Insanity is doing the same thing, the same way, and expecting different results. Throughout Jamaica's history, battles have been waged between the State and higglers over the use of city space. These battles often occur at various moments, but they tend to intensify around Christmas - the busiest shopping season of the year.
One of the assumptions I had made, perhaps naively, when, as a schoolboy, I watched the Union Jack go down and the bold Jamaican standard of black, green and gold rise proudly in the night sky, was that we were at last free. I thought that now that we were free our rights would be assured...
David Cameron's administration recently explained to the people of Britain specifics of the whopping £83 billion (US$130 billion) in public-spending cuts through to 2015, in addition to a series of tax increases.
"It takes an effort these days to recall the thrill that surged through the world when Barack Obama was elected America's president … he seemed preternaturally thoughtful, dignified and decent; a man who could heal America's wounds at home … . None of it seemed wholly unreasonable at the time. Yes, many thought, he can." - The Economist
Even before Kingston was created in 1702, family units of enslaved Africans were producing enough to feed themselves, as well as a surplus on their 'polinks', as their provision grounds on estate lands were called.
Those who support the Westminster-Whitehall system must defend it. Those who support the monarchy must also defend it. I am not a big fan of either, but if we defended their better points, we would have less to complain about. Bruce Golding, for example, wants to act like a president. But this is not a presidential system.
THE LOOSE-CANON, loose-mouthed Member of Parliament, Everard Warmington has again set off another round of debate on the issue of fairness in the media, and the pique felt by the sober, mild-mannered and highly respected Minister of Education, Andrew Holness, over last week's Sunday Gleaner lead, has only added to the intensity of the discussion.
THE NATIONAL Integrity Action Forum (NIAF), a multi-agency network constituted primarily of the heads of Jamaica's anti-corruption institutions, is encouraged and reinforced in its resolve to intensify the combat of corruption in Jamaica by the 2010 Corruption Perception Index (CPI) released this morning by Transparency International, the global civil society coalition against corruption.
THREE KEY pillars of democracy are separation of powers; independence, impartiality, and neutrality; and trust. These are the issues at stake in Bruce Golding's announced commission of enquiry into the Golding-Brady-Coke-Manatt crisis, itself a breach of all three. It is this breach that leads to a crisis of integrity, and of confidence in government.
THE HIGGLERS who vend in the Kingston market are once again the focus of national attention as they protest the degradation of the physical environment within the markets. They certainly have cause for complaint.
RECENTLY, TWO 'Generation X' politicians from the ruling Jamaica Labour Party (Delano Seiveright and Marlon Morgan) entered the debate on renewing the hope in the Jamaican economy. Opposition Leader Portia Simpson Miller raised this issue in her speech to the public session of the People's National Party's 72nd annual conference.
THE DIVERSIFICATION of our energy base away from oil is imperative. The high electricity costs that we experience in Jamaica significantly reduces the disposable income at the end of every month for individual householders, as well as small business owners and operators of our major industries.
Member State representatives of the Organization of American States (OAS) and experts on the subject of human rights and older persons met on Thursday (October 28) at Organization headquarters in Washington, DC, to discuss the feasibility of creating a convention that protects and further promotes the rights of older persons.
THERE IS much that I like and admire about Everald Warmington, the 'controversial' member of parliament (MP) for South West St Catherine and minister of state for water and housing. I am, therefore, unwilling to join in any wholesale 'demonising' of him.
THERE IS a lot for Jamaicans to contemplate these days: the economy and the ever-rising cost of living; the spin-doctor's story; the indiscipline which envelopes our social interaction; the disdain we display regarding the principles of the hallowed conventions that make for the ordered society; and the severe physical challenges to everyday living...
It is generally accepted that the People's National Party (PNP) was able to mobilise a strong crowd of supporters into the National Arena and rock the gathering of comrades at its recent party conference.It is one thing to...
A Carl Stone poll of May, 1990 showed that two union men were thought by Jamaicans to be the best persons in the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) to replace Edward Seaga.
The People's National Party's young professional group, the Patriots, hailed it as a victory for civil society, the People's National Party (PNP) and the Jamaican people in general. The PNP Youth Organisation (PNPYO) begged to differ: They saw it as a clever diversionary tactic, a smoke-and-mirrors game.
I see that the foot-in-mouth disease has spread. Way back in April of this year when I first wrote on the now notorious Manatt, Phelps & Phillips (MPP) saga, I alerted the readers to my situation as follows...
