As a former resident of Cheung Chau, I'd say that part of the attraction of climbing the bun tower is that its part of a specific festival and that it's held once a year, which makes it a little more special. If it were available all year, wouldn't it lose some of this attraction? I am sure the long-term residents of Cheung Chau are best placed to answer this question.

How about the continuing costs of staffing the tower and the need to have qualified instructors there every day in case people want to climb?

I manage the tallest climbing wall in Hong Kong and understand the staffing and costs involved in something like this.

There's also the fact that the bun tower is on a basketball court that is heavily used by young people on the island. Where are they going to play now if the tower is a permanent feature? Increased tourism would decrease activity of young people - which is more important?

To Dr Ho and his new 'sports commission', I would like to let you know that there are lots of people in Hong Kong with ideas for sports events that would make Hong Kong an attractive place to visit. I am sure Cheung Chau residents could also come up with ideas to attract more tourists to the island.

There is a whole committee under the Sport Commission responsible for looking at sports events in Hong Kong and offering support? Where are they? Who are they? Are they really reaching into the community?

I organise one of the largest amateur international sports events in the city each year for Inline Hockey with no financial support or sponsorship from anyone.

This year we are expecting more than 40 teams from nine countries. That's a lot of people coming into Hong Kong. These people have a great time and come back year after year. This is just an example of events that need the support of the government.

I appeal to Dr Ho and the Sports Commission to open their eyes to what else is going on in the sports community and listen to and work with those involved to make Hong Kong a better place for residents and visitors.

Doug Cole, Ma Wan

Dr Ho just doesn't seem to get it. But when a national representative leads his country into idolatry, as opposed to the worship of God, then that nation will suffer the consequence of divine judgment, as the Bible makes plain in so many places.

The Cheung Chau bun scramble cannot be reduced to just a sporting event, as Dr Ho desires, for the tradition is rooted in the appeasement of spirits against the plague. Moreover, to make this into a regular event would be to multiply this idolatry.

Dr Ho still needs to learn the obvious lesson, which I make no apologies for repeating here. His seeking the nation's blessing in 2003 at the Che Kung Temple, founded upon the ending of one plague, was followed directly by Sars. His department's protection and encouragement of the idolatry of the wishing tree earlier in the year, an idolatry built on the desire for intellectual success, was immediately followed by the fall of former chief executive Tung Chee-hwa. Dr Ho's 'vision', therefore, to expand the idolatry of the bun scramble can only expose Hong Kong to the risk of further judgment and plague. Hong Kong be warned! One should let sleeping dogs lie.

When the original bamboo tower collapsed in 1978, this should have been understood then as a sign of divine displeasure against the practice. As it happened, banning the event was the right thing to do. In resurrecting it, even in steel, far from showing that safety issues are at the top of his agenda, Dr Ho exhibits an ignorant disregard for the well-being of Hong Kong.

David Eason, Tai Po

On other matters...

I am writing to express my disgust at a TVB game show aired on Sunday evening at 8.30pm and the indifference displayed by the fat cats in charge of the Television and Entertainment Licensing Authority (Tela) who have been attempting to play down the importance of the complaints they have received about the programme.

The show this week involved a game in which an actor and actress (one married and one unmarried) were asked to hold each other tight and roll along a mattress that was designed to simulate a rugged landscape. They had to roll their entwined bodies to burst a balloon at the end of the mattress.

I lodged a complaint to Tela. However, the response from the only department able to wield a moral stick was disappointing.

It claimed the programme was not targeting children and did not breach rules or regulations governing the content of television shows.

It also said the programme was rated Parental Guidance and was supposed to be for fun only.

If this is a healthy game, then I have to question what the act of rolling between a man and a woman, irrespective of their marital status, would lead people (including both adults and children) to think?

Are officials naive enough to think that children will not watch the show?

What message do such disgusting acts send to children who are watching the show, even with their parents?

I think the government should take a tougher stand against the broadcaster and the programme hosts who only know how to joke about sex while hypocritically presenting themselves as upholders of justice, for example when it comes to the problem of piracy.

As a teacher, I feel compelled to voice my anguish over the threat to our declining moral standards and the inaction and apathy demonstrated so far by TVB and Tela, which should not compromise when it comes to matters of ethical significance.

I do hope the next chief executive can redress what is going wrong in our society so that future generations will respect our identity more.

This letter will be sent to all major print media and more are under way until somebody in our government takes this matter seriously before the problem of moral pollution gets worse.

Name and address supplied

I read with interest about the Red Cross appeal calling for donations of Type A and Type O blood. This came a month or so after I received a letter from the Red Cross telling me that they could no longer accept my Type O negative blood.

I started giving while at school in Hong Kong and have donated more than 30 times.

I was always welcomed by the donor centres because Type O negative blood is rare in Hong Kong (only 0.3 per cent of the local population is rhesus-negative compared with one in seven Caucasians).

As explained on the Red Cross website: 'A person with rhesus-negative blood cannot receive positive blood. Since it is relatively rare, it is vital the Blood Transfusion Service maintains sufficient stocks of negative blood to ensure supply. Furthermore, rhesus-positive patients can receive negative blood. Type O negative is known as the Universal Donor as it is compatible with all blood groups. This makes Type O negative very special and widely used, especially in an emergency when minutes count.'

Due to concerns over the transmission of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD) in 1999, the Hong Kong Red Cross started restricting donations from anyone who lived in Britain or Europe over a specific period. However, they made exceptions for Type O negative donors and continued to accept their blood, even if they fell into one of the restricted categories. That was until a month ago, when they revised their policy to cover Type O negative donors as well. Before readers head off to their local donation centre, I suggest they check with the Red Cross if they are eligible, or they will be wasting their time.

For example, you are not allowed to donate blood in Hong Kong if you have:

1. Spent three months or more cumulatively in Britain between 1980 and 1996.

2. Spent five years or more cumulatively anywhere else in Europe between 1980 and the present day.

I wonder when they will add the United States to this list, considering that bovine spongiform encephalopathy, the animal form of the disease which develops into vCJD in human consumers of infected tissue, has been detected in US cattle.

Interestingly, there is also new evidence in Britain to suggest that baby food was contaminated with BSE in the 1970s.

Given that jars of British-made baby food were also sold in Hong Kong at that time, does that mean Hong Kong residents aged between 30 and 40 who were born in Hong Kong are now also a potential risk group?

I can only hope that the Red Cross manages to find alternative sources of 'non-risk' Type O negative blood and that more of the local population who have Type O negative blood will start donating.

I am worried for my young daughter, who also has Type O negative blood, in case she ever needs a blood transfusion in Hong Kong.

It would be ironic if after all these years of donating, we are told that there is not enough Type O negative blood available.

Lynne Poelmann