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Commentary

Published:Wednesday | August 11, 2021 | 12:06 AM

Even if he might be doing things, Pearnel Charles Jr is one those government ministers from whom relatively little is heard, or heard about, and whose actions excite even less. Across his sprawling ministry, covering housing, urban renewal, the...

Published:Wednesday | August 11, 2021 | 12:06 AM

Last week, I wrote about our primary traditional export, sugar, the production and export of which has declined significantly in the region. When I did geography at high school in the 1970s, the Caribbean was known for its agricultural exports – in...

Published:Wednesday | August 11, 2021 | 12:06 AM

“Pou yon ti moso demokrasi (For a piece of democracy) Wachintonn fe Ayiti filiang (Washington is teasing Haiti) Ala Wachintonn chich papa! (How Stingy Washington is, papa!)” – [Haitian Poet, Zwing/Bits, Jan. 30, 2016] American...

Published:Tuesday | August 10, 2021 | 12:06 AM

Haiti’s request that the United Nations investigate last month’s assassination of President Jovenel Moïse is not only sensible but stands on good precedent and ought to be supported by Haiti’s partner in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). At the...

Published:Tuesday | August 10, 2021 | 12:06 AM

The Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games are now behind us. We witnessed many outstanding and historic performances by athletes, such as our own Elaine Thompson-Herah. However, one elite athlete was noticeably absent: America’s Simone Biles. At age 24, she is...

Published:Tuesday | August 10, 2021 | 12:05 AM

Last night I dreamed we were playing dominoes at Gene Autry’s childhood home, with our pal Haemorrhoid as kibitzer. By now, regular readers know Ernest H. Flower (aka Haemorrhoid). He was a lazy articled clerk who complained incessantly about “...

Published:Monday | August 9, 2021 | 12:08 AM

Independence Day, August 6, 1962 was magical and filled with great expectations. We had taken the reins from our former colonial masters and we envisioned a unified, progressive, inclusive, disciplined, peaceful, productive, prosperous country well...

Published:Monday | August 9, 2021 | 12:06 AM

Let’s face it, COVID-19 is now the pandemic of the unvaccinated. Despite the few instances of persons inoculated who become reinfected, even those evince only mild symptoms. The scourge of the third wave is among those unable or unwilling to be...

Published:Monday | August 9, 2021 | 12:05 AM

Two things have characterised Don Harris’ public approach to American politics over the many years of his daughter Kamala’s rise to prominence in it. He has mostly held his piece about US politics, and he clearly has no wish to live vicariously...

Published:Sunday | August 8, 2021 | 12:10 AM

“I am super happy,” declared Elaine Thompson-Herah, after she decimated the field in the 200m, at the Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan. She is now the first woman in history to win the 100m and 200m in back-to-back Olympic Games, the second-fastest...

Published:Sunday | August 8, 2021 | 12:10 AM

A few years ago on a trip to Thailand, my travel partners thought it would be funny to prank our taxi driver into believing I was Usain Bolt on my way from Australian football try-outs. Despite the protests of my ‘coach’, my ‘road manager’ allowed...

Published:Sunday | August 8, 2021 | 11:06 AM

The phrase “in due course” offers no specific time when an event will happen. It will take place at a time that is appropriate, whenever that is. So it makes little sense attempting to infuse the issue with any more sense of urgency. That, we hope...

Published:Sunday | August 8, 2021 | 12:09 AM

It wasn’t a nine-day wonder; or maybe it was. However, they were historic. We had track and field in the Olympics, Emancipation Day, and Independence Day capped the period. All three events by themselves have the ability to make a small colour...

Published:Sunday | August 8, 2021 | 10:38 AM

In her poem ‘Red Rebel Song’, Jean ‘Binta’ Breeze created a familiar character sounding a lot like her own self: “I is de red rebel woman accepting I madness declaring I song nah siddung eena attic tek no fire bun I singing it loud...

Published:Saturday | August 7, 2021 | 12:08 AM

Mexico made a bold move earlier this week when it filed a lawsuit against 11 United States (US) gun manufacturers, whom it accused of actively facilitating the unlawful trafficking of guns to drug cartels over many decades. The lawsuit was filed in...

Published:Saturday | August 7, 2021 | 12:06 AM

Almost 80 years ago, Jamaica’s Norman Manley asked a question that has been echoing throughout the 12 independent English-speaking Caribbean countries that form the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). He asked: “Are we satisfied to be obscure...

Published:Saturday | August 7, 2021 | 12:06 AM

One night, some of Mark Twain’s friends, remembering it was the writer’s birthday, decided to send him a birthday card. However, Twain was away on his travels and none of them knew where he was or how to contact him. So, they mailed a letter with...

Published:Friday | August 6, 2021 | 12:07 AM

This week we celebrate freedom; on Sunday, we celebrated Emancipation from chattel slavery 187 years ago (the so-called ‘full free’ followed four years later), and today we celebrate 59 years of freedom from colonialism. Few are so naïve as to...

Published:Friday | August 6, 2021 | 12:07 AM

“We serve, we protect, we reassure with courtesy, integrity and proper respect for the rights of all.” That’s the mission for the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF), so what on earth is going on? With numerous stable–headed officers who are trying to...

Published:Friday | August 6, 2021 | 12:07 AM

Jamaica’s health authorities cannot be accused of being oblivious to the challenges to mental well-being posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, or of failing to respond to its threats. Indeed, the health ministry has, over the past year, rolled out...

Published:Thursday | August 5, 2021 | 12:28 AM

CHIEF JUSTICE Bryan Sykes may have faced the first round of the incoming. However, Delroy Chuck, the justice minister, must not believe that he, too, is not a target of what Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Paula Llewellyn called the Court of...

Published:Thursday | August 5, 2021 | 12:27 AM

IT IS perfectly legitimate to ask of any person in ancient history ‘did he/she really exist?’. Because we were not around back then to express personal knowledge of anyone’s existence, we have to repose faith or trust in persons, documents,...

Published:Thursday | August 5, 2021 | 12:26 AM

THE COVIDINFODEMIC. No, you didn’t read that wrong. It wasn’t a misprint nor a typo. The CovidInfodemic is real. But unlike its pandemic counterpart, chances are, you’re already infected and currently suffering from this debilitating ailment....

Published:Wednesday | August 4, 2021 | 12:06 AMShauna-Gaye Brown/Guest Columnist

Recently, there have been talks about the right to freedom of speech, with the emphasis that we are living in a democratic society. However, I wish to suggest there is no such thing as freedom of speech. If we were free to say whatever comes to our...

Published:Wednesday | August 4, 2021 | 12:06 AMClinton Chisholm/Guest Columnist

It is perfectly legitimate to ask of any person in ancient history, ‘did he/she really exist?’. Because we were not around back then to express personal knowledge of anyone’s existence, we have to repose faith or trust in persons, documents,...

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