IN A recent column by Martin Henry, the writer David Popenoe is quoted as saying "bringing up children is demanding, stressful and exhausting." I suppose it must be to many.

On the other hand, I assume, that as a child I must have gone through the process of having been "brought up", but cannot remember my father or mother ever complaining that it put them under stress.

I certainly experienced none during my childhood. Boarding schools, and my early adolescence, were a different kettle of fish, for I suffered greatly from the hideous experience of both. But my childhood was wonderful. I never went to school until I was 10, but between my parents and a splendid cousin who gave me my first music lessons, and an equally splendid aunt who taught me how to read and write, I was wonderfully happy. I suppose I must have been "bought up".

I remember my father, the kindliest of men, telling my mother that I should learn to be a "man". He would take me bird shooting, which for me was a disaster, because I disliked killing birds, so he had me taught boxing instead.

What I learned most from my mother was her sense of humour. As part of my "upbringing" my father occasionally insisted that I go to church, and be exposed to a very earnest Scottish parson, whose specialty was hellfire. On these occasions, my mother would often whisper to me, "Morris you see that glass of water in the pulpit, it's gin." An important part of my "up-bringing", was never to take sermons too seriously, and to understand the value of a little mild cynicism. So, I suppose I was "brought up" in one way or another.

Fine people

I mentioned all this trivial stuff, because it still puzzles me what being "brought up" involved. In London, in those early days, thousands of little urchins with running noses, and dirty faces could be seen on the streets. I do not imagine that my old nanny would have considered them to have been properly brought up. But in two wars, they grew up to be amongst the bravest and finest men and women. And in Jamaica, very many children, also neglected, grew into fine people too.

Indeed, in one way or another most of the children of my childhood turned out pretty well, whether they had been officially "brought up" or not. But perhaps, it was during the 1950s, in Jamaica, in the United States, and even in England that something beyond my understanding began to happen. There were certainly vast gaps in my own knowledge.

For example, I hardly ever heard mentioned what came to be known as the social sciences. Occasionally, I would be told that someone was a sociologist, and the image that sprang to my mind, would be that of a bearded gentleman generally regarded as slightly potty. Yet all of a sudden women without marriage were increasingly breeding unwanted children like rabbits. America became flooded with gangsters of all sorts, and there, as in Jamaica, gunmen and frauds, violent and dishonest people seemed to be taking over. Heavy locks appeared on doors, where none appeared before.

It is at this point in my life, at the age of 86, that I must ask for help of my friend Martin Henry. As a much younger man, he must now know the way of the world better than I do. Not only hordes of sociologists, but hordes of armed policemen, became necessary to the purpose of "bringing up" our children. Not only children, but fathers and mothers too have become wayward, greedy, and reckless.

Give me a hand here, Martin. I have always regarded the world and life as a bit of a joke, but I am beginning to suspect that if it is a joke, it is as sick as hell.

STREET PEOPLE

The attitude of the PNP has from the beginning seemed odd. It took quite a bit of public pressure to get the Prime Minister to approve the appointment of the Commission of Enquiry. It is also significant that a number of PNP supporters in Montego Bay appear to be trying to hamper the police in the course of the inquiries, and also to protect Mayor Solomon.

In any case, Mayor Solomon has hired a lawyer to see that he is not forced to give any information that he does not want to give. Nevertheless, more and more disquieting evidence is coming to light, and right now it seems the floodgates will soon be open.

I do not want to be unfair, but I have a feeling that the last thing that the PNP ever wanted was any very careful investigation into the scandal of the street people.

THE INTERNET GOLD RUSH

History has recorded a number of gold rushes. There was, for example, the railway boom of the 1840s, and the radio boom of the 1920s. Going even further back, there was the Dutch tulip mania of the 1630s, where a single tulip bulb changed hands for the equivalent of $150,000 in today's money. Today in Britain there are now more than 2,000 Internet entrepreneurs worth more than five million pounds, and quite a few worth more than 30 million pounds. Millionaires are currently being created at the rate about 10 a week. The best known are, Martha Lane Fox and Brent Hoberman. But by far the richest is Mike Lynch, who developed Internet search software. His personal fortune is now 1.3 billion pounds.

The Internet is producing fortunes for many. The shares of a firm called Oxygen Holdings, a firm concerned with raising cash to invest in other dot.coms, rose 3,000 per cent on its first day of trading.

The Internet gold rush can only be described as having created an hysteria in money making. This is sad, and unfortunately affects orthodox companies, for many shareholders have been selling good shares for what they can get for investment in the Internet bubble. This may yet create a slump in orthodox shares. It is also possible that the Internet madness might create a general financial panic leading to a much more widespread collapse on Wall Street.

It would be interesting to see whether the Internet gold rush can be controlled. In the meantime, of course, a few lucky people will make a fortune. But in the end about 90 per cent will lose their shirts. With every major financial crash bodies come rushing down from skyscrapers. I do not suppose the Internet gold rush will be any different.