We are not budgeting adequately for good governance and effective representation and that is seemingly making the work of politicians more difficult than it really should. It’s as if the effective representation and management of a constituency,...
The week before National Heroes Day is called Heritage Week, when we Jamaicans are encouraged to reflect on what it means to be Jamaican – what we have received as our heritage, and what we pass on to those who come after us. I was born in the...
Even as they press the United States to do more at the policy and strategy levels to curb the flow of guns into their territories, Jamaica and its Caribbean Community (CARICOM) partners should seek to join Mexico’s lawsuit against gun dealers and...
The president of North Korea, Kim Jong-un, since his ascendancy in 2011, has been a strong supporter of militarisation, to the annoyance of the Western world. In recent weeks, he has declared that North Korea will continue its...
The ‘road to Damascus’ is a term typically used to refer to the conversion of Saul to Christianity while travelling to Damascus to persecute said Christians. Today, the phrase is used to point to an important moment in a person’s life, where a...
No high school can win schoolboy football or Champs without not only recruiting, but recruiting heavily based on sports ability. Many, over the years, have recruited entire teams in football! I was recently on a radio programme hosted by former...
In the face of last week’s decision by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies (OPEC+) to cut oil production by two million barrels a day (bpd), Phillip Paulwell, the shadow energy minister, has reprised his call for the...
The appointments calendar for the EU Commissioner for International Partnerships, Jutta Urpilainen, shows that she is currently in Barbados, and I understand that she is participating in a meeting with Ministers of the Caribbean Forum (CARIFORUM)...
President Joe Biden’s pardon last week of Americans convicted for simple possession of marijuana under federal law is a welcome first step. But it does not take the United States nearly far enough. Indeed, it is in Jamaica’s interest that Mr Biden...
Who would have thought that Jamaicans would support a new tax? A tax on sugary drinks is exactly what more than half of Jamaicans think is needed to help reduce obesity in our country. In addition, if these tax revenues were used to fund public...
It’s early September 1976. My study buddy and I have survived the first two years of legal ‘education’ at and have a choice of courses for final year. Since we realised from the outset little useful knowledge was available, we consider our choices...
Let’s turn some things upside down to achieve better results. Two topics spring forth from last week’s events: squatting and education reform. What sense are we to make of Andrew Holness’ ‘bruk up then hug up’ strategy at Bernard Lodge? Instead of...
Recently, following the alleged rape of a schoolgirl on the compound of a rural high school, someone asked what has happened to our moral fabric. As soon as the words left his mouth, I wondered what moral fabric he was talking about. Although we...
Last week’s demolition of several partially built homes in the community of Clifton, St Catherine, was the latest example of why the Government needs a simple, clear, inclusive and transparent land divestment policy, and of what happens when the...
Every now and again when I step on people’s corns with my opinion pieces, I get an email telling me that I am like Ben Carson, brilliant when I stay in my lane, but an idiot when I weigh in on non-medical issues. I wonder if my fellow writers such...
A constructive query to be included in the ongoing conversation on the constitutional reform process, at home and in the diaspora, is whether there is any avenue open to the Opposition People’s National Party (PNP) to influence a thoughtful...
This newspaper embraces Jamaica’s continued efforts at forging broad-based consensus on developmental issues, such as with last week’s signing at the latest iteration of a national partnership agreement (NPA) between the Government, the political...
On September 7, 2018, a statue of Louise Bennett-Coverley was unveiled in Gordon Town Square. It was a grand occasion. Many speeches were made in honour of the distinguished cultural activist, popularly known by her stage name, ‘Miss Lou’. Her...
Almost 18,000 women leave their homes every morning or night to work 12 hours. Sometimes they do double or triple shifts. Based on a natural distribution of the population at least 18 per cent of them live alone with their children, without a...
We have heard the pleas, over and over, for government to cut the red tape and become more efficient and business-friendly. Successive administrations have acknowledged the problem and given their commitment to lift administrative burdens in the...
As we meet at this 52nd Regular Session of the General Assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS), the OAS is financially broke. We are trying to run an organisation that costs $118 million on an unrealistic budget of $81 million. The...
Dedicated to the National Association of Administrative Professionals (NAAP) and the Caribbean Association of Administrative Professionals (CAAP) In the 1970s,I did a nightly programme on national television and was very pleased when many of...
Who failed Laron Jurik? Or more pertinently, perhaps, how is Jamaica responding to the emerging post-COVID-19 public health crisis, a mental health epidemic, especially among older people and adolescents? It may be that while they address the...
At time of writing, last week’s column attracted 58 online comments. A friend reminded me that I must expect that level of response when I write about homosexuality, a topic that stirs much passion – for and against – in Jamaica. The Gleaner...
The Gleaner’s editorial, “Chance for UTech revamp”, published on September 29, seems to express a rather interesting view that the University of Technology (UTech) was losing its way from the path of science and technology. The editorial expresses...
