (Letters 11.9.25) that the "heritage trust" (presumably the Southern Heritage Trust) represents any kind of authority on heritage in the city.
SHT is a lobby group. The Environment Court has accepted that SHT has no more legal standing than any private individual.
They actively influence Dunedin City Council governance and executive functions and get to write public submissions in support of their own influence.
SHT did not contact any owners of properties they nominated for scheduling. They admitted this to the Heritage Commissioners in recent hearings.
This is blatantly contrary to best practice as advised by Heritage New Zealand et al. Hardly the behaviour of authority or leadership.
The university is following the law. Public response about the Archway lecture theatres has been mixed.
M. McCoy's letter shows that the argument for scheduling is emotional pleading at best.
No defence
I am at a loss to understand the fit of fury in V H. Markham’s letter to the editor (ODT 5.9.25). The letter was in reply to Denis Horne’s letter, "Hate and war" (1.9.25); but the rage of V.H. Markham was aimed at Prof Sachs of Columbia University.
Prof Sachs is an internationally known expert in macroeconomics and is an adviser to the UN Secretary-general Antonio Guterres; he spends his time advising mostly developing countries around the world on macroeconomic matters.
It is a pity that such an eminent international public person’s character is openly thrashed in the pages of the ODT with no chance given to Prof Sachs to defend it.
Idiots United
I enjoyed Alan Paterson’s "bunch of idiots" letter (ODT 9.9.25).
I feel New Zealand’s politicians need a shakeup. They spend their time pulling apart what the government before them has created leading to stalemates and stagnation in New Zealand’s future prospects. They create a divided, distrustful population.
I suggest a new political movement be created, initially called "The Idiots United Party". If only the left and right could start talking to each other they may be surprised to find they together hold the answers for our stable future.
Fact, fiction, and the modern day space race
In considering the current Space X programme and the stated objective of "transporting humans to Mars" it can be argued that, while it no doubt will result in technical advances, it remains — effectively — a propaganda exercise.
It is doubtful whether the beleaguered citizens of Gaza or Kyiv will be interested in booking a trip to Trump City on Mars or applauding the advances in rocket design they are witnessing daily.
In any discussion of Nasa, it must be pointed out that the original US space programme used recycled German V2 rockets which rather than being designed as research vessels but were "Weapons of Mass Destruction".
The programme itself’s sole aim was to achieve strategic advantage over the Soviet Union in space — the Space Race. These sentiments remain today, with the inclusion of China in the mix.
Recent talk is of a potential war in space between those nations.
Star Wars was an interesting film but it is fiction. The implications of the reality do not bear thinking about .
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