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SCMP Reporter

What do you think of pay-TV services?

I am, sadly, leaving Hong Kong after seven years because my company has relocated me.

This means I have to cancel all my subscriptions.

PCCW Now Broadband has made me outraged and concerned because they have told me I must pay 12 months of penalties. I think this means they expect me to pay HK$5,700, based on my monthly subscription.

Is this fair? PCCW says my 18-month subscription was automatically renewed, although I was not aware of it.

Even if I had been, I would not have known at that time of my relocation. Surely a one or two-month notice period is reasonable? Is there a way to stop PCCW acting in this way?

John Viljoen, Discovery Bay

There are so many English Premiership matches over the weekend that it is impossible to watch them all.

Thankfully they are all repeated throughout the following week.

Can Now TV please explain why the English commentary we receive with live coverage is not available with the repeats - only the Cantonese commentary?

I pay my money just like the rest of Now's subscribers, so give me the same service or a reduction in my fee, it is only fair.

G. To, Mid-Levels

Should there be more help services for the elderly?

I refer to the report, 'I was desperate, says elderly robber' (August 30).

What Tsang Wing-on did ('staging a robbery at a convenience store'), because his welfare payments were cut off, was wrong.

However, it shows that  the government is not paying a lot of attention to the elderly, especially those who live alone.

Why did the government cut off payments to him, because the Social Welfare Department 'lost contact with him?'

Why did the government not to seek help from one of the appropriate charities in order to try  to find him? It seems, therefore, that the department felt it was this man's responsibility to keep in touch with them.

The government must employ more social workers to help such people, because charities do not have enough money to do this.

Yeung Kwok-yun, Kwun Tong

Is a law needed to regulate charities?

Every Saturday, you see people selling flags and claiming they represent non-profit-making charities.

However, if you want to check the background of a charity, it is not always easy to do so.

Therefore,  I think it is time we had a law which regulates charities.

The public has the right to know more about charitable groups.

Such a law will improve the transparency of charities and this can only boost our confidence in these organisations.  Such a law can ensure the money is going to the people it is supposed to help. It will make it more difficult for unscrupulous people to profit from charities.

There also needs to be more education, so that the government can help Hong Kong people to distinguish between genuine charities and those organisations that are just out to make a profit.

Cheng Ka-lee, Yau Tong

What do you think of the nine-year-old's university admission?

I think the Baptist University's offer to nine-year-old March Boedihardjo  to study for a mathematics degree may cause him problems.

There is no doubt he is a child prodigy and meets the academic requirements set by the university.

However, it was obvious, watching him on television, that he is still immature.

His actions were no different from what you would see with any other nine-year-old.

When you go to university, personal development is as important as academic achievements.

All the undergraduates will be nine to 10 years older than March and  I think he will face challenges and problems in his social life.

I believe Baptist University will have to offer a social worker to take care of March and help him with his emotional and personal development, as well as other challenges he faces in this new environment.

Fung Pui-kwan, Kwun Tong



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