alike on the streets of Hamilton are hardly surprising.

It is personally unpleasant to be harassed by a complete stranger asking for, and sometimes demanding, money, it causes difficulties for businesses which see their customers driven away from their doors, and in the long run it will damage tourism if visitors are told that they will be accosted, sometimes quite forcibly, on the streets of Hamilton.

The broader question is why people in a country as wealthy and successful as Bermuda feel obliged to beg in the first place.

In some cases, they may do it by choice. More often, it is likely that they do it out of necessity, because they cannot find or keep a job, or because of some form of addiction.

Bermuda could take the "Mayor Giuliani'' approach to the problem, which results in street people being imprisoned or taken off the streets for relatively minor offences. Depending on your perspective, this has either been highly successful in making the streets of New York City safer and more comfortable to walk on, or it has deprived people, mainly of black or hispanic origin, of their rights and personal liberties.

There are other approaches which involve more carrot and a good deal less stick. If it is to be assumed that many street people are victims of substance abuse, then the community needs to find ways to give them a hand-up instead of a hand-out. Helping agencies, the Corporation of Hamilton and the Government have a role to play.

And the whole community should remember that "but for the Grace of God go I''. The community has a responsibility to help those who cannot help themselves.

A punitive approach -- especially given the difficulties outlined in yesterday's Royal Gazette -- cannot work on its own.

SCHOOL DAYS EDT School days Forty years on, the pride that the former students of Prospect Secondary School for Girls have for their old school still shines through today.

The graduates, profiled in yesterday's Lifestyle section, demonstrate they have no regrets about their school days and were clearly inspired by their teachers.

As the school system works its way through restructuring and reform, it would not hurt for today's school administrators to find out what the best practices at Prospect Secondary were; some things, like great teaching and sound and reasonable standards of discipline, are timeless.

And the fact that the Class of 1960 is reaching out to one of their classmates who needs help speaks volumes for the values they learned at school all those years ago.