I must question the wisdom of the editorial of Monday, August 28, 2017, in which The Gleaner advocated for increased funding for education because portfolio minister Ruel Reid told teachers that the Government has assumed responsibility for...
Corruption can best be defined as an act involving two or more parties for the benefit of illicit gain for an interested person. This act takes place many times per day, every day, involving most of the people in Jamaica.It is sought and made...
At least a decade ago, a retired general at the Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies said to me that the rich countries will never take climate change seriously until some very big and apparently climate-related disaster...
I'm not surprised that late last week only 1,000 people had signed the petition to make Miss Lou a national icon. And I don't think it's because hardly anybody cares about her legacy. It may be the very opposite. I speculate that, for many of us,...
The current quarrel between the Trelawny Municipal Corporation and the Falmouth Hospital over who is responsible for social patients languishing at that hospital reveals one of the harsh realities of poverty.Make no mistake, by whatever name they...
If anybody believes my jokes are too coarse for comfort, I want to remind you that on August 10, just over three weeks ago, I was 72, and that's only half a gross. It is also a useful number, even more useful than 69, when your interest is...
Published:Friday | September 1, 2017 | 12:00 AMBud Slabbaert
There is no universal definition for luxury tourism. One person's luxury is another's ordinary.Even if there was a definition of a tweet length, what purpose does it serve? Why hide behind academic fabricated definition that is no better than an...
It's back-to-school time again, and parents, students and teachers are in the throes of settling down into the routine of the new school year.But we all know that this is not the most stressful time in the annual school cycle; that dubious honour...
Has there ever been a bigger upset in Test cricket? Has there ever been a time in cricket history when the underdogs so overwhelmingly turned the tide? I can't recall any time when the odds were so stacked against a team winning a Test match.What...
Letter writer Fabian Lewis asks the question, 'Can anyone take Trevor Munroe seriously?' (Gleaner, August 29, 2017).I am not sure why Fabian Lewis takes Trevor Munroe seriously enough to take time off from his regular targets: Peter Bunting (Gleaner...
Olivia Grange, the minister of sports and culture, has announced that the statue of Usain Bolt, Jamaica's global athletics icon, will be unveiled at the National Stadium in October, during the week the country celebrates its heritage, culminating...
The Holness administration, in particular its agriculture and industry minister, Karl Samuda, can now end the self-denial and accept that the Chinese-owned Pan Caribbean Sugar Company (PCSC) has no more interest in their Monymusk operation and...
Senator Ruel Reid, education minister, contrary to a Gleaner caption, did not apologise again. He said, "as a lay preacher myself, I have to lead by example (and I remember Jesus himself used harsh words and he himself had to reflect on it) ... and...
The current brouhaha at the Firearm Licensing Authority and the many instances of breaches of public sector procurement guidelines, among other questionable occurrences, spurred me to ponder the efficacy of our civil service, especially given the...
As reports come in of the Houston tragedy and acts of human heroism are displayed across thousands of TV screens in Jamaica, it is well we be reminded that we are still officially in the hurricane season, and even as I write this a huge system is...
The subject of colonialism is with us again, raised this time by burgeoning Chinese investment in Jamaica and the Caribbean. With that investment has come a transfusion of Chinese personnel into the bloodstream of the Jamaican body politic,...
The fallout at the Firearm Licensing Authority (FLA) must be seen as a national security disaster for Jamaica. That it is now emerging that almost 300 persons who ought not to have been awarded licensed firearms were, in fact, so availed of weapons...
If you're the education and information minister, or a surrogate thereof, you probably earn the right to shift the goalpost, or, more correctly, the narrative, to suit the slithering twists of your argument to win a point. In that regard, we concede...
No, serious thing. I had to watch that video of the female cop at Constant Spring Police Station many times. Many, many times.Not even the Game of Thrones season finale was that gripping. It was all too familiar. The star of the short viral video...
Published:Monday | August 28, 2017 | 12:00 AMJohn Roomes
On the front page of The Gleaner, of Monday July 3, 2017, there were two articles captioned 'Illiteracy danger' and 'Ignorance driving up domestic violence'.Permit me to suggest that there is a possible positive choice that can contribute to helping...
Published:Monday | August 28, 2017 | 12:00 AMFabian Lewis
Self-appointed corruption czar and former communist Trevor Munroe is absent these days, it seems. Just recently, he was in righteous indignation over the de-bushing programme launched by the Government. He was on the Government like white on rice...
It seems, on the face of it, a good thing: the launch by the University of the West Indies (UWI), a month ago, of its Faculty of Sport. For, as the university's vice-chancellor, Hilary Beckles, explained, being the leading teaching institution in...
Slavery is one of the most inhumane and unjust human practices. The reprehensible act of owning another human being, having them work under unsatisfactory conditions, without remuneration, and subjecting them to physical, psychological and, in some...
Part of the evolution of the Jamaica Constabulary Force is its ability to respond to and protect against violence if and when necessary, even with deadly force. I am a very strong advocate of human rights, but we have to expect the occasional,...
The young lady had just received a substantial judgment sum from the State for injuries received in a fire. "Is three car me going have on the road by next month, and when the first money come from them, is Courts I am going".The host of mediocre-...
