Why eat a tortured animal for Christmas?
Only a very small percentage of turkeys farmed and killed in the UK are free range because it is a misleading term. Rather than leading happy, comfortable lives out in the fields, free range and organic animals may also be kept in cramped sheds.
All animals end up in a slaughter house where death is a brutal and terrifying experience. Wild turkeys can fly and run fast. They live in groups and communicate. They spend their nights in trees. Mothers take good care of their young.
It’s so different from their sad lives in crowded, windowless sheds, barely able to move. Thousands die from thirst and starvation because they are too fat to get to food and water. They are fed to grow as quickly as possible, their young legs buckle and break under the weight.
Their natural lifespan is more than ten years, but they are slaughtered as chicks, trapped inside unnaturally huge bodies. Why eat a tortured animal?
From Mr A. Cartmell
UK
Preserved culture
Beautifully expressed nostalgic recount of childhood days by Dr Habiba Al Shamsi (‘Fond memories of Al Ain’, Gulf News, December 3). It is heartening to know that Al Ain has retained and preserved its rustic culture and heritage even in today’s modern era.
From Ms Jayashree Kulkarni
Abu Dhabi
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Middle class woes
We the people of India, especially the middle class, definitely welcome the decision taken by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to demonetise the currency in the country (‘Cash crunch leads to queues at Kerala toll gates’, Gulf News, December 4). At the same time, it is we the people, especially the salaried middle class and pensioners and senior citizens, who are facing the real cash crunch at banks.
Ironically, we are unable to even draw our monthly salary or pension, as there are a lot of restrictions for withdrawals from our accounts and there is a shortage of small denomination notes. Non-functioning ATMs have added to our problems. It is high time the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the government sit together and take some positive steps to issue more and more notes to banks for distribution to its customers. No doubt the government is keen for cashless transactions. But it is not going to be an easy option as most of us, especially senior citizens and villagers can’t handle such new gadgets. It is going to be a Herculean task for the government to implement such transactions for at least two to three years. It’s better to print smaller denominations as an immediate solution.
From Mr N. Mahadevan
Mylapore, India
Climate change causes
I am a sceptic when it comes to the cause of global warming. The fact that the Earth is warming is not a matter of dispute as far as I’m concerned, but the cause is. First, the Earth’s temperature is within the normal range of its fluctuation. That means that this is a normal occurrence.
Second, the Earth’s energy system is very large and very complex and at this stage of our understand-ing, we are not able to say “if you do this, this will happen”. So the declaration that adding carbon will result in the temperate rise is beyond our level of understanding.
Third, the Earth has been significantly hotter in the past — just ask palaeontologists — and that was not due to man’s emission of carbon. This means that an entirely natural phenomena is fully capable of causing the warming we are seeing. Fourth, the temperature of the Earth has been warming very slowly and very steadily over the past hundred plus years. The steadiness of the rise makes it difficult (if not impossible) to identify something man has done that would be the cause. I remain a sceptic with respect to man’s involvement in the temperature increase we are observing.
From Mr Ken Gaglardi
UAE
Making change
Some people outside the Philippines who don’t know the real sacrifices of the poor will just rely on their newsfeed that makes the Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte look bad (‘Trump says Philippines fighting drugs ‘the right way’: Duterte’, Gulf News, December 4). The truth is that Duterte brings a breath of fresh air to most Filipinos as a whole. He is a driving force that makes drug protectors, drud dealers and users shut down their operations. They point these killings to Duterte to discredit him. People need to know about the drug rehabilitation centres that are now available for those who surrendered and want to change their way of life. The Philippines economy is growing because of his leadership.
From Ms Miranda Elson
UAE
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Risking people’s lives
Duterte is just killing people without any treatment, without thinking about their families without a court or even evidence. There are many countries who are treating these people and support them to find them a job, which makes them money and finds them a purpose in life. We can’t let the people live in poverty without work because this is when murder or drugs becomes justifiable.
So now, if your family has a fight with someone and he denounces them as drug dealers, they’re lives become at risk.
From Ms Kiru Koha
UAE
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Not killing everyone
Our president is doing everything to make our country peaceful and you, Ms Kiru Koha, still see it as if he is killing everyone. If he plans to kill without due process then the thousands who surrendered should have been killed.
From Mr Wilmar John Mariano
UAE
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Not killing good people
I love him because before the election, his campaign was about being for the Philippines people. Then he won the election and all the people are supporting him. He will never kill the good people in the Philippines. This war is on drugs, now he will take care of people in the illegal drug market. The Philippines will become one of the safest countries is no time.
From Mr Abdul Samad
Kilakarai, India
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Bringing people together
Miracle Garden is a great place to relax and spend time with friends (‘Facebook live: Take a tour of the Miracle Garden in Dubai’, Gulf News, December 4). It’s a place to meet other communities, providing place of entertainment for expatriates. Having this type of space is highly appreciated.
From Mr A. Q. Memon
UAE
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A Christmas message
This year is the last national Christmas tree lighting done by US President Barack Obama. He lit up the tree with a wish that Americans will care for the sick, the hungry and the downtrodden this holiday season and treat one another as they would want to be treated. It is a good message, something that he could not fulfil during his governing years. It is very easy to advise, but it’s difficult to practise.
From Mr Sunny Joseph
Mala, India
Love the waterfall!
We saw this colourful waterfall on the Dubai Water Canal, it was awesome (‘Facebook live: Colourful waterfall on Shaikh Zayed Road’, Gulf News, December 3). I loved it and how the waterfall stops as soon as a cruise ship gets closer for it to pass.
From Ms Gulnaz Afzal
UAE
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Great inventions
Fog like this is a necessity and invention of Mother Nature (‘Facebook video: Meet the fog catcher...’, Gulf News, December 3). The man who invented this method to capture irrigation water using fog is a marvellous thinker. We all learnt a big lesson from him that if we think and try our best to overcome the difficulties of life, there is a way.
From Ms Syeda Ahmad
UAE
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Stop wasting water
I salute this great man. Maybe we all can’t think like this genius, but we can help by stopping the wasting of water.
From Ms Hina Tabassum
UAE
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