It must be said that even with the Jamaican government’s reluctance to test widely, we are doing better than many wealthier and more developed countries. I have a friend in England who has been in and out of hospital with serious...
In a court system still clogged with work-a-day cases, there is usually little focus on idea rulings, or significant declarations by judges that will likely enhance the rights of citizens. Last week was a case in point. In the midst of the...
ON PRESENT projections, Jamaica’s children and young people are likely to lose between a quarter and a third of the minimum class time which constitutes a school year. This is an impending danger, not only to individual careers, but to all hopes of...
ON MARCH 30, I saw a video clip which was being circulated, in which there was a well-known tele-evangelist saying in a loud, authoritative and strong voice, ‘In the name of Jesus, standing in the office of the prophet of God, I execute judgement...
AS I sit here contemplating the COVID-19 pandemic that has beset us here, there and everywhere, I can’t help but think of the many stories I have heard about good, bad and dumb people. We have countless numbers of good people – dedicated...
Verene A. Shepherd Jamaican History is replete with stories of heroic men and women who at one time or another placed themselves on the frontline of battles for freedom. Such was the case in the war for African liberty in 1760 in St. Mary, led by...
If we didn’t know better, we might have assumed that the health ministry’s belated guidance, issued Monday, on the use of face masks against COVID-19 was a product of Donald Trump. Not only is the endorsement half-hearted, but it risks subjecting...
I am pleased that The Gleaner’s editorial of Monday, March 30, 2020, titled ‘Where’s the region’s COVID-19 research?’ has shed light once again on the importance of research to the development of any country. The editorial rightly pointed out that...
Her arrival was bad news. Although I was only four or five years old, I remember her face very clearly. She was a dark, short lady with medium thick lips, dressed in a brown uniform and a neatly pleated cap planted atop her jet black hair. I never...
The COVID-19 pandemic is highlighting some issues that I had not fully explored. One of these is the impact of population issues, such as demographic shifts, on foreign trade. COVID-19’s ravishing of Italy and Spain in Europe brought to the fore...
Three weeks ago, as the depth of the global economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic became increasingly clear, this newspaper urged the Jamaican Government to make a quick beeline to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a standby arrangement...
Hundreds of thousands will die from COVID-19, famine, and armed conflict. As the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) continues to devastate most countries with fear and death worldwide, the Fourth Seal, which is now opened as recorded in the Bible...
FOR WHAT purpose do we elect our Government? For some, the Government exists to carry out the bidding of the people. But it does seem as though there is an increasing sense that the Government is only truly successful in the performance of its...
As the COVID-19 pandemic gallops across the planet, leaving a trail of sickness, death and social upheaval in its wake, a debate has raged among lay people as well as medical professionals regarding who should be wearing masks. There is no argument...
WHEN, A week ago, this newspaper reported that panicked nurses at the private Hargreaves Memorial Hospital refused to treat a patient with symptoms of COVID-19, we assumed it was an aberration. Jamaican healthcare professionals were just that –...
MANY PEOPLE have convinced themselves that the only thing the Government is good at is public relations. Some have implied, in their utterances, that the lot of us who are impressed by Prime Minister Andrew Holness and his team have allowed...
LAST MONDAY afternoon at 4:30 p.m., I was disappointed by a notice from Parliament that the sitting of the House of Representatives scheduled for the next day was cancelled. Disappointed because parliamentary duties are what I am sworn and paid to...
THE FACT that so many people are becoming infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus suggests that we have been missing something essential. We know that we need proper personal protective equipment (PPE) when treating or otherwise coming into close...
There’s a way in football that a man can foul another player, even kick him to the ground, and then if the play of the ball isn’t to his advantage, turn around and offer the prostrate victim a hand up. Depending upon temperament, the victimised...
Of course, the poster boy is a Covidiot! Not because he exercised his free speech to vilify the prime minister and police, but because he was on the street during the hours of the curfew, adding to the health crisis and encouraging others to do so...
Snobbish speakers of English don’t seem to mind catching the coronavirus from ill-informed speakers of Jamaican. Last month, I wrote a column in our Jamaican language with this headline, “Holness Fi Gi Virus Warning Inna Two Language”. As was to...
The arrival of the coronavirus and COVID-19, the disease it causes, on our shores on March 4, 2020, by a person with a travel history from the United Kingdom has caused a seismic shift of national attention. Prior to the announcement of the first...
We still hope that the Government will appreciate the wisdom of not planting Jamaica’s most fertile lands with concrete and steel and that the economic dislocation from the COVID-19 pandemic will be the epiphany, leading to the embrace of this...
Ever since the announcement of our first coronavirus case on March 10, 2020 in Jamaica, the issue of quarantine and all the attendant factors with it have become the subject of daily discussions in a very serious way. Some of us, myself included,...
Elvis Presley sang “Home is where the heart is” and, sentimentally speaking, it makes sense, but being confined to barracks for the past few days, even though voluntary, I wish that I had a detachable heart that I could leave at home while I go out...
