The Editor, Sir:

According to the Oxford Dictionary, a Jezebel is a shameless, immoral woman. Beyond that, biblical history tells us that Jezebel, the queen of ancient Israel, was a murderess, a controlling tyrant, who ultimately met her death at the hands of servants who threw her out in the street to be consumed by dogs.

The explanation for that arguably untimely outburst by Mrs. Gordon-Webley was that she was out of touch with the contemporary local political culture. Based on the strident defence she is now putting up for her unkind analogy, especially in the face of the disapproval expressed by her party through its general secretary, Mr. Karl Samuda, it appears that Mrs. Gordon-Webley is still wrapped up in the less-enlightened paradigm of the 1970s and early 1980s politics.

Anybody familiar with contem-porary politics will realise that both major political parties are, at least on the face of it, endea-vouring to move away from that paradigm by conducting themselves with a level of decorum that facilitates the co-existence of heated debates and peaceful conflict resolution. That is why we have political codes of conduct which seek to define the parameters of public campaigning.

Given the recent spate of verbal spats - some of which have ended up in court - that have come to public attention, we think that maybe it's time for all politicians to refresh their memories with a copy of the code, Mr. Editor, I do hope that on election day the code will be on display in every constituency.

I am, etc.,

REV. JOAN PORTEOUS

joanporteous@yahoo.com