Political temperatures overheated in Apocrypha, our favourite fantasyland beyond the stars. An alleged tax evasion scheme, with Apocrypha’s main public hospital’s help, resulted in fingers being pointed at an Opposition MP. The Opposition, Promises...
On March 30, 1976, Israeli police killed six unarmed Palestinian citizens of Israel and injured over 100 others while they were protesting the state’s confiscation of nearly 5,000 acres of Palestinian land in Galilee. Since then, March 30 has been...
In Jamaica, public institutions often fail because of bad policy design. They are given sweeping mandates, blurred lines of authority, weak performance systems, and too much dependence on the supposed brilliance of one chief executive. That is why...
If I told you that most of the world’s food supply is grown on just three to six inches of dirt, you’d probably think that I was crazy. But that’s exactly why our top soil is so important. Top soil is the rich, fertile upper three to six inches of...
Is the 40-hour workweek, the sacred foundation of employment practices, at an end? Is it blasphemous to offer such words? As Jamaican businesses struggle with productivity concerns, culture and strategy misalignment, or the rise of remote work, it...
“Me have some new zinc sheet a sell. You want it fi one a yu church memba dem whey house blow down?” That was the offer from one of the few recipients who had received his rebuilding grant last week. Turns out he had suffered severe damage and...
Exactly five years ago, I woke up on Resurrection Sunday, after fighting for more than two weeks with the COVID-19 virus, which tried every night to kill me. In my head, a song, whose chorus eluded my memory from Crucifixion Friday, popped up. “The...
Richard Byles, the governor of Jamaica’s central bank, may have addressed the broad principle, without specific entities in mind. But his call last week for strong boards at financial companies was a sobering reminder of the potential for the...
Many people do not realise that Jesus’ name was not ‘Jesus Christ’. In keeping with the tradition at that time, He was likely called Yeshua ben-Yosef (Yeshua son of Joseph). Furthermore, ‘Christ’ comes from the Greek word ‘Christos’, which means...
Jamaica now stands at a crossroads, much like Dominica did in 2017. Category 5 Hurricane Maria damaged 90 per cent of Dominica’s housing stock and caused losses equivalent to 230 per cent of GDP. The recent tabling of the NaRRA Bill signals a...
Jamaica does not suffer from a shortage of coastline. We suffer from a shortage of leaders willing to defend the people’s right to it. Across the Caribbean, we have perfected a leadership culture where silence is treated as diplomacy, avoidance as...
History was repeated on the evening of April 1 when Artemis II, carrying four astronauts, lifted off for a 10-day journey around the Moon – more than five decades after the first human landed on Earth’s satellite. This is a momentous occasion for...
The Caribbean has not set out to loosen its trade dependence on the United States. It is being driven to do so. For generations, Caribbean importers and consumers have looked first to the American market. They have done so for reasons of preference...
On the 45th anniversary of the passing of Dr. Eric Eustace Williams, prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago At my age, 80 plus, I still don’t know if sugar cane is a fruit, a grass, a vegetable, a chewing stick, or a soft drink! What makes it...
The inequality of teacher-led extra lessons The phrase “Every child can learn, every child must learn” is widely recognised as a policy mantra developed and adopted by the Jamaican Ministry of Education. This phrase embodies a rights-based and...
Every April, Autism Awareness Month fills our feeds with messages of support. But for many families – especially in countries like Jamaica – awareness is not the problem. Access is. I say this not only as a healthcare executive and registered nurse...
Dr Carla Barnett has not been the kind of secretary general of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) this newspaper had hoped for. She has not interpreted her mandate or fashioned her leadership as a transformative force — sometimes being ahead of...
Growing up in the ‘80s and ‘90s, one of the first survival lessons you learned while traversing the bus system was to keep your wallet in your front pocket. Not the back where it was more stylish. The front. Close enough to your hand that, if some...
Across the Caribbean, climate change is already reshaping lives, coastlines, and futures. Small Island Developing States, which account for just one per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, are being hit with particular force by hurricanes,...
NEW YORK (AP) — Before the house is humming and her teenagers ask her to whip up breakfast or chauffeur them to school, Jen Meegan reads her company emails and revisits ideas she drafted the night before. She works for an hour or so, then after...
One of the biggest challenges faced by poor black Jamaicans is the high out-of-pocket cost of urgent medical tests. This is a burden not only on the cash-strapped poor but also on members of the middle class who require test results for urgent...
Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness got it mostly right with his plan for a park in Kingston for older people, to be established on the acreages adjoining the governor general’s residence, King’s House. But having broken the taboo over the use of the...
The most important observances in Christianity are in Holy Week (Easter), from Palm Sunday, when Jesus made his triumphant entry into Jerusalem on a donkey; to Holy Thursday of the last supper, the washing of his disciples’ feet and his betrayal;...
For years, the buzzword echoing through the halls of education ministries and economic summits has been TVET (Technical and Vocational Education and Training). It is hailed as the "engine of growth" and the "blueprint for sustainability". But if...
On February 22, 1962, Premier Norman Washington Manley, on Jamaica’s behalf, signed a seminal agreement between Jamaica and USA. It involved the Peace Corps and provided for young American volunteers to work in Jamaica in key areas of national...
