off the OECD hitlist of "tax havens'' to getting it off it altogether.

The story in today's newspaper that Bermuda fits the definition of harmful tax jurisdictions and is more than likely already on the list is worrying.

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development's move to compile the list, raises major questions over what control individual countries have over their own tax policies.

The OECD seems to be saying that only the countries with very high rates of income and corporate tax are acceptable -- while countries like Bermuda with low or no-tax rates need to be punished.

This ignores the fact that exempted companies and local companies are taxed in the same way in Bermuda and it is surely the right of an international company -- often with businesses all over the world -- to select the domicile which best serves its interests.

Unfortunately, as lawyer John Collis noted in a speech reported in yesterday's paper, the OECD and the UK government seem to be saying that they want the international business sector and regulators to act as expert tax police for the rest of the world.

However, calls by the UK for greater and more independent regulation of the financial services sector are worth looking at seriously.

As Mr. Collis notes, a regulatory structure similar to the one now in place in the UK is probably not the ideal solution: "I do not think that the Secretary of State would visit the chaos of the current UK financial services regulation on its worst enemies in Belgrade, let alone the beloved colonies.'' But Bermuda may need to look more carefully at the role of regulators and to decide of the Island's model of "self-regulation'' in which the regulators and the regulateds work closely together to enact rules needs to be improved upon.

It may be that this system, which worked extremely well when the insurance sector in particular was smaller, needs to be fleshed out and regulators given more independence now that Bermuda is one of the world's leading financial centres.

The same could be said for the Bermuda Monetary Authority and the Auditor -- all have responsibilities which differ from the Government of the day and as Bermuda matures, these developments could help Bermuda's reputation on the world stage.

DOING THE RIGHT THING EDT Doing the right thing Those who despair of Bermuda's youth should take another look at the picture on Page 2 of yesterday's Royal Gazette .

Members of the show choir at CedarBridge Academy swept the board at an international competition in New Jersey, picking up four trophies, including the outstanding show choir award.

CedarBridge students have sometimes been in the news for the wrong reasons -- and the media has been criticised for "sensationalising'' the incidents. This is an example of students doing something right -- they deserve credit for that.