MANY SAY Andrew Holness is an interim leader of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP). That he doesn't have the toughness, the nerve, the fight in him to really tek it to Portia and her Government. That he has been allowing them to get away with too much while he seems to be asleep; occasionally waking to faintly protest.
THE MINISTRY of Justice welcomed The Gleaner's editorial of July 11, 2013, entitled 'Tough sentences alone won't do', concerning trafficking in persons in Jamaica. We view constructive public discourse on these matters as essential to deepening the rule of law in Jamaica.
US NEWS and World Report of July 3, 2013, reported that if HIV continues to spread at current rates in the United States of America (USA) "half of college-aged gay men will have the infection by the age of 50".
TRANSFORMATION CAN be defined as "sudden and dramatic change". Not all schools require this type of transformation. But all schools require ongoing improvement in all areas of the organisation (culture, processes systems and structures) that support students' learning and achievement in a sustained way.
It is important that you understand 'who you are' and 'who you are not'. All of us have those things that we are good at, and those that we are not. Things that we love to do, and those that we don't. As you look forward to the next phase in your life, understand what your strengths are and 'play to your strengths'.
One of the more common strategies employed by Christian religious fundamentalists to undermine science is to mischaracterise it as a faith-based belief system, the equivalent of religion.
IF ASAFA Powell and Sherone Simpson, two of the biggest names in the history of Jamaican track and field athletics, fall under the pressure of the international and local criticism, it is their hyssop that they drink and not the nation's. Admittedly, though, their violations will cast a shadow on all of Jamaica's modern track and field success.
Forty years is not a long time in the life of an organisation. However, it is sufficient time to make an assessment of its performance towards achieving its mission, vision and strategic goals.
In its frantic scramble to silence whistleblower Edward Snowden - who recently exposed secret spying by the National Security Agency (NSA) on Americans and citizens of other nations - the United States government has managed to thoroughly offend its neighbours south of the border.
Once more, Transparency International (TI) has held a candle to Jamaica and we are still seen as a very corrupt country. Last year, the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) was publicised as 3.8 on a scale of 10, indicating that there was a well-entrenched belief that Jamaica is a decadent society.
Our country is currently faced with certain critical issues which are both profoundly urgent and challenging. The global turmoil facing countries, evidenced by economic, social and political upheaval, would have convinced us that the current crises facing Jamaica have not been unexpected and, therefore, should come as no surprise.
Our national education performance has been very poor and has been so for a very long time, despite many interventions such as the 2004 P.J. Patterson-commissioned Task Force Report on Education.
What could make a rational, reasoned and well-thinking person justify the production or performance of songs glorifying murder or toasting criminal gangs responsible for the death of thousands of Jamaicans? What happens to the thinking process of a person which would lead him or her to take to the press to say freedom of speech entitles one to celebrate murder?
Today is Bastille Day. On this summer day in 1789, the masses, fed up with the oppression of the ancien régime and assisted by dissident soldiers, stormed the Bastille prison in Paris, captured it, released its seven prisoners and smashed it to pieces.
Some of the worst examples of sloppy thinking, non-sequitur reasoning, and nonsense masquerading as commentary, as well as plain hysteria and myopia, have been manifested in this discussion on the anti-gang legislation as it concerns gangster lyrics.
On Sunday, May 26, I sat through a beautiful church service in observance of Child Month where the talents of children and adolescents were paraded on stage as they sang, read scriptures, drummed, and prayed with pomp, style, energy and confidence.
Every now and again, some of the puff-chested doctors-cum-priests of science and a wide variety of coat-tail-hanging quacks emerge to advise us that religion, and particularly Christianity, is terminally ill.
Coming in from Thompson Town last Tuesday, driving on the newest leg of Highway 2000, I grumbled that being alone on the road, I was going to be the victim of a crime.
In the case of United States vs Windsor, the United States Supreme Court held on June 25, 2013, that Section 3 of the Defence of Marriage Act (DOMA) was unconstitutional.
Tomorrow, July 8, marks the Jamaica Labour Party's (JLP) 70th birthday, but is there anything to show for it after its flying start out of the electoral gates in 1944, beyond its propensity to be a serial loser of national elections and its reputation...
Going forward, Jamaica's most important challenge is not our fast-approaching US$2-trillion debt - important as that is in demonstrating our voluntary enslavement to others with their right to dictate our policies and actions.
Recent parliamentary debates and presentations have been enriched with several spectacular admissions of failure. None bigger than that made by former Minister of Finance, Dr Omar Davies, in the debate of the Revenue Administration (Amendment) Bill.
