Jamaica was right, as was tweeted by Foreign Minister Kamina Johnson Smith, to be concerned about what happened in Washington on Wednesday and to hope for a “prompt return to normalcy” in the United States of America. But as a member in good...
Recent events in Washington, the revered capital of the United States of America, have shaken the moral authority of that country to lecture, threaten and coerce other countries in the name of democracy, rule of law and human rights. The...
There were many things about Jamaica that I didn’t learn in school – like about the large number of animals and plants (fauna and flora) that used to flourish in Jamaica, but which have now gone extinct. Did you know that there was a Jamaican...
THE EASY way is to allow Donald Trump to serve out his remaining fortnight as president of the United States, then see the back of him. We are not for the easy way. Mr Trump should be impeached, which would be the political penalty for his latest...
PRIME MINISTER Dr Keith Rowley of Trinidad and Tobago is an eternal optimist, given his New Year’s message on taking over the chairmanship of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). His wish is to make the 15-member regional organisation work for its...
Mental illness has from time immemorial been an enigma to mankind and in the ancient world was attributed to demon possession, meddling in witchcraft or retribution for bad behaviour from the gods. Mental illness has not been totally understood by...
In time, there will be an unravelling of the complexities of Gordon ‘Butch’ Stewart, who died on Monday, January 4, aged 79. That, hopefully, will happen sooner rather than later. The psychologists and business analysts who do this kind of thing...
Gordon ‘Butch’ Stewart was truly an icon and innovator, philanthropist, and perhaps the greatest marketer tourism has ever seen. Sandals is indeed the largest and most enduring brand created by a Caribbean entrepreneur in tourism, and arguably the...
The Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ) is deeply saddened at the news of the passing of The Hon Gordon ‘Butch’ Stewart, OJ, CD. Mr Stewart was a bold and innovative entrepreneur who was tenacious in his approach to business. The hallmark...
Indeed, 2020 was quite a year, but not for the reasons I assumed when writing in January of that year. As we enter 2021 and begin to reflect on the upcoming foreign trade policy agenda, 2020 has made it clear that there is need to be flexible,...
To all my highly esteemed colleagues who have publicly chided me for “misinformation”, I greet you well. As of December 30, 2020, COVID-19 is among our top five killers and so will remain unless Government is successful in significantly reducing...
Five years ago, I wrote the article ‘Time travel and the butterfly effect’. The premise of this theory was that we existed in a single universe played out in alternate realities – past, present and future – by travelling back and forth in time on...
Among the shifts expected in the United States (US) foreign policy when Joe Biden becomes America’s president later this month is Washington’s posture towards Cuba. It is likely to become less hawkish. This is an opportunity for Jamaica and the...
Navigating this life and being happy can be a challenge. The world can be a cruel place, and its human inhabitants colossal pains in the behind. We constantly face obstacles, or potential obstacles, to our happiness and progress that we need to...
It is surprising that it is Donald Tapia’s latest prodding of Jamaica to eschew Huawei, or other Chinese companies’ 5G digital technology, that has got the attention. That warning, even with his addition of the question of where Jamaica would...
As SARS-CoV-2 continues to ravish the planet, many await a vaccine to provide herd immunity to halt its vicious and continuous onslaught. Currently, we try to avoid COVID-19 with non-pharmaceutical strategies - physical distancing, hand and...
“They turned the face of his picture to the wall at the family home on Duke Street a century ago, so ashamed were they that he took the side of ‘those people’ “. The late, revered Keble Munn pointed to the portrait of our relative George William...
The parting comments by outgoing United States Ambassador Donald Tapia serve as a premonition for what lies ahead for Jamaica in regard to our blossoming relationship with China in the midst of the decline of the 75-year-old ‘American Empire’. In...
And the winner is ... COVID-19. Literally, hindsight is 2020 vision and for years, we shall feel the effect of job losses, lay-offs, decreased earnings and myriad economic spills. On the social side, in some industries more than 60 per cent of the...
The scramble for COVID-19 vaccines has exposed yet again the gross inequities across the globe. Rich countries have fast-forwarded to the head of the line. Poor countries like Jamaica will have to wait for a relatively long time to get vaccines....
As Jamaica emerges from 2020, hard hit from the COVID-19 pandemic, it is clear that many businesses and individuals were negatively impacted with the loss of incomes, revenues and jobs. It is a testament to the sacrifices of the country that the...
A year and a half ago, in the midst of revelations of the trammelling and mistreatment of five fishermen by the US Coast Guard, the foreign minister, Kamina Johnson Smith, promised a review of Jamaica’s shiprider agreement with the United States. “...
The rising number of cases signals that family violence is the other pandemic that is affecting Jamaican men, women and children, in rural as well as urban areas. The frustrations of lockdowns and isolation triggered by the COVID-19 crisis have...
By now, worldwide, we should have a reasonable understanding of the meaning of pandemic. Just a reminder that “a pandemic is a disease that spreads across countries or continents. It affects more people and takes more lives than an epidemic”. At...
On Sunday afternoon, four masked people – two men and two women – entered our home. They were armed – with gifts and reasonable appetites. Earlier, my wife, children and I were running ‘amop’, trying with dogged determination to clean up the house...
