COLUMNIST CORNER

Excerpted responses from online readers to some Sunday Gleaner columnists:

'Young & clueless': Gordon Robinson

This article is an eye-opener and serves to reinforce my disgust for politicians. Mr Robinson, you hit Delano Seiveright out of the park. I think he should go back to school.

While the politicians are patting themselves on the back, Jamaica is drifting farther and farther away. The gangs of GH wreck the lovely island called Jamaica, as we stand by and watch little Barbados prosper. No wonder they don't regard or respect us.

- Mccormacklindel

I do not believe in being unbiased. An unbiased person is a confused person, unable to make up his mind. I will never try to be unbiased; you have to come down on either side of an issue if you are informed. The uninformed are ignorant, and therefore should not comment.

One thing Delano and the Labourites failed to understand is that OPINION CANNOT BE WRONG. It is a man's perspective of a situation.

- Sounding

'Can Bruce cross it?': Ian Boyne

Bruce Golding cannot cross over and Peter Phillips cannot cross over. Neither can lead us to the Promised Land. The surest sign of madness is when you keep trying the same things over and over, expecting a different result.

Plain and simple, the political system in Jamaica is broken.

The PNP is compromised by Trafigura, FINSAC, 'black man time', Cuban light-bulb scandal, and other policies. The JLP is compromised by the Coke extradition and subsequent revelations. Neither party can be trusted to act in the best interest of the country.

- Stephen Fox

I only read the first two lines of your article and have one thing to say. "Worst nightmare" was said by Mama P when she lost the election.

She then went on to challenge the Government in the dual-citizenship issues. She then politicised the economic crisis due to external forces and actions of her own party.

Then came the Manatt issue, which was milked for every political possibility.

Would you want to do business in a country where the Opposition is behaving so recklessly?

- Nature's Law

'Jamaica's energy inertia': Claude Clarke

There is no single energy source that will 'solve' our problem. As more and more persons switch to that 'new' commodity, the price will rise and, eventually, all the savings would be lost.

What is therefore needed is a diversified energy mix, and energy conservation.

We should explore the use of renewables, plus a mixture of coal, LNG, and crude oil.

In that way, if the price of one commodity rises, we could switch to the use of a lower-priced commodity, since it's already part of the energy mix. This will lower the price shocks.

- Jayjayja

Well argued, Claude! I have heard and read stuff about clean coal being a good alternative, but we cannot rule out nuclear power. A government with any vision could sell the idea to the people, and even if the people don't buy into it, still go ahead. There are no easy choices now, and if the people resist nuclear power, they have no right to bitch about the present JPS 'extortion'.

We have a little nuclear plant at UWI safely run for more than 30 years. It was carelessness that caused the leaks in Japan, even with the big earthquake. We can be careful, but we have to do something dramatic.

- Crticalmind1

Excellent article by Mr Clarke, putting forward an accurate historical perspective on our energy dilemma. However, I take issue with his view that renewables are unlikely to be economical on the scale required to meet our electricity 'requirements'. If one takes a serious look at renewables, the high initial cost almost always leads to an examination of these 'requirements'. Typically, this will lead to the discovery of several areas where significant savings can be achieved through conservation and increased efficiency.

If increasing energy requirements all over the world are to be met using coal, as evidenced by China, will this not upset the balance between supply and demand, resulting in the intervention of the price mechanism to moderate demand? To put it simply, will increased use of coal worldwide not result in an increase in price?

- P.O.B.

'High-science Spirit travel': Carolyn Cooper

I do travel Spirit and must say that if you do your homework, you will come out ahead. It is definitely cheaper than the others, and the key is to keep on top of what is going on with the airline. I do agree, though, that the average traveller will be caught every time.

- Vmun

Thanks much. Apart from the bellyful of laughs I got from reading this article, I now know which airline never to fly - no 'duppy' airline for me at all!

- Anne