Recent Local Government Elections (LGEs) again featured Jamaica’s political immaturity and neediness. At time of writing, “Chatty Chatty” Dayton is still on radio trumpeting a 7-7 result which he says is a PNP “win” based on “popular vote” and...
With two polls indicating that the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) would have pipped the People’s National Party (PNP) and yet both indicate that it would happen within the safe space of the sample margin of error favouring the party which limped in, in...
This World Obesity Day, observed annually on March 4, the Heart Foundation of Jamaica is imploring Jamaicans to join in the conversation and let’s talk about obesity and the need for healthy school food environments. It is incumbent that we...
The world is currently experiencing not greater multipolarity, but greater bipolarity. America and China are waging a new Cold War that is less about ideology and more about markets and technology. The West’s share of global output has fallen to...
The Ministry of National Security’s (MNS) refusal to grant asylum to 37 Haitian asylum seekers is heartbreaking. Decision letters were delivered to the Haitians at around 9 p.m. on February 27, under the cover of darkness, like much of the process...
As is new normal Panderson and Blue Dolt (relax; I joke) Polls were conducted during this Local Government Election (LGE) season. At time of writing, Panderson numbers aren’t fully public but media analysts and political walkie-talkies have been...
“Yu nuh si how the JLP (Jamaica Labour Party) just set like modder hen. It dey pon di egg dem now. Dem a go hatch pon February 26,” she said. It was last Tuesday. She had given me a cardboard box of green plantains, bananas, dasheen, cho cho,...
Recently, Prof Verene Shepherd (VS) caught up with Scottish historian David Alston (DA), author of Slaves and Highlanders: Silenced Histories of Scotland and the Caribbean, which won the Scottish Book of the Year in 2022, to talk about where he was...
Russia’s war against Ukraine creates a dangerous precedent for the rest of the world, and it must be stopped. Failing to address this situation would legitimise illegal aggression towards and invasion of one state by another. Consequently, no...
American politics has finally become certifiably insane! I’ve repeatedly told readers there’s little difference between political parties everywhere. Nowhere is this more glaring than during a time in American politics that can safely be called The...
If you have been following Andrew Holness from he was a political neophyte in 2011 to the super-confident approach he allows to define himself in 2024, you are likely to fit into one of the following slots. You may love him, fiercely dislike him,...
On February 14, the musical biopic Bob Marley: One Love, was released in the United States. The film, which premièred last month at Carib 5 Cinemas in Kingston, is billed as a tribute to Marley’s legacy and “the journey behind his music”. I grew up...
Forget about chaos, traffic, stocky iron-willed hombres, ever-bulging señoritas and smog, I love la locura mexicana, the language, culture, science, and mathematics Mexicans helped teach me. Once when I lived there, my wife and I decided to visit...
At a recent clean-up of Refuge Cay in Kingston Harbour, the depth of Jamaica’s plastic problem was painfully evident. Thick layers of plastic were entangled amidst the mangrove roots and floated in the nearby coastal waters. Despite many efforts...
A nuanced conversation about finding equilibrium between advancement and conservation is thriving among Jamaicans today. Environmental and moral principles to safeguard and sustain have become inseparable pillars, reflecting a growing respect for...
The arrest of former Member of Parliament Jolyan Silvera on suspicion that he murdered his wife, Melissa, may be the current nine-day wonder in Jamaica. Although the average person is desensitised to everyday threats to citizen security, not...
Tuesday’s rant critiquing NHT spin doctoring on Non Disclosure agreements and undelivered housing solutions drew a testy online comment from a reader (handle “Mission Up”) with a very different viewpoint. My opinion also attracted positive feedback...
The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2022 delivered stark revelations, sparing Jamaica neither language nor figures. Jamaica finds itself below the global average among 81 nations whose 15-year-old students underwent academic...
The Government has given due consideration to subsuming the Office of the Political Ombudsman (OPO) into the Electoral Commission of Jamaica (ECJ) carefully and extensively, and strongly believes it is the right decision. The ECJ is definitely the...
Prime Minister Andrew Holness, in a recent address to students and teachers, acknowledged the controversy surrounding the call for a total ban on corporal punishment (hitting/slapping/physical punishment). The National Commission for Violence...
Until a poll from a reputed entity is published, most of us find that we are guessing and whistling in the wind over the local government elections. We have no idea if the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) will retain the political council seats, or the...
The recent High Court ruling in Kenya which declared that deployment of a Kenyan police mission abroad is in violation of the country’s constitution, though creating headlines around the world, does not infer an end to the UN Security Council-...
January, 1, 2024, ushered in the momentous 220th anniversary of Haiti’s independence, an unprecedented feat never again repeated anywhere. But while the world owes a debt of gratitude to Haiti for freeing humanity by pioneering the cycle of...
So, on January 25, media was barred from attending a former MP’s first court appearance. This caused concerned citizens, including moi, to opine justice wasn’t being served. We were reprimanded by JAMBAR (who, despite agreeing reasons should’ve...
Picture a spinning top, wobbling precariously, struggling to find its rhythm. That is a snapshot of Jamaica’s education system as reflected in the recent PISA scores. Having lived abroad from my late teens to early 30s, immersing myself in diverse...
