Commentary

Ensuring the accountability of public institutions is not always easy. Their oversight arrangements are not necessarily given to transparency. And their managers tend to perceive the public’s questions as an assault on their personal well-being. So...

This elderly guy sits on the stoop of the Baptist care facility opposite my office downtown. He is thin, alone and slightly smelly. “Doan give im nuttin,” the ‘sketel’ down the street advises, “any money im get, him tek it and buy numbers.” “Him...

With the private sector’s leadership having now advised firms of their obligations before imposing vaccine edicts, and the Government edging away from its anti-mandate posture, it’s time for a full, robust discussion on what category of...

An August 15 article in The Gleaner by the chair of the Heart Foundation of Jamaica (HFJ), Dr Andrene Chung, highlighted a disturbing development in Jamaica in which a Cabinet decision to vote against the black octagonal “High in” front-of-package...

One of my favourite comedians, Robin Williams, did not like or have time for cricket. On December 5, 1987, at the London Palladium, he made his position clear, “We have baseball. You have cricket, which is like baseball on Valium.” The Brits and...

We need to pay attention to the ways in which we budget for the effectiveness of the Parliament. We can’t continue to simply complain about the challenges in this regard without contemplating what ought to be done to enable them to do their job...

There is no such thing as ‘the virus is back’; it never left. There are various strains, from alpha to the now much-feared Delta variant. The virus comes in waves, or surges, matching the easing of restrictions to allow for increase in economic...

Jamaica’s top private-sector groups did not explain why they felt it necessary on Monday to join trade unions in declaring opposition to vaccine mandates at this time, although they left a narrow aperture for some undefined “specific and...

We are often told that trade in services is the future of many countries in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and that cultural and creative services are a prime sector for growth. In fact, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (...

The operating assumption of Jamaica’s public officials is that, if they keep their heads low and tough out for long enough, their mistakes, missteps and questionable decisions and actions will soon blow over. Like with the dead-babies scandal of...

Last week, I was told of a man who took his wife to be vaccinated, but opted not to take the vaccine. He later got COVID-19 and died. His wife is alive. A few weeks ago, I was informed of a woman who accompanied her husband to a vaccination site....

The Internet revolutionised communication. For the most part, email replaced snail mail. The instant way of communicating words, pictures, videos, entire files, and programs through various platforms are commonplace and indispensable. Our lives...