There is now a deafening silence regarding the revelation that the cable companies that have been supplying us with subscriber television services have all along been purloining this service from the providers in the United States (US).These...
When the chairman of the Police Federation, Sergeant Raymond Wilson, was appointed to the embattled board of the National Housing Trust last November amid the scandal over the Outameni purchase, a few persons may have snickered at what they saw as a...
Ainsley Powell, the commissioner general of Tax Administration Jamaica, is, it seems, a diligent man - an admirable trait in a tax collector. His credo, we can attest, is never to let a penny - or four - go a-begging. At least, when it comes to...
Let me make it clear at the start that I am not, by any stretch of the imagination, making light of the travesty that happened in Mavis Bank and Flamstead. I recognise and feel for those who lost possessions and livelihood in the fire. It's the kind...
If there were doubts as to whether quality presentations can be made in the Sectoral Debate without members of parliament being on their feet for upwards of two hours, think again.The revamped debate, which ended last week, demonstrated that members...
Anyone who knows anything about Hilary Beckles knows that he knows more than a thing or two about cricket. And not only of the sociocultural aspect of the game, about which he has written eloquently and, occasionally, at least for Jamaican tastes,...
Professor Sir Hilary Beckles has taken office as vice-chancellor of the University of the West Indies (UWI). Welcome, but you have a lot do to build on the successes of the gentle leader, E. Nigel Harris, and to touch on areas that did not get as...
My friend Carolyn Cooper is quite right that "sexual desire is unruly. It makes people veer out of lanes". The emotional carnage in our land is witness to the consequences of old men (M3s) and old women (W3s) being desperately desirous of younger...
Many years ago, while in a line waiting to pay my cable bill, I encountered the husband of a patient of mine who was in his late 40s. I had delivered his son and daughter and enquired about his children, who were still quite young. He began his...
When it sucked at managing the economy, which was the case in the 1970s, the People's National Party (PNP) was, at least, good at one thing. It knew how to mobilise people around ideas.So, Michael Manley and people like D.K. Duncan, Arnold Bertram...
Incredibly, although Jamaica is suffering in the throes of severe austerity measures, there still exists a deep and pervasive attitude that 'the Government' has unlimited financial resources.I suppose that would explain the constant revisiting of...
Published:Saturday | May 9, 2015 | 12:00 AMTenesha Myrie
In the discussions surrounding the decriminalisation of abortion, it is imperative that we acknowledge that the status of the law does not affect a woman's need for abortion. What it affects is her access to safe abortion.The World Health...
Last Wednesday, I telephoned Dr Irving McKenzie, dean of the College of Oral Sciences at the University of Technology (UTech). I wanted to ask a single, straightforward question: Why was UTech bypassing accreditation of its degree programme in...
This Child Month we're reaping exactly what we've sowed with the sexualisation of Jamaica's children. Therefore, it's the shock at what we see going on in the news that's strange and shocking, not the goings on. For instance, last week, I learned...
The Constitution of Jamaica does not make provision for a fixed national election date. As such, the prime minister has free will to play with the timing for elections. The process of determining the date is not always under the control and...
Horace Levy's article 'Government can't do it alone' (Gleaner, March 31, 2015) raises important issues about our democracy, especially in an age when its traditional modalities have been eclipsed by both social communication technology and a much...
It may not be conventional wisdom, but the result of last week's election in Britain matters. So, Jamaica and the rest of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) should pay attention. But first, they must have a clear perspective of what the issues are...
Published:Thursday | May 7, 2015 | 12:00 AMGwynne Dyer
The picture of the two Asian giants that most people carry around in their heads shows China racing ahead economically while India bumbles along, falling ever further behind. People even talk about the 21st Century as 'China's...
We note with concern the impact of the massive fires now raging in the hilly regions of Mavis Bank and its environments which have left in their trail millions of dollars' worth of damage. As yet, we do not know whether these fires were deliberately...
Published:Friday | May 8, 2015 | 12:00 AMTony Deyal
There is nothing like the first ball of the first Test of a series. There is no experience or feeling quite like it. Perhaps it is the many months of waiting and the rising excitement of the crowd that goes from murmur to expectant hush to the full-...
Sooner or later, Jamaica will stop using the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council as its final court of appeal. It's just a matter of when and how.The positions of our two political parties are well-known. The Government wants to do away with...
Bruce Golding, the former prime minister, is right. A defeat in Parliament this month of the constitutional amendment to establish the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) as this country's court of last resort will likely remove the issue from the...
Never before in my 60-odd years can I recall a Child Month being celebrated in the context of so many children being kidnapped, sexually abused, prostituted and murdered. The victims are usually girl children, and the perpetrators usually adult men...
It's impossible not to write about the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight this week. It seems the entire world is talking about it. The consensus after the fight is that it was a farce, that the public was hoodwinked into believing that the 'Fight of the...
Published:Tuesday | May 5, 2015 | 12:00 AMJaevion Nelson
The rigid notions of masculinity and femininity that we have subscribed to are hurting our children. They grow up thinking that there is only one way to be man and one way to be woman. Consequently, this cause many children and youth to feel...
