I am very pleased to see that Edith Allwood-Anderson will be awarded the Order of Distinction and Steve Bucknor the Order of Jamaica. Heartiest congratulations!

My association with both these two dates back to the good old days of the 1970s atSt. Elizabeth Technical High School, when Edith, like myself, was a schoolgirl. She was a thoughtful, seemingly unassuming girl - one would never have guessed then she had such guts - good for you, girl! Steve Bucknor taught me (I mean, tried to teach me) Mathematics.

My present mathematically-challenged state is not a reflection of the poor man's effort or ability. Happy Independence, my Jamaica. I hope that some day we will have reason to celebrate as we did in the good ol' days when all we had was love, love, love!

- Karleen Morgan-Mulder, karleen.mulder@tiscali.co.uk, Buckinghamshire, England,Via Go-Jamaica

It is interesting that the PNP accuses Bruce Golding of committing the cardinal sin of changing course by switching political allegiance. Yet look at the number of persons in the PNP who have done just that.

With a women at the helm you would think she more than the male prime ministers before her would understand that 'what is good for the goose is good for the gander.' She should fully understand how important it is to be fair and balanced in one's comments.

You can't have one set of rules for one set of persons and another set of rules for others. Trevor Munroe, Ade Dabdoub, Norman Horne and Verna Parchment have all switched parties, they are not denigrated for flip-flopping. When Barbara Clarke switched from NDM to PNP she was not labelled a flip-flop. Why is the label applied to Bruce Golding but not to all the others? It's all a dishonest ploy being played out by the PNP and we should all wise up to the game.