When the Gangs of Gordon House last jousted for control of Parliament and to exercise power over the lives of Jamaicans, that campaign cost them, by most estimates, more than J$3 billion. We know where a mere three per cent of that came from.Five...
With protests and all the talk about reparations and repatriation, British PM Cameron didn't receive a particularly warm Jamaican welcome last week. My nominee for the most ill-conceived and ridiculous protest is the Church-inspired one prefaced on...
"At his favourite seaside resort of Weymouth, the story goes, King George III once encountered an absentee owner of a Jamaican plantation whose coach and liveried outriders were even more resplendent than his own. 'Sugar, sugar, eh?' the King...
On August 25, in these columns, this newspaper made the following statement: "A commitment to basic decency and universal human rights demands this new facility. Yet, its need is not only for the satisfaction of altruism. It would be an investment...
The Slavery Abolition Act received royal assent on August 28, 1833 and came into force the following year on August 1. This was not an act of altruism, intended to right the wrongs of centuries of slavery. Just a few months before, the largest slave...
As I think you are all aware, there are three bills before Jamaica's Parliament which seek to bring Jamaica under the appellate jurisdiction of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ).Two of them are ordinary pieces of legislation and can be passed and...
The demands against the British government by the Jamaican people have achieved one great result: its visiting prime minister was forced to respond - albeit unsatisfactorily - to the claim for restorative justice.Cameron's position of "wha' gone bad...
When I was a little boy growing up in Trinidad, the big-time lawyers were known as 'barristers' and were household names. Their legal exploits were legendary. They were the superstars of the daily newspapers, The Guardian and The Evening News, which...
The current outbreak of hand, foot and mouth disease that is rapidly spreading throughout Jamaica's schools underscores the need for the country to develop an agile public-health system that can readily respond to the emergence of infectious...
British Prime Minister David Cameron flew all of nine hours from London to Jamaica to gift us a prison. Or more precisely, £25-million donation towards a prison. And I watched my prime minister hug the man and tell him thank you, and my blood boiled...
I welcome the promise of a new multimillion-pound prison as announced by the British prime minister here on Tuesday. It might sound better to shout for schools instead of a prison, but I want more prison facilities here.So I am begging Uncle Sam to...
Phil Simmons' rant about West Indies selectors being influenced is without doubt the sports story of the week. We didn't see it coming.Phil gives the impression that he is a calculated, measured man, a direct contrast to the explosive batsman he was...
The fact that he was in the area made it easy for Shinzo Abe to drop by. But a few routine agreements for the delivery of gifts, or the issuing of a communique with few hard specifics, would hardly have been reasons for the visit by the Japanese...
Recently, Elaine Cunningham, deaconess of the Anglican Church and principal of St. Hugh’s High School, was the guest preacher at the 30th anniversary appreciation service for Rev Beverly Noble McDonald of the St. Philip’s Church,...
Published:Wednesday | September 30, 2015 | 12:00 AM
A full-throated apology for slavery from David Cameron would have been enhancing moral dimension to Britain’s move to reset its relations with the Caribbean. While admitting to slavery’s abhorrence and wounds it left, he stopped short...
Great Britain is benefiting tremendously from the lack of consensus and interest among our people - parliamentarians included - in the fact that we ought to receive reparations for the atrocities and injustices committed against our ancestors.If it...
The following are excerpts of a speech by chairman of the Electoral Commission of Jamaica (ECJ), Dorothy Pine-McLarty, at last Wednesday's town hall meeting at the Manchester High School.Given the apparent season we are in, it is appropriate to...
The headline of The Gleaner on Monday, September 28, blared: 'POLITICAL LAWBREAKERS' with a screaming subdeck declaring 'More than half of 2011 candidates yet to disclose election spending'.It is nothing short of scandalous that of the 63 Jamaica...
The subject of a claim for reparation from the United Kingdom (UK), for its role in the enslavement of Africans in the Caribbean centuries ago, has taken on huge significance since indications were given last week that British Prime Minister David...
We expected that the Gangs of Gordon House would have reformed themselves and conformed to the rule of law and moral principles. We were mistaken! Others emulate their misbehaviour.So, nearly four years after Jamaicans voted in a general election,...
The informed historian has no difficulty seeing the link between the struggle to end chattel slavery in Jamaica and the current reparation demands. There is an uncanny similarity between the forces which have come to resist the claim for reparation...
I was fortunate enough to have witnessed first-hand the splendid performance of the Reggae Boyz in their return leg World Cup qualifier held in Nicaragua some weeks ago. The absolute jubilation among the handful of Jamaicans present after the second...
Derrick Smith and his namesake, Lloyd B. Smith, hold important positions in Jamaica's Parliament, although they occupy seats on either side of the aisle. The former is leader of opposition business in the House; the latter is the Deputy Speaker....
Published:Sunday | September 27, 2015 | 12:00 AMMichael Abrahams
I have a multitude of issues with the Roman Catholic Church. Their laxity in dealing with clergy who abuse children disturbs me. Their ban on contraceptives, a policy that places women at risk, concerns me. Their...
