On a whim our Prime Minister John Key, wishes to discard our national flag, simply because he thinks that it is no longer a true representation of New Zealand. During his term in office, Mr Key has had to deal with some fairly formidable situations, such as earthquakes, Kiwfruit Psa-V, pollution from the wreck of the Rena cargoship, overseas falling prices for our produce, etc. To his credit he has handled most of these with aplomb, and a degree of competence. I am amazed that he has read the Nation's mood for a flag change so wrong.

I don't think I am being unnecessarily harsh when l say that he may be hedging his bets, as it has already been suggested that he will be resigning soon after the National Party is re-elected next year. He would like to be remembered as the Prime Minister who instigated the flag change, and yet, without severing ties with the UK completely, he wouldn't be jeopardizing the knighthood that he would consider his due on leaving office.

If he is at all serious about the identity crisis he thinks we are experiencing, then why not declare New Zealand a Republic, change the flag, and take the country forward as one nation/one people. It was, after all, the original intention of the Treaty of Waitangi, until politics and money clouded the issues.

New Zealand is fairly unique in that we are all immigrants, or descendants thereof, and continue to populate the country with a wide variety of interesting ethnicities. We are a young country, and should concentrate on coalescing the different cultures to form one people all working together to form a strong united front. All this pussy footing around, and waffling 'til the cows come home merely has us running around in circles.

I personally, for the moment, am in favour of retaining our national flag as it is until the propitious moment is revealed to launch forward on our own. Our existing flag has held us in good stead through good times and bad, and anyone who is really interested will know that our flag came before Australia's, and it only takes the fingers of one hand (polydactyls) to count the stars on the two flags, and thus determine the difference between theirs and ours. I think the world and Australia can handle that.

T Corbet, Tauranga City.