Thank you for reporting on the Christmas celebrations of the Coptic Orthodox Church in St Anthony's Cathedral and in the country as a whole (January 6). Copts being the largest Christian denomination here is only true of the wider Mena region, including their home country Egypt.
In the Gulf region, the Catholic Church is by far the largest Christian community with more than 900,000 members in UAE alone. Deacon Haroun mentions 30,000 Egyptians in Abu Dhabi as being Coptic Christians. The Filipino Catholics attending St Joseph's Catholic Cathedral next door are more numerous.
My point is that it is not a contest of numbers; after all, we are all Christians, but reporting this helps readers understand the society they live in.
Fr Gandolf Wild, Bishop's House, St Joseph's Cathedral, Abu Dhabi
Trump should just get on with the day job instead of getting distracted
In reference to your story Trump's fire and fury reaction in trying to block an explosive new book is unprecedented (January 7), clearly Michael Wolff's book Fire and Fury has infuriated president Donald Trump. However, instead of trying to stop the publication of the book or get it banned, he should just ignore it. The more time he spends talking against the book, the higher the propensity to make it a bestseller. Controversy only fuels sales.
One of the key points made in the book is that Mr Trump did not expect to win and his wife was very upset with the victory. Frankly all this is irrelevant now. The American people democratically voted for Mr Trump to become their president in their collective wisdom. Granted, Mr Trump is a turbulent and unpredictable personality, yet the fact remains that he is an elected president, so he should just go ahead and do his job instead of getting distracted by every tweet or book that presents an opposite view to him.
Rajendra Aneja, Dubai
Even no-smoking areas are becoming no-go areas
In reference to your story about vaping, I had to walk into a cafe through a cloud of vape smoke. There was also a cloud of smoke while I walked behind someone in a no-smoking area at my beach club. Why do these people think it's okay? Ban vaping.
Kay Lancaster, Dubai
VAT has some of us counting the cost
In reference to your article UAE workers buy in bulk to beat VAT as small purchases prove too costly (January 6), many baqala stores are overcharging customers on this. They need to have a chart to show customers the exact price when asked for details.
Krish Nambiar, Abu Dhabi
Companies are taking advantage of the introduction of VAT and hiking up the price.
Nicholas Derbyshire, Dubai
This is not a big deal. Just spend less.
Matthew Litty, Dubai
