The tendency to merely express shock, disappointment and concern when incidents of rape and sexual assault of women and girls are reported is exhausting. The pity with which we shower the perpetrators, especially those from the clergy and other '...
'Je suis Bolt' should be the rallying cry of Jamaicans in tribute to the influence and impact of Usain Bolt on the Jamaican psyche in 2016, making him the personality of the year. Bolt's remarkable year was marked by three gold medals in 100m, 200m...
"Di love an tend-erness ting you talk bout, dat can't work wid di girl dem we deal wid. A pure terrorist we haffi deal wid. If wi nuh beat dem dem mash wi dung,"said a 48-year-old man to me seven years ago.We were gathered outside of a shop talking...
Something dramatic and important unfolded in Washington this week, in which, at least for the time being, even the permissive Donald Trump finds himself on the right side of decency and history. The Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) remains in...
Well, happy or not, here we are in the new year. What 2017 will bring, only time will tell; we'll know in about a year. Let's just say that at the moment it looks forbidding. As Susan Knight, who once wrote a column titled 'John Crowe's Diary', said...
It is approximately eight months since Prime Minister Andrew Holness named Bruce Golding to lead a review task force on Jamaica's membership of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). We are surprised that in that time Mr Golding, it appears, has neither...
No one expects miracles from Novelette Grant. Neither over the next three months when she will act as the police chief, nor later on when, as is very likely to be the case, she is awarded the job on a permanent basis. What Jamaicans will expect...
The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines health as "a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity." I was taught this definition in medical school, and that we should...
So, how do you let your friends know they're doing a terrible job at something really important? It's not an easy thing, because your friend is likely to get really angry, take serious umbrage, and ungracefully remind you of that one time you found...
So far, the endgame in Syria has played out in an entirely predictable way. All of Aleppo is back in the Syrian government's hands, that decisive victory for President Bashar al-Assad and his Russian backers has been followed by a ceasefire, and the...
This new year deserves new political paradigms. Out with the old raucous, quarrelsome, derisive, divisive politicking. Jamaicans are evolving, becoming more mature and need objective, honest political leaders to take us into a better future.By the...
It was the morning of February 24, 1990, at Sabina Park, the first day of the first Test match of a new England-West Indies Test series. George Prescod, - the operations manager at the cricket ground, had just emerged and was strutting. Immediately...
The transformation of Jamaica's public sector to improve its efficiency and, insofar as possible, remove impediments to doing business, everyone agrees, is important to engineering an economy capable of delivering sustainable growth. That is why,...
The main message of 2016 was that we are entering a period of economic and political upheaval comparable to the industrial revolution of 1780-1850, and nothing expressed that message more clearly than Donald Trump's appointment of Andrew Puzder as...
As Jamaicans take stock of the old year and assess the prospects for the new one, this newspaper remains, with caution, optimistic about the country. At least, about the economy.Indeed, in the 10 months it has been in office, the Holness...
The prime minister/party leader/president, the general secretary, and the party chairman are the three most powerful political positions in Jamaica. In this narrow band perched at the top tier, it is much easier to use one position as a launching...
The news report stated: "Prime Minister Andrew Holness says the Jamaican Government will not be going ahead with plans to develop a trans-shipment port and industrial park on Goat Islands in the Portland Bight Protected Area."The development comes...
On Christmas day, I got a blistering email from a man who was angered by my column, 'Psssst! Hi Sexy!' He wasn't vexed because I'd written off out-of-order men who call out to women on the street. It was my "ugly message" coming the day before...
Encouraging news about more tourists pouring into Jamaica for Christmas could easily be overlooked amid the gloom of murders and mayhem and the anaemic performance by other sectors of the economy. For example, murders are up significantly, road...
I suppose I should begin this with 'Once upon a time ...', but if that opening phrase preferred by storytellers like Aesop and Hans Christian Anderson were mandatory, almost every political speech or news release would begin with the same words, '...
As the year draws to a close, and a new year beckons, it is time for reflection, introspection - and hope. Some of the bad things about Jamaica are intractable and will not improve without radical effort, but others are low-hanging fruit and are...
A few days ago, the International Cricket Council (ICC) voted that the 20-20 performance of the year should go to Carlos Brathwaite for his breathtaking power-hitting in the World T20 final. Since the ICC's announcement, there has been debate as to...
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is very, very cross about last Friday's United Nations Security Council resolution condemning the creation of illegal Jewish settlements all over the occupied West Bank and in East Jerusalem.He called in...
As nice a guy as he is most times, somebody ought to have called out Karl James a long time ago about the hot air he often spouts about the supposed illegal dealing by manufacturers in refined sugar. Now, we are sure, many people are envious of...
Published:Wednesday | December 28, 2016 | 12:00 AMMark Wignall
It may have been unexpected to many, but when it came the nation quietly embraced the JLP’s narrow victory in February and its cleanup act later in the Local Government elections. Not so welcome in the global community was the surprising...
