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]