It's perhaps invidious to make a direct comparison between the two. We do so nonetheless, but only to emphasise that Jamaicans are capable of producing good outcomes, especially when we employ serious thought and planning into our ventures.First,...
If the trend of the first eight days of year is maintained, Jamaica will record more than 1,800 murders in 2018, or nine per cent more than the previous worst-ever year of 2009.The figures for 2018 will represent an increase of around 210, or 13 per...
There was something cruelly symbolic about the gridlock that shut the country down on New Year's Day. Did it portend an unhappy future where everything slowly ground to a halt and the last person to leave the country couldn't even reach the airport...
It's 2018. Hip, hip, hooray! No sooner did the pepper lights come down and the fanfare of the fireworks diminish did real life set in.We closed out last week with news out of the JCF that Jamaicans were killing each other at a rate of six a day. A...
You have to admire Robert Stephens' persistence. For a quarter-century or more, he has been peddling his vision for the redevelopment of Port Royal US$500 million to transform the 17th-century British naval base into a cruise ship and heritage...
It wasn't unusual for the Beast to wait outside Autry's home in his car while Gene and I searched for a fourth.Those were the days of no cell phones and no air-conditioned cars, so you had to find people and talk face to face. I would always express...
In these times when the empowerment of women right around the world is happening at a steady enough pace, I have been given cause to wonder about the ambition of some of my lady friends.In recent days, I have had three separate conversations with...
Being an obstetrician and gynaecologist is not an easy job. It requires one to be knowledgeable at prescribing drugs appropriately to treat medical conditions, as well as being adept at surgery. It is the speciality with the most exposure to blood...
Published:Sunday | January 7, 2018 | 12:00 AMRonald Thwaites
In our constitutional tradition, a Cabinet ought to function as the executive committee of the legislature, which is elected by the people and is presumed, in collective, to be representative of the will of the people. Except it doesn't really...
Published:Sunday | January 7, 2018 | 12:00 AMGarth Rattray
Not long ago, I shipped two flat-screen televisions from New York to Kingston. One was sent as unaccompanied luggage and the other was shipped to the port. The experience at the airport wasn’t too bad, but it entailed very detailed...
Unlike his predecessor, Dennis Morrison, the president of the Court of Appeal, is not a man given to venting about, or to, the press on any subject. So, when he speaks in a rare interview such as the one published by this newspaper last week, you...
Last year was extremely bad for crime and violence. We simply can't repeat that this year.Before Independence, Jamaica with its Constabulary Force (JCF), was among the top countries in the world in registering...
Ah jus one bag ah gold medal pon him enuh Champion Boyne! Yuh know how de damn ting goh!My speculation about why Ian Boyne's death has touched off so much mourning is that people appreciated his attempts at even-handedness and balance. Plus, to '...
Finally, someone has taken the foot off the head of parish court judge Judith Pusey and apparently forgiven her for the white fowl that she might have eaten. Perhaps it might have been the black rooster, but of course, that might suggest other...
Among the many vexing issues with which Jamaicans had to contend this past week, two acknowledgements which, though not the most dramatic, were particularly troubling to this newspaper.One was the...
On the very first day of the new year, I signed up for membership on the Singles Club 876 website. I'd read about Everton Tate's clever idea in last Sunday's Gleaner. Mr Tate's smiling baby-face promised honesty, if not expertise. Looks can be very...
There is an old proverb that goes like this, "If fish come from river bottom and tell yu seh alligator have gum boil,believe him."Earlier this week, Rev Ronald Thwaites, the member of parliament for Central Kingston, exposed the nation's Parliament...
General Charles de Gaulle made what many people at the time thought was a huge political blunder when he said, "China is a big country inhabited by many Chinese." For a long time, this was all I knew about the country. In the little village in which...
I live in Bull Bay, St. Andrew, and on my way to Midnight Mass on New Year's Eve (Sunday night) in Kingston, I was thankful to be travelling away from the Palisadoes area, with many hundreds of cars heading to watch the fireworks.The two lanes...
The story was told to me a few years ago about a Jamaican cricket youth player who was 'forming the fool' on tour. The coach had to give him a serious dressing down after one particularly bad shot had cost him his wicket. The next innings, the...
The need for the Government to settle on a policy on the use of plastics - under consideration for more than a year - has suddenly become far more urgent.On January 1, China accelerated its campaign against...
Last November, when the manufacturing and distribution conglomerate Wisynco, offered Jamaicans 20 per cent of the business for J$6.1 billion, the offer was not only immediately snapped-up, but oversubscribed — by three times. That is, J$18.8...
What do you get when you mix eager party promoters trying to maximise crowd size and space, an opaque municipality which can't quite say on what basis it granted the Sandz Party permit at Gunboat Beach and environs, a few police officers overwhelmed...
Silence Makers are the Persons of the Year in Jamaica, unlike in the United States, where the Time magazine has named the Silence Breakers as Persons of the Year. Time magazine featured the silence breakers who, for better, have had significant...
With 2018 upon us, I have been musing about the things I want and need this year. My number one want: Brazil winning the FIFA World Cup. That said, enough about my wants; let's focus on needs.The late US President John Kennedy, in speaking about...
