Managing editor of The Gleaner Company, Jenni Campbell (centre), congratulates a beaming Shirley Richards (left) on her capture of the Gleaner Silver Pen Award for the month of November, while Harold Clarke, the winner for December, looks on, at The Gleaner Company's North Street offices yesterday. - Winston Sill/Freelance Photographer

Standards and ideals were at the core of both letters awarded the prestigious Gleaner Silver Pen award for the months of November and December, despite their difference of topic and opinion.

Shirley Richard's letter titled 'End ambivalence about the issue of marriage', which was published on November 10, 2007, spoke of several issues related to same-sex unions and their definition, the problem of absentee fathers and the need for stable families for children to grow and develop.

On the other hand, Harold Clarke's letter - 'New forex trading regulation needed', which was published on December 6, 2007 - spoke about the need for the Jamaican Government to create a new regulatory framework for the Jamaican marketplace in relation to the foreign-exchange market.

"I still think there is a need for us in society to establish paradigms, to establish ideals, and we should try to strive towards those ideals, recognising at the same time that not all (will) live up to the ideals, but at least, as a society, we could strive for ideals," Richards told The Gleaner yesterday.

One of those ideals, she said, was that men should support both their children and their spouses, as a way of strengthening the society.

"It is essential that we teach our children wholesome values from early, and so, one has to be careful what is passed on to them especially in our formal educational sector," she added.

Renewed call

Clarke, on the other hand renewed his call for the Government to seriously look at the foreign-exchange industry as something Jamaicans can benefit from, as he believes it has been misconstrued in the past as something 'fishy'.

"The consumers have to be protected, whatever is done you have to have regulatory schemes that protect the consumer. How you go about crafting that regulatory framework will depend on whether you want to encourage these new investments to spring up, or whether you want the consumers to be faced with limited choices," he said.

Clarke believes that the forex market should be embraced. He also said the Government should encourage entrepreneurs who want to delve into foreign exchange as a type of investment.