Don’t blame the weather

A reader says it's naive to blame the weather on accidents. Other topics: education, cost of living, Mariah Carey, work-life balance

It would be naive to blame the weather for accidents, a reader says. Rene Salma / AFP

Call me pedantic, but it's not fog or rain or sandstorms that cause all of these accidents, it's the terrible driving habits of many in the UAE (Twenty-six vehicles involved in car accidents in RAK due to fog, December 7).

I love this country with all of my heart, but it is the unsafe way people drive here that will eventually cause me to leave. Nothing that the authorities have introduced thus far has changed the selfish and reckless mentality of many drivers.

Perhaps self-driving cars – if isolated from these horrible drivers – might be my saving grace.

Elan Fabbri, Dubai

The future paints a gloomy picture

Salaries have not risen for years (Low wage growth expected for Gulf countries, December 7). However, the costs of basic necessities have gone up sharply, such as rent, food, utilities, clothes and even cars. All this has happened before the introduction of the VAT. I am not expecting any pay increase next year either.

Tanya Milbourne, Abu Dhabi

It doesn’t sound like jazz festival

Enrique Iglesias and Mariah Carey are performing at a jazz festival (Mariah Carey to perform at Dubai Jazz Festival in 2017, December 7)? Why aren't the festival promoters actually promoting jazz artists? That's what I assume people will be going to see. Otherwise call it a pop music festival.

Chris Reid, Dubai

Since it’s called a jazz festival, how about someone other than a pop singer?

Jeffrey Martin, Dubai

I fail to see how Mariah and Enrique fall into the jazz music genre.

Renee Banee, Dubai

Have the organisers of the jazz festival lost their way? Put on jazz performers or rename the event.

Janet Cox, Dubai

Level the playing field for schools

Regarding the news article Students at top Dubai schools are best performers in maths and science, study shows (December 7), top schools in Dubai and Abu Dhabi also demand extremely high tuition and can only be attended by the wealthy, who already have the highest advantages.

High marks should be expected, not praised in the news. For a real eye-opener, remove these expensive private schools and see how the rankings look.

A real newsworthy achievement would be if top marks on tests and worldwide rankings would come from affordable and public schools as well.

If this country expects to meet its stated education and knowledge-economy goals, more needs to be done to level the playing field.

D Glass, Dubai

An illusory concept

There is no work-life balance if you love what you do (Is it possible to achieve proper work-life balance?, December 5). Work-life balance is an illusion. If you work six days a week from 8am to 6pm, you're spending most of your time at work. So there's no way to balance the two. I wish people would stop talking about this as if it is a real concept.

Name withheld by request