In Focus

In October 2001, Evangelical preacher Harry John Hammond held up a large placard in Britain which read, 'Stop immorality, stop homosexuality, stop lesbianism'. A group of approximately 40 people gathered around him, some threw missiles, and one attempted to pull away his placard.

This month, Her Majesty's Government (HMG) was required to pay 19.9 million pounds in compensation to some 5,000 elderly Kenyans who were tortured and abused during the Mau Mau uprising in the 1950s. This case bears lessons for the Caribbean and it also has much to teach about the true nature of the British Empire.

Last Thursday and Friday, the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) hosted a regional anti-corruption seminar and workshop themed 'Towards Regional Cooperation for Anti-Corruption'.

The Ritz-Carlton, with its reputation for five-star treatment and all that goes with that, has decided that Jamaica, with its present and inevitableturmoil-to-be, is likely to diminish the Ritz-Carlton brand.

Jamaican 400-metre runner Dominique Blake was banned for six years two Thursdays ago.

Commissions of enquiry, from Moyne to Manatt, have achieved more in their intent than their results.

Our Government has finally announced that the nation will hold a public inquiry into the actions of the State for its entry into the Tivoli Gardens to apprehend Christopher 'Dudus' Coke, for whom an extradition request was issued. Certainly this has been, at least for some, a welcome announcement, but in some quarters there is the view that this will be another meaningless exercise.

Why is there this huge bias in economic analysis against consumption and imports and in favour of production and exports? Being not a 'real' economist, as a certain real economist never misses an opportunity to remind me, and therefore with no professional reputation to be damaged or lost, I can risk asking the stupid questions which everyone else wants to ask but is afraid to ask in the intimidating presence of 'real' economists.

There are several reasons why the Jamaican currency has seen sharp depreciation over the past several months. When a currency loses value, it is usually because of three broad factors, namely: (1) fundamental weakness in that country's competitive economy (otherwise called uncompetitiveness or market forces), (2) devaluation by government, and (3) speculation on that currency.

If you didn't think that Jamaica's hindquarters are in a vice now, you obviously are one of the stupid tribalists who think that the Government can do nothing wrong. In order for us to move forward, we have to start telling the truth - in particular, telling it to ourselves.

Religion is the greatest barrier to the acceptance of homosexuality as normal and moral. Gay people know this, and that is why so many are fiercely and bitterly hostile to religion and seek to undermine and ridicule it. Especially in fundamentalist religious cultures like Jamaica's, the fight for gay rights is necessarily a fight against conservative religion.