I refer to the report ("Populist policies 'threaten HK's reign as freest economy'", January 11).
The US organisation with the pompous title, the Heritage Foundation, has given this top spot to the city "since the ranking started in 1995".
In the same issue, there was a significant report ("Pay outpaced by prices in decade of high inflation") saying that Hongkongers' "median pay rose by only about 10 per cent between 2001 and 2011, despite property prices going through the roof and food prices climbing steadily".
This period when Hong Kong has held top spot has been accompanied by increasing air, noise and light pollution, the demise of small businesses, escalating home and food prices, shrinking living spaces, an unbreakable supermarket duopoly, increasing wealth gap and much more. This has resulted in a marked degeneration of people's quality of life.
We must be thankful to this so-called Heritage Foundation for pointing out the error of our ways and hope that we will soon move down the list and become a society that cares for people, and not just a number that is supposed to tell us something about "the economy".
S.P. Li, Lantau