In Jamaica we are at the tail end of the third COVID-19 spike. Restrictions are gradually being eased as we try to approach living as we did before the pandemic. But the threat of COVID-19 still looms large. As we speak, some countries are...
Maybe people are just too overwhelmed by violent crime in Jamaica to have noticed, and be outraged by, the case of Keran McCollin. He was shot dead last week near his home in White Lane in Naggo Head, Portmore, St Catherine. Mr McCollin, 39, was a...
Violent crimes and murders used to be rare, and gruesome murders were shocking oddities that occurred only once in a very long while. But nowadays we see many abductions, rapes, maiming, and murders, along with beheadings, dismembering, and...
I remember being called to her room in a tenement yard on Hanover Street many years ago. Suffering from asthma, an epidemic in fetid, inner-city conditions, and wild-eyed with panic, she was literally trying to climb the wall to catch her breath....
Having been embarrassingly lectured by the Integrity Commission on what the law says about when and how it discloses its investigations, the Speaker of the House, Marisa Dalrymple-Philibert, is morally bound to reverse herself and instruct the...
When the Supreme Court begins its hearing on Friday into the applications by employees of two firms – Michael Lee-Chin’s AIC and Glen Christian’s Cari-Med Group – for injunctions against vaccine mandates, the Government must attempt to join the...
Professional mourning is a ‘God-bless’ calling. It’s acknowledged several times in the Bible, for instance in Jeremiah 9:17–18: “Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘Consider and call for the mourning women, that they may come; And send for the...
His identity is unknown to me, but at first look at the video, it seemed like ‘trouble tek him.’ In a rasping voice and his hand massaging the butt of his firearm, he continued to shout at the skinny fellow, who identified himself as a sergeant of...
To the average citizen, child sexual abuse is such an anomaly, such a stark deviation from the village norms we like to uphold that we think of it as an exception until the uncomfortable truth hits the headlines. The national gasp of shock and...
Once during my tenure as senior medical officer at Savanna-la-Mar Hospital, one Burmese doctor asked for special leave to return home to visit his family. We were noticeably short staffed, and his month-long request was just too much to ask. “Why...
The extent of Jamaica’s crime predicament can be partly measured by revelations from the Supreme Court where 33 alleged members of a breakaway faction of the Clansman Gang are being tried on charges ranging from murder to extortion, arson and...
COP26 in Glasgow offered no hope to small island states which continue to face destruction and extinction. COP26 was always going to be nothing but a theatrical performance, well-choreographed by the world’s industrialized nations that want to...
There was a naughty boy, And a naughty boy was he, He ran away to Scotland The people for to see John Keats, 1818 While there was speculation that the golf-loving prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago went to the Climate Change Summit...
If it is true that it is investigating the Airports Authority of Jamaica’s (AAJ) purchase of shares in the investment company FirstRock Capital, the Integrity Commission (IC) has already begun an internal probe to find out who, commissioners or...
Hypocrisy means saying one thing, but doing another, the practice of claiming to have higher standards or more noble beliefs than is actually the case. I was in Gordon House on November 21, 2019 at the invitation of the prime minister, when he...
Your beliefs define your vision of the world. They dictate your behaviour and how you live your life. A successful life comes from developing skills, working hard and overcoming obstacles, or by murdering, stealing and committing other evil acts....
THE GOVERNMENT was bound to ease restrictions on daily life, or risk not only stymieing the nascent recovery, but pushing the economy back into a deep and prolonged recession. Now, the Holness administration must outline its next steps to...
My grandmother lied to me. No, not about Santa Claus, the black heart man and rolling calf. She lied when she said that sticks and stones could break my bones but words could never hurt. She also lied when she said ‘word is wind’, and asked, ‘who...
The pro-vaccine versus anti-vaccine debate is more than a medical or scientific issue in our country today. It has exposed a much deeper problem plaguing the stability of our nation. People have lost confidence in their governments, with equal...
The COVID-19 pandemic has seen a lot of confusion among nations’ security forces ever since it became a global challenge. This is completely understandable to an extent and very much unacceptable in some ways. This pandemic has from the onset shown...
“Small and vulnerable states are facing a death sentence. Action is needed now, not next year and not next decade.” From Mia Mottley, prime minister of Barbados, at the opening of COP26. As I have been telling you in my previous articles, there...
Who remembers George Wright and the parliamentary censure motion against him? Or the bill for the impeachment of legislators that he caused to be resurrected? They all seem to be in a deliberately induced hibernation. That, we hope, is a...
In dominoes, pose is all important. I won’t play “winners pose” because that’s for weak players who, if they can squeak a first-game win, get to decide which partner has the best hand and poach an often unassailable lead. My house rules: Double-six...
Understandably, the tragedy at Kevin Smith’s church a fortnight ago has triggered debate about the supposed prevalence of cults in Jamaica and calls for tighter regulations of religious organisations, including, presumably, people who lead them....
