Commentary

Mark Golding is right about Prime Minister Andrew Holness’ duty to explain how his government will fund the planned increase of the income tax threshold, which he signalled last week while campaigning for the local government elections. But that...

LAST WEEK I came across a post by Cindy Breakspeare, the mother of popular reggae artiste Damian Marley, one of Bob Marley’s children. It was made on what would have been Bob’s 79th birthday and included multiple photographs of her and Bob and...

They already know the facts, but it would do no harm, and hopefully help, if Jamaican policymakers, including Prime Minister Andrew Holness, read and absorbed Alexis Bonte’s article in this newspaper on Monday. Afterwards, Mr Holness should direct...

This month, a number of meetings of the Organization of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS) and the related Caribbean OACPS Forum (CARIFORUM) are scheduled. These are related to the implementation of the new EU/OACPS Samoa Agreement,...

“Take out a half sheet a paper!” Those dreaded words, delivered in a thick New York accent, were my Campion physics teacher’s (the brilliant Fr. Alfred O. Winshman) regular opening when he planned a pop quiz. He had the knack of predicting when we’...

In recent days, the Caribbean region has taken a monumental step towards addressing one of its most pressing challenges, ensuring food and security for its people. The launch of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) 38th...

One of the sorry facts of the government’s bad decision to saddle the Electoral Commission of Jamaica (ECJ) with the job of the political ombudsman – and the commission’s equally bad choice of accepting – is the shifting premise upon which it...

You have to assume that Jamaica’s political leaders take local government, or at least the idea of it, seriously. In 2015 they went as far as to root the institution in the island’s Constitution. In practice, however, there are real questions...

My column last Sunday, “Dunce educators failing students,” provoked the usual hostile responses on The Gleaner’s website. “Chapter 1” posted several comments. In at least two, he branded me as “di patwah daktah.” That sick burn certainly does not...

In November of 2023, when Prime Minister Andrew Holness announced that, “…the nation may need to contemplate a programme of controlled and enhanced admission of people from overseas to supplement its labour force”, I was genuinely very surprised....

When you ask a Trini, “How things going, boy?” (or girl) the reply is inevitably, “Ah day.” If you’re one of those ‘Trinis’ who came home for carnival and wanted to show off your Britishness, you would most likely respond with, “I didn’t ask you...

The evidence – anecdotal and otherwise – supports Delroy Chuck’s assertion of the need to increase the awareness and use of alternative dispute resolution and restorative justice mechanisms in Jamaica. For as Mr Chuck, justice minister, indicated...