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SCMP Reporter

What do you think about broadband services?
There is much more that broadband operators must do than meet their own targets ('Nearly all broadband firms meet own targets', April 28).
I replied to the survey  carried out by Hong Kong Broadband Network.
I actually found it quite annoying. I kept having to key in numbers to express my views and I was not happy with some of the questions.
For example, I was asked how many points I would give for the service provided by the company - one for not satisfied, two for satisfied, and so on.  In the course of doing the survey there was too much promotional information provided.
Even if companies make performance pledges, that is no guarantee that they will provide  good service.
I would like the company to abandon the  boring telephone questionnaires.
However, I would welcome a blog for commenting on the service, and I am sure other internet users would share my views.
I do not see why these firms should take any pride in meeting their own targets.
Instead, they need to come up with ways of providing more practical benefits for their customers.  I believe there is room for improvement.
If a blog were created, as I have suggested, then I am sure we would see hotly debated topics appear on such things as marketing tactics, technological problems and contractual disputes.
The broadband operators should take a more open-minded approach and set up such  blogs.
Wun Sau-suet, Kwai Chung
What do you think of public hospital standards?
The standards in our public hospitals are not high enough.
People who have to see a doctor are quite commonly kept waiting for at least 30 minutes, even if they have an appointment.
Some elderly people who have difficulty booking by phone must  get up early and take a waiting ticket - which can mean a wait of several hours to see a doctor.
Also, because of the large number of patients, doctors' consultations are quick.
I am also concerned about the number of errors that have been reported in public hospitals, which  has led to a drop in public confidence.
Clearly, there are improvements that hospitals must make.
Lee Mei-yuk, Tsuen Wan
I do think standards in public hospitals are deteriorating.
There have been press reports of errors being made in these hospitals, and long waiting lists for patients because of bed shortages.
The government must allocate more resources to the public sector.
Eva Yu Sik-tsz, Mong Kok
Should the MTR install public toilets?
Legislators have been calling for washrooms at MTR stations to be opened to the public. I think this is a good idea, and the MTR Corporation should act without further delay.
It is a shame that these washrooms are not open to the public.
The fact is that, given the high volume of passenger traffic on the MTR network, there will be passengers who will sometimes have an emergency and need to use the facilities.
At present they may feel too embarrassed to ask the staff to show them to the staff washroom, or they do not know the location of the toilet.
The MTR has claimed the toilets are not designed for multiple use, but this is a poor excuse. The MTR Corp must see passengers (and their needs) as a No1  priority.  It is the corporation's priority to provide the best facilities to the public and allocate the small amount of money that would be required to convert the toilets, so they can be used by the public.
The MTR Corp must give careful and serious consideration to this request.
Cindy Chan, Yau Ma Tei
Should a minimum wage be set by law?
I fully sympathise with the wage protection movement; its members have tried to have a dialogue with the relevant parties and ensure a minimum wage for workers.
However, I consider it to have been a failure.
We need, in legal terms, a 'whip' from the government in the form of a mandatory minimum wage.
The legislation must be accompanied by enforcement and monitoring to ensure that employers comply with it.
Thomas Yeo, Tuen Mun
On other matters...
Two 'accidents waiting to happen' in the space of a few minutes' driving on Sunday morning have prompted me to share my concerns with other readers.
Driving eastbound along Gloucester Road near police headquarters, I was confronted by a group of workers cutting and clearing the foliage in the central reserve.
One elderly worker with his hands full of cut greenery was walking along the top of the concrete barrier, a strip of concrete no more than 150mm wide and about a metre or so above the road level, with traffic passing by, at speeds of up to the legal limit of 70 km/h, only inches away from him.
If he had tripped, stumbled or lost his balance he would have fallen off the barrier and, more likely than not, under the wheels of a passing vehicle. Surely the Highways Department, and the company carrying out the work that employs these workers, should make the workplace safe for them?
Barely five minutes later I pulled alongside one of those trucks that are used for moving rubbish skips, driving along with a large, menacing steel hook projecting 60cm to 70cm out the back of the vehicle, about 150cm above road level.
If this vehicle had stopped quickly and the reactions of the driver of a following vehicle ('bus' comes to mind) had been a little slow, the hook could have made a nasty mess.
This is not the first example of its kind that I have seen, so perhaps it's quite within the law to drive around town with a lethal weapon projecting from the back of a vehicle - but somehow I doubt it.
David Sorton, Happy Valley
A man who beat a pregnant barking deer to death with a shovel was sentenced to six months in jail. I wonder if this is  the highest penalty ever handed down in a case of animal abuse in the city ('Man jailed six months for bludgeoning deer', April 22).
Magistrate John Glass said in passing sentence that he accepted Ip Chi-yung,  46, may not have realised the animal was pregnant. Even so, the offence was serious.
I was surprised by the sentence. After all, Ip killed two innocent lives. I feel he should have been sentenced to 12 months, even though he did not realise the poor barking deer was pregnant.
The defence counsel said Ip was a responsible father of three who regularly took part in charity work, and he was under the influence of alcohol at the time.
I feel even though he was under the influence of alcohol, the act of cruelty should not have taken place. I hope the law will be changed soon so that there can be tougher sentences imposed in cases like this.
Eugene Li, Deep Water Bay



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