At a discussion after a sneak preview of the film Four Days in May, which documents what survivors experienced during the blitzkrieg we refer to as the Tivoli incursion, a young man said: "We can all remember where we were when history came and met...
The Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) Central Committee recently approved a proposal that the country's president no longer be limited to two five-year terms of office and the National People's Congress rubber-stamped the change. That will be the end...
If you are anything like me, you have tremendous appreciation for the Jamaican flag, patriotic songs, and the affirmation of things Jamaican. I grew up at a time when all the children got these cute little Jamaican flags in school whenever we were...
Readers know The Old Ball and Chain often hijacks this space and insists on boring readers with her version of 'truth'.Here she comes again! I tried to stop her, but the shackle attached to my ankle ensured her escape. As it happens, the twoth of...
I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the Government on its fiscal performance to date and the discipline to adhere to the reform programme started by the previous administration under the supervision of the International Monetary...
If the governor general who is vested with the authority to make the choices was going to be usurped of his right to declare on his selections, we would have preferred that he make the announcement at a sitting of the House, giving appointments...
If the Government was awaiting the public's endorsement before pushing ahead with radical preventative measures against the worsening public health crisis of obesity - including among children - in Jamaica, it need not be detained any longer. At...
The Government's current campaign to discourage the drinking of sugary drinks is admirable.The unnecessary intake of such high-yield calories can play havoc with our bodies. I never drink sugary drinks, not even natural fruit juices; I eat fruits...
Audley Shaw gets it. Both at the Standing Finance Committee and again last Thursday when he opened the Budget Debate, he spoke convincingly about the human-resource deficit as the major cramp to rapid, inclusive and sustainable development in...
Peter Bunting and Garnett Roper’s recent remarks likening the Jamaica Labour Party’s Dr Nigel Clarke to a black Englishman aspiring to be “black royalty” have created a firestorm. They have received a deluge of scathing...
I know little about Major General Antony ‘Andy’ Anderson, who will assume the mantle of chief constable in another week. However, other current and former senior military officers whom I dare to call my friends and colleagues give him...
Based on the latest available data, published last September but based on information gathered in 2015, more than a fifth (21.2 per cent) of Jamaica's population lives in poverty. That was nearly 600,000 people, about 34,000 more than 12 months...
If you're not careful, you could end up going to a funeral every single week. That's one of the challenges of becoming a senior citizen and outliving your peers. They keep dying and you feel obliged to attend their...
Undoubtedly, Peter Phillips must be taking some comfort from the recent RJR-Gleaner Don Anderson poll that showed more than 50 per cent of Jamaicans unhappy with the direction in which the Government is going. Bolstering the party's optimism even...
The People's National Party's (PNP) Peter Bunting has been justifiably excoriated in electronic, print and social media over the past several days for exposing his ignorance and naked partisanship in comments made on his online platform about newly...
The sugar debate is heating up in Jamaica and elsewhere in the world. Public-health advocates want to see policies implemented that will nudge consumers towards a healthier lifestyle.Parents, too, are convinced that sodas and other sweetened...
There has been a lot of talk and some visible, positive and commendable initiatives of late to treat with the pervasiveness of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in Jamaica.I wonder, though, if the Government is prepared to take the necessary actions...
"I don't make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts." This is one of the many still valid and well-known quips by William Penn Adair 'Will' Rogers (November 4, 1879-August 15, 1935), a stage and motion picture actor, cowboy,...
Cornwall Regional Hospital (CRH) in Montego Bay had not only the symptoms, but also the diagnosis of a sick building, which is not a statement of it being a facility where ill people are housed and treated. The building carries a malady that makes...
Never has the editor of this newspaper been more out of touch with reality as in its editorial last Wednesday. He asserted: "At issue here is the fact that most of Jamaica's leading high schools are owned by churches. That is to say, the physical...
I have found the concerns expressed in a series of articles in The Gleaner about perceived State overreach in church-run schools to be strange at best and, at times, quite rich in the lack of fidelity to truth and the bigger picture.First, readers...
Hardley Lewin, the previous army man to head the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF), is right about one of the ingredients that will potentially make Antony Anderson a success in the job. General Anderson, he says, is coming to the job with strong...
All diehard voters, Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) and People's National Party (PNP), elderly, middle-age and not so young, know that although elections are serious matters, without the carnival, the dance and a drink of rum had at the back of a bar,...
The news these days is awash with grand announcements by the various ministers of Government, the standard counterarguments by the Opposition, the crosstalk by commentators and babble from the political diehards. It has become painful to digest. We...
Donald Trump's threatened global trade war is not a matter of mere academic interest for Jamaica, beyond the fact that such fights are never good for anyone, including the bystanders. For, despite the Government's public silence on the matter so far...
