In February, the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF), as an organisation, was responsible for the deaths of two citizens. This was a 'good' achievement given its record over the recent past. This good outcome had induced me to start thinking about how...
When Jennifer Edwards, a ruling-party politician and one-time aide to Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller, was being made executive director of the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA), this newspaper warned of the dangers inherent in...
Our children's advocate has proposed that we institute parenting classes for young mothers. I think this is an excellent idea. Concern for our youth has dominated the news recently. This has been so primarily because we are seeing 14-year-old...
Small though it may be, even tiny some may say, it is widely held and generally acknowledged that the penis mightier than the sword. No, that is not a typo, and my spellchecker has decided that it is indeed a word, an honourable word, one of long...
There is, understandably, a great deal of angst surrounding the latest inferno at the Riverton City dump. It is almost an annual ritual for thick, polluted smoke to billow into the atmosphere, producing conditions of unbearable discomfort for...
Who is a smaddy in Jamaica? Not a somebody, and certainly not a someone, but a smaddy?Some of us are considered (or perhaps more precisely consider ourselves to be) 'topanaris', while others are considered 'big people', either because of their...
Governments like Jamaica seek foreign investment because of the economic benefits that should flow to the country, but the same government (because of incompetence or corruption) can take steps to cancel out the economic benefits.Investment in...
Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao are set to clash on May 2. It is widely regarded as the most anticipated fight in recent boxing history. Not since the days of Ali vs Foreman, or Hearns vs Leonard, has the public been so keen to see two men go at...
Fitz Jackson, the MP for South St Catherine, is a politician for whom this newspaper would make time. He is often rational. Or, so it appears.But something has gone wrong. On the Portmore municipal boundaries issue, he seems to have lost his marbles...
Recently, 14-year-old Kayalicia Simpson was chopped and killed. It is said that this young student was having sexual relationships with big men and persons knew. Apparently, she was murdered to cover up this crime and early teenage pregnancy. A...
Without realising it, Fenton Ferguson, the health minister, stumbled into the debate on corruption in Jamaica and ways to fight the problem.His timing is fortuitous. A three-day international conference on the issue, organised by the Office of the...
Over the past decade or so, more than 1,600 of our children have been killed in Jamaica. The monument erected in 2008 in downtown Kingston shows evidence of the misfortune of children - many of whose lives were taken in violent circumstances and...
The proliferation of large retail outlets now paintingthe Jamaican landscape, withthe accompanying massive use ofe-commerce, place increasing responsibilities on our financial industry, and indeed all consumers, to keep abreast with international...
Some heartbreaking stories concerning children have come to light in the media in the last couple of weeks. The instances of apparent sexual abuse and the cruel lengths to which people go to cover up their heinous acts have attracted the pity of...
Everything starts with discipline. How we interact with neighbours, friends, strangers. How we fraternise with our colleagues at work, and how we love our partners. All this begins with discipline.When discipline in any society disintegrates, all...
Climate change is a slow-moving stressor compounding vexing developmental challenges across Latin America and the Caribbean and testing governments to the limits of their capacities. For example, the mega-city, Sao Paolo (South America's largest and...
Although not a military strategist, Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller will appreciate that in battle, victory is not always assured by superiority of numbers. What is often just as important is the tactical application of the troops and the will...
In Apocrypha, that fantasy land beyond the clouds where politicians are frenemies and notorious PhD in logic, Oma D'unn, solves political dilemmas with parables, Parliament assembled to debate proposed legislation from the nation's executive. It was...
What have you been giving up for Lent? While the traditional Lenten disciplines of fasting and acts of sacrifice may have their place, how might we exercise some more actions that benefit our human community in Christlike ways? The children of...
In one week, as International Women's Day, Jamaica added two known cases of femicides or murders of the 'girl child'. For Abigail and Kayalicia were not just killed, and are not just victims of our ultimate cruelty to our children. Both were...
Our first bit of advice to Dave Cameron is that the past can't merely be confined to the past. Or, to reprise, and put a spin on C.L.R. James' observation about cricket, Mr Cameron will appreciate precious little about cricket if he fails to...
Possessing a womb can be a wonderful thing. The organ has the potential to house, protect and nurture a fetus and carry it to viability. Successful pregnancy and childbirth can be a beautiful and rewarding experience. Unfortunately, a uterus...
Published:Sunday | March 8, 2015 | 3:43 PMDaraine Luton
So, the Government has pushed back, by a year, the target of reducing the wage bill to nine per cent of GDP (gross domestic product).This target, originally set for March 2016, was considered sacrosanct in the Government's agreement with the...
Kenny Anthony, the prime minister of St Lucia, has, among the pontificators and analysts, come closest to diagnosing the crisis in West Indies cricket. It mirrors, he says, the crisis in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), the region's economic...
