Replant Anzac Ave with like for like trees please
The destruction of so many trees in the area is sad, the loss of those on Anzac Ave, doubly so.
Please, Dunedin City Council, replace them with similar elm trees to continue the memorial that they were. There will be pressure to plant natives but I am sure the variety of tree was a considered choice. Don’t succumb to the anti-colonial rhetoric of a couple of academics who seem to have forgotten bi-culturalism and inclusiveness.
It would be excellent if the wood from the fallen trees could be put to good use, perhaps benches for use in the Otago museums.
Right here
Climate change is here. Our biter and restless winter, winds of unprecedented ferocity, floods and landslips in Nelson and Gisborne, uncontrollable wildfires in Canterbury, Kaikōura and Hawke’s Bay, droughts along the east coat, the nibbling away of the road from Dunedin to Taieri Mouth, and the slow, stealthy inundation of South Dunedin are not extraordinary, one-off events but signs of the new climate normal.
Far from tackling the crisis, this government is hurrying it along by lowering methane targets, allowing more stocking of cows, pulling back from international climate agreements, relaxing requirements for companies to log their carbon emissions, cutting subsidies for electric vehicles, building roads of national significance instead of public transport, promoting international tourism, and encouraging prospectors for oil and gas. And now it abdicates responsibility for the consequences of its choices.
Climate change is too important for party politics. I urge the formation of a cross-party alliance to slow the advance of climate change and prepare for its effects. Nobody will be exempt.
Explainer explained
STV was very well explained by Prof Geddis and Prof Hayward in today’s ODT (27.10.25). It’s a pity the article wasn’t published prior to the elections.
[The ODT ran a substantial article explaining how STV works well before the recent election.]
Basic democracy
How can anyone rejoice and say "I won" when it is obvious to others that this person is in second place?
In any race there can be only one winner and surely the numbers show this (ODT 20.10.25).
The Dunedin elections were a mess with 16 hopefuls (some with no hope at all) standing for mayor. Each candidate should serve at least one term as a councillor.
The huge number putting their names forward for council was confusing: no wonder some people don’t vote at all.
Dunedin should go back to first-past-the-post system. After studying the numbers it is obvious to see why the new mayor really likes the STV system.
Basic democracy is critical. One person — one vote.
An answer to the question NZ are you out there?
Hello New Zealand, are you really still out there somewhere? (Opinion ODT 27.10.25).
No. Sorry to say, we’ve "gone with the wind."
New Zealand evidently doesn’t give a damn about people or wildlife, except commercial exploitation. The nation, along with its leaders, is obsessed with self, personal wealth, celebrity, sport, gold, froth, banality, surveillance and ultimately in attaining total power and control over individuals.
Citizens of Aotearoa are eking out their miserable existence under a misapprehension; they are misguided in believing that technology and innovation will save the planet, therefore them. Unfortunately, this ignores fatal instinctual flaws in our human nature.
Humanity is vapid, vain, conceited, egregious, rapacious, unworthy, untrustworthy, mediocre, and lacklustre. There is a dearth of resilience, thrift, endeavour, respect, ethics, education, healthcare, research, scruples, love and compassion.
You are abjured to eshew the stereotype. Use your talents, care for yourself and others equally, take personal responsibility and help in restoring lost confidence and belief in our nation.
Address Letters to the Editor to: Otago Daily Times, PO Box 517, 52-56 Lower Stuart St, Dunedin. Email: letters@odt.co.nz
