Seeing on the Internet the elation and look of satisfaction of the people around culture minister Olivia ‘Babsy’ Grange as the United Nations Educational Scientific & Cultural Organization (UNESCO) meeting in Mauritius off the coast...
Following the publication of my column in the Sunday Gleaner on January 27, 2019, I received a number of comments. One of the writers has urged me to “fast-forward to the present, given the imminent nature of a proposed ‘hostile’...
While the major political parties debate the constitutionality of extending the states of emergency (SOEs) declared in crime hotspots, the real causes of crime go unchecked. Yes, the murders are down, but murders are only a symptom of the disease....
Four years ago when I needed either immediate or remedial plumbing work, Jeff would always be the young man I would seek out. In his early 30s, he was not just a fixer. Jeff was a specialist in using his natural or learnt innovative skills to solve...
It must take a lot of gall and other things rhymed with it, to think that one can call a police station and make terrorist threats. Now, although there might be no reason to believe that they will cash in on the threat, the police cannot take any...
DURING THE past few months, Jamaicans have heard a lot of news about the ‘partly’ state owned oil refinery, ‘Petrojam’. On January 8, 2019, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade announced that, “Jamaica is seeking to take ownership of...
Recent pronouncements and the panic surrounding Jamaica overshooting its “target” inflation rate is, frankly, absurd. Overshooting here, which means moving closer to zero, should be welcomed. Most countries, in particular, import and...
Jamaican entertainers are getting a bad deal in our booming tourism industry. It is no secret that a horde of performers have been imported from nearby Spanish-speaking countries to be the main attractions at nightly cabaret shows in some major...
For more than two and a half decades, the Chinese economy grew at average annual rates of 10 per cent. Students of economics standing by and plotting the curves and the global and political intersections would know that at that rate of amassing new...
Gladstone: Woody, what is it you think is giving the prime minister nightmares? Woodrow: It’s in the newspaper, once you get past the latest Petrojam scandal, Cornwall Hospital update, PEP cover-ups, JIS press releases, corporate donations...
Everybody knows Jamaica recently voted to approve an OAS resolution "to not recognise the legitimacy of Nicol·s Maduro's new term as of the 10th of January 2019".The resolution tabled against Maduro was proposed by the USA and seconded by Argentina...
Cecil doesn't remember it, but when he was about 10 years old in 1972, his aunt, who raised him, told him that his mother carried him to her five years before and told her that she had to leave the island in a hurry and she would soon be back.That...
Since declaring the dengue outbreak on January 3, I have interacted with hundreds of Jamaicans, all of whom are anxious over the disease while being bombarded with news of an increasing number of cases, including the deaths of some of our children....
Poorly paid they may be, but no public servant in Jamaica is ever likely to go without their little monthly pay cheque. As is the case in the United States right now with a partial shutdown of the federal government which started on December 22 last...
From the September 18, 2018, issue of Business Insider comes this: "Venezuela's president feasted on expensive steak at a celebrity chef's restaurant on Monday, a scene made striking by the fact that millions of people back home are starving."...
Venezuela is in the throes of economic and political turmoil. Almost all its economic indicators are pointing in the wrong direction, with inflation, a major measure of the health of the economy, standing above one million per cent in 2018. It means...
The recent talks between Prime Minister Holness and me, as well as our respective teams, established the basis for sustained cooperation around a unified national effort in the fight against crime. This is certainly a step in the right direction on...
Now the Government has put its foot down and decided that it is going to end all 'scandals' created by petroleum products. Well, that includes the single-use plastic bags that go by the same name and are notorious for filling up our drains and also...
Two days after the Government of Jamaica announced its foregone decision to repossess Venezuela's minority shares in Petrojam, the country joined 18 of 34 OAS member states in a majority vote not to recognise the second-term Maduro government that...
The Gleaner's editorial of Friday, January 11, 2019, would perhaps have done readers a better public service if the writer had attempted, ahead of the analysis presented, to get a fuller understanding of the funding policy for students up to age 18...
"No delay! No backing down!" The voice of Vaz, minister in charge of the environment. And very much, too, the voice of vendors. The ban on single-use plastic products rode in with the New Year, but as the minister clearly understands, it's going to...
Published:Friday | January 4, 2019 | 12:00 AMYvonne McCalla
Rape is a crime that is often not reported. According to police data, reported rape cases declined from 863 in 2013 to 442 in 2017. However, rape survivor silence raises questions about the data, especially where in an estimated seven out of ten...
