CHAKA-CHAKA SPELLING From March 18, govament done wid nuff a di COVID rule dem. An it look so fishy. Dat a four day before Prince William an im wife Kate come a Jamaica. Mi a fi wonder if a choo govament never waan force di royal visitor dem fi...
A short video of lush vegetables popped up on social media earlier this week. It was accompanied by a caption which read, “I reaped these vegetables from my backyard garden early this morning.” Viewed by 29,000, this video by Prime Minister Andrew...
In the words of UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, the war on Ukraine by Russia “is fast becoming a matter of life and death for vulnerable people around the world”. His comment is strongly supported by a UN report, published on 13 April and...
The Phantom had ‘Hero’. Roy Rogers swore by (instead of ‘at’) ‘Trigger’. Then there were the Lone Ranger’s ‘Silver’ and my all-time favourite, ‘Pegasus’, the immortal winged-horse of Greek Mythology who was eventually assigned by Zeus, the father...
Vauxhall High School is on Windward Road in eastern Kingston, on the opposite side of the thoroughfare where Bellevue Hospital is located. It is also adjacent to some of the city’s most blighted urban communities, where violence periodically erupts...
COMPETENCE, LACK of ability or performance have absolutely nothing to do with where the masses of dark skinned (black) people are in the world today. A lack of responsibility has absolutely nothing to do with the standing of black people in the...
AN UNFORTUNATE side effect of the global village that we now live in, aside from that insidious creation called social media and the apparent speed with which pandemics get around nowadays, is the slow and steady erosion of our unique Jamaican...
The fact that Jamaica’s University of Technology (UTech) and the University of Birmingham in Britain plan to cooperate on studies on how Jamaica might resuscitate its near comatose railway system is of itself a good thing. At the very least, there...
Bob Marley led a colourful and controversial life, and he is remembered and celebrated as both a music icon and a humanitarian for equality. Marley stated his racial views in 1975 by declaring “My father was white and my mother black, you know....
As the matter of regional candidates for the post of secretary general of the Commonwealth became breaking news, just after the visit of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to Belize, Jamaica, and The Bahamas, much commentary has been generated in...
Rules of Racing are extremely strict and particularly burdensome on racehorse trainers. For example: “207. (1) A horse which has been entered or declared to run in a race which on examination shows the presence in its tissues, body fluids or...
I have often said that I love Jamaica a lot, but there is a lot about Jamaica I do not love. I love our people, our music, our culture, our food, our climate and many other aspects of Jamaican life. On the other hand, high on the list of things I...
There are several significant observations from last week’s annual Boys and Girls’ Athletics Championships (Champs). After its cancellation in 2020, and last year without spectators, the joyous return of the crowds to the National Stadium enhanced...
It was always so, and notoriously known to be so, that Jamaica, starting now, could not complete the constitutional requirements for transforming itself from a monarchy to a republic in time for the August 6 celebration of the island’s 60th...
“Me a look out fi myself,” the white-plate Probox driver said when, having created his own lane at Papine, he positioned his taxi athwart my car at the traffic light. “Unnu politicians nah do nutten fi taxi man, so me a look out fi myself.” That...
I first realised that something was amiss when, many years ago, one of our popular health insurance providers wrote to inform me that I, a primary healthcare provider, was being dropped from its list of providers. The reason given was that the...
The Commonwealth of Nations has no founding treaty or governing constitution. It is headquartered at Marlborough House in London and has now been headed for the better part of a century by a 95-year-old monarch. This rather unique association of...
The combined population of the 27 countries of the European Union (EU) is approximately 448 million, or nearly 150 times that of Jamaica’s. The EU’s gross domestic product (GDP) last year was around €14.1 trillion. By comparison, Jamaica’s (around...
Teacher: “Race and colour are major determinants of wealth and social status in Jamaica. You’ll probably never find a white person in Jamaica who is poor.” Steve: “Sir, so what about the white beggar on Trafalgar Road with the cardboard sign???”...
Last year, I got an email from an irritated man: “I visited the Fort Clarence Beach today with my family, July 16, 2021, and realise that the place is in an unfortunate state. Maybe you can help me to understand the status of this beach; is this...
Hers is a neater fit, because there is no dissonance between her anachronistic suffix and the equally ludicrous stance of holding on to the drawstrings of Her Majesty. Senior attorney for whom I have the utmost respect, Valerie Neita Robertson,...
In this edition of Reparation Conversations, a collaborative initiative between The Gleaner and the Centre for Reparation Research (CRR), The University of the West Indies (The UWI), the recent decision of the Consistory Court of the Diocese of...
What’s in a name? Plenty, when it refers to specific inner-city communities in Jamaica. On Thursday, there were media reports that the police were at the scene of a crime in Zambia, where a body had been dumped a few days earlier. Zambia is an area...
A pastor discovered his bicycle had been stolen. He decided to use it as inspiration for that week’s sermon and began writing about the Ten Commandments, especially “Thou shalt not steal”. When he got to “thou shalt not commit adultery”, he...
Over the last few weeks since the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation, the world has witnessed the greatest weakness in the machinery entrusted with maintaining international peace and security. That machinery is the UN Security Council...
