In Focus

Threats to press freedom are not just confined to state action or even to pressure from commercial interests.

I knew that last week's column would have reopened old sores and provoked painful memories. The 1970s always does that. And the partisanship and battle lines which characterised that era always resurface.

The end of August is a stressful time for many parents. Getting children ready for the new school year is a daunting task for many: booklists, school bags, uniforms, shoes, the whole nine yards, is an expensive operation, especially so for the people of St Thomas, inarguably one of Jamaica's most underdeveloped parishes and, without a doubt, its most neglected.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has always been a source of controversy. But that is what happens when taking care of the sick and the medicine is more bitter than the pain. The IMF is used to this because it is convinced that when the bitter medicine is taken, the pain will be over, and that is what counts. Yet, it really does not always work out that way, and the IMF is left with the blame, sometimes deservingly so.

Every time I open my mouth, people seem to think that it is a gate or door, and attempt to jump down my throat.

The second 10-year review of the Barbados Programme of Action (BPOA) wound up in Samoa's capital Apia on September 4.

The foundation of Jamaica's economic growth strategy relies on a sustained investment effort. The country's ability to build and maintain its global competitive advantages - a country's competitiveness - is perhaps the single most important hurdle we have to address to implement a successful economic growth strategy.

Anyone remember the American boxer Carl 'The Truth' Williams? The same one who collided with a right hook from Mike Tyson in the second minute of the first round in 1989? I'm not sure why he was so called, but when the referee stopped the fight...