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Dear Stan, I am no 'domestic Goddess' seeking out bargains everywhere I go, but I have to say that I am absolutely stunned at the sometimes vast differences between prices of the same goods in supermarkets in Bahrain.

As an expat I like to buy the British daily newspaper, the Daily Mail which varies in price from 600 to 700 fils (50 pence in UK) from store to store - which is fair enough in view of shipping costs.

However, occasionally I find this newspaper has sold out and I will resort to purchasing the Daily Express (selling for 40 pence in UK) which I know for a fact, sells less in volume in the UK compared to the Mail.

In Jawad's cold store at Tala Islandm where I live, the Daily Express sells for 300 fils and the Mail 600 fils. However, at nearby Alosra at Amwaj, the Daily Express is on sale for a whopping BD1.300 and the Mail, 700 fils.

I had deliberately visited the Amwaj Alosra to check the prices again after visiting the Saar branch where, just by chance, I had noticed they had rung up BD1.300 on the till.

Upon querying this extortionate hike in price for the Daily Express (comparable to that charged here for a Sunday Express), I was informed by two young woman at the information counter that 'this was the price' as if I should accept that fact or not.

I didn't accept and asked for the manager who was equally sure that this was the price. His explanation being that as it was imported it was up to the distributor how much they charged including shipping costs.

I tried to explain what appeared to me to be store's wholly variable and illogical pricing system, whereupon he vaguely fobbed me off, saying, 'I will check it with my manager'.

I would like to add that I have noticed that the stores in Bahrain also charge an extortionate amount for imported Sunday papers.

I have again been informed across the board that this is a result of shipping and distributor costs.

I fully acknowledge that Sunday newspapers in the UK charge more than twice as much as week day papers, but this is due to the considerable number of supplements included. These supplements, I hasten to add are NOT included in shipments here, thus leaving readers with a very thin newspaper bearing half the amount of newsprint as the normal Daily Mail (and, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to work out, half the weight to ship).

How distributors can justify charging almost double the amount for the empty Sunday newspapers I find hard to comprehend.

I really could go on and on, as I have noticed so many other discrepancies in prices here now that my eyes have been opened wide.

A jar of Saudi Arabian Al Shiffa honey, for example, was priced at BD2.800 on Tala island and at BD2 at Al Jazeera in Adliya.

All of this leads me to suspect that there is absolutely nothing in the form of reasonable price control on the island as a whole. Please ask consumer writer Shilpa to advise your readers to shop with care in these hard times.

Summer Francis, by email.

Editor's note: Just goes to show what a bargain GulfWeekly is at 200 fils!

Dear Stan,

WE would like to extend our sincere gratitude for your support of the Riffa Views International Garden Show 2009 and for contributing to its huge success.

We also highly appreciate your reporter, Anasuya Kesavan's coverage on the Eden Challenge and the Farmers Market which are initiatives that have strengthened the core of the garden show, while enabling the school children and the farming community to be exposed to a wider audience.

Without your assistance, the positive message of Garden Show couldn't have been conveyed to Bahrain in such a professional and comprehensive manner.

Richard Browning, CEO, Riffa Views.

Dear Stan,

THE_Journalists Memorial lists all the journalists and media assistants killed in the course of their work since 1944, with their country of origin, age, media outlets they worked for and how they died.

So far this year, 39 journalists have been killed doing their job. Not since 1993 has a year been so deadly.

The figures show journalists are as threatened today as ever. They did not die by chance.

As a way of remembering the people behind the sombre statistics, the Doha Centre is today putting online the Journalists Memorial, which pays tribute to all those killed in the course of their work since World War II.

The Memorial offers journalists, researchers, students and the general public accurate data about all who have lost their lives bringing us the news. It is a way of monitoring freedom of information and expression worldwide, and understanding how it has changed.

This tribute to freedom concerns us all, because there can be no freedom without media freedom.

The Memorial can be consulted on the Doha Centre's website www.dohacentre.org and at www.dohamemorial.org

Robert MŽnard, director-general of the Doha Centre.Dear Stan,