Jamaica needs more innovative homegrown winners in business if we are to move beyond just being money-changers and margin gatherers. I grew up celebrating Jamaican brands like Red Stripe, Tia Maria, Appleton, and Pickappepa. The first three are no...
It may not dawn on many of our politicians, church groups, and macho voices who claim unease in the presence of gay men that should a gay-rights group be allowed to hold a forum on gay marriage at the Montego Bay Cultural Centre, it is more than...
Once again, sex, especially other people’s sex, is a hot topic. Perhaps it’s time to take a more spiritual look at sex. By now, regular readers know I believe this universe and its diverse life-forms (including us) were created by God to complete...
In keeping with its mandate to provide housing solutions for low- and middle-income Jamaicans and given the scarcity of suitable land for development in Kingston, the Housing Agency of Jamaica (HAJ) plans to develop and sell 50 lots on 20 acres (of...
As far as I can remember, when I came back to Jamaica 15 years ago, in 2004, it had been said that small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) are the drivers of the well-needed economic growth. So it became the language and focus of policy. Somewhere...
I consider myself lucky to have two hometowns I love – Kingston, Jamaica, and Glasgow, Scotland, but unfortunately, the two have a sad connection. My current home, Kingston, Jamaica’s capital and economic hub, is ranked the 16th most dangerous...
The People's National Party (PNP) and Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) are in a war that doesn't involve guns, ammunition and borders drawn. That stupid thing was for another time like in the 1970s when the police didn't really know which side had the...
Driving from Edgewater to Spanish Town on an unfamiliar road one day in the 1970s, I was astonished, in the midst of cane fields near Gregory Park, to suddenly come upon an abandoned cricket pavilion, pristine in its majestic isolation. Abandoned,...
It’s pathetic how obsessed we are with other people’s sex lives, how afraid we are of reality, and how careless we are with our children’s futures. So Delroy Chuck, in opening a parliamentary debate on the report of a joint select committee...
The special economic zone (SEZ) policy and legislative framework was created to generate a facilitating space within the Jamaican economy to spur economic growth by attracting new investments. This economic growth is fuelled by attracting new...
Last year, The University of the West Indies celebrated its 70th anniversary. There was a special event held on the Mona campus where the university’s significant achievement was highlighted on video. The UWI had accomplished the remarkable feat of...
I’m a Michael Abrahams fan. He’s a quality comedian whose satirical music videos (often featuring the great Wayne Armond on guitar) are witty and incisive. In addition, he’s an intelligent, charming, sincere, empathetic, and down-to-earth person....
When my son Mark Jr was just learning to walk, he plunged one hand into a scalding bowl of cornmeal porridge that was on a coffee table in the living room. It was a Saturday morning and my friend Eddie had dropped by. At his request, I had prepared...
Having the power to do something is not the same as having the right or authority to do so. Someone needs to advise the main players in our educational institutions that simply because they are in charge, it doesn’t mean that they can do as they...
When do you know you are old? I expect every one of us will reach that conclusion at a different age. Some will associate reaching old age when their employment ends at 65 or 70. Others won’t accept that they have reached old age because there are...
If there is one freedom that the rich, the middle class, and the poor enjoy equally, it is sex. But sometimes it seems as if the fates have made it out too crude and comedic in the general sense of humour that governs sex. In my close to 70 years...
How long is the Canadian media going to continue skimming the surface issue of blackface without plumbing the depths of the real story of anti-black racism, race and colour prejudice, black Canadians, and white privilege in what is supposed to be a...
In the face of adverse circumstances, the PNP’s secretariat produced a high-quality conference last weekend. Peter Bunting, architect of much of the adversity, did his best to ensure that conference was all about him, not the PNP. According to The...
After the squeaker of a win in the recent contest between Peter Bunting and Peter Phillips, the president of the PNP, home by political fate than by triumph, waded into the Noranda Bauxite issue and came out of it looking as if he had been in need...
The following is an open letter to Prime Minister Andrew Holness. We write to express the concern that Jamaica Conservation Partners (JCP) has regarding the potential issuance of an environmental permit for bauxite mining in the area covered by...
Last weekend, I decided to drive from the north coast through the Cockpit Country to Mandeville, in south-central Jamaica, to celebrate the life of a young friend. After several wrong turns, I picked up the road from Duncans in Trelawny to Clark’s...
Education affects everything and everyone. If conceived well and implemented properly, with emphasis on equalising options and opportunities in the society, it can improve learning across all classes and be a significant driver of economic growth....
So, states of emergency (SOEs) are once more hot topics. I’ve repeatedly characterised recently declared SOEs as panic-stricken, knee-jerk reactions to long-time, steadily escalating murder rates (no ‘emergency’ there) likely to fail. I take no...
My doctor recently explained to me that tachyphylaxis is the rapidly diminishing response to successive doses of a drug, rendering it less effective. It immediately struck me that the states of emergency (SOEs) have met a similar fate. In St James...
That we are an island drowning in garbage is no secret. Ad hoc dumps have sprung up at almost every corner. And where skips do exist in public spaces, they are most often overflowing. It is not uncommon to see untended heaps of garbage on...
