Commentary

It is deeply troubling the outpouring of national angst, hostility even, that has accompanied the selection of the band SOJA as the winner of this year’s Grammy, in the reggae category, for their album ‘Beauty in the Silence’. It was only the...

MILLIONS AROUND the world watched in disbelief as mega movie star and rapper Will Smith slapped actor and comedian Chris Rock at the Oscars on March 27. Will Smith’s actions were inexcusable, but the entire incident is loaded with undercurrents....

WE APPRECIATE the efforts by Jamaica’s courts in recent years to accelerate the notoriously slow pace at which they dispense justice. But as this week’s ruling by the Privy Council in the Lescene Edwards case has reminded, there continues to be...

It is an abrogation of responsibility, to the point of nonfeasance, that Jamaica’s universities, and other tertiary institutions, have up to now offered little analysis on the Patterson Commission Report on the transformation of education in...

Apparently, channeling Russian activity in Ukraine constant bombardment of ‘Dancehall Music’ has escalated. Condemnation by letter writers and talk-show callers, based on misconceived premises, are encapsulated in one headlined ‘Dancehall Music is...

Jamaica’s roll-out of Kamina Johnson Smith’s candidacy for the job of Commonwealth secretary general has been, to say the least, a messy affair. It has the potential not only to cloud Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame’s imminent visit to the island,...

A third or more of all Jamaican schools, at all levels, are owned or sponsored by 11 Christian denominations and a few trusts. They number nearly 700. Christian churches and trusts constitute the most invested private group in the education sector...

The Special Report of Investigation by the Integrity Commission in relation to the issuing of firearm licences and whether there was impropriety or irregularity in the issuing of firearm licences to persons of questionable character has created...

There’s so much that’s good about Jamaica. But we don’t always acknowledge just how many truly exceptional people this country has nurtured. We keep focusing on all of the negativity that weighs us down. I’m certainly not going to rehearse our long...

Eighty-five per cent of all murders in Jamaica are committed using an illegal firearm. None are committed by children under age 17 using competition rifles. The current debates surrounding the imposition of tough gun control laws on law-abiding...

I suffer from OCD – Obsessive Coffee Disorder. In order to stop, I tried a famous local tea named after one of our great athletes (or so Errol Fabien of the regional Gayelle Television station says) the former sprinter, Ato Boldon. To twist an old...

I learned to read at age five. Both my parents subscribed to weekly or monthly magazines (Popular Mechanics, Woman’s Own, Readers’ Digest) and were avid readers of newspapers and books. I looked over their shoulders and showed an interest, and...