A couple of articles in this week's _The Economist_ (Dec.  13, 1997) caught
my attention:
 
1. "Borderline in Singapore" (p.  35) on the opening of a Borders Books and
Music store in Singapore: "Its 2,000 magazines range from _Practical
Fishkeeping_ and _Cake Decoration_ (both admirably Singaporean pursuits)
to _Log Home_ and _Modern Ferret_ (perhaps less so)."
 
2. "Miffed at MAFF" (p.  49) on Britain's "archaic quarantine laws" that
require that pets brought into the island be quarantined 6 months in order
to certify as being free of rabies.  Evidently as more middle-class Britons
vacation and work abroad with the increasing integration of the European
Union, pressure is building to shorten or abolish the quarantine.
 
The acronym "MAFF" is not explained in the article.  I looked back over the
minutes of MaFF meetings, and the subject of the UK quarantine did not come
up.  So it must be the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Food in that
country.  -Whew-  Because the writer of the article clearly thinks, along
with others (pet owners?  beef eaters?) in Whitehall, that "MAFF should be
abolished."
 
-- Lee, one of the Massachusetts Ferret Friends
 (MaFF with a little "a", not those British guys)
 [log in to unmask]     http://www.maferrets.org
 
[Posted in FML issue 2157]