Sir, - In our efforts clearly to define individual rights we seem to have suppressed the fact that, there being no such thing as an absolute right, the attendant obligations must figure in our thinking. The Decalogue summarises these, but not perhaps in a way that appeals to today's world.
Concentration on rights rather than obligations has produced at least one problem of growing importance - "the public's right to know". Under that innovation the media assume an obligation to investigate all matters whatsoever. The result is reporting by every sector of the media on the darker side of humanity. Who wants to hear about the brighter side?
And in all of this grottiness what has happened to a person's right to the protection of his or her good name? - Yours, etc., Jack Fitzpatrick,
Strand Road, Bray, Co Wicklow.