Second, another location for the terminal must be sought to avoid the ongoing encroachments on the habitat of the Chinese white dolphin and other species. The Soko Islands should be established as a marine park with an enforced no-fishing policy. The area is a known fishery spawning and nursery ground. A marine park containing a liquefied natural gas terminal is an ill-advised concept.

ERIC BOHM, chief executive,

WWF Hong Kong

You're entirely to blame

Housing chief Michael Suen Ming-yeung says the community should stop blaming the government and be rational about construction plans for the Central waterfront - changes to which would be highly irresponsible and expensive ('Don't blame the government', December 15).

Well, we, for one, lay the blame entirely on his desk. The only reason he refused to save the clock tower was that he was worried about how many changes he would have to make to his land sales programme.

He had many opportunities to consider input and make timely amendments. Designing Hong Kong Harbour District and members of the Harbourfront Enhancement Committee have called for the plans for Central, Wan Chai and the harbour as a whole to be reviewed since early 2004. Last year, the Town Planning Board asked for a review of Central.

What's more, even as Mr Suen was writing his article, he knew that the tender for the long-promised urban design study for Central, due to start this year, has been scrapped. The project is supposed to be re-tendered, for as yet unknown reasons. Not only is this review many years late, the government continues efforts to limit its mandate to the irrelevant. The mandate assumes that urban plans and zoning are fixed, and that only design features can be changed. It leaves out planning for marine and marine infrastructure. It excludes transport services and infrastructure - despite the fact that roads are the only justification for the reclamation, massive new transport interchanges are planned, MTR and tram links are absent and pedestrian mobility around the harbour is of major concern.

Yes, Mr Suen, you are to blame - for your ongoing and irresponsible refusal since 2004 to take a timely and comprehensive look at the design for Central. Suggesting that the protesters are irrational and irresponsible is an insult to all those who have given their free time and goodwill to give you their best advice for many years.

NATALIE NG, secretary, Designing Hong Kong Harbour District

Off my Christmas gift list

David Tang added insult to his customers' financial injury by deriding people who give and receive mountains of 'half-pointless and half-unwanted' gifts during the festive season in his Insight piece 'All I want for Christmas' (December 16).

Has he witnessed the annual outbreak of panic buying in Shanghai Tang stores as Christmas nears? My bank balance has taken a beating several times as my frantic search for presents has inevitably led me back to the store he founded on Pedder Street - to me, the gift shop of last resort.

Too many times have I dropped thousands of dollars on scarves, sweaters, place mats and fancy silks, only to receive nonplussed expressions of thanks from family and friends who don't quite know what to do with them. Other than, as Mr Tang helpfully points out, to stuff them out of sight under the bed.

I don't doubt Mr Tang for a moment when he says he delights at his bumper receipts during the Christmas retail bonanza. 'I am only excited as the seller, not the buyer,' he says, making clear he regards with snooty contempt the uncultured mass of customers who keep him in fine cigars the rest of the year.

I'll take his advice and not waste money on armfuls of ghastly gifts - at least, not bought from Shanghai Tang. I suggest everyone in Hong Kong does the same. Then we'll see if he, the self-confessed humbug, sweetens his tone.

KEVIN BUBEL, Discovery Bay

Down to two choices

So The Lion Rock Institute - that bastion of grab-what-you-can-and-sod-the-rest market 'freedom' - is glad to see the demise of the proposed goods and services tax ('Rest in peace, GST', December 18)? The institute's Andrew Work and Wallace Chan cite choice as the bedrock of freedom, but here are some points.

People are uncomfortable choosing between more than four alternatives, being most happy with two or three. 'Choice' is euphemistic for corporations' rights to push yet more stuff that we neither need nor, in most cases, want, which is why so much is spent on advertising to convince us life is pointless without it.

Consumption is what keeps this game going, but it is a finite game, and we are nearing the end of it. In its recent trade negotiations with China, the US pressed Beijing to urge its population to increase 'domestic consumption'. Great idea, all we need are another three planet Earths to provide the resources and dump the waste on, and we're laughing.

The only important choice we have right now is between serious change or collapse, and it's a stark one. The sooner people realise that less consumption is best, the better off we'll all be. A GST is good if it will help to reduce consumption, thereby increasing our choices for the future.

RICHARD FIELDING, Pok Fu Lam

Actions speak loudly

I am writing partly in response to David Day's letter on the low turnout at the recent Election Committee poll (''Record' turnout of voters wins the day for apathy', December 14). I, too, wish more voters had taken part. Judging by the turnout, not only is Hong Kong not ready for democracy, it generally doesn't want it.

However, Mr Day's suggestion that voting be made compulsory is not the solution. A dictatorship democracy is not the way forward. Instead, maybe parties should campaign more to bring awareness about what they intend to do. People should also show they care about democracy not by getting caught up in the emotions of the odd march but by actually getting out there and doing something.

What will the Beijing bigwigs think? Why have democracy when only 27 per cent of voters can be bothered to vote. Get a grip, Hong Kong.

MICHAEL CUSACK-PASS, Macau

Fresh political insight

One sentence jumped out at me in Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee's piece 'What's wrong with cronies?' (December 18). She asserts that civil service cronies are arguably worse than politically appointed ones because 'political appointees must bow out if they are not up to the job'. What a breath of fresh air. I eagerly await the imminent resignations of our many politically appointed cronies, including the chief executive. Politics in Hong Kong is much stronger with Mrs Ip's insightful analysis.

GRAHAM MOORE, Pok Fu Lam

Aged care

R.A. Jones was spot on his letter about the needs of our growing elderly population ('Elderly neglected', December 13). The elderly do not have representation on the Legislative Council, as he pointed out, because: The government faces too many other pressing issues to give proper attention to their plight;

Businesses are not attuned to the concept of the 'silver market'; and

The elderly are of no interest to political parties because they tend not to vote.

Filial piety in Hong Kong is fast eroding. Of almost 1 million people aged 65 and older, those from wealthy and middle-income groups struggle with isolation and neglect, while the poor battle financial hardship and ill-health. Mr Jones asked: 'Who is carrying the flag for the elderly?' It is the non-governmental organisations, which have limited resources and oversized workloads. The government should take the lead in educating the public on the importance of caring for the elderly. It should also give more financial aid to NGOs that help the aged.

PATSY LEUNG, Mid-Levels