I think young people should be concerned more about social issues in Hong Kong, as they will be the adults working in society in a few years.

As young citizens we have a responsibility to think about the ­future.

I will certainly be registering when I have reached voting age and I hope all young people will do so, as we should exercise all the rights to which we are ­entitled.

Youngsters should not stick their head in the sand and say they only care about what is happening in their own lives.

They also need to care about what is happening in the rest of society.

Joanne Kwong Chung-ki, Yau Yat Chuen

Government has lost middle class support

Your study of those who voted for localist candidates in the Legislative Council election (“Middle-class voters get behind localists”, September 7) ­confirms, yet again, that dissatisfaction with this government is not confined to students.

As with everywhere else in the world, once the middle class gets rattled you know you’ve got problems. As the government doesn’t seem to get it, let me humbly speak on behalf of the middle class in a tone the administration will not be able to ignore.

The middle class is sick and tired of a politically amateurish chief executive, who instead of recognising he has no legitimacy with the electorate and acting accordingly, feels he has carte blanche to cause conflict with whoever he likes even when there was none before.

We despair at a supine, administratively incompetent Executive Council which couldn’t even find out who was to blame for lead poisoning in water pipes.

We wait for childcare-friendly policies that might deal with the demographic time bomb staring us in the face, but have to watch the government instead spend its energies on a silk road development strategy with countries we’ve never heard of and most definitely would never want to go to.

We listen to absurd excuses why a city with a cumulative ­surplus exceeding 75 per cent of gross domestic product can’t ­afford a universal basic pension yet see daily the grotesque sight of old people scavenging for waste paper. We see problems all around us that money could help to solve. However, we watch our tax ­dollars spent on infrastructure projects to integrate us better with the mainland, a place we see no reason to integrate with because it has none of the values we hold dear. I could go on and on.

If the government wants a view of how the election results will look in 2020, 2024 and so on, then I suggest it visit any secondary school and take a straw poll of future voting intentions.

I doubt its future supporters would exceed a statistical rounding error above zero. The government has already lost tomorrow’s middle class as well as today’s.

Lee Faulkner, Lamma

Smartphone market is now so competitive

Consumers are understandably concerned about the problems with the recently released ­Samsung Galaxy Note 7 smartphone, with it sometimes ­catching fire and ­exploding.

It leaves customers who own these smartphones with an air of uncertainty about the batteries in them.

With advances in technology, companies are constantly trying to come up with ­improved models of smartphones in an effort to satisfy the needs of demanding consumers. This market is very competitive and quality control at all stages of the manufacturing process for all the components that make up the smartphone is of paramount importance.

As more brands flood the market, these manufacturers face even keener competition and must do all they can to lower retail prices. Hopefully what has happened with Samsung will make all smartphone users more vigilant regarding the safety of the electronic gadgets we use every day.

All these companies, ­including Samsung, must ­redouble their efforts to ensure the safety of their products.

Vivien Suen, Tseung Kwan O

Tough task for Samsung to win back trust

Samsung faces a serious safety problem with its Galaxy Note 7 with some of the smartphones exploding while charging.

Surely for all companies, ­including Samsung, the safety of customers should be the number one priority. Samsung is a huge manufacturer of smartphones. Errors of this kind are simply not acceptable, especially from such an experienced and reputable company. This should be a wake-up call for the company and there is a need for serious reflection on the part of its executives. They were slow to react after the problem surfaced.

Consumers put their trust in Samsung and that has been undermined by what has happened to the Galaxy Note 7. In future it must make sure its customers are protected.

Chloe Kwok, Yau Yat Chuen

We should confront fear in ourselves

Regarding Josephine Bersee’s letter (“Muslims resist greater degree of integration”, ­September 8), don’t we all take parts of our culture with us when we live in foreign countries? And don’t we enjoy and celebrate the various customs of other ­cultures and religions?

Fear is a very powerful ­emotion which I think we would do well to confront in ourselves, otherwise we may be guilty of targeting groups of people who are entirely innocent.

This separation and suspicion of cultures is exactly what terrorists hope to achieve.

James Stewart, Admiralty

There is clearly a significant warming trend

I refer to the letter by G. Bailey (“Some scientists are predicting colder weather”, September 4).

I am rather perplexed by the repetitive publication of long-debunked climate myths spread by G. Bailey in your newspaper.

All the aforementioned authoritative climate information is easily accessible online with just a few clicks. Your readers can also refer to my previous ­response to G. Bailey (“Established laws of physics used to make climate projections”, August 3).

Lee Sai-ming, senior scientific officer, Hong Kong Observatory