We have total respect for Susan Devoy and all she has achieved in life but was disappointed in her letter to your paper. We feel right now that everything concerning Maori is totally 'over the top” and everyone has lost their sense of humour with all this politically correct nonsense.

Clearly it is not right to hurt others' feelings but surely we can laugh at ourselves. Billy T James was the perfect example of this.

We have to remember Maori did not have a written language so these 'add ons” are utter nonsense. If we were Maori we would want to learn te reo. We are not Maori and no amount of ranting about the subject is going to make us want to. In fact we do not know of a better 'turn off” than having an issue forced on us. Maori need to 'get over” themselves – they are no more or no less than equal to the rest of us New Zealanders.

Tony & Jan Hill, Tauranga