“If your holy book tells you how to treat slaves, your holy book is disqualified as a source of moral code.” The above quote is from a meme I posted on my social media pages several months ago. Along with the statement is an illustration of a...
The story of educational deficit caused by the suspension of face-to-face classes due to coronavirus needs to be rehearsed and emphasised. Many of us, including some policy leaders, are still skirting the issues and flirting with convenient and...
When Dr Nigel Clarke takes the podium this month to deliver Jamaica’s 2021-2022 Budget, that ritualistic activity that will guide the Government’s priority for the fiscal year, all eyes will be set on what plans and programmes will be rolled out to...
There is a video circulating of Professor Sir Hilary Beckles, vice-chancellor of The University of the West Indies, making a speech in which he places the blame for the high prevalence of chronic non-communicable diseases in the Caribbean squarely...
I saw the very disturbing video clip with the police officer going down, digging deep but still not pulling out and discharging his lethal weapon. Head down, getting more blows than he was giving but showing extreme restraint, because many other...
The motto of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) is ‘Serve, Protect and Reassure’. Members of the JCF do not always live up to the high expectations of their calling. The US Department of State produced a damning report on human rights practices...
Dr Michelle Charles is right. Even a four-year-old child would see, in the sense she posits it, that there was no vote-buying. There wasn’t a specific transaction between Dr Charles or her representative(s) and any voter or group of voters in St...
Obesity is a chronic medical condition and, taken as an overall health indicator of a country, Jamaica and others in the region have many reasons to be worried. Excessive increase in body fat, which is what obesity is, can lead to diseases like...
Robert Burns, considered the National Bard of Scotland, in his poem ‘To A Mouse’ made the point, “The best laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men,/ Gang aft agley,/ An’ lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain,/ For promis’d joy!” In other words, no matter how...
It was an odd law into which to place it, but new and welcome directives on ‘de-risking’, which has plagued Caribbean countries, has become law in the United States. The law in which the helpful directives are embedded is the ‘‘William M. (Mac)...
I am sure that psychologists and sociologists like myself have legions of reasons for the undisciplined behaviour of many of us Jamaicans. One theory might be that the inequality woven into the fabric of Jamaican society forces people to cut...
Vice-Chancellor Sir Hilary Beckles’ broad outline of his alternative vision for staving off insolvency at The University of the West Indies (UWI) is a welcome development that adds weight to this newspaper’s call for a robust debate about the...
In the second part, I continue with the argument which stressed the need to develop a culture of meritocracy. Some new secondary schools on the shift system have allowed outstanding students to attend classes on both shifts so that they can...
This is a series focusing on the urgent need to retool the secondary-school system. In an era when we are seeking to erase all memories of colonialism, our education system, and more specifically, the placement methodology, perpetually reminds...
I was recently approached by an old friend, who confided in me that her son was failing in school and was having a hard time coping with the online classes. When I asked Tyrese (not his real name) how he was doing, he responded, “Auntie, I feel...
WE DO not understand the hesitancy, because the suggestion is obviously logical and sensible. It should have been the starting point of the new school year last September. And it is what Fayval Williams, the education minister, should be planning...
Prime Minister Andrew Holness should abandon his fudge and go beyond the request of this newspaper by causing to be made public the salary and performance agreements of government officials who are on fixed-term contracts. The same should happen...
A basic tenet for the deployment of any mission-critical and sensitive information system run, albeit by the Government or otherwise, is the need for data security and governance. That means enforcing confidentiality, integrity, availability. Any...
Multilateralism is about working together to find great solutions to major challenges that no nation can solve on its own. As one of the world’s most important protagonists of multilateralism, the European Union (EU) has also, in this...
In February, I had wondered whether a member state of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) would be able to nominate a candidate for the post of secretary general of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). Now it seems that...
Until the prime minister’s broadcast on Sunday evening announced major changes to the Disaster Risk Management Act, Jamaican nationals coming home did not have to be tested before boarding a flight. Soon, travellers to the island will have to be...
At 65 years old, Jamaica ‘s Trade Act may indeed be in need of an overhaul, which, this newspaper reported last week, is being contemplated by the industry and commerce minister, Audley Shaw. So far, Mr Shaw has not indicated what he intends the...
In Jamaica, microcredit institutions have emerged as an important source of financing for the underserved, including lower income-earning individuals and micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs). MSMEs are the lifeblood of our economy...
My elective surgery cases are usually done on Thursday mornings. Last Wednesday, I received a call from the private hospital in St Andrew where I had an operation booked for the following day. I was supposed to be performing a myomectomy, removal...
Nature gave us C18H10N2O4 (18 elements of carbon, 10 of hydrogen, two of nitrogen and four of oxygen) to protect us from the rays of the sun that can cause skin cancer. The early humans had a lot of this chemical but, with migration and the...
