In Focus

An IMF-stimulated Parliament, sitting up to Christmas Eve, has outdone itself in passing legislation this year. Senator Mark Golding was crowing just before Christmas that the Senate had passed 40 bills up to then, nearly doubling the average for the past four years.

The year 2014 is going to be the greatest in Jamaican history; we shall see a major reduction in violent crime, economic growth, an explosion of employment possibilities for youth, an increase in honesty among politicians, a reduction in the number of police killings, zero attacks on the constabulary, Asafa Powell will run his personal best, and Sherone Simpson will, too.

Richard Byles walks softly, but as president and CEO of Sagicor Life, he has piloted the life insurance giant to growth through tight economic times. His experiences as a manager were the centrepiece of the fifth lecture in the Digicel Extraordinary Leadership Series.

November 31, 2014

I welcome Damion Crawford's reasoned, rational and respectful response to my criticisms of him.

What a Christmas present!

Unfair trade practices could involve any of a range of situations which are not permitted by the Treaty of Chaguaramas.

I parked on the rooftop, to which visitors are relegated, and beside a long-fallen lamp post with charred remains from a fire at its fibreglass base. The piece of road to the entry point of the car park is potholed. The elevators have, stuck to the doors, a note of apology that they don't work.

In recent times, Jamaicans have had to endure the indignity of being lectured by Trinidadians about why CARICOM is good for us, how to further our own interests, and the fact that our uncompetitiveness in CARICOM is only a small indication of our uncompetitiveness with the entire world. Maybe it is what we deserve.

It is unfortunate that a journalist the calibre of Ian Boyne finds it impossible to disagree without being disrespectful. In an article titled 'Politicians weak-kneed on hate music' (Sunday Gleaner, 8/12/2013), Mr Boyne insinuated at my supposed aversion to reading - a conclusion to which he could have no evidence, based on our limited interaction and his lack of knowledge of my reading habits.

Many men have been done lesser evils than those done to Nelson Mandela and have gone on to live and die in some backwater of unforgiveness and bitterness. But not so Nelson Mandela.

It was like surreal.