Commentary

Like most problems, this one didn’t start overnight. We saw it coming and chose to do nothing in the hope that it too would go away. Now that it hasn’t, it has become the thorn in the sides of many a politician and the political football of the...

A few days ago, the United Nations Conference on Biodiversity (COP15) concluded with a historic pact: dozens of countries pledged to protect 30 per cent of the land and sea surface by 2030 to preserve biodiversity, which represents an unprecedented...

Though modest, last year’s 2.1 per cent reduction in deaths (from data up to December 30, 2022) from traffic crashes is welcome. Perhaps the new traffic law, when it comes into force next month, “will go a far way”, as Prime Minister Andrew Holness...

Notwithstanding the Government’s wish to maintain a veneer of its traffic ticket amnesty as an entirely judicial process, good sense requires that it allows the fines to be paid at places other than parish courts. Tax offices and other places that...

The story of my birth began with the intervention of my [paternal] aunt. She had become pregnant at the tender age of 15, and gave birth at 16. As I understood it, the realisation of her pregnancy was the source of much family distress and ‘grief...

Last May, when Tower Street in downtown Kingston was renamed in honour of the 20th-century Indian thinker and humanitarian Bhimrao Ambedkar, we urged the Jamaican authorities to make the gesture more than fleeting symbolism. Dr Ambedkar had...

On December 28, as I was reflecting on the year 2022 and on the dawning of 2023, Jamaica’s executive – the governor general, acting on the advice of the prime minister – declared a new state of emergency to last initially until January 11. Among...

We say it without really thinking what it means. “Happy New Year”. A warm wish for family, friends, and random strangers we come across at the end of earth’s yearly cycle. However, happiness in our society is fleeting, as each new year comes with...

Anger directed at the media for reporting the celebration of a 14-year-old giving birth to twins, in keeping with the annual Christmas morning ritual at the Victoria Jubilee Hospital, is clearly misdirected. The fact of early motherhood ought...

Dedicated to my great friend Kamal Abdool who died last week. Nicolas Aujula, a London psychic, claims that in 2021 he had predicted COVID-19, Trump’s election loss, and Meghan Markle’s explosive Oprah interview. Now he has eight visions for...

The biggest reason for the average Jamaican’s failure to report the crimes they witness is not that they want crime to continue. Rather, they want their lives to continue, and they feel that feeding law enforcement with information might just...

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) is, at its core, about helping people everywhere reach their potential. The ground-breaking Cairo 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) Programme of Action shifted the focus...