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SCMP Reporter

Uefa scored own goal over crowd control

The comments made by Uefa spokesman William Gaillard about Liverpool fans in Athens ('Liverpool slam Uefa's 'worst fans' report', June 5), appear to be a reaction to the warranted criticism levelled at his organisation regarding the pathetic ticket allocations for Liverpool fans and  the woeful crowd management  at the Champions' League final at the Olympic Stadium in Athens.

I attended the match  with members of the Official Liverpool Supporters' Club Hong Kong branch, one of whom is a serving  police officer. He was damning of the crowd management, security and ticket checking procedures.

I was at Hilllsborough in 1989 and all the elements for a similar disaster were evident in Athens. Why  were there no turnstiles and how did they know how many people were in the stadium?

One of the factors that led to the Hillsborough disaster was that a gate was opened by police allowing thousands of fans to bypass the turnstiles creating a deadly surge

Merseyside police  voiced their concerns  to Uefa about the crowd management arrangements months in advance of the game. These concerns were obviously ignored.

The louts  who looked to gain from the chaos at the stadium are to be condemned and if identified prosecuted and banned from attending all future games.

To solve this problem why doesn't Uefa  build a 120,000 seater stadium in a central location in Europe where it could hold the event every year  and accommodate all fans plus its precious corporate sponsors?

Russell Green, chairman, Official Liverpool Supporters' Club Hong Kong (Expats) Branch

Leave Sokos untouched

Of course Bill Barron is right ('LNG terminal is the best way forward', June 6), we need gas to our electricity plants to get the air pollution down. However, his argument that it is selfish to push a terminal elsewhere is inappropriate.

It is certainly very reasonable to think of Hong Kong as a city and not a nation.

We are a city with a hinterland. It is entirely justifiable to demand  rationalisation of the number of terminals along the China coast. It is also  justifiable to want to use the spoilt islands next to the Sokos and leave the Sokos untouched.

There is ample demand to justify a large terminal to serve a larger area.

And this argument is certainly familiar to the Kadoori group of businesses. It is  outrageous to build multiple heliports around the harbour, instead of having both GFS and HeliServices share the use of one in Wan Chai. In fact, the best option is to have  HeliServices, GFS and  Shun Tak use the existing one in front of the Macau ferry terminal.

It is entirely irresponsible to dot heliports and the related environmental impact, all over the harbour because of incompetence and silly territorial arguments.

Equally so, and on a somewhat larger scale, it is equally irresponsible to dot the China and  Pearl River Delta coasts with LNG terminals for such reasons.

Paul Zimmerman, convenor, Designing Hong Kong Harbour District

Motivated by trees and fish

I wish to reply to a number of claims made by Paul Serfarty ('Sad perspective on how world must be ordered', June 2).

Whether or not the LNG plant planned  near the Soko Islands will reduce sulfur and nitrogen oxides, or so-called global warming emissions, environmentalists seem opposed to the proposed LNG plant in principle. They want a 'short delay' to something that can supposedly help humans.

I don't think their primary motivation is Mr Serfarty's so-called 'public good', or free markets.  Many environmentalists are primarily motivated by trees and fish. Secondly, I do not think that every value can be reduced to money.

While I support free markets and think money is a very valuable tool to help trade, the ultimate standard of value for every human being should be their own individual life.

There are many non-material values that can add greatly to someone's life.

However, one must usually act to gain a value, even if it is a non-material one. A value rarely drops into someone's lap.

Opposition to bureaucracy does not mean support for disorder.

Fortunately order follows from rationality, so free societies that respect rationality are basically orderly.

Of course, the rule of law in a free society can help protect the legitimate rights of a rational man from those that try to muscle reason aside.

Simon Patkin, Quarry Bay

ESF schools suffering

In 2005-2006 the English Schools Foundation educated 6,444 primary and 6,260 secondary students.

There is huge demand and a massive waiting list. To any sensible government this shows that there is a significant need to provide additional assistance to the growth of the organisation in this 'Asia World City' whilst ensuring the excesses of the past do not reoccur.

The current accounts show the opposite, a drop in subvention, as a result of the Education and Manpower Bureau freezing the number of classes it subvents and reducing the subvention per class by 1.8 per cent from the 1999/2000 level with effect from September 2003, 4.8 per cent from January 2004, 6.44 per cent from April 2004, 9.572 per cent from April 2005 and 12.372 per cent from April 2006.

In 1998, before becoming Secretary for Education and Manpower, Arthur  Li Kwok-cheung, gave an internet interview. At the time he was  vice-chancellor of the Chinese University. Professor Li said  he kept telling the government that education was an investment.  He pointed out that Hong Kong had no natural reserves, only people. If we did not invest in them and did not train them to be more competitive,  we would not survive.

I presume that Professor Li included native English speakers in his remarks.

I note he was educated at St Paul's Co-educational College now operated under the Direct Subsidy Scheme, the first subsidised school to join the scheme. I agree with him - the government needs to invest in our people through their education, including those whose mother tongue is English, without discrimination.

It must look at increased investment in the ESF  as an important part of the future of Hong Kong. Professor Li needs to remember his words spoken before he joined government and act upon them.

James Middleton, Pat Heung

Thanks be to the rule of law

I really don't know how Anthony Hedley can describe the smoking laws for the catering and licensed trade as chaotic ('Our chaotic smoke-free law is a feeble and ineffective instrument', May 31).

Surely they are very clear. He can argue that they are misguided but, as I am sure he knows,  they are totally transparent.

Smoking licences are only granted for premises which have no kitchen and apply an adults- only (over 18) entry policy.

K Lim's letter (Talkback, May 24) totally fails to distinguish this difference.

Would Mr Hedley care to identify the outlets which serve meals in a smoky atmosphere?

Thanks be to the rule of law.

Richard Paine, Tai Hang



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ESF - English Schools Foundation

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