I love the idea reported in your story Heritage trail planned in Al Ain (April 17).
More people need to know about the heritage locations in the UAE, and especially Al Ain. I have visited the museum there and loved it and would love to go back.
Connecting different sites to a trail would make it so much easier for visitors to enjoy the historical heritage of this country. Most visitors today limit themselves to the malls and that gives them such a lopsided view of the country and its culture.
Ayesha Asad, Dubai
Use the correct collective noun
Your headline, 3000 flamingos and all in the pink and the sub-headline wording Ras Al Khor wild sanctuary's colony of flamingos (April 16) left me wondering if my native English-speaking teachers at school were wrong in teaching that the correct collective nouns for flamingos are flurry, regiment or skein.
They also told me the collective noun "colony" is to be used for beavers, badgers, frogs, gulls and penguins.
S Qamar Hasan, Abu Dhabi
Schools evade fee maximum
ADEC has set a ceiling of Dh500 for parents to pay if they wish to register their children for the coming academic year. But some schools are still charging much higher "reservation" amounts.
For example, one school sent a letter to all parents asking them to pay Dh3,000 in advance. Although the rules are clear, it seems that some schools bypass government regulations.
Munir El Kadi, Abu Dhabi
Horses do not damage the park
I write about Mushrif Park out of bounds for riding club (April 17).
In the two years I have been riding at Mushrif, I have never seen even one legitimate non-riding user of the park in the areas where the horses go.
I have however seen quad bikers flatten and cut fences to get inside. Is the municipality concerned about these people?
As an equestrian I find it hard to believe that we are causing any harm to the park, which is completely artificial, as we ride only along dirt access roads within the park, roads originally established for municipal vehicles to use.
To lose such a well-run establishment would truly not be in the public interest and would significantly effect many horses, which are part of the heritage of which this nation is so proud.
Sam Tiller, Dubai
No way to keep Afghanistan safe
This week's well-organised suicide bombings and other attacks in Afghanistan (Taliban launches suicide strikes on Kabul, April 16) really make me wonder how Hamid Karzai thinks he's going to keep the country, or even Kabul, safe after the Americans go home.
Nobody seems to be able to stop the violence, and the people behind it. I have to suspect that they will be able to seize power anytime they wanted it, once the western troops are gone.
Woodie Walker, Abu Dhabi
Discarded planes are a sad notion
There's something almost poetically sad about the idea of Fujairah airport as a graveyard for abandoned airplanes. (Fujairah aims to be international centre for recycling planes, April 16).
How many planes, bought with high hopes, were ditched there?
Lee Persoia, Dubai
Egyptian ferment still peaceful
Bradley Hope's article Egyptians in fear of a plot … but which one (April 17) was depressing but informative.
The electoral and legal and political confusion in Egypt makes it possible to see a plot behind every news development.
I would like to think this is really all just the ferment of democracy and ultimately quite healthy, but I'm not sure I can believe that.
All the participants are using their freedom to do what seems best to them. As long as it all remains peaceful, however, I - not to mention the people of Egypt - can hold onto hope.
Omar Belhassan, Dubai
Israel's arbitrary limit on speech
I refer to Israel keeps 'flytilla' protesters grounded (April 17).
If your name is on the Israeli list, you just don't fly. This is an arbitrary and insidious way to prevent free speech.
But the tighter you screw the lid down, the bigger the bang when it finally blows. I guess I am now on a list for daring to say this.
Wez Whittaker, Cyprus
