their campaign is a welcome one.

The controversy since the collapse of the Rebecca Middleton murder case has done severe damage, both to the Island's image abroad and to the community's own confidence in the criminal justice system.

Now, pending the resolution of the Crown's appeal of the dismissal of premeditated murder charges against Justis Smith, there is very little that can be said about the case.

That may not be a bad thing; debate on the issue is becoming increasingly circular and repetitive.

That a person, or persons, should be held accountable is important, although it is a poor substitute for the justice the Middleton family and the community seeks.

But accusations -- many of them unfounded and uninformed, some of them downright xenophobic -- can do tremendous damage to the Island. This is why an inquiry is needed, pending the result of the appeal.

Bermuda needs to stop and take a deep breath. We should not forget the Middleton case, but we should reflect on its importance and what can be learned in the future.

Government must hold an inquiry after the appeal. Whether this occurs immediately afterwards in the event that the appeal is rejected or after another trial if the appeal is upheld, is less important than the fact an inquiry should be held.

The decision of the boycott group to suspend its campaign is a good start.

Bermuda should give its blame campaign a rest as well.

ISOLATED EVENT EDT Isolated event The recent stabbing of one female student by another at CedarBridge Academy has rightly received a great deal of attention.

It is natural that the public will be concerned when a student ends up in hospital as the result of a violent act in what is supposedly a disciplined setting. And attention is inevitable when maintaining discipline was one of the major worries about the "mega-school'' when it was being planned.

CedarBridge officials have been at pains to point out that the incident -- which remains under investigation -- was an isolated one which does not reflect the strides that CedarBridge has made in improving discipline and behaviour at the "mega-school'' since it opened.

That is probably correct. This year, there have been far fewer reports of disciplinary problems than a year ago and the school seems to be a much happier place.

What the public should be more concerned about is the school system's continued failure to raise literacy levels and standards of achievement generally. As Garry Madeiros, chairman of CedarBridge's board of Governors, said in yesterday's paper: "CedarBridge is dealing with the symptom and has no control over dealing with the cause, so we will continually have to play catch-up and raise the level of our incoming kids just to get them functioning at the level they should be.'' Public support for literacy and a focus on the issue by the Education Minister will go a long way to solving this problem -- and improved standards will doubtless lead to improved discipline as well.