Unfortunately, what passes for bandwidth here in Grenada didn't allow Caribvision to connect with me through Skype, so we had to resort to the phone and the old cat-in-the-hat photo. The panel consisted of Neville Boxhill from the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO), a Barbadian economist whose name escapes me, and the new CEO of LIAT, David Evans.
It would have been hard to ignore the torrent of protest and fiery opposition that followed Peter Phillips' announcement of the withdrawal tax, and if the finance minister thought that announcing it on the eve of the most solemn weekend on the Christian calendar would cause Jamaicans to forgive him, he was dead wrong.
When I heard that the Jamaican was about hurdle over the 110m, I, of course, was jumping for joy over the projected exploits of young Jaheel Hyde at the Carifta Games last weekend.
The rage and hostility of the Jamaican people over the proposed bank withdrawal tax is the most incendiary since Bruce Golding experienced his Christmas Rebellion some years ago when he came with his unpalatable tax package.
The minister of finance, Dr Peter Phillips, at the opening of the Budget Debate two Thursdays ago, announced a new tax to be imposed on withdrawals from deposit-taking institutions, including banks.
It is 50 years old, moved with us through four homes, most loved for my favourite dish, Beef Wellington, and my wife's favourite, salt fish and ackee, and as far as I know, it is the first cookbook of family-collected recipes to be...
Tempers have not even cooled down over the contentious service charges that banks have been piling upon customers while making astronomical profits, when along comes the minister of finance to further rile up the people with a tax on their withdrawals from financial institutions!
Nothing was happening around the domino table that particular Saturday. Gene Autry, The Beast and I were lazing around unable to raise a fourth, when Haemorrhoid showed up.
In a column titled 'Why science is not God' (Sunday Gleaner, April 13, 2014), my friend, Ian Boyne, generates a storm of sophistry to blow down the straw men of "scientism" and the hubris of "scientistic atheists".
It grieves me to see the golden opportunities being wasted because of myopia, insularity, and prejudice with regard to Jamaica's potential for generating far greater economic benefits from its culture, creative talents, and just being blessed.
Sunday Gleaner columnist Martin Henry, having written a column ('JUTC swipe unjust', April 13, 2014) about what he considers unjust and unfair business practices of the Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC) in seeking to boost its revenue, has since resiled from the statements he made in that article.
It takes a whole heap of faith for someone to be a Christian, and once again, we complete our Easter rituals on Resurrection Sunday. As irreverent as it might sound, we really have little evidence of all the biblical tales, including the Transfiguration and Ascension.
We now have a new Poet Laureate. Professor Emeritus Mervyn Morris, with a strong track record in writing and performing poetry, has been selected to wear the laurel wreath of official National Poet.
Audley Shaw, in his budget reply on Tuesday, sharp rhetorician and 'ray-ray' lyricist that he is, could have a field day with his populist message of people's suffering and their lives going to hell with this International Monetary Fund (IMF) austerity programme.
It is particularly disturbing to me that the Jamaica Teaching Council (JTC), in its proposed education bill with the main objective to (a) "raise the character and status of the teaching profession", ...
As readers are aware, the Office of the Public Defender (OPD) derives its mandate from the provisions of the Public Defender (Interim) Act 2000 and the creation of this commission of Parliament emerged from the previous creature of statute that was...
For us number-crunchers, the performance of the tourism industry is measured by several widely accepted indicators: stay-over visitor arrivals, cruise ship arrivals, average length of stay; occupancy and room rates, average spend and visitor...
I read and reread carefully Agriculture Minister Roger Clarke's speech at the launch of National Farmers' Month on Wednesday, April 2, which was delivered by Lenworth Fulton, chief executive officer of the Rural Agricultural Development Authority...
On February 9, in response to an egregiously foolish column by Booklist Boyne (even for him) proselytising that poverty breeds crime, I wrote a critique which The Gleaner headlined 'Boyne's criminal logic'.
