Commentary

In an interesting postscript to my last column 'Modern-day plantations', I was sent a response from tourism mogul John Issa saying that my account of Evon Blake's plunge into the Myrtle Bank Hotel's pool was "not quite accurate".Apparently, the...

In the normal scheme of things, the comings and goings of diplomats are little-noticed, routine business, except when it used to be the arrival or departure of an American ambassador. The British, too, warranted some attention.These days, however,...

The Gleaner headlines (February 14, 2018) 'Holness backs down' and 'Holness bows to pressure' could well have been 'Holness responsive to citizens' demands: Jamaica's democracy alive .... if not fully well'.Justice Sykes is to be appointed "in short...

Few, if any, of us in Parliament would disagree that the current slate of bank fees are extortionate and that competition in our marketplace is ineffectual to stimulate their moderation. When self-regulation is spurned, the State has an obligation...

An insufficiently noted or commented-on element of the Budget Estimates tabled in Parliament last week by Finance Minister Audley Shaw is that he set out a detailed medium-term spending plan.In other words, Mr Shaw showed not only how much, or on...

Flogging has been off the books for quite some time now, and it's clear that the judiciary was reluctant to have to legislate from the Bench and reintroduce it on such short notice, and for no less a person than the prime minister. But as the...

Nothing in Jamaica is more impatient of national consensus as a strategic plan for tackling crime and public disorder. The data insist upon this fact.In 2017, there were 1,616 murders in Jamaica, which means that 60 persons were killed for every 100...

This week's ousting of South African President Jacob Zuma, the surprise resignation of Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn and before that the forced resignation of Robert Mugabe, 93, as president of Zimbabwe, call for a reflection on the...

I walked into a bat. Not a cricket bat, but a costumed demon bat, tall, grinning headpiece with long ears, black velvet arms, and to a seven-year-old, scary like hell. I was at my Uncle Bem's 'parlour' or 'cake shop' in Carapichaima (a village in...

We hear Colonel Desmond Edwards' defence of the independence with which the Major Organised Crime and Anti-Corruption Agency (MOCA) has operated. Nonetheless, we, too, urge the speedy completion of the legislative process for its establishment as an...