Social media is really helpful

A reader says social media is useful in every sense. Other topics: condolences, Duterte, British currency, Lindsay Lohan

A reader says social media helps boost careers and businesses. Marcio Jose Sanchez / AP Photo

I have been headhunted through LinkedIn and found and received an offer through a posting on LinkedIn too (Do we really need LinkedIn? January 11).

I think LinkedIn is a great website for business and career purposes. The position I am currently in is also from being headhunted on LinkedIn from a recruitment agency.

Kelly Haechler, Dubai

Our nation has lost some great souls

Mohammed Ali Al Bastaki was able to live and die doing what he loved (Sons’ pride after loss of ‘keystone of family’ in Kandahar bomb blast, January 13). He was taken too soon by the devil’s followers.

My heart goes out to his family.

Penny Jeffries Brady, US

He was a great man. May his soul rest in peace.

Mustafa Khan, Dubai

I feel sorry for the victims’ families. May their loved ones rest in peace.

Dorothy Buffe-Tolentino, Dubai

I salute the Emiratis who laid down their lives for a great cause. May their souls find eternal peace. I offer my sincere condolences to their families.

May God give them the courage to bear the loss.

Rajesh Balakrishnan, Dubai

Duterte should rethink drug war

Have you been to the Philippines and seen the poverty? (Filipinos speak out about Duterte's war on drugs, January 9.) If you haven't, you should – to see life from close up. Women and children sleep on the streets – the homeless, the hungry, the helpless, the hopeless. It's utterly shameless to wage a war on drugs.

Which of those killed had a plane, a ship or a lorry to smuggle in drugs? The sellers, buyers and users on the street level come from one place – poverty.

End poverty to end drugs at that level, although drug and alcohol abuse continues and will continue at the higher levels of society.

What about a war against illiteracy? What about an effort to keep the American ally close and ask them to build cars, boats, ships as well as manufacture goods in the Philippines and then export them.

There is still time for president Rodrigo Duterte to behave like a real president.

Name withheld by request

Is pound’s fall good news?

Regarding the news item UAE expats in remittance frenzy as pound sinks again (January 12), this just about compensates for the increases in tourism tax, service tax, municipality tax, the increases in education fees, electricity and water costs and employee benefit cuts.

Rachel Emmett, Abu Dhabi

Best wishes to Lindsay Lohan

This refers to the article Lindsay Lohan switches off social media in favour of immersing herself in Middle Eastern culture (January 12).

I’m not normally one to be interested in celebrity news, but after the tumultuous state of Lindsay Lohan’s life in recent years, I truly hope she finds peace and purpose in her new life.

It would be nice to see a celebrity success story instead of a personal disaster, for a change. I wish her the best of luck.

Ben Adamson, Dubai

Good luck to a fellow human who needs love and support.

Steve Bradford, US

I wish her good health and peace of mind. I hope she finds solace in what she is doing.

Helping the less fortunate and withdrawing from social media could certainly help.

Feda Jarad, Dubai