In Focus

Two news items have been sitting on my chest like overnight jackfruit, with an equally persistent odour on my fingertips.

If science, strictly defined, is the only legitimate measurement of truth, how can we scientifically prove that slavery is wrong? By what scientific measurement?

If you want to go on eating regularly in a rapidly warming world, live in a place that's either high in latitude or high in altitude. Alternatively, be rich, because the rich never starve. But otherwise, prepare to be hungry.

In commenting on the draft bill, it is important to separate the principles that inform the bill and the actual provisions contained therein.

The vitriolic backlash began immediately as my February 18 column headlined 'Horse racing in shambles' appeared.

The Gleaner's editorial headline of Monday, March 24, 2014 had a final sentence: Consider merging UTech with UWI.

The public has a right to know the full story of what has been taking place at the University of Technology (UTech) in relation to issues of governance, expenditure of public funds, adherence to procurement rules, equity, and trust.

A man who was overwhelmed, distraught and contemplating murdering his girlfriend and then committing suicide, as she had abandoned him for another, taking all he provided, including the house, was counselled by a Street Pastor one night. Other Street Pastors followed him up by checking up on him.

Martin Luther King Jr once said, "It's all right to tell a man to lift himself by his own bootstraps, but it is cruel just to say to a bootless man that he ought to lift himself by his own bootstraps." We, as responsible adults, should at least try to give our students a chance to improve their God-given talents.

The Church can flex its muscles all it like, it is going to lose its battle with the State on this flexi-week issue. Indeed, if the Church pushes too much on this issue, it is likely to incur increased criticism and cynicism, resulting in its further marginalisation.

So, another commission of enquiry is slated to take place. The Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) is on record as expressing its willingness to participate in the impending Tivoli commission of enquiry as it wants to get to the truth of what happened during that fateful period in May 2010.

Normally, curfews for children would be a parenting matter. While the recently announced community curfew strategy can give rise to some concern about its implications for the rights of children and parents, it could provide a golden opportunity for promoting and supporting healthy family life in the households of the selected communities.