There is an urgent need for Finance Minister Audley Shaw and central bank Governor Brian Wynter to offer clarity on where Jamaica's foreign exchange (FX) policy is headed and a frank and lucid explanation that will forestall potential risks to...
What is the real remit of the municipal councillors we are going to elect next Monday? Apart from the slogans and the disputes about the past, do we yet have a clear, simple set of objectives to which local administrations will commit to achieve?...
The recent American presidential election was never just about politics for me. True, the Democratic candidate represented the typical Establishment politician that many were railing against. Added to that, she never melded with many common citizens...
Sometime back, I heard an account, perhaps anecdotal or fictitious, about a man who was stealing electricity. A friend rebuked him, saying, "Robbie, yu cyaan do dat, man, yu a rab revenue." His angry reply was: "Rab revenue? Rab revenue? I waan...
Donald Trump promise white people fi "Make America Great Again". Im dweet. Inna one week, America back-back more than one hundred year! Di KKK inna dem ackee. Di Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan inna Pelham, North Carolina...
Who remembers that there is someone in the Government named Ruddy Spencer? He's a minister in the Ministry of Finance with responsibility for the public service, including, we suppose, leading the reorganisation of the public sector and negotiating...
The success of a country is grounded in relationships and dealings that give rise to a set of shared cultural, social and economic norms. The persons inhabiting that space defined as the country share things in common, even if they do so...
The outrage displayed by ordinary Jamaicans in response to the verdict in the Khajeel Mais murder case is a redeeming sign. The rage that bubbled up...
"Now, every single Jamaican, Portmore, I am speaking to you - if a mosquito has ever bitten you in your life, do not vote for the PNP."Those words by Kenisha Allen, JLP candidate and former councillor for the Spanish Town division, have stirred up a...
Oliver Wendell Holmes, the great American jurist, is quoted by Leslie Dunkling, the author of the Guinness Book of Curious Words, as saying, "When I feel to read poetry, I take down my dictionary. The poetry of words is quite as beautiful as that of...
It's a recurring event in Jamaican life: thieves descending on accident scenes to loot and plunder. Examples of such brazen theft have been reported in the media from time to time. Looted items range from cooking oil and chicken to beer.Last week,...
Because power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely (so said Lord Acton), it is of the utmost importance to ensure that our politicians never have absolute power. This is why the principle of subsidiarity is of such great value....
Things are getting from bad to worse. Relationships between senior players and the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) have not been great over the last decade. Lest we forget, the West Indies Players' Association (WIPA) and the WICB were at daggers...
Since November 2015, the Jamaican dollar has endured a precipitous slide from a foreign exchange (FX) rate of about J$120:US$1 to the current rate of about J$129:US$1. Governor of the Bank of Jamaica, Brian Wynter, in his address to the Public...
For the past several days, this newspaper has been reporting on the results of a survey on people's perception of the state of Jamaica's public-health institutions, particularly the island's hospitals. Mostly, they believe they are pretty bad. And...
Published:Wednesday | November 16, 2016 | 12:00 AM
The year 1980 was as far from normal as a snail was not Usain Bolt. Politically and socially, the times were tense, and the air was filled with much fear, uncertainties, and people preferred to remain indoors after working hours.From July onwards,...
Published:Wednesday | November 16, 2016 | 12:00 AM
Three months ago, not long after China's Jinquan Iron and Steel Company formalised its acquisition of the Alpart alumina refinery in Nain, St Elizabeth, we urged an open and frank and very public cost-benefit analysis of Jinquan's plans for the...
The recently concluded USA presidential elections between businessman Donald Trump and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton signalled a blow to the influence of Christianity over USA politics.It is said that 80 per cent of white Christian...
Published:Wednesday | November 16, 2016 | 12:00 AM
Jamaica's two major political parties, the Jamaica Labour Party and the People's National Party, the primary competitors in the forthcoming local government elections, have continuously committed to empower people at the grass-roots level to...
The Gleaner byline on Wednesday, November 2, 2016 titled 'Docs bleed the State' is misleading and erroneous in its implication. The statements made in the article suggest a lack of knowledge and/or understanding of the Government's private practice...
At the last local government elections on March 26, 2012, then Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller gave an interview in which she called on voters to give the People's National Party (PNP) a massive win at the polls.According to Mama P, the PNP...
So apparently I'm the only local journalist to have predicted Trump would win the US elections, announcing it in black and white when I wrote my last column on November 6, two days before the fateful date. I've only been saying ever since I got the...
Last week's inauguration of an LNG storage and regasification facility, which allows the Jamaica Public Service Company's (JPS) power-generating plant at Bogue, St James, to be fired by natural gas, is a game-changer to the Jamaican economy. The...
In recent weeks, there have been heightened concerns and questions raised about the policies governing the staging of sporting events involving students. This was thrown into sharp focus by the death of Dominic James of St George's College and, more...
The Gleaner recently raised its standard prudishness to new heights by fig-leafing my use of the expression 'Pussygate'.I was, of course, referring to the scandal dogging Donald Trump in the closing weeks of his presidential campaign when an Access...
