T.R.E.N.D! Chen!” Indeed, as so many public commentators have observed, we are in the silly season, with both parties on the campaign trail, with hype at new heights, and almost every government agency having media events claiming the ultimate in...
It is hard to fathom why nearly three years after being key architect of the new agreement to guide relations between the European Union (EU) and the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS), Jamaica scrabbled to reassure...
Pharmacists are ranked among the top three most trusted health professionals according to Gallup’s 2020 poll in the US. In addition to being trusted, we are usually the most accessible; no appointments required. As readily accessible health...
Last Sunday’s Gleaner editorial, titled ‘Skills crisis and primary schools’, resonated with me for several reasons, not the least of which is the fact that I myself am the product of a primary school education. I will admit, though, that despite...
Traffic Court Judge Nicole Kellier’s advice to motorists who received traffic tickets is clearly well-intentioned and seemingly in their best interest. The document, she said, should be copied to a more permanent format so that it is legible when...
Published:Wednesday | November 22, 2023 | 12:07 AM
Having spearheaded a sharp reduction in the backlog in Jamaica’s courts, Chief Justice Bryan Sykes is likely to be worried that his efforts could be undone because of the inadequacy and/or insufficiency of tools to maintain the job. A shortage of...
Published:Wednesday | November 22, 2023 | 12:07 AM
Over the years, I have had the pleasure of working with thousands of Jamaicans in various capacities, including but not limited to accounting, immigration, philanthropic, and other social services. I must admit that most of them displayed a...
Published:Wednesday | November 22, 2023 | 12:07 AM
This week, I am following up on last week’s article concerning the controversy surrounding the signing of the EU/OACPS Samoa Agreement. On Wednesday, November 15, the 27 member states of the European Union (EU), as committed in July, signed the...
On Friday, November 10, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said: “Far too many Palestinians have been killed; far too many have suffered these past weeks.” It was the strongest expression of concern for Palestinians uttered by a USA official...
Hamas is a Palestinian nationalist and Islamist movement in the West Bank and Gaza Strip dedicated to the establishment of an independent Islamic state in historical Palestine. The name stands for the Islamic Resistance Movement and in Arabic means...
Unfortunately, last week’s rains, which caused flooding across Jamaica, are unlikely to have met the parametric criteria to trigger pay-out under the island’s US$185-million catastrophe bond or any insurance it has with the regional catastrophe...
The following is an excerpt from the speech made by Howard Mitchell during last month’s 2023 Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica Hall of Fame banquet. Jamaica has accomplished wonderful things. We lead the world in track and field and sport...
This piece is intended to further the conversation promoted by the editorial in last Wednesday’s Gleaner on the themes of growth and productivity. It began with the prime minister giving one of his periodic hints of his understanding that...
Ominous signs of climate change adversely affecting Jamaica are becoming almost impossible to miss, unless one is determined not to see them. Former US Vice President Al Gore quoted the ancient proverb in his 2006 film, An Inconvenient Truth,...
Ongoing discussions about Jamaica’s shortage of skilled workers raise questions about the status of the island’s labour reform project, including why, half a decade after a high-powered team completed a report on the subject, it appears to remain...
Another triple murder. Another killing of multiple children. Another season of righteous indignation from Gordon House through street corners to every social media outlet. “Create harsher penalties”. “Hang them, kill them by whatever means”. “...
This newspaper shares the deepening concern in industry for Jamaica’s worsening shortage of skilled labour, and is sympathetic to calls by some of its captains for an importation of workers to meet the demand. But recruiting labour from outside...
CHAKA-CHAKA SPELLING Look how Marisa Dalrymple-Philibert she did gwaan wen di Integrity Commission (IC) did report her to parliament! From 2015 to 2020, she did figet bout fi her big car wen she did a add up all a wa shi own. She did waa turn...
Emergencies are exactly that. Emergencies! For this reason, I have consistently objected to states of public emergency (SOPE) becoming the norm. Doubtless, there have been occasions when they have been absolutely necessary, and others when there...
Recently, in responding to parliamentarians expressing their concerns regarding crime and violence in Jamaica, the prime minister briefly spoke to the various ways that we are fighting the vexing problem and to other ways being explored. He went on...
The Earthquake Unit at the University of the West Indies has declared that there was no earthquake in Jamaica on Friday morning. Charged with the responsibility of earthquake monitoring and seismic research, the unit moved swiftly to shut down...
Dedicated to my son, George Deyal, and his beloved wife, Sara Jean My computer suddenly started belting out Someone Like You. It’s a Dell. Unfortunately, just as I was about to start the research for this week’s column, it stopped charging. Now,...
It was a prophesy foretold – the eruption of violence in the face of attempts to disqualify from office a president and his party who were elected by the overwhelming majority of the electorate in Guatemala. In the early hours of Thursday, November...
If you didn’t know better, it might be assumed that Juliet Holness, the Speaker of the House, was erecting ramparts because there is something to conceal. Or that Speaker Holness’ style is like an old-fashioned, mechanical toy which once wound-...
“They sow the wind and reap the whirlwind” (Hosea 8:7). It is hard to accept that unemployment is genuinely at an all-time low when there are so many thousands idle on the street corners and shop piazzas in urban and rural Jamaica. I have...
