Surely, when a person is considered an adult they should have a certain amount of personal freedom and responsibility regarding alcohol consumption? Instead of making alcohol a forbidden fruit for young adults why not educate them on the dangers of excessive consumption and the benefits of moderation?

It also came to my attention that a study conducted by the Thailand Development Research Institute seems to have drawn some incredible and unbelievable conclusions. For example, they state that Thailand has the fifth highest alcohol consumption in the world and on average a Thai consumes 14 litres of alcoholic drinks per year. According to the World Health Organisation and various other sources, Thailand struggles to make it into the top 40 nations in regard to per capita alcohol consumption and is nowhere near the top five when it comes to overall alcohol consumption.

This heavy-handed and authoritarian approach is unenforceable and smacks of lack of understanding of young adults' behaviour. Of course the issue of alcoholism and excessive alcohol consumption needs to be addressed, unfortunately not in this manner.

Paul Angus

Bangkok

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Alcohol curbs will only pique youths' interest

 The proposal to make 25 the minimum age to buy alcohol might just backfire if it is approved. Not only will this measure further alienate many young adults, who already resent control of their lives by "authority", it will also ensure that when they are permitted to buy their own alcohol, they will really go for it. Treat them like kids and they will behave like kids - and whose fault will that be?

Would the lawmakers consider forbidding the sale or distribution of condoms to under-25s in order to stamp out illicit sex and its social consequences?

Probably, in the present social climate.

John Benson

Bangkok

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Proper enforcement is better than stricter law

 So the drinking age is moving up to 25. Old enough to vote. Old enough to drive. Old enough to serve in the armed forces, and hopefully not die. But not old enough to drink.

This is ill-conceived, a recipe for madness. The intentions are good no doubt, but hardly based on reality. No one will obey this law. But the cops will love it - great new scope for bribes.

This law will cause more problems than it solves. It's like the way cigarettes are blocked out in Thai movies - it attracts more attention than the cigarettes themselves would.

Banning TV, radio and print advertisements is great; we did that in Australia a long time ago and replaced them with anti-drink driving ads ("Drink drive - bloody idiot"). Combined with an honest police force that enforces the law, it works. If you drink and drive there's no way to escape punishment in Australia. It's a long-term problem and it requires a consistent and long-term approach.

And has the minister planned ahead, like how to replace the many thousands of jobs that will be wiped out? And assistance for the thousands of families suddenly left with no income?

Think first. Look at programmes from other countries that have either failed or succeeded and learn from them, but don't give us a social order campaign number two.

Find a smart middle path that offers a long-term solution without the "shock treatment" tactics being suggested. Start with ads like the one now on Thai TV "Deum lao bpen kriat bpen jon" - "Drink alcohol, be serious, be poor." It's simple but effective.

It helped me drink less and the anti-smoking campaign on Thai TV inspired me to give up smoking cigarettes earlier this year - I feel a lot better for it and my kids are happy about it too.

R Davidson

Bangkok

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Nobel Peace Prize winner had same idea as Thaksin

 The fact that Mohammad Yunus received the Nobel Peace Prize proves that Thaksin Shinawatra was right and Prem is wrong. What Thaksin did with his village fund, his Bt30 health scheme and many other programmes was precisely what got this distinguished gentleman the prize.

There is no reason for people to be poor. The current government is at the other end of the spectrum. No time was wasted to allow loan sharks to increase their interest from a sky-high 18 per cent to an absurd 20 per cent.

I wonder whose government this dictatorship is. Certainly not mine.

Kaew

Chiang Rai

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Further shortcomings of Suvarnabhumi Airport

 I travelled through the new Suvarnabhumi Airport earlier this month. The approach to the airport is really something wonderful - the multi-lane roads with beautiful illumination are eye-catching. However, there are many problems with the airport itself.

There are so few places to sit in such a big place that it is really a nightmare for elderly people. There are very few facilities in the transit lounge for economy-class passengers. The lounge near the gate only opened about half an hour before the departure time. There were only 3 or 4 steel benches capable of accommodating only 10-15 people. There are places to sit, but mostly in snack corners and such. So you want to eat or drink something? I had a cup of tea and a Danish pastry and it cost me Bt260!

The floor is a beautiful marble finish that is difficult to walk on especially when you are rushing to catch a plane.

The direction signs are really confusing. There are plenty of signs, but not at the right places. You find there is no sign at exactly the point where you need it.

Rest rooms are very few and all very small, capable of serving only 4-5 people at a time. We always talk very appreciatively about the abundance of rest rooms in public areas in Bangkok, but it is completely the opposite at the airport.

Arrival at Suvarnabhumi is fine up to the immigration counters. Although it's a long walk there are adequate signs. What's lacking are display boards for flight numbers and baggage belt numbers in big font size. The board behind the immigration is in very small font - you cannot read it from 50 metres away as you could at Don Muang.

There are plenty of immigration counters, the baggage belts are fine, there are plenty of luggage trolleys, customs is fine. The real nightmare is when you step into the arrival lounge. Compared with Don Muang, it looks like a corridor. Already congested with shops and tourism/taxi/hotel representatives, it is very difficult for someone arriving to find the person waiting to receive them. Escalators, "travelators", lifts... everything is placed in a very congested way. I cannot believe that an internationally reputed architect designed it in such a way. This is the main area the authorities must pay attention to immediately. The main criteria for the design of any public place, in my opinion, should be user-friendliness.

Kazi Ahmed

Bangkok

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Lack of critical thinking could be cause of flaws

 In a roundabout way, the poor planning at the new Suvarnabhumi Airport could be a reflection of the Thai educational system. A system of rote learning which disdains questioning authority and squelches creative thinking could explain why so many glitches became evident at the passenger and cargo terminals.

Consider the planning stages, for example. A junior draftsman, if he were to notice a design flaw, knows it's better for his career to not raise issues that might embarrass a senior draftsman.

An allied problem is that "thinking outside the box" is not encouraged.

Furthermore, if a problem were perceived, the Thai attitude is "toe the line and don't rock the boat".

Let's think about how we can instil more creative thinking among Thai students, along with an atmosphere that encourages constructive questioning of "higher ups".

Ken Albertsen

Chiang Rai

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Kicking out Republicans is only way to stop the war

 Guantanamo Bay is "an anomaly" according to British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and detention without trial of hundreds of suspects is "unacceptable in terms of human rights" and "ineffective in terms of counter-terrorism" according to his foreign secretary Margaret Beckett. Yet the US government remains impervious to and blithely ignores all such criticism, even from its closest ally.

George Bush believes that if the US does not defeat the terrorists "over there" in Iraq, (one wonders who the terrorists are), it will have to fight them in the United States.

As a reporter from the Los Angeles Times commented, "fighting the terrorists 'over there' does not necessarily make us safer 'over here'." No matter, the war must go on.

According to a British coroner's report, British television journalist Terry Lloyd was "unlawfully killed" by US forces in southern Iraq in 2003. First he was shot in the back after getting caught in US and Iraqi crossfire, then he was shot in the back as he was being taken away in a minibus for medical treatment. Very sorry, but the war must go on.

The only hope for an end to this folly and a return to sanity is a sound defeat of the Republican Party in the November mid-term elections, followed by an equally resounding defeat of the Republican Party's candidate in the 2008 US presidential election.

Edward B Duhigg

Bangkok