EDITORIAL - Trampling on fundamental rights
The Jamaican Constitution may not specifically enshrine the separation of Church and State, but nothing in it guarantees a special place for prelates or theocrats, and neither does it place any obligation on the part of citizens with regard to religion.

PUBLIC AFFAIRS - Shooting the messenger
Some are inclined to dismiss the entire FINSAC enquiry as yet another diversionary circus. Credit downgrades are coming fast and furious. Junk-bond status is around the corner. The budget deficit zooms to over 10 per cent. No one knows what awaits the exchange rate. No International Monetary Fund (IMF) agreement seems able to be concluded, and crime continues to rage.

Blind vengeance
The macabre story of the deranged man who last week dug out the two eyes of his straying lover has a decidedly Old Testament ring to it: an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. In this instance, it's more like two eyes for a piece of forbidden fruitcake.

India - Asia's other emerging economic giant
Many years ago when I studied in Liverpool and played a little cricket with two brothers (Misra and Yogi) from Mumbai (what was then Bombay), India was regarded as a 'basket case' economically. Because of its shortage of hard currency, my friends and other Indian students would return from trips home loaded with clothing, jewelry and other items which they sold to help pay their bills.

Golding's 'Dudus' dilemma
Currently, Jamaica is in danger of becoming something of an international pariah. We were recently downgraded economically by both Bear Stearns and Moody's and also downgraded morally by Transparency International, but these are mere niceties in face of the thing that is threatening to demote us to the status of banana republic or rogue state.