Draconian moves to extend our lives are most welcome

Dear Donald Tsang Yam-kuen and Sarah Liao Sau-tung, as a member of the public, please consider me consulted and in favour of any action you might wish to take immediately to increase my life expectancy and that of all Hongkongers. Perhaps you have forgotten that Hong Kong is not a democracy; should you have the will for any draconian measures to help us breathe, then the way is easily found.

If you spent any time out of your air-conditioned offices and gas-guzzling limousines, your itchy eyes, sore head and tight lungs may drive you, as they do me, to vigilante methods - such as asking drivers every day to switch off their idling engines. Just this week I counted 12 empty tour buses idling away at Repulse Bay beach, three parked driving instructors with the engines running in Kowloon Tong, four diesel trucks pumping out emissions just five metres from a children's playground, and a driver in Central who refused to turn off his engine for fear the tour group he was waiting for might complain if the bus was too warm.

Some easily manufactured road signs would heighten public awareness. Traffic wardens could be directed to impose fines. Idling engines are just one polluter, but they are a problem easily fixed.

Just think, Mr Tsang and Dr Liao, you could make a difference.

LINDSAY ROBERTSON, Sai Ying Pun

Three months into the Action Blue Sky campaign, we are trapped below the greyest autumn skies I've seen - even on days when there are no clouds in the sky. The chief executive tried recently to obfuscate the issue, suggesting the air pollution is chiefly a matter of reduced visibility, and small particulates 'may not affect us'.

Befuddled as he seems to be, perhaps he is not too familiar with the internet and a search engine called Google. To help him, I have employed both to look up 'respirable suspended particulates'. And I have readily found information indicating they indeed affect our health.