talk back

Q How can illegal soccer gambling be stopped?

I don't see any great threat to society with the co-existence of legitimate and illegal soccer gambling. What is the issue with illegal gambling other than the effect on the Jockey Club's charity donations?

I must declare I do not gamble on soccer, legally or illegally. But it is like taking drugs in a private or a classy outlet - neither are good for us.

Dannio Chan, North Point

Q Will the crackdown on cages hurt clothing recycling efforts?

Many people do not donate their second-hand clothes because they think such donations will not do enough to help people, so they prefer to donate money.

Some people donate their second-hand clothes because the cages are close to their homes so that it is convenient for them to do it.

But I wonder how many people would be willing to donate their clothes if they had to make a long trip to cages placed in community service centres or public estates.

Derek Chan, Hong Kong

On other matters ...

It is disappointing that neither TVB or ATV seems to believe that an English-language World Cup soccer highlights show, at whatever hour, is warranted, despite it being clear on the Chinese shows that Andrew Sams and co are in fact commentating for someone (for whom, it would be nice to know).

Do programme schedulers think there is no interest in this tournament among ignorant, non-Chinese-speaking gweilos like myself, because of the English team's pathetic displays?

Perhaps, but what is worse is that when one has figured out (mainly by luck) that the morning shows are at 7.30am (TVB) and 8.30am (ATV), without any warning, (18 days into the tournament) the TVB Jade 7.30am show is screened at 7.45am, for no reason it seems other than to give the non-football-loving locals their daily fill of the latest gruesome pictures of the latest road accident/arson victim or news of local petty theft.

Moreover, to compound the problem for those who don't feel compelled to stay up until all hours of the morning to watch the latest dour battle on the pitch from Germany and schedule their fix for a half-hour catch-up before work, the Post's TV schedule has the highlights showing on TVB Jade at 8am!

If nothing else, the ineptitude of the local media parallels the performances of the English team, but at least the English team manages to turn up at the right kick-off time. With the World Cup being the biggest sporting event, one would have thought Hong Kong's media could have got its act together for once.

One only has to recall the total disregard for the flame-lighting part of the opening ceremony at the 2000 Olympic Games when local TV producers determined that the local evening news and financial market report was more important to realise that Hong Kong deserves everything it gets in the sporting events world. Absolutely nothing!

Name and address supplied

In the Post of June 29 we could read in the sports section that women players at Wimbledon want equal prize money to their male counterparts.

Hey, I am a director of a (small) company in HK so now I want the same pay as the director of Coca Cola (US).

The demand of these women is ridiculous.

If they want the same prize money then they should play in the same competition with the men (not one will qualify, just like with golf). Also they should play the best of five instead of best of three sets, and get an equal number of fans in stadiums and for TV broadcasts.

It is, after all, the money which pours in from advertisers which gets them their pay cheques, and with fewer viewers there will be less advertising money. Everybody should get equal pay for an equal job done.

Female tennis is clearly not equal to male tennis - learn to live with it.

Jeffry Kuperus, Clear Water Bay

The surgeon-general of the United States has announced that the evidence is now 'indisputable' that second-hand smoke is an alarming public health hazard, responsible for tens of thousands of premature deaths among non-smokers in the US each year.

Richard Carmona said measures like no-smoking areas did not provide adequate protection and that smoke-free environments were the only approach that would completely protect non-smokers from the health dangers of second-hand smoke.

Dr Carmona did not call for a federal ban on smoking in workplaces, bars or restaurants, saying his duty was restricted to providing the public and Congress with definitive information on the subject from which decisions could be made.

Is a smoking ban necessary or even appropriate in Hong Kong? Airports are designated smoke-free, yet allowance is made for those who must indulge their addiction.

Cannot bars and restaurants, at least those of a certain calibre, be asked to do the same? And if they cannot, should the indulgence of a few be allowed to poison the many?

Reuben M. Tuck, Shek O

The tourism industry is becoming increasingly important nowadays. Many countries, especially the less-developed ones, choose to make use of their abundant natural resources to develop the industry.

New spots are built to attract visitors by cutting down trees, carrying out sea reclamation work, constructing roads, building parks and resorts. All these could benefit local people in the commercial aspect, but all these activities cause severe damage to the natural environment. In the long run, people pay a heavy price.

However, there is no reason for us to completely ban these commercial activities because of harm to the environment. What we need to do is try to minimise the harmful effects to the environment and control the pace of urbanisation and development to make sure it does not go beyond our needs.

William Wong Kai-yiu