Letters to the editor

Families who have to vacate their homes on account of the one villa, one family rule are searching for affordable homes in Sharjah, Ajman and Umm al Quwain, and many are having difficulties finding one. Some are at the mercy of friends or relatives in temporary accommodation and others cannot get settled anywhere. There are many cases where families cannot send their children to school because they keep moving from place to place.

The families that were living in shared accommodation were paying from Dh3,000 to Dh4,000 per month, whereas the places they are staying in now require many times this rent. They are left with little choice but to borrow money. Indebtedness is becoming epidemic among expatriates in UAE, this is already leading to many other social problems. Most of these people, who cannot afford the current rent, will send their families back home once school has finished for the summer. The most painful thing is, if they go to their home countries then their children will not get admitted into schools in between the academic year, so thousands of children will miss out on a full year's education. Considering this situation, I earnestly appeal to the authorities to not enforce this rule until the end of the school year ? it will help parents to sort out their children's education. K V Shamsudheen, Sharjah

I read Sultan Al Qassemi's article, "Shameful plight of the Middle East's Christians" (Oct 19), and found it very informative and interesting to read. One hardly hears anything about this minority group in the Middle East. Of course, it is quite a large group in certain areas. It also shows that intolerance, which is usually based on ignorance, a lack of knowledge and fear goes both ways, not just in one direction. What a wonderful world it would be if society were driven by a love for humankind, tolerance and acceptance of our differences. People should see differences as a chance to learn and not a threat. But perhaps this is a far fetched idea. Evelyn, Germany

Yesterday in the National Bank of Abu Dhabi's Dubai branch, many people were buying into the bank's investment funds, which are now selling for half price, "Have you lost confidence in local and international bourses and pulled your money out, or are you more confident than ever and after a bargain?" (website, Oct 29). Do you think NBAD lost 50 per cent of its value in the last two months? Of course it hasn't, but panic is stronger than rationality. Now is the time to buy, not only into the Government bank's investment funds, but also into all Government backed developers such as ALDAR. Gergana Mineva, Dubai

An unfounded adage has existed that government-run businesses, known as public businesses, are inevitably inefficient and loss-making dinosaurs. This theory was often used to support all sorts of privatisation schemes. A close logical analysis shows that there is no truth in this idea, we now have empirical evidence to the contrary. Now, instead of ideas about inefficient public enterprises, we have evidence that private mega-enterprises are not so well run. Greed is supposed to be good. Greed is supposed to be the engine that drives high levels of productivity. But now we know that greed has caused the system to become bankrupt. Garry Fexwell, Abu Dhabi

I read the article in The National about Dubai police's campaign to clamp down on drivers who speed, tailgate and bully, "Dubai sting nets 600 hostile drivers" (Oct 31). I wish Dubai police and the RTA were as enthusiastic about improving and building roads rather than spending all their energy in running a sting operation to catch commuters who are just trying to reach their destination on time. Mustapha Huneyd, Abu Dhabi