"She is in Intensive Care," my son told me. It took more than a split second for me to realise he was talking about his mother.I knew she had cancer and that it was pretty bad. But I thought it was under treatment and there was some hope of, at...
"The Opposition Party under the leadership of Sir Alexander Bustamante co-operated fully with the Government, and Select Committees of both houses of the legislature were appointed and met together under the chairmanship of the Premier on 31st...
Jamaica's murder rate - up by 20 per cent over last year - has many Jamaicans in despair as the atrocious bloodletting continues in our little island. The high incidence of violent crime has tested the mettle of the Government. Its latest effort to...
Comrade Senator Dr Angela Brown Burke has asked me to be one of her media liaisons and I have happily accepted. I have accepted because I believe in Angela and that she has a meaningful contribution to make to the politics of Jamaica.Born in humble...
Published:Friday | July 21, 2017 | 12:00 AMIan Boyne
There has been much focus on the Zones of Special Operations (ZOSO) Bill (now law) over the past few weeks, but there is another kind of zones which might make it unnecessary for us to declare any further ZOSO after Round One. I refer to the...
Everything that's wrong with Jamaican politics is currently on full display in South West St Andrew.Bettors on sports know that when two teams match up, the percentages say punters will get it right 50 per cent of the time - about the same as...
With the retirement of Portia Simpson Miller from local and national political leadership, her seat in South West St Andrew is now up for grabs, but it is not just any ordinary seat. Rays of political power shoot out from its influence.Although...
Much of the record of failure related to student loan financing schemes is because of problems and limitations - some of which are peculiar to low-income or less industrialised countries - that seem, at least in the short run, to be intractable that...
Recently, consumers have been talking in the mass and social media about the 'sucking out' (depletion) of call credit for data usage and high roaming charges. They have asked why the Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR) has not intervened to...
It took 11 years, but finally it was held in the United Kingdom Privy Council that our panellists in our Industrial Disputes Tribunal (IDT) were very sensible and, importantly, had a better understanding of Jamaican industrial relations practice and...
A University College of London team led by Dr Nick Draper has spent several years compiling 46,000 records of some 3,000 of those British families paid compensation for their 'loss of property' at Emancipation. This wealth has been traced to many...
There is significant consensus that has emerged which we must never gloss over: We are now generally agreed that crime-fighting is more than hard policing and that issues of human rights, social intervention, and poverty reduction are critical in...
Jamaica is paradise. A bleeding paradise awash with tears. But paradise nonetheless.At least that's what a former Colombian soldier now heading a major company in Jamaica thinks our country is. From his experience living here, Mauricio Pulido, CEO...
Just over a week ago, two reports were published in Britain that might interest the Jamaican readership. They both concerned mass-deportation charter flights from London to Kingston.Charter flights from London to Kingston restarted in September 2016...
There are two views that we can adopt in making a judgement on high mobile-phone bills of Jamaican Cabinet ministers.One, more a wish and a hope instead of the often proved, stark reality, is that most Cabinet ministers surrounding Prime Minister...
Finance Minister Audley Shaw really stubbed his toe on the cell phone issue even as Prime Minister Andrew Holness gave clear and decisive guidelines for him to take the necessary steps to fall in line with accepted standards of probity when spending...
The fast-growing importance of higher education across the Commonwealth and the world at this juncture can hardly be denied. All countries - developed or developing - are using it for some purpose of utmost significance, whether it is as a support...
If you are numbered among the 15 MPs who were elected in February 2016 or re-elected numerous times, there is bad news and there is good news.Let me give you the bad news first. It is more than likely that at some stage you were approached by the...
"You've got to be joking! You're going to seek asylum?""Yes, I'm starting a trend in Jamaica," my friend replied."I don't think most people have heard of seeking asylum unless they want to know the way to Bellevue.""Very funny," was his response."...
Just when we thought crime was really bad, it got really, really bad. The Corporate Area, cool for a while now, suddenly became very hot again, with violence breaking out across inner-city communities, claiming many lives and plunging the country...
It's all a myth, based on some petrified sailors and fishermen's fanciful tales of a legendary sea creature, crudely resembling the giant squid or the giant octopus. Poor Kraken, it doesn't exist, but has been slandered and libelled by Norse...
If the prime minister as captain for the Crime Zones Act leads as the transformational leader he says he wants to be, the Government should soon be getting requests for special interventions.The advocacy focus during the debate of the bill,...
The evidence is compelling. Cannabis is a drug. It interferes with the normal functioning of the body. Advances in technology have allowed the scientific community to observe the pervasive way in which the active ingredients of cannabis affect the...
Published:Thursday | June 29, 2017 | 12:00 AMOrville Taylor
Of all of the many commentators who are singing platitudes or slinging mud at Portia Simpson Miller, or patting her on her back, I can speak of her commitment to the poor and working classes. Indeed, there is no doubt in my mind that she has an...
After all the huffing and puffing, stout resistance, non-sequitur, diversionary 'reasoning', the controversial special zones bill was passed by the House of Representatives, containing all the elements that I had proposed in January and for which I was roundly abused and...
