D Tuesday, September 15, 2009 METRO 17 Hard landing: Flames and smoke spew from the rear of a passenger plane as it makes an emergency landing at Stuttgart Airport in Germany. The plane, carrying 78 people, was on an internal flight from Berlins Tegel Airport yesterday when it developed problems with its landing gear. Fortunately, no one was badly hurt Picture: Reuters The Big Picture Suffer on, taxpayer Bikes: A service, but with a price The most striking point about the recent revelations on Fs is the vulgarity of its activities. It is quite obvious that senior staff and board members had very little or no respect for long-suffering Irish taxpayers. Money was thrown around in an orgy of spending without consideration for the source. Attitudes at senior levels of our civil service and State agencies are very suspect. They appear to have copied the worst aspects of the private sector and have absolutely no regard for the population that they are supposed to serve! Brian McArdle I signed up to the dublinbikes scheme yesterday morning and walked five minutes out of my way to get to the bike station at Mountjoy Square, only to discover that I need to wait two weeks for them to post out a card to me before I can use the service! I have an ID number and a Pin, so wheres the logic behind that? Sure, I can pay 2 each for a few three-day passes, but thats adding on another 10 to the bill before I even get my card. If you can key in an ID number for the three-day subscription, then why cant you do it for the annual subscription too? Furthermore, why didnt they tell us about this two weeks ago? Tired Walker I would like to ask the ladies if it is okay to strike up a conversation with you on the train? I see this girl every day in the morning and in the evening. We have ended up sitting beside each other a few times and there was some awkwardness, well, I thought so! Ive been very tempted to start Dublins best-read letters page Metro Mail E-mail letters to mail@metroireland.ie with a name. Or text us. Text MAIL followed by comment and name to 53131. *Texts cost 30cent per message + standard network charges. SP. Oxygen8 Communications, Hospitality House, Cumberland Street South, D2. Customer service number 0818286606 talk to us Agreed: Why were the majority of the cyclists at the launch of the Dublin bicycle scheme not wearing helmets? Surely they should be promoting safety while using these bicycles? It is mind-boggling the number of cyclists who dont bother to wear one. S State robbery: Jay, regardless of how many children we churn out, nobody will look after us when we are old because the Government cannot keep their grubby hands off the pension pot! And anyway, most young people nowadays are anti-social monsters! L, 26-going-on-80 H2 oh no: I agree with MT and A Green. Our world is mere decades away from the devastation caused by running out of water. The amount of literature available on the topic is astounding and shocking. Look it up, but brace yourself, you may panic! Stafro True gents: To the lovely men outside Erne Street Post Office last Friday morning who pushed my broken down car to the side of the road thank you so much! It was very good of you and I didnt get to thank you properly at the time youre both true gents! Niamh, Marino In Brief talking to her but chickened out each and every time! So, would something like this be frowned upon? Would a lady ever do the opposite and start a conversation with a guy? Surely it would make a usually drab train trip a lot better if we all chatted and were a bit more friendly? JuxyJones Sandra, I am dumbfounded that you expect the Government to take care of your children. I know there are thousands more people like you out there who assume that it is the States responsi- bility to ensure your family gets by. That mindset really angers me as I do not for one second believe that in any country around the world it is up to the governments to provide for parents who cannot provide for their own children! Where is your sense of personal responsibility or, dare I say it, pride? If you cant provide for any offspring, dont have any! With our worlds population expanding at an alarming rate, I say again, breed only if you can provide for them! RJP Sendusyour txt So just how long will it take for bits to disappear off those dublinbikes? If they arent stolen, they will be vandalised! What odds are Boylesports offering? Richie Jay, telling us that not paying crche fees is a tax break is akin to telling us that instead of expecting a wage for working, we should be happy not to pay a fine! Get real, please. Lisa Sandra, instead of claiming child benefit, get the father or fathers of your two children to support them! G Gavin, either your friend was lying or exaggerating you need about 13 children to get 2,300 in child benefit payments! Although it could possibly have been paid in arrears... Topsy Me? Paul Whitehouse? Selling out by doing adverts for insurance companies? With my reputation? Al I saw a headline that read Chinese students grill EU trade commissioner. Imagine my dismay when I found out it was only a question-and- answer session... Les txt MAIL to 53131* index.html2.html3.html4.html5.html6.html7.html8.html9.html10.html11.html12.html13.html14.html15.html16.html17.html18.html19.html20.html21.html22.html23.html