12 METRO Monday, December 21, 2009 D Here kitty, kitty: An 18metre-tall and 21metre-wide picture of a tiger made from more than 30,000 pine cones is displayed to celebrate the upcoming Year of the Tiger at the Hitachi Beach park in Hitachinaka city, Ibaraki prefecture, north of Tokyo, Japan The Big Picture Lets talk about sex Sex and education: Contentious Wake up, Ireland! It is a known fact that youngsters are starting to experiment with sex at a very early age these days, and I think we would be being very naive if we believe otherwise. It is happening, and instead of all these court cases, committees and reports and new, unfair and unjust laws being passed, would it not be serving the youth better if we stop bickering about what we think is better for them, and listen to what they would like for themselves? I do, however, agree that you cannot have one law that penalises boys and allows girls to get off scot- free. It would be better if we dropped the Draconian approach and taught them about sexual health and the dangers and implications of risky sexual behaviours, and how better to use condoms. Its better to have fully-informative sex education in school, its better to tell them all about it. JN, Dublin Consensual sex between children, surely that sums it all up... Professor Sheila Green stated that she has a problem with this being a crime. First of all, at 14 and 15 years of age, are they still in todays world children, and who has really committed the crime? The children or the parents for failing in their duties towards their children? Yvonne Mrs Outraged, if what your husbands mother says is true, and then you take into consideration 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 Its like that: Halpo, since the beginning of the human race, every adult thinks the next generation lacks respect, has no manners and has things easier than they had. Im sure your grandparents and parents felt the exact same about your generation. Thats the way of life, just accept it. Niall S Bored: Angry Anderson, I agree, music played on the bus is annoying. However, I dont believe children do it for attention, I think theyre just bored. Just be grateful that its proper songs theyre playing, and not the phone ringtones I used to play on the bus from school! J, D13 In Brief what your husband said about children, he must have been the only child on the planet who was always smiling and a joy and a pleasure to everyone he met. Maybe now you can understand why parents (such as myself) find it incredibly insulting to hear their children described in such a manner. I also feel that my children are very happy, contented and well behaved in much the same way as your mother-in-law feels about her son. Mr Outraged may want to take his foot out of his mouth around about now! Rachel M Just in case the Taxi Regulator hasnt noticed, more licences are urgently needed. In town last Friday at 1am, queues at the rank were a mile long and taxis were back to driving with the light off and cherry-picking their fares. Im glad theyre busy again but obviously we need more taxis, or perhaps the taxi drivers think the good times are back? Well, as any taxi driver knows, its a long road that has no turn... Michael Doles, D3 Sendusyour txt For the last few mornings Ive noticed the heating on my train has been switched off, despite it being close to zero degrees outside. Is this one of the first examples of the carbon (dioxide) tax in action? Iridium Im sorry, but in the current economic environment I can no longer afford to pay for frivolous or test court cases, so could those taking up such cases please ensure they can pay for it themselves and not rely on the State! Taxpayer Colette, you can get the 2009 hurling final on www.dvdsales.ie for 20. SG Thank you to the mysterious stranger with the English accent who chased me down Exchequer Street to tell me Id dropped my shopping. I never got to thank you properly, so a most sincere thank you good karma coming your way! Claire, Dublin Why did Donal Murray resign as Bishop of Limerick? Because he wanted to bring crozier to things. (So sorry.) Alain, Killiney txt MAIL to 53131* Picture: AFP Metro wants you! Metro is saying goodbye to the single life in the New Year as it merges with Herald AM to become Metro Herald. The last Metro as you know it will be on Tuesday December 22, when we will run a special feature looking at the best bits of Metro over the past four years and thats where you come in. We want you, our readers, to tell us your favourite bits from Metro headlines, stories, cute animal photos, letters-page arguments, whatever has made you love (or hate) Metro. Send your thoughts to mail@metroireland.ie. index.html2.html3.html4.html5.html6.html7.html8.html9.html10.html11.html12.html13.html14.html15.html16.html17.html18.html19.html20.html21.html22.html23.html