Commentary

Philippe Douste-Blazy misdiagnosed the problem. Consequently, the French candidate to be director general of the World Health Organisation (WHO) prescribed an ineffective solution to Jamaica's endemic shortage of nurses.When developed countries...

I read with interest Carolyn Cooper's column on her search for a public beach in the vicinity of Ocho Rios (Gleaner, Sunday, January 8, 2017). The Jamaica Environment Trust (JET) shares these concerns and has tried for many years to get the...

Andrew Holness is right. Jamaica has been too long at the business of public-sector reform. After nearly two decades, the outcome has been patchy, at best.We understand the reason for this. Doing what successive administrations know is right, and...

The recent case of a 64-year-old Moravian pastor charged with having sex with a minor is cause for great concern. According to police reports, about 9 p.m. on Wednesday, December 28, 2016, a motorised police patrol in the deep rural community of...

There are a number of ways to win an African election. The simplest, obviously, is to win the most votes, but this is sometimes hard to achieve, especially if you have been the president for a long time and people are getting fed up with your rule....

A fisherman heading off to deep sea at five in the morning in a single-motor, 15-foot boat. A taxi driver working the unpredictable streets of Kingston and MoBay between the hours of 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. Policemen on patrol on the graveyard shift in...

The possession of political judgement is nearly as important to leaders of democratic governments as their ability to formulate and execute effective policies. Questions about the former are what now face Prime Minister Andrew Holness in the Caricel...

Like many early settlers in Jamaica, Francis Price arrived with the English army that seized the island from the Spanish in 1655. His story began when he filed a patent for 840 acres "being near Luidas in St John Parish (now St Catherine) called...

A drunk man who smelled like a barrel of beer sat down on a subway train next to a priest. The man's tie was stained, his face plastered with red lipstick, and a half-empty bottle of gin was sticking out of his torn coat pocket. He opened his...

One of the things I have learnt in my time as a sports journalist is the tendency of people to place greater weight on things that happen in the last part of a game. I have dubbed it the 'recency syndrome'. My theory is that the later the occurrence...

As vitally important as each institution is, the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI) is not just any other member of Jamaica's health-care system. It is the island's premier teaching hospital, and critically, an institution of the...