OPINION

Publicity never bad

Thanks for your brave attempt at clarifying what bridge is and is not (Life, Feb 15). One of the unintended consequences of the saga is that the Pattaya bridge club, small by international standards, is now the most famous in the entire world, with several hundred newspaper and TV reports and tens of thousands of comments on blogsites talking about it. The tale has also made Jeremy Watson (the organiser) and myself (the founder, in 1994) the best-known bridge players throughout the five continents even though our standards sadly fall short of the brilliance usually required for notoriety.

Barry Kenyon

I just spent a week in beautiful Bangkok where palaces, temples, markets, street stalls, public parks, modern shopping centres, restaurants and bars offer an abundance of salubrity for visitors.

But, unfortunately, something more deleterious is also in abundance: plastic. No other place I've been on the planet pushes plastic, especially bags, like Bangkok. No matter where you go or what you buy, there's a supposed need for a plastic bag (or three). It hit me on the first day when I ended up with a ball of plastic bags in my hotel room. From there, I determined to reuse the bags from the ball while observing retailer and consumer habits.

First, surprise greeted me when I produced my own bag or refused the need for any bag. For example, when I bought a newspaper, I was offered a bag, which I declined. In response, the seller offered the bag again.

During my week, I saw just two people using their own fabric shopping bags (though I did not see such bags offered anywhere). Few people declined plastic bags, which were often doubled up. And every morning, the streets were lined with people selling meals in little plastic bags to commuting workers. In other words, millions of new bags must go into use each day. Something needs to change.

Why not start a campaign encouraging shoppers to use reusable bags and asking retailers to place and market such bags near registers? Beyond such approaches, the government could require retailers to charge a fee for each plastic bag. Meanwhile, those morning food vendors could provide reusable plastic containers that could be washed and refilled with meals the next day.

It's time for the city to take action to stop this excessive plastic usage and to encourage reusable replacements. The city could add this to the many things it already has going for it.

Re: "Enraged man kills girlfriend in packed shopping mall", (BP, Feb 15).

I love it when I receive the interest on my bank deposits. I love it when students show interest in what I am teaching.

But "A middle-aged man shot his love interest to death on Valentine's Day ..."?

I've heard of boyfriend, girlfriend, sweetheart, beloved, partner, fiancé, fiancée and even the fanciful paramour among others. But "love interest"?

This must be some young reporters trying to impress us with their innovative use of English. If so, please tell them to stop torturing the English language and inform them that plain and simple is the key to good English.

Speaking in our native language or mother tongue is something that many of us take for granted. Yet it is still not possible for many people around the world. Feb 21 is recognised as the International Mother Language Day. Since 2000, it has been observed annually worldwide to promote cultural diversity and multilingualism. In today's globalised and multilingual world, the importance of observing this day is greater than ever.

There is historic significance to Feb 21. It represents the day in 1952 when students from some of the reputed educational institutions in Dhaka, now the capital of Bangladesh, broke a curfew and took to the streets to demand recognition of Bangla as one of the two national languages of then-Pakistan but were shot and killed by police. This led to the beginning of the "Bangla Language Movement" which eventually, in 1971, after a nine-month long war, led to the birth of Bangladesh.