A terse press release announcing that Minister Daryl Vaz has been stripped of his land and environment duties will not do it for us, Mr Prime Minister. For a prime minister who promised to govern with transparency, we feel, Sir, that you owe the...
April 15, 2020, marked the fifth year since the amendments to the Dangerous Drugs Act (DDA). These amendments provided for the modification of penalties for the possession of ganja in specified small quantities and the smoking of ganja in specified...
There are some one-liners that are unforgettable. For example, “Brevity is the soul of lingerie,” or, “The best way to keep children at home is to make the atmosphere pleasant and let the air out of their tyres.” Or take the review of a new book: “...
Slavery was, and is, an evil and heinous institution. For hundreds of years (maybe thousands) much of the world was so morally undeveloped that slavery was supported by law and philosophy – and even by some religions. Slavery of human by human...
The Coronavirus pandemic has forced the world into one of the largest unintended social experiments in modern history. This ongoing experiment has tested the adaptability of businesses and their personnel to work remotely and adjust to more...
There is a feeling that the Windrush issue has slipped down, if not fallen off, the agenda of priorities for Jamaica and other Caribbean countries. We hope that’s a mistaken perception. It was noticeable, though, that this past Monday, June 22,...
IT IS a welcome development that Suriname’s president, Dési Bouterse, and his National Democratic Party have signalled their intention to relinquish power peacefully after last month’s election, which gave a group of opposition parties 35 of the...
Noting trends on the international scene, it is now accepted that there will be a prompt societal shift post COVID-19 as governments and their people adopt new ways of life. From increased use of the digital market to extreme measures of limiting...
COVID-19 has brought a lot of deaths and destruction with it, and we will all take a long time to heal. From a business perspective, it has brought valuable experiences and changes to how one develops and operates a business. These are changes many...
Having broken ground for 1,650 homes at Bernard Lodge, perhaps Prime Minister Andrew Holness might relent and mark a red line through further real estate projects on the former sugar plantation. Or on arable land anywhere. If he did, Mr Holness...
As the world economy continues to change because of COVID-19, people are still trying to find ways to adapting to the ‘new normal’. So: • What are businesses doing now to adapt to the new normal? • How has COVID-19 affected your business...
This week, I am reflecting on the Caribbean’s trade with Europe, that is, the European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom (UK). As often said, economic growth and development in Caribbean countries depends on international trade, a subject which...
We wish the United States (US) would institute sensible gun control laws so that firearms wouldn’t be so easily accessible to its citizens, who cause substantial numbers of them to be smuggled to countries like Jamaica, where they are used in...
As governments around the world begin to relax their tight stay-at-home restrictions in order to boost economic activity, workplaces must establish safety protocols to reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission while operating. The Ministry of Health...
In the current attempt to establish a Water Fund for Kingston as a nature-based response to the city’s perennial water woes, stakeholders in the local water sector are benchmarking their plans and actions against the tried and proven experiences of...
Daryl Vaz, who, de facto, is the minister for the environment, shouldn’t have withdrawn his bid to lease 7.7 acres of Jamaica’s protected Blue and John Crow Mountains National Park only because of the position he holds. He should have done so...
Many things that we thought we knew about COVID-19 keeps changing. It is extremely unpredictable and affects individuals in a variety of ways. Because there is no current treatment, cure or vaccine, fastidious hand hygiene, regularly sanitising...
Last week in Parliament, we made pathetically weak attempts to come to terms with the atrocities taking place in Jamaican prisons while, in the justifiable trauma at the murder of two policemen, we could not bring ourselves to confront the chronic...
Judging from Minister Daryl Vaz’s response to the backlash to his attempt to lease 7.7 acres of land in the protected area in the Blue and John Crow Mountains National Park, he, like his politician friends, just doesn’t get it. He can’t see why...
A couple weeks ago I wrote a column with a comparative analysis of police killings in the United States against police killings in Jamaica. Among the very interesting responses was one from Clifton Campbell asking me to make sure to mention the...
We know it was coming, and it dropped like the bomb, boom! Over the years, I have said it, and every time I spoke, some tribalist who thinks he or she is speaking for sexual minorities tries to jump on my back when all I was doing was telling the...
CHAKA-CHAKA SPELLING Inna 1988, Gleaner publish one story wid dis ya headline: ‘Lady Musgrave Road - born out of hatred and envy’. Di smaddy weh write it name Nyenpan Tarpeh-Doe. Dat sound like one name from Liberia. Fi man. Mi no know if Tarpeh-...
It is exceedingly difficult for people who have not served to understand the distress and pain experienced by police officers when one of their own is killed in the line of duty. It is more like the murder of a member of the family than the death...
If only for enlightened self-interest, Jamaica and the other countries of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) have a stake in China and India ratcheting down tensions in their disputed Himalayan region. So CARICOM shouldn’t assume a posture of mere...
Kudos to the St Catherine Municipal Corporation for taking the bold step of seeking to impose fines for breaches of the Town and Country Planning Act, specifically on the parking of heavy-duty vehicles and commercial equipment in residential areas...
