The election of Donald Trump as president of the United States has elicited a torrent of analyses to explain this 'unexpected' outcome. I don't view his election with the same degree of alarm as many do. In fact, I predicted the outcome and told my...
A survey of youth aged 10-19 across Jamaica indicated 20 per cent either paid or cheated to pass an exam; 40 per cent thought it unacceptable to report those who cheat on an exam; 23 per cent think lottery scamming is OK and not harmful to society...
In the past, I have refrained from endorsing prayer breakfasts and national marches by the 'people of faith', and nothing will make me hug up the Heal the Family, Heal the Nation service which was hosted by The Power of Faith Ministries...
Happy New Year, everybody! (On Sunday, January 1) I celebrated my gazillionth birthday. It's a New Year for most; a NEW Year for me. We all understand the meaning of 'New Year'. We all sing lustily at midnight, December 31 (at least as far as we can...
Everybody wants a prosperous new year. There were many such wishes after midnight last night. But how many know exactly how to achieve that? How many are willing to pay the price?Thirty years ago this year, in 1987, I created a television programme...
In a few days, the country will see the departure of the second Commissioner of Police in three years, and of course, there is rife speculation as to why. Dr Carl Williams, a man who rose through the ranks of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) to...
It is no secret that Jamaica had another successful year in 2016 on the economic front. Big growth numbers came in the July-September quarter, positive outlook came from the rating agencies, a new precautionary standby agreement (PSBA) was signed...
I was fortunate enough recently to overhear a conversation between a senior member of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) government (name withheld by request) and an investigative journalist (name withheld by request) of a prominent Jamaican newspaper (...
"The price of greatness is responsibility."- Sir Winston Churchill Today is the beginning of the year, and Prime Minister Andrew Holness in a New Year Message will, understandably, give hope to his people by highlighting expected improved performance...
Christ's birth signalled a new era in world philosophy.Was Christ's purpose in the world to 'save' us from sin? Nope. His purpose was to 'save sinners' (1 Timothy 1:15; Mark 2:17; Luke 19:10) and to teach us the TRUE purpose of life (Matthew 20:28;...
It's that time of the year when the big American media focus on Christianity, alleged contradictions in the Gospels, and the controversy surrounding whether the Bible is really true. Often, the discussion is unbalanced, sensational, and less than...
Let's just accept that Christmas is a secular holiday that is intended for family and friends to come together, take a long break from work and school, and have some warmth and fun. Apart from the fat...
I was too young to attend midnight Christmas Mass at Holy Cross, my mother said, until I was probably nine years old. All my older siblings, who weren't helping out in our supermarket, attended. I had come to consider it an adult thing.Chang's...
"Success is not final, failure is not fatal; it is the courage to continue that counts."- Sir Winston Churchill Christmas is a time of giving. Individuals, civic and community leaders, and businesses have always played their part in providing bonuses...
We all saw the video of an Asian looking man making what looks like rice from something that resemble plastic, and of course, the recent reports of a woman who purportedly had the polymer-based ‘sin-thetic’ staple, which melted instead...
Published:Friday | December 16, 2016 | 12:00 AMMartin Henry
Burning cigarette and blazing front page headline, “Deadly Trade”. What? Did a local newspaper find the courage to describe the tobacco trade a deadly trade as its lead story of the day? The fine print disappoints. The “business...
As the Computer Whiz (aged 5) used to say, "It's Crimpas Time!"Every parent has experienced going to bed circa 3.00 a.m. on December 25th after completing some vital, albeit childish tasks, only to be awoken two hours later by the sounds of...
Published:Friday | December 16, 2016 | 12:00 AMMark Ricketts
I can't change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.- Jimmy Dean Crime and violence happen to be Jamaica's biggest problem. Over the past few weeks, trying to offer solutions, I had a two-part series...
Peter Bunting's surprise move to withdraw from going up against Peter Phillips for the presidency of the Peoples National Party (PNP) demonstrates why he possesses the maturity, temperament and political sagacity to be the next leader of the PNP -...
I loved Portia Simpson from the first time she stepped into the Ministry of Labour in 1989, in her elegant garb and her bang hairstyle. Nothing has changed since that day.We had suffered the indignity of a J.A.G. Smith II, who completely defaced the...
Now that the dust has begun to settle from the recently concluded local government elections, I am in a better position to reflect on the issues that have come to the fore and place them within the wider global context of governance of human...
Yes, it's true. Cuba's brutal dictator is dead. No matter what some ideologues might say to excuse his atrocities, Cuba spent many years under the thumb of an anti-democratic, evil despot who revoked all constitutional process, most political...
Hardly had the eagerly expected words fallen from her mouth that she was making her exit, the campaign to replace her revved into high gear. 'I was loyal to Portia, says Bunting', declared The Gleaner the Monday following Portia Simpson Miller's...
"Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore." - Andre Gide, French Nobel Prize winner in literature I landed in Kingston a few weeks ago to enjoy Christmas and New Year's in the land of my birth. Shortly...
The 2016 US presidential election campaign has left the American people more deeply divided than at any time since they fought a civil war in which three million took up arms, more than 600,000 lost their lives, and thousands more were disabled.For...
