The news article Hizbollah says it will be inclusive (January 24) reported that Lebanon's Sunni Muslim religious leaders warned Hizbollah not to ignore their opinion ahead of talks to pick a new prime minister.
How come this is an issue now and was not back in 2005 when General Michel Aoun had 70 per cent of the Christian vote and he was not considered for the presidency?
I am sure that there are a lot of smart Lebanese among the Sunni community in Lebanon other than Saad Hariri who can be selected for the prime minister's position and will do a fantastic job.
G Berry, Abu Dhabi
Pioneer magazine in mobile tag
I refer to the business article Print advertising goes high-tech (January 21). It was great to see a piece on mobile tagging with reference to the print industry in the UAE, but I was disappointed by an oversight in the story.
The introduction states that "A quick scan through the local newspapers will soon become a more high-tech exercise." And yet, in June 2010, Tempo magazine, in Abu Dhabi became the first magazine to integrate mobile tagging into the print medium. Not the first in Abu Dhabi, or even the UAE, but in the region.
Sana Bagersh, Tempo editor, Abu Dhabi
Looking forward to a green BMW
The January 22 business article asked the question Does the cost justify a greener BMW? Yes, it is justified, that is, if you really can afford it. Maybe you will, or maybe you won't ever really get all of the extra money back, but what you are doing is telling BMW and other auto manufacturers that we want more efficient vehicles and we will pay for them.
We need to send a clear message to the car companies: break the mould, think out of the box, do the impossible, give us advanced, energy efficient vehicles and still offer great performance.
If we don't start the process now, we will never get there.
Build them, BMW. There are enough forward thinking people with the financial means to support the cars you are developing in the Efficient Dynamics programme.
Tom Moloughney, US
A small raise is better than a cut
The news article Zayed University staff to get 2 per cent pay increase. (January 17) reported that the teaching staff voiced complaints about the small increase after a three-year salary freeze.
Teachers at Zayed University should think themselves lucky. Staff at the Higher Colleges of Technology will be getting a pay cut next year.
Simon Jones, Abu Dhabi
Working women need support
Bushra Alkaff al Hashemi's opinion piece Our working mothers need support more than early retirement (January 8) was a deep and well-written article. I liked her take on the Islamic perspective.
I have something important to point out though. Balancing the roles of wife, mother and career-woman places pressure not just on local women but the expatriate working women of the UAE too. They are not different from the former in their roles.
F Baasleim, Dubai
Endless round of double billing
I took out a home service package when I arrived in Dubai from the UK in September. The service gave me TV, internet and telephone -perfect, I thought but, no, we have experienced billing problems since the start.
In November I realised du had been billing me twice per month. One correct bill, relating to the services I'd signed up for, and another completely random amount that was unrelated to me.
I walked into the Du Media City centre with all the details of the problem and was told, yes, this is a common problem and we'll fix it but please could I e-mail in the complaint to the contact centre.
OK, I thought, fair enough. I e-mailed a complete summary of the problems on November 19. By December, there was still no resolution, so I sent a gentle reminder.
Mid-December the same error was made and more money taken from my account incorrectly. At Christmas, I started calling the contact centre to find out what was going on.
Each time the contact centre person acknowledged my frustration and said someone would contact me within the next 24 hours. Well, I am still waiting.
Today another payment was incorrectly taken from my bank account. Du now owes me more than Dh1,600 and seems to be incapable of sorting out my problems.
Liz, Dubai
