The peasants are not revolting, but they are upset. We are seeing played out in front of our eyes what we have always joked about: that there are two Jamaicas. There is one for the poor and remnants of a once thriving middle class, but who the...
I was asked a question and have been pondering as we start the 2021 Hurricane Season, June 1 to November 30. What will be the effect of hurricanes on the expanse of glass that now proliferates as a new trend on development residential architecture...
Last Wednesday, the Department of Literatures in English at The University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona, hosted the annual Edward Baugh Distinguished Lecture. It honours the university’s first West Indian professor of English. The lecture was...
Tony Deyal’s article two Saturdays ago in this newspaper had me in stitches as he threw more punches than a drunk bartender and more shades than an artist. Lawyers were in his line of fire as he, essentially, stereotyped them as creatures who have...
Problems around land ownership have been shaped by various aspects of our history, and some land disputes have had deadly consequences. As the landless move from informal occupation to acquisition and ultimately to titled ownership, disputes have...
In the wake of the economic damage done by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, countries in every continent of the world have turned to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for assistance. It is right that they have done so. The IMF exists to...
The love of bread is deeply engrained in me. Naan or pan, salt or malt, patty or pita, rye or dry, hops or drops, bagels or baguettes, croutons or croissants, they are all bread, the staff of life on a musical scale that begins with dough, goes...
Last Wednesday in Parliament, during the Sectoral Debate, Mining Minister Robert Montague announced that the Government was in discussions with the owners of the ecologically sensitive Puerto Bueno Mountain property in St Ann with a view to...
An endearing, but frustrating, quality of Pearnel Charles Jr as a minister with, on paper, a mega portfolio – housing, urban renewal, environment and climate change – is his quietude. That he does not get into big, distracting arguments is good....
UNICEF is deeply concerned about the crisis of relentless sexual abuse, exploitation and violation of Jamaica’s children. Recent reports of brutal attacks on our children are extremely distressing. Equally appalling are the statistics behind the...
Jamaicans never tire of reminding us that they are Christians, and with the high rates of homicides, corruption, teenage pregnancies and abortions, we would tend to agree. But they say the perpetrators of the aforementioned crimes and misdemeanours...
THE EDUCATION minister, Fayval Williams, is compelled to provide a fuller explanation for her decision to cancel this year Grade Nine Achievement Test (GNAT), lest it be perceived as an affirmation of the second-class status of the children who...
I would like to recount some aspects of the life and times of a truly outstanding Jamaican who, to paraphrase Kipling, literally walked with kings and queens, but never lost the common touch. Anthony Smith Rowe (‘Tony’) Johnson was born in St...
Most of the coverage of Christopher Tufton’s report on the state of Jamaica’s health focused on his announcement that the Government had retrieved ownership of the brand Jamaica Moves, the highly popular, globally endorsed and regionally copied...
The government tek we fe eediot based on the response to the hosting of a ‘funeral service’ for the late Ambassador Anthony Johnson on Thursday, May 27, which was followed by the burial. The TVJ newscast highlighted the double standards based on...
As we enter June, I am noting that the CARICOM Council for Trade and Development (COTED) will be meeting on June 2-3 and will be chaired by Jamaica’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Senator Kamina Johnson Smith. I will not, however,...
The COVID-19 pandemic has hit the poorest and most vulnerable people in developing countries the hardest, worsening inequality and exacerbating existing challenges – insufficient healthcare systems, education deficits, stagnant incomes, rising...
It was Labour Day. Like most of the population, I was under house arrest, having been confined to my dwelling from 2 p.m. the day before. During my travels through some social media pages, I came across an intriguing video. A PNP (People’s National...
The planned recruitment and training of 1,000 police officers this year was among a slew of policies for arresting Jamaica’s crisis of criminal violence which were announced by the national security minister, Horace Chang, in his upbeat assessment...
The letter of the Day in The Gleaner by attorney-at-law Matthew Hyatt, titled ‘No bail for the wicked?’, published on Thursday, May 13, drew my attention. In it, the attorney went to great pains to explain that every citizen must be considered...
She is in the final stage of her high-school education, having to make a decision a few weeks ago whether or not to defer sitting the CAPE exams, the results of which, she and her family hopes and dreams, will be the passport to a subsidised seat...
Robert Montague, the mining minister, either misapprehended, or was deliberately obfuscatory in his response to this newspaper’s question about what value Jamaica should, in the future, place on its bauxite, given the apparent emergence of new...
There is a perplexing perception across the Caribbean, and especially the northern Caribbean, that The University of the West Indies (UWI) is a big, fat, privileged and entitled bureaucracy that is arrogant and depends on government funding to...
The biennial Calabash International Literary Festival should have been taking place this weekend in Treasure Beach. But, like so many other events, Calabash has been derailed by the pandemic. It’s now three years since the last staging of the...
Reputation is everything. However, when seeking truth, the mouth of the speaker or the character of the accused does not taint it. No relation to the Caucasian memes called by the same Christian name, People’s National Party (PNP) firebrand Karen...
