Wed | Jun 24, 2026

Commentary

Published:Sunday | December 24, 2023 | 6:17 AM

Well, it’s the silly season again. Many people go bonkers to congregate, celebrate, buy, sell, and steal. It’s a very busy time when spirits are usually up, and guards are often down. People are extremely vulnerable during the Yuletide, and thieves...

Published:Sunday | December 24, 2023 | 6:17 AM

Just last month, I telephoned Eddie asking for permission to publish the talk he gave in 1994 to launch my book Noises in the Blood. The invitation to the event was a dancehall-style poster. Eddie mischievously embraced the identity I’d seduced him...

Published:Saturday | December 23, 2023 | 12:06 AM

Recent events in the Central American country, Guatemala, underscores why organs of government in any country should have oversight bodies that have the authority to curb rogue behaviour by office holders. These events also demonstrate why...

Published:Saturday | December 23, 2023 | 12:06 AM

Listening to the Christmas song, “All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth, my two front teeth …” I started laughing loudly because, if I tried that, I would have to make it “ten front teeth” with more to come, especially if I go past 79 and...

Published:Saturday | December 23, 2023 | 12:05 AM

The magical season has us firmly in its grip, and in a few hours it will be Christmas Day. By far the most popular day on the Christian calendar, even though many will celebrate without participating in the reverence that Christmas demands. After...

Published:Friday | December 22, 2023 | 12:07 AM

Question: What would it take to get you to vote in the upcoming elections? Answer: Nothing. Many cynics will have a lot to say about this one. In the latest survey conducted by pollster Don Anderson, 21 per cent of respondents said that nothing...

Published:Friday | December 22, 2023 | 12:07 AM

A few years ago I conducted a Bible Service at the General Penitentiary on Tower Street. Being an ordained Catholic clergyman, at the end of the service I gave all the convicts present – and those from the outreach ministry who came with me – the...

Published:Friday | December 22, 2023 | 12:06 AM

Parliament’s steep hike – by over 240 per cent – of the salary threshold at which public sector workers have to file annual income, assets and liability statements with the Integrity Commission (IC) is a logical move. As the IC explained in...

Published:Thursday | December 21, 2023 | 12:06 AM

Pope Francis’ greenlight to Roman Catholic priests to bless same-sex couples is not the same as endorsing gay marriage. It is nonetheless an important acknowledgement that love cannot be constrained by bigotry or artificial barriers, and is always...

Published:Thursday | December 21, 2023 | 12:06 AM

I READ recently where Mr Calvin Allen, a senior superintendent of police, held a press conference in July 2016 in which he urged motorists to desist from putting flashing lights on their vehicles to replicate emergency vehicles. He advised the...

Published:Thursday | December 21, 2023 | 12:06 AM

IN HIGH school, I was a big fan of Craig Butler and JC’s 1985 Manning Cup team. While I wasn’t yet a student at the College, that team’s exploits were legendary – as was the plot to rob us of a title that year, but that’s a different story. Craig ‘...

Published:Wednesday | December 20, 2023 | 5:57 AM

INTRODUCTION The Andrew Holness-led administration never misses an opportunity to remind the country that no previous administration has made the massive investment in national security as they have done since assuming the reins of Government....

Published:Wednesday | December 20, 2023 | 5:57 AM

The focus over the last few days has been on the outcome of the December 14 meeting at Argyle in St Vincent and the Grenadines between President Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali of Guyana and President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela. A lot has been written...

Published:Wednesday | December 20, 2023 | 12:07 AM

We should perhaps look at the brighter side. The 38 per cent of Jamaicans who say they will vote in municipal elections when they are called is statistical equivalent to the amount (37.85 per cent) who cast ballots in the September 2020 general...

Published:Tuesday | December 19, 2023 | 12:06 AM

Prime Minister Andrew Holness has not disclosed if, or how far, he has advanced his plan for a ministry, separate from the one for national security, to address Jamaica’s chronic problem of violence and dysfunctional behaviour. The last time Mr...

Published:Tuesday | December 19, 2023 | 12:06 AM

A nation’s foreign affairs can often appear to be governed by the infamous Doctrine of Doing Nothing. That concept was introduced into Jamaica’s political lexicon by Lisa Hanna in the 2018 Sectoral Debate as she critiqued Jamaica’s weak-kneed...

Published:Tuesday | December 19, 2023 | 12:06 AM

Last week, I called a friend to check up on him. I told him I realised it was “that time of the year” again, meaning Christmas, and I wanted to know how he was doing. He expressed gratitude and told me I was one of the few people who understood...

Published:Monday | December 18, 2023 | 12:06 AM

It was appropriate that Jamaica’s first poet laureate who adopted the name Tom Redcam was honoured by the use of that name to identify a road where buildings alongside it would be used for general education and various categories of ‘the arts’....

Published:Monday | December 18, 2023 | 12:06 AM

Once nearing Father’s Day, a journalist pressed me to say what was the most important thing my father had given me? Was it money, car, a house, a paid-for education, she pressed. My reply was that he had given me none of those things, but something...

Published:Monday | December 18, 2023 | 12:06 AM

The early results of a reading initiative at Denham Town High School in Kingston provides more than ample evidence, this newspaper believes, for an urgent, even if short-term revamp, of the mission of Jamaica’s primary schools. Their core...

Published:Sunday | December 17, 2023 | 12:07 AM

The recent meeting between Guyana and Venezuela, facilitated by CARICOM, has blown a welcome breeze of relief across the region. It signifies a potential turning point in the longstanding Essequibo dispute, a simmering tension that poses a threat...

Published:Sunday | December 17, 2023 | 12:07 AM

The fundamentals of the Guyana-Venezuela border dispute weren’t changed by Thursday’s summit between Irfaan Ali and Nicolás Maduro, the presidents, respectively, of Guyana and Venezuela. The leaders left St Vincent and the Grenadines with the...

Published:Sunday | December 17, 2023 | 12:07 AM

There was a fairly recent video showing a group of schoolgirls, from different institutions, engaged in furious fighting in Sam Sharpe Square, downtown Montego Bay, St James. A few adults were valiantly attempting to separate them, but many others...

Published:Sunday | December 17, 2023 | 12:07 AM

He is Craig, not the ‘Buckla’ from the Oliver at Large series, so ‘him no follow backa nobody’. Butler is the surname and he is the controversial and even sometimes typified as divisive, connoisseur of football. Head of the Mona-based Phoenix...

Published:Sunday | December 17, 2023 | 12:05 AM

Every year, December 3 is observed as International Day of Persons with Disabilities. The day has been established by the United Nations to celebrate the achievements and challenges of persons with disabilities. For this year, the global...

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