ISAAC NEWTON was the greatest scientist in history and, perhaps more than anyone before or since, changed the world with his ideas. 'Nearer the Gods' said Edmond Halley 'no mortal may approach'. Newton never had any children and is believed, like Adam Smith and Immanuel Kant, to have died a virgin. So arguably, the three most influential intellectuals of modern times never had sexual relations with a woman. Maybe there's a lesson there.

"You are what you eat," proclaimed Anthelme Brillat-Savarin in 1825, and he was probably right. But, a week in Beijing cheering on Jamaican athletes at the World Junior Games convinced me again that you are also what you speak. Since both my grandfathers were born there, visiting China should be a bit of an ancestral pilgrimage. But, not knowing a word of Mandarin made it difficult to feel any spiritual bond with the place.

First, it was Contractor General Greg Christie persistently pointing out the lack of accountability at Sandals Whitehouse. Then it was Dr. Lloyd Goldson and colleagues exposing the horrific conditions at the Victoria Jubilee Hospital. And now, it is whichever person provided Bruce Golding with the documented Trafigura money trail from Amsterdam to Team Jamaica. Yes, Mr. Golding did a fine job of presenting it to the public, but as Opposition Leader that's his job. It's the unsung hero who provided the smoking gun cheques that really deserves the praise in this instance.

In A Conflict of Visions, Thomas Sowell posits two fundamental political outlooks, the constrained and unconstrained visions. The first is best expressed in Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations, which accepts man's moral limitations and egocentricity as inherent facts of life. Rather than wastefully attempting to change human nature, it tries to make the best of the possibilities existing within that context.

THE BOB Marley peace day is a great idea. But it's a pity that the focus is only on Bob, because with all this big Marley hoopla you would think is him alone make reggae and guys like Jimmy and Toots and Peter Tosh and Dennis Brown never existed. Personally, I prefer Tosh to Marley any day. And you ever notice how all you ever hear on the radio is Marley's Island stuff? They hardly play tunes like Small Axe or Nice Time or Trenchtown Rock, which personally I feel is his best song. Is pure Redemption Song and Three Little Birds and One Love.

LIKE MANY Jamaicans, I had high hopes for Bruce Golding. I have grown thoroughly sick of the aggressively confrontational, name-calling nonsense that goes by the name of politics in this country. And, for 10 years, Mr. 'New and Different' has been assuring us that though he used to be part of the 'old-time politricks', if we gave him the chance he would put an end to irresponsible posturing and guttersniping by taking the high road and, thus forcing his opponents to do the same.

A WEEK ago, like most Jamaicans, I was in a state of despair about the country. Three policemen and two security guards had been killed in less than 24 hours, and the forces of anarchy seemed on the verge of overwhelming the nation. Was there any hope for this island? Was this the kind of country I wanted my children to grow up in?

"JAMAICA IS a failed state". I used to suck my teeth when I heard anyone say that and dismiss the speaker as an ignorant fool. Only a dunce could talk like that about a country with one of the planet's most stable democracies, a combatively free press, and the world's 63rd highest healthy life expectancy.

THIS COUNTRY'S murder rate has nearly doubled over the past two years and may now be the highest in the world. By right, people here should be frightened and angry, afraid to go out at night and mounting mass demonstrations during the day demanding that the Government stop the slaughter.

HAD P.J. Patterson retired two or so years ago his legacy would have been on the whole a positive one. History would have remembered him as a man who had guided his ship of state fairly safely through the shoals of globalization and left a good launching pad for his successor. As it is now he is on track to go down as the second worst Prime Minister in Jamaica's history.