It is unfathomable why adults are still being prohibited by law from engaging in sex work - whether as an individual providing or receiving such services - in and outside of Jamaica. To make matters worse, it is also illegal for you to 'knowingly'...
Elections lie at the heart of liberal, representative democracy and the cost of conducting them has been at the forefront of issues that have long given rise to debates on whether it would be prudent to hold general and local polls simultaneously.In...
It has not been reported whether the local government minister, Noel Arscott, met, as he has planned, with the board of the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA) to discuss what effectively is their sacking of its CEO, Jennifer Edwards....
Published:Wednesday | March 25, 2015 | 12:00 AMCarolyn Cooper
In a hopeful Budget speech that insistently focused on facts, Finance Minister Dr Peter Phillips demolished the false claims of both Opposition Leader Andrew Holness, and the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) spokesman on finance, Audley Shaw, about the...
Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, last week delivered a budget that, in his words, signals the end of austerity. Speaking with a triumphalist tone as he outlined what clearly is a budget intended to win the upcoming elections...
Ruddy Spencer doesn't need a column to say how underwhelming he thinks Andrew Holness' speech was, because cutting a sleep was commentary enough. But unlike Ruddy and some others in Parliament, I stayed (mostly) awake.I think Andrew did well enough...
In 2011, an ambitious Andrew Holness, captivated by the irresistible lure of power and fame, allowed himself to be hoodwinked into believing that he was the best person to secure a second term of office for the then ruling Jamaica Labour Party (JLP...
It is possible that we misapprehend and overstate its significance. Any other interpretation would be cause for even greater concern. That is, the Jamaican health ministry's statement about pollutants in the atmosphere at the height last week of the...
The Riverton fire is getting more attention than any other annual event, including carnival.Why the shock, awe and outrage? Haven't we been here before? Repeatedly? Governments prioritise SUVs over fiscal targets and fiscal targets over all else,...
Before they were record-breaking track athletes or politicians or world-famous singers or TV personalities, they were plain ol' people. And long after the activity that caused them to rise to fame, they will still just be people. Society forgets...
I hope that the minister of education does not give in to the so-called stakeholders who are against his proposed policy of controlling the way students are transferred from school to school for sports, or any other reason for that matter.The...
When Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller speaks in the Budget Debate today, she will, hopefully, keep at the back of her mind Lee Kuan Yew, the architect of modern Singapore, who died on Sunday, aged 91, and to whom she will likely pay tribute...
The Budget Debate closes this week, and Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller, after a poor week in front of the television cameras, must turn up in the House of Representatives and try to convince Jamaicans that the Government she leads understands...
I'm not detecting any administrative sense of concern or urgency regarding the imminent opening up of Cuba to tourists from the United States of America. And, although the USA is beginning to warn visitors to our island of crime here, I'm not...
On March 17, Oral Tracey used his column to outline what he describes as his disgust with females supporting all-boys schools in the annual Boys and Girls' Championships.He especially took umbrage at women supporting these well-known Kingston-based...
Among the more interesting of Audley Shaw's suggestions when he spoke in the budget debate last week was for the government to offer "investment tax credits" to foreign firms to hold their profits in Jamaica. It is an idea that is worthy of...
While checking out a news feed on Facebook last week I came across a video clip of CVM Television's Garfield Burford interviewing our prime minister about the Riverton City fire. My initial reaction was one of...
We appreciate the premium on loyalty in politics and how loyalty is enhanced when political relationships are overlaid with personal friendships. Jennifer Edwards, the fired CEO of the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA), and prime...
The Gleaner of March 11 carried a report that "the Ministry of Finance and Planning has admitted that tax revenue targets have not been achieved in the last seven years". While this is true, the impression may be given that this is a departure from...
The plantation is abuzz with activity. The budget is being debated, or shall we say, the samfy artists are at work. The political operatives are testing the potency of the brew that has been consumed in large quantities. The board of governors for...
Everywhere mi turn, macca jook mi. Look how mi a try emancipate miself from mental slavery. Mi a defend gay people rights inna fi wi country. It look like mi mighta ha fi go stop. Trouble deh a road, mi naa bring it a mi yard. Di...
Published:Friday | March 20, 2015 | 5:46 PMHorace Levy
Is any good going to come out of the West Kingston Commission of Enquiry? Most people, at this stage - or from before it even started - say 'no'. And truly, the signs, up to now, that we will get the result we want are not strong. Gordon Robinson,...
When Indians came to Trinidad and other Caribbean countries as indentured immigrants, they brought many of their customs with them, some of which have still not been completely excised, including arranged marriages. In the old days, some scams were...
At its most basic, performance-based pay refers to incentives given to employees for performing well on the job. Indeed, performance-based compensation systems have been boosting productivity and increasing efficiency in some of the better-run...
Published:Friday | March 20, 2015 | 12:00 AMLemuel Brady
The Riverton City 'dump site' - not a landfill site by any stretch of the enlightened imagination - is in the news again. Another 'fire of unknown origin' has been sending smoke and fumes into the air, smothering neighboring...
