Over many decades, there are countless senseless murders that have been shocking. The news of the cruel death of Barbara Gayle has left me numb. A more gentle, modest and conscientious person there never was. I clearly recall Barbara’s earliest...
Last week, I was the guest speaker at the Jamaica Constabulary Force’s (JCF) planning, research and development branch annual dinner, discussing the topic of ‘Transformation in 2025’. With the thought of my most recent traffic ticket hanging over...
The voice, this time, is Andrew Swaby, the chairman of the Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation (KSAMC), the city’s local government. But it could have been an echo, the words and issue eerily familiar: regulators at the KSAMC fingered for...
Teen pregnancy is a global issue, as although the adolescent birth rate (ABR) has decreased, pregnancies among these youngsters remain a problem across the globe with serious health, social and economic consequences. Two weeks ago, our country was...
I had no idea that I lived somewhere other than my known place of abode until a friend called from Kingston and asked, “How is your constituency?” Up to then I was very comfortable with my address, but apparently people are now beginning to be...
While The Gleaner sympathises with Horace Chang over his reported difficulty in finding technicians to maintain the JamaicaEye network, we look forward to better particulars from the national security minister, including answers to the questions we...
Ambassador Byron Blake pulled no punches in his article “Death of SIDS: Death to planet Earth” in In Focus, The Sunday Gleaner of December 8. I wish to add the urgent need to reduce the undue influence of the private sector which is obstructing...
Each week I try to draw thoughts from my experiences and observations. “You cyant stop me from talk. I have my feelings and nobaddy going cork up my mout,”she sneered at me. I was conducting a funeral in the inner city and my girl and a few others...
We note last week’s announcement by Cricket West Indies (CWI) of its appointment of Chris Dehring as its CEO, who it expects to “steer CWI into a bold new chapter of growth and development”. This newspaper has no doubt that Mr Dehring, who has an...
The Jamaican authorities should closely observe an emerging initiative between the Seprod Group and domestic, regional and international partners that could provide a model for research and innovation in agriculture and other sectors that might...
The recent series of articles in The Gleaner, supporting the need for an urgent discussion around an industrial policy for Jamaica, has encouraged a relook at the bauxite/alumina industry. The very nature of the industry demands that the government...
The prevailing circumstances and the clear motives behind the Government’s introduction of a bill in Parliament ostensibly to initiate the process of abandoning the monarchy have ushered Jamaica into a constitutional and cultural conundrum,...
We should have been preparing to celebrate the birth of Christ and all of the other seasonal fandangles. Even if one is not religious; it is a period for us to spend time with family and friends and be festive. There is no Santa Claus, and while I...
The commemoration of the birth of Jesus was piggybacked on a pagan holiday because the Romans sought to incorporate and subdue the boisterous holiday of Saturnalia. It was a celebration of the winter solstice, which began after December 20....
A perfect example of how big money and social media can influence politics is playing out in Washington D.C. and gives a good indication of how the incoming Trump administration will manage America’s affairs over the next four years. Elon Musk the...
Many years ago when I was a little boy, we used to sing and beg as a Christmas gift from the Almighty and, to make sure, added the Tooth Fairy in the mix, “All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth, my two front teeth … .” Now, at 79, and...
The year 2024 has underscored a grim reality: poverty continues to be an unyielding adversary, sowing division and instability in a world already grappling with profound economic, social, and environmental challenges. The situation is not confined...
This week has been heavy. Another week of bloodshed and sordid reminders of how callous we have become as a country. The popular prophetic 24th chapter of the book of Matthew speaks to the arrival of a state of affairs in which “because iniquity...
Those who study the history of any country recognise that certain events are turning points, taking the country in a different direction, whether for good or bad. In Jamaica’s case, over the last 200 years we can identify five major turning points...
The debate has receded since the October hubbub over the categories of honour that should be bestowed on the late Jamaican cultural icons, Bob Marley and Louise Bennett-Coverley, ‘Miss Lou’. Both are now members of the Order of Merit (OM), which is...
Barbara Gayle was not a singular victim. Her death is a metaphor, emblematic of an encroaching nihilism and senselessness in Jamaica, manifested in the country’s high rate of murder and callousness in social relations. So, increasingly, the...
IT’S NOT every day that Jamaicans have something to be optimistic about when it comes to fighting corruption and organised crime, but in the last three weeks, the Major Organised Crime and Anti-Corruption Agency (MOCA), alongside its partners, has...
PREVIOUS ARTICLES published by The Gleaner have covered the first, second and third of the eight standards of data protection. This column now looks at the fourth and fifth standards, regarding the accuracy of personal data and the rules that speak...
Late in December 2023, the former top editor of The New York Times’ editorial page, James Bennet, dropped a bombshell in an article for The Economist. “The leadership of the New York Times is losing control of its principles,” he wrote, saying...
Published:Wednesday | December 18, 2024 | 12:06 AM
The balance of probabilities weighs heavily in favour of the families and close friends of Seymour Panton and Eric Crawford urging them to decline, if asked, to continue as members of the Integrity Commission (IC) when their term expire in...
