When in my PAHO days I was holding a training session on dengue in Spanish Town, I found out from one of the latecomers that, in Jamaica, ‘Time’ is a foreign magazine. In Barbados, the birthplace of my two youngest children, and Guyana, my wife’s...
It is not known if, or for how long, Jesse Norman, will hold on to his job as Britain’s minister of state for the Americas and Overseas Territories. Rishi Sunak, the new prime minister, has not yet got around to shaping the second tier of his...
On October 7 (Maturing Moral Reasoning) I continued my challenge to The Gleaner’s legal and constitutional argument that the “right to privacy” by itself justifies the legality and morality of acts committed in private – in the bedroom or elsewhere...
You travel overseas for a four-year job opportunity that will see you earning twice your current salary. A few months after your departure, your beau, who is still in Jamaica, breaks some horrible news to you – they’ve been diagnosed with a...
The death last month of Queen Elizabeth II, who deftly guided the British Empire through its evolution into the Commonwealth, was a moment of profound significance for both the UK and the English-speaking Caribbean. King Charles III will continue...
I remember the very first time I sent an email. It was circa 1997 and one of my old high school buddies had called to say he had something out of this world to show me. It was something called the Internet and it was going to change our lives....
Prime Minister Andrew Holness performed a little-noticed but important geopolitical act last week. He cut the ribbon to formally open Huawei’s new offices in Kingston, which was built at a cost of $300 million and from which the Chinese tech giant...
With Rishi Sunak’s coronation as prime minister on Tuesday, Britain accomplished two significant feats. It gained its first non-white leader and a semblance of sanity returned to its politics. Jamaica and its regional partners, however, shouldn’t...
As I look at what has unfolded in our high schools re sports, I can’t help but feel very lucky that I attended St George’s College (STGC) when I did. It was at a time when STGC led the fight against the deterioration we now see in values and...
In an interview on radio recently related to World Food Day, though noting the importance of agriculture and food standards, it was said that Jamaican farmers were facing challenges to exporting their agricultural produce due to such standards in...
Dessie, the domino genius, was in a bad mood. We had just finished listening to radio horseracing commentary in which Dessie’s big bet staggered from the gates, and despite a storming late run, just failed to catch the winner. So he returned to...
“Me fulla gun, heavy clip fulla crocodile teeth (teeth) Everything get f**k when I reach, hm .16 bun up bwoy skin Head top buss up and split.” Crocodile Teeth – Skillibeng “Every guns up, every killa mask up Travel pon dem endz ‘...
Five years is a long time – sufficient for a child to start, and complete, high school and do a lot of sums in-between. Or for an undergrad to complete his or her medical degree and commence his or her residency. During that time, diligent clerks...
Mr Basil Hanson, (a man who professes to be Christian), publicly claimed that mask-wearing doesn’t help at all. His idea was backed up by a lawyer with similar views. Hanson said that the mandate on COVID-19 precautions had expired, and that we...
A single theme coursing through the narrative of GraceKennedy’s centenary lecture, recounting their 100 -year history, was that of trust. It is the scarcest, but most necessary of personal and civic virtues; the building block of all social...
First, this newspaper owes its readers, especially the West Indian family of cricket lovers and enthusiasts, a mea culpa. We were wrong when we rejected what we called the ‘throw-the-bums-out’ tone of Professor Eudine Barriteau’s report on the...
When Emancipation Day 1838 finally came, among the freedoms the former slaves achieved was the ‘freedom’ to be homeless. This was in stark contrast to the situation that obtained for the enslavers. They were allowed to keep their vast financial and...
Michael Burry made a fortune during the housing crisis in 2008. The doctor-turned-investment guru thought that the high-flying housing market would collapse, and made huge bets that it would. However, before the eventual collapse, he lost millions...
Prime Minister Andrew Holness should accept, and move quickly to implement, the recommendations of the Integrity Commission (IC) for a tightening of the laws and regulations against conflicts of interest, nepotism and cronyism by public officials,...
Carlton Reynolds posted this wishful comment on The Gleaner’s website in response to my column, ‘Racial politics in Jamaica’, published on August 28: “I hope you will not be allowed to write this column again, you are a very irresponsible woman...
On Friday morning, I woke to the news that multiple murderer Rushane Barnett, the man who slaughtered four children and their mother in Cocoa Piece, Clarendon, was sentenced to five life sentences and will have to serve 61 years in prison before he...
Britain’s reputation as a stable democracy has been severely tarnished by recent political events, resulting in a virtual game of musical chairs at Number 10 Downing Street. A new prime minister is expected to be named in a week – the third in...
The present Conservative party in Britain has now established a remarkable list of records, none of them good. Liz Truss, who resigned as leader of the party, and prime minister, has the record for serving the shortest period as prime minister in...
The Book of Life begins with a man and a woman in a garden. It ends with Revelation. As I grow older, my book of life is filled with revelations that are endless. When I was a little boy, we had men, women and Owen. He was a male dancer who, in...
The Bible is very emphatic that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead by God, His Father – “we have testified of God that He raised up Christ” (1 Cor. 15:15). It is asserted that our faith is vain if Christ was not raised from the...
