Hard to find legal copies of CDs in Thailand

 Try downloading a legal copy of a song from iTunes or Amazon and you will be confronted with a rude message informing you that the copyright owner restricts sale of his product to your country. The only legal alternative for items not available in Thailand is to order physical CDs from overseas, incurring expensive airmail charges and, if you are unlucky, import duty too.

The copyright owners are effectively forcing consumers in Thailand to either buy poorly packaged pirated versions of foreign music or to download from free peer-to-peer copyright infringers such as Limewire or the host of Russian websites that welcome customers from Thailand, such as MP3sparks, MusicMP3.ru and Gomusic.ru, and offer a wide selection of albums and individual song downloads for a few baht a song. It is hard to understand why the record companies refuse to allow consumers to purchase their products legally in Thailand. This practice actively encourages piracy and creates a feeling that they deserve what they get.

George Morgan

Bangkok

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Parents, not alcohol companies to blame for traffic accidents

The director of the Thai Health Promotion Foundation, Dr Suppakorn Buasai, said in The Nation (Jan. 12) that alcohol companies "…should have more social responsibility by not pushing the consumption of alcohol products."

Here is a classic case of playing the blame game. He admits that infrastructure (bad roads) and behaviour are the two main causes of road accidents. May I add a couple of points: First, drivers and pedestrians are uneducated. There is no curriculum in the schools about traffic laws, whereas in the US, drivers' education courses are in schools in approximately the ninth grade. This ensures that when teenagers get their driving licences at age 16, they are aware of the road rules. Next, instead of setting up police roadblocks to test drivers, why don't they drive unmarked cars among the traffic and arrest drivers who make traffic violations? Finally, the news reports claim that most accidents happen to drunk teenagers on motorcycles. Instead of blaming alcohol producers, the finger should be pointed at parents who allow underage drinking, the retailers who sell to minors and the police for not arresting helmet-less drivers. Blaming breweries and banning booze is not the best blend and will only bring a backlash.

Gary Lilleoien

Nonthaburi

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Disorganised opposition is losing its clout

Re: "PM not cocky after by-election boost", News, January 13.

Unlike many others who believe in the short life of this coalition, I believe this government will last for a few more years.

The tactical errors of the opposition in the recent elections and their daily broadsides given to the press are indicative of a party without a head. It is a fundamental weakness of an organisation when it still believes in its old strength without realising the changing environment. The first mistake was to pressure for a House dissolution when the Democrat Party had been in control just for a few weeks. The opposition should look to recent history when their party was in power and, with the country split, its leader - through his own ego - hung on like a spoilt brat, at a huge cost to Thailand.

May the opposition party continue forever believing in its own importance.

Songdej Praditsmanont

Bangkok

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Democrats could win outright in a new election

I agree that the results of the Bangkok gubernatorial election and upcountry by-elections have shown that popularity has shifted to the Democrat camp. I even go further to think that if PM Abhisit dissolves Parliament, the Democrats will win the election by a landslide and be able to form a one-party government.

A one-party government would be free to appoint Cabinet members and top posts at state enterprises according to qualifications instead of quota. It would be free from being prodded by coalition parties for Cabinet shuffles every month. Furthermore, Abhisit could silence the red shirts who brand him the PAD's boy, a thief and a hijacker. He could look them in the eyes and say, "My government is democratically elected by an overwhelming majority."

Meechai Burapa

Chiang Mai