Waikato Times letter of the week #67

From the edition of Wednesday 8 June. As always, spelling, punctuation, grammar and logic are exactly as printed in the Waikato Times.

Brain fade

Recently a number of correspondents have likened government inaction on property inflation to Nero fiddling while Rome burned. This comparison becomes even more apt when taken in historical context. Today we assume that the fiddle was a violin; however, the violin had not yet been invented at that time. What Nero played was a lyre. Would playing the lyre be an archaic equivalent of “brain fade”; or was it just that Nero did not want an inventory of run-down houses that might be too expensive to rent if they were properly maintained?

Hugh Webb

Hamilton