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Published on August 6, 2007

I was surprised and disappointed to read that Soraida Salwala, secretary-general of Friends of the Asian Elephant Foundation, is demanding the return of elephants sent to Australia simply because a zoo there has failed to use Thai script over their enclosure and highlighted "beggar elephants" on Thai streets.

People living in glass houses should not throw stones. It was not long ago that charities and children all over the world sent millions of baht to Soraida at the Lampang Elephant Hospital to help Motala, the brave female elephant who lost a lower foreleg to a landmine in Burma and hobbled through the jungle for three days before medical attention could be given.

When and if credible accounts of the use of those donations are ever published - any reason given why a large water pool for exercise was never built and to what use the specialist vehicle given by the (British) Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals was put - Soraida may, just possibly, be justified in making criticisms. Until then I would suggest her energies would be better spent on addressing the "beggar elephant" problem so topically and rightly highlighted by the Australian zoo. They are back here now in force. So much force that one half-starved beast walked into a tiny shop near the airport this week to grab food off the shelves, belatedly followed by its mahout who could "afford" only Bt200 towards the considerable damage. Elephants and people have been killed over such controversies in northern Thailand, so I must sadly sign myself ...

Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells

Chiang Mai

Will Sven be Thaksin's new whipping boy?

Re: "You just can't spin it like Thaksin", Opinion, August 5.

In your editorial you completed the piece by saying: "... honeymoons are as short in sport as in politics, and fans will judge whether Thaksin is 'fit and proper' through City's results only". But it is not Thaksin that either the fans or the press will blame if City fail to produce.

Instead, the finger of blame will be squarely pointed at the man who failed the English national team; the very same man of the rimless spectacles that appeared in a giant blow-up on hoardings outside the ground last night with the slogan "Ol' Blue Eyes is Back". I'm sure this would have struck even the most literary-minded of City fans as somewhat bizarre, but it will be him, not Thaksin, that will be the one taking the rap for failure. If Frank can be considered Sven's Svengali, last night proved Svengali's powers do not extend to fixing City's same ol' leaky defence.

James Groveway

Bangkok

Valid criticism or a case of jealousy?

Re: "Thaksin finds less space to move around in the world", Opinion, August 5.

I have a few comments on this piece. First, I love the intro: "Beaming from his Gulfstream private jet with a young pop singer at his side." Nonetheless, the writer should have added kissing and fondling stuff to make it juicier. Second, the article shows that envy can lead to runaway imaginations, especially about Thaksin's hiring mercenaries to invade Thailand. Third, Sopon should write a book titled "A Pack of Lies, Now!" exposing Thaksin's past corruption, selling out the nation, illegal share deals, demolition of the Brahma statue at the Erawan Hotel. He may collaborate with Sondhi Limthongkul. 

Last, let me guess: Thaksin didn't send Sopon the team's jersey with "Onkgara" on the back, and didn't invite him to the match.

Meechai Burapa

Chiang Mai

Manipulating figures doesn't prove the truth

Re: "Hoping for the best for South Korean hostages", Letters, August 5.

The ability to throw out numbers as Nick has in his letter, seems to be the latest fad. "Six hundred thousand Iraqi dead" needs to go right up there with "five hundred thousand dead Iraqi children from sanctions" prior to the war even starting, in the list of urban legends regurgitated in the letter. Then we hear that people are killed "daily" by dud US ordnance in Laos. In reality over 100 deaths per year are credited to unexploded ordnance of all types. This is from all sides in the war.

Brave men are trying to deal with this problem and throwing out arbitrary numbers belittles their effort. To make Thailand the only basing area for B52s during the war is incorrect, so do not forget to make those on Guam feel guilty next time.

Regardless of where you stand on Israel, to make it appear the Israelis have been attacking their neighbours is so much baloney. That they regularly whip their neighbours who attack them is true. Lebanon is a special case and the right to go after those operating out of a neighbouring country is pretty well enshrined in much of recorded history.      

Nick blames the hostages and the countries attacked and then tacks on at the end a short blurb hoping the Koreans in Afghanistan don't die. At this point, most would just hope he could get the numbers straight.           

As to Pipop and the Army officer, she was AWOL. Even "progressives" are not allowed to go AWOL, even to write a book. Men and women are both expected to obey this rule.      

Major Mark A Smith (US Army, retired)     

Bangkok

Eat less meat, live a lot longer

Re: "Vegans kindly leave much for the rest of us to eat", Letters, August 4.

William Reynolds wants to know how many vegans live to be l00 years old. While I don't have specific statistics about vegans I'd like to share with him some general information about vegetarians.

Studies in America show that male members of the Seventh-Day Adventists - which promotes vegetarianism - generally live 12 years longer than the average American (Dr Neal Barnard's book, "The Power of Your Plate").

Dr William Castelli who conducted the famous Framingham Heart Study which taught us so much about the link between high cholesterol and heart disease, had this to say about vegetarians: "On the average they outlive other men by six years. And they outlive other women by about three years."

"The inhabitants of the Vilcibamba Valley in Ecuador frequently live to be more than 100 years old, and men as old as 123 and 142 years were recently found by scientists: these people ate less than one ounce of meat a week. A study of all living centenarians in Hungary found they were largely vegetarians"(Peter Singer's book, "Animal Liberation").

Ironically, while one of my critics once wrote a letter saying he didn't want to become a vegetarian because vegetarians live too long, Mr Reynolds doesn't want to become a vegetarian because we don't live long enough! Do these people have any idea how ridiculous they sound?

Eric Bahrt

Pattaya