They made the news last week!

 

Prime Minister

 

 

David Cameron

 

The head of the British government was the first of two world leaders to visit Jamaica last week and left behind a simmering controversy. From complaints over his proposal for the British

government to part-fund a new state-of-the-art prison to his failure to apologise for slavery or discuss the calls for reparation, Cameron left a nation divided behind him.

 

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe

 

The Japanese prime minister arrived in the island with less fanfare than Cameron, and left without causing any of the waves which came from Britain. He announced a $57m grant to the Institute of Jamaica and promised funding of technical projects in energy security and energy efficiency, among other deals.

 

Princess Anne

 

The second child of Queen Elizabeth was the third high-profile visitor to the island last week, and while we

welcome her visit, it was with the least fanfare, even as she participated in several nation-building functions.

 

Jamaica National Building Society

 

It is unusual when an institution makes the headlines, but news that JNBS had been granted the green light to become a full-fledged commercial bank set the business community talking.

 

Hand, foot, and mouth disease

 

With at least 53 of the island's early-childhood institutions affected by the contagious disease, this was among the most topical issues of the week as charges and counter-charges were dished out.

 

Dr Christopher Tufton & Sharon Hay-Webster

 

It is not often that the losers make the headlines and the winners are relegated to the sub-deck, but the failed bid to represent the Jamaica Labour Party by Hay-Webster in St Catherine North East and Tufton in St Catherine West Central set tongues wagging as Jamaicans wondered if Leslie Campbell and Devon Wint had consigned the two former parliamentarians to the history of representational politics.