UNTIL NOW, this newspaper has not felt it necessary to raise concerns about how Tom Tavares-Finson has conducted the affairs of Jamaica’s Senate as its president. Last Thursday, in a tirade against opposition members for failing to support the...
AS WE approach the Christmas season, COVID-19 considerations will, for many, become an increasingly larger preoccupation.The spending surges that many businesses look forward to at this time of year, the festivities, the mingling and merrymaking...
I like to consider myself a fairly well-educated person – both in terms of formal schooling and the informal type that you pick up from the university of hard knocks called life. When I got my six of seven Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate...
The United States is committed to leading the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic, becoming an arsenal of vaccines for the world, and helping every country build back better. At the same time, the US continues to lead global efforts to end the...
As the world embarks on a third year of the COVID-19 pandemic, we cannot forget that we are also on the cusp of the fifth decade of the AIDS pandemic. The continued spread of these two viruses lays bare stark social, health, legal and economic...
Barbados’ coup de grâce against its foreign monarch this week may have been the catalyst for Prime Minister Andrew Holness to announce next year’s start date of a comprehensive review of Jamaica’s Constitution. That is a welcome development. But...
As COVID-19 cases were increasing in Europe leading to new restrictions and as a new variant, omicron, identified in South Africa, started turning up in other countries, the World Health Organization (WHO) categorised it as being of concern. With...
Senate debate on Government’s proposed extension of the most recent states of public emergency (SOEs) was like the curate’s egg. For those unfamiliar with the reference, Church of England rectors (parish priests) are called vicars, and curates are...
If the COVID-19 pandemic is having a negative effect on your mental health, you are not alone. In fact, you have a lot of company. Globally, there have been reports of increased incidences of mental health issues in all age groups and across a...
Jamaica’s police chief, Major General Antony Anderson, last week mounted a stout defence of the commitment of his officers and of the professionalism with which they go about their jobs “I see officers extending themselves, not only in terms of...
The Ministry of Health and Wellness (MOHW) is a very hard-working institution that has improved the health and saved the lives of our citizens. This is especially true during this worldwide COVID-19 plague. Despite the decisions made by politicians...
We are a truly remarkable people to countenance instances of wilful darkness and brilliant light, all in one week. First, the atrocious part. The Government very well knew that the Opposition would not support the continuance of the states of...
President Xi Jinping attended the general debate of the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly and put forward the Global Development Initiative, calling for accelerating the implementation of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable...
There is no question at all that there is a crisis in homicides in this country. Up to the end of last week, the increase was 12 per cent more than the past year, with some of the killings taking on a level of brutality and scale, beyond the...
Dr Burnett Robinson, the former Senior Pastor of the Grand Concourse Seventh-day Adventist Church in the Bronx, New York, was fired last week after preaching an inflammatory sermon endorsing marital rape. His fall from grace was swift. On Monday...
Even hidebound, precedent-driven courts periodically reverse themselves in the face of new thinking and evolved philosophies on the matters upon which they rule. In America, for instance, it took 58 years, between its rulings Plessy versus...
The operating systems of society are undergoing profound transformation, including a fast-approaching future when computer chips will be near zero in cost and connected sensor devices will be widely deployed, fuelling exponential ‘datafication’ and...
The continuing public debate about Jamaica’s crime situation eventually comes around to the performance of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF), with scrutiny of its leadership, management and resources. This is understandable because the police...
All that glitters is not gold, unless it is around the neck of someone playing cricket for the West Indies. In the same context, when you see the present West Indian cricketer in his ‘shades’ or sunglasses with the lens facing the back or top of...
The University of Johannesburg’s Institute for Pan-African Thought and Conversation (IPATC) in South Africa, in collaboration with the London-based Centre for Pan-African Thought (CPAT), recently hosted a virtual lecture series based on the volume...
Whatever plans the Government has to deal with crime in Jamaica – in particular lethal crime – are not working. The zones of special operations (ZOSOs) are a failed strategy, having failed to either clear, hold, or build – especially build. The...
Every now and again, like many, I experience bouts of disgust while watching the news and hearing of some of the most heinous crimes known to mankind. Jamaicans are cultured to think that as a nation, we are especially vile and wicked. We have all...
Ruel Reid’s acceptance of a financial settlement in exchange for his resignation as principal of Jamaica College (JC) should allow the high school to settle down without the glare of salacious controversy being constantly on it. But the affair...
WHEN YOU listen to consumers throughout the Caribbean you might think there is little to celebrate on World Fisheries Day on November 21. “The price of fish is real dear and I ain’t buying no fish.” Especially during these COVID times when...
TO SAY that Jamaica has a corruption problem would be a gross understatement. The problem with that problem though, is that most Jamaicans only see a problem when it becomes a problem for them. Yes, I too feel a bit dizzy after writing that...
