To achieve the much-valued gradual and orderly transition, and to minimise changes to the Basic Law, the loss of voting power could be gradual, initially implemented by means of changes to the House Rules requiring both geographical and functional constituencies to approve legislation. In this way, expertise and inputs would be preserved, but the functional constituencies would move towards the British House of Lords in constitutional terms: able to influence but not to control.

PAUL SERFATY, Mid-Levels

The vital question

Functional constituency candidates for the Election Committee poll on Sunday have been sending us reams of irrelevant information about themselves.

Instead, they should all answer just one question: do you agree that the next chief executive should be elected on the basis of his policy intentions or do you support an appointment to the position by the denial of nomination to all but one contender?

We should vote only for candidates who commit, in writing, to the first option. The others dishonour their professions.

LI SI-PING, Lantau

Lost to a cyberworld

Your news brief 'Teenager collapses playing video games' (December 3) really shocked me. We all know that too many teenagers spend most of their free time on these addictive but time-wasting games. And their school results must suffer, accordingly.

But what sort of parents allowed that 15-year-old child to stay out, in a cybercafe, playing video games all night? The boy collapsed at 5am. We are told that such shocking incidents are commonplace.

The licensing authorities should force such establishments to close at a reasonable hour, say 1am. And no child should be allowed on the premises after 10pm, on pain of prosecution of the cybercafe owners.

The parents have obviously failed in their primary duty of care, in neglecting a schoolboy to such an extent that he can pass out after playing video games in a public cafe in the early hours of the morning.

They should be prosecuted for child neglect.

MARY PANG, Kwai Chung

Minority support

Some critics of the newly gazetted Race Discrimination Bill claim it is flawed because it does not guarantee adequate academic support for minorities to learn at Chinese-medium schools. However, they neglect the fact that Cantonese is a legitimate language of instruction at our public and government-aided schools, and does not constitute institutional discrimination against a certain race.

No matter where one resides, the medium of instruction at public schools is almost always the official language, or languages, of that country. While countries may have different legislation, there is not much variation in this policy. In Hong Kong, the official languages are Cantonese and English.

Support, such as a Chinese version of the well-established English as a Second Language programme, should be introduced to help minorities. However, in an exceptionally generous gesture, the Education and Manpower Bureau is making arrangements for non-Chinese speaking students to take the General Certificate of Secondary Education (Chinese) examination starting from next year.

Such a practice, unprecedented elsewhere, shows that our government is not turning a blind eye to the issue.

KRIS CHUI, Mong Kok

Wasted space

Now that Annie Tam of the Housing, Planning and Lands Bureau has enlightened us on how efficiently our administration is dealing with idle factories in her letter 'Tuned in on land use' (December 4), perhaps she would care to explain how empty government flats are being put to optimum use too.

In October last year, despite pleas and protestations, the Government Property Agency emptied 96 flats at 25-29 Borrett Road of tenants. Their rationale? The Lands Department wanted to put them up for sale and needed time to decommission them. More than a year later, the same buildings are lying empty, instead of earning revenue.

The same happened at a property on Mount Kellett Road, The Peak. Perhaps Ms Tam could tell us for how many years those apartments were vacant, and how much revenue the government lost as a result.

These figures, along with the revenue lost in Borrett Road for the past year, might make for interesting reading - especially for our financial secretary. Who knows, it may actually prod him into getting his own house in order first before foisting his goods and services tax on us.

If Ms Tam's only answer is that the properties must be vacant before they can be put on the auction list, she needs to know something. You are the government; you make the rules. So put on your thinking caps and find a solution. Vacating prime properties and waiting for a bid to trigger off an auction in some distant future is extremely wasteful, even by your standards.

SUMAN DASWANI, Mid-Levels

Retain alcohol taxes

I disagree with legislator Tommy Cheung Yu-yan that alcohol duties should be cut ( 'Grapes of wrath', November 28). Alcohol causes cancer of the mouth, stomach, oesophagus, liver and pancreas. It is also implicated in all kinds of accidents, crimes and violent behaviour.

Moderation is the key according to many, including doctors and researchers. American Audrey Kishline, founder of a self-help group for problem drinkers called Moderation Management, wrote a book defending moderate drinking, published in 1994. The following year, she killed a 12-year-old and her father in a head-on collision, despite her belief that she was sober enough to drive. While serving time in prison for the killings, she wrote another book asking people to forget about her earlier work, arguing that alcohol is deceptive.

Cutting taxes on alcohol will only increase its consumption and, as a consequence, related problems including alcoholism. Alcohol abuse is the main cause of abuse among teenagers in the US. Are we enabling it to happen here too?

I believe there should be more voices in the city against alcohol drinking, and no cuts in taxes. If we cut taxes today, we will pay the health and social costs tomorrow.

HILDEMAR SANTOS,

Hong Kong Adventist Hospital

Coughing commuters

I agree with your correspondents James Warren and Carina Pico that David Tang's letter 'What are you whingers doing?' (December 1) is off the mark ('Fiddling while HK stinks' and Toxic leadership', December 5).

I live in an old flat where air conditioning is unnecessary. I do not drive a car. Obviously, Mr Tang, like our chief executive, lives in a different world from most Hongkongers. If he cared to use the public transport system daily, perhaps he would realise what damage the pollution has done to this city's people. While riding on a bus or the MTR, just observe the number of people who cough. This is not seasonal. Enough said.

TONY YUEN, Pok Fu Lam

How sporting

I am most pleased to read that Doha Asian Games spectator Salim Al-Nabit was willing to leave his wife at home and force himself to watch skimpily clad women play beach volleyball because it was 'a matter of national honour' ('Bikini-clad players raise eyebrows', December 4). Should his wife be willing, is Mr Al-Nabit going to give her permission to force herself to watch skimpily clad male swimmers or athletes - as a matter of national honour, of course?

PETRA NIESNER, Lantau