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I AM writing with regards to reporter Asma Salman's article featuring the St Christopher's School rock and pop event in last week's GulfWeekly which featured my band '& the Centurions'.

I would just like to say that I was very impressed and flattered by the report and also wish to thank the newspaper for such a great review.

We will be performing in many venues around Bahrain and it would be great to have you attend these events in the near future. Once again, your article was much appreciated.

Mazen Almaskati ,(& The Centurions)

I WOULD just like to thank you so much for the collaboration between GulfWeekly and Bahrain TV during the recent Talent Trail 2010 contest.

The feedback that we received from various people and the response with the voting was overwelming.

I am continuing to look for talent here in Bahrain and to showcase it on BTV. The show is weekly and the scary bit is 'it's live!'

If any of your talented readers would like to participate in the future please contact me.

Hopefully we will have a Talent Trail competition for bands coming up soon and I am once again looking forward to a continued partnership between the Gulf's leading weekly community newspaper and the number one live music and entertainment show in the Middle East.

Krazy Kevin,

krazykevin@hotmail.com

GLANDERS is a highly contagious disease which has surfaced in the Kingdom of Bahrain recently.

We have launched a Royal petition and ask for the following measures and mandatory rules be put into place;

Enforce and police a complete ban on the movement and transportation of horses and donkeys in the Kingdom of Bahrain.

Prohibit all equine sporting events including all racing, hacking, and walking outside of stables until the glanders disease is eradicated or under control.

Provide rules and guidelines for stable owners to follow to prevent the further spread of the disease.

Establish a temporary quarantine station where horses infected with glanders can be moved to be monitored and treated (maybe Endurance Village).

Implement a comprehensive glanders prevention programme including public awareness campaigns, information for grooms and stable owners, instructional materials and a government hotline for public enquiries and reporting.

Ensure that there is accurate information and transparent reporting of infected horses and blood test results

Ensure that the likelihood of another Glanders outbreak is minimised by having the means to take appropriate and immediate steps to activate disease eradication efforts.

Please help to stop glanders in Bahrain, sign our petition and invite all your friends. Rescue our horses, it's killing them! Visit www. petitiononline.com/ Bm042010/petition.html

Concerned, Bahrain.

LIKE all converts to Islam, I am sometimes haunted by my past and always in awe of the mercy of God.

By the grace of Allah, many people reading this have probably never tried alcohol themselves.

For like all the prohibitions in Islam, this is one of Allah's mercies on believers. Yet for me, some of the most painful memories relate to alcohol.

Actually, I was never one of those people who drank uncontrollably and then did hugely embarrassing things. I was what was called a 'good drinker' - and that's what makes it even more frightening.

What is the big attraction anyhow? Alcohol doesn't taste as good as people say it does. It's often too spicy, sweet, dry, or bitter - depending on what kind of alcohol - and it can burn your throat when it goes down.

It makes you gain weight through useless calories and lethargy. Drink a lot and you will vomit. Drink even more, and you may go blind or die. And once you start, it's hard to stop.

People who drink know all of these things, but still they drink.

My Muslim friends often ask me, "Why do people drink if they know that there are all these dangers and problems with it?"

This question bothered me enough in the past to make me stop drinking for years at a time. My family's response was no big surprise - they accused me then, like now, of 'not being very much fun'. This concept of 'fun', in fact, is at the very heart of the issue.

Many times I have walked away from a party by myself on a cold night, disgusted with people's behaviour there, feeling pity for them, staring up at the night sky, feeling completely alone. Thanks to God for the angels that kept me safe through a difficult, dangerous life.

Truthfully, I wish I had known then that somewhere throughout the world, in thousands of vibrant communities, over a billion people abstained from alcohol deliberately.

Muslims have a duty to tell everyone that they don't drink because of their faith. Someone, somewhere, some day will hear the message as the voice of his own soul, and perhaps change for the better.

We all come from God at the start. God willing, we will all be with Him in the end.

Kathleen, by email.