YES, IT’S February already. It seems like just yesterday I was under the Christmas tree, cussing and opening yet another pair of novelty socks-in-a-can and wondering why Santa can’t learn to spell PS5. Next year, I’m sending that old buzzard a...
Gary Peart’s advice to Jamaican sports bodies to get their accountability regimes in order is sensible and timely. Indeed, it is an issue to which the Government, perhaps through the G.C. Foster College of Physical Education and/or the University...
So, the Government announced the date for the local government elections of February 2024. While the governing party is actively denying that it is busily giving away “sweeties” to entice voters; the People’s National Party (PNP), like ants, is all...
The 13th Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO MC13) will be held at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, from February 26-29. The last meeting, MC12, was held at the WTO Headquarters in...
Jamaica’s voter apathy is well documented. It is a chronic condition that did not develop overnight but has been festering for many years. Both the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) and the People’s National Party (PNP) have worked assiduously over the...
A Gleaner exposé of a secret settlement agreement between NHT and a private contractor seemed to have prompted NHT pushback. The published details seemed to most observers lacking umbilical links to Government to produce a win-win for the...
It did not require last October’s 5.6-magnitude earthquake to reveal that Jamaica’s maximum security prisons were foul, crumbling places, more appropriate for the pages of a Dickens novel than a 21st-century society. But, hopefully, the further...
This article is dedicated to all Caribbean women, their families and friends, especially the men. I was sitting behind my computer looking at the many pages of research I had put together for today’s column. Unfortunately, I could go no further...
The Jamaica Bar Association (JAMBAR) supported a call by entertainer – Mr Vegas – for a ‘crime plan’ banning pillion riders from motorcycles. They referenced ‘successes’ in Colombia as part of their justification. Attorney Bert Samuels and many...
“I hope that this year you will treat your courses as more than a sideline” are the reported words of a dean to faculty members at the start of one university’s academic year. At that place, eight (yes, eight) hours of teaching weekly is the...
If the House of Representatives sat tomorrow, it would be a fortnight since the Integrity Commission (IC) announced its submission of its latest investigation report to Parliament. That is more than enough time for the document to have been...
It is reasonable to assume that Delroy Chuck couldn’t have suspended Parliament’s debate on the administration’s controversial plan to subsume the political ombudsman into the Electoral Commission of Jamaica (ECJ) without a signal from Prime...
The Gleaner on Friday, February 2 breathed a loud sigh of relief in its front page headline stating “Finally”; meaning that, at last, the government announced February 26 as the date of the local government election. The councillors, candidates,...
All that noise about those ‘Dunce’ backpacks has died down so quickly. On Friday, I googled ‘dunce backpack Jamaica’ and got 37,500 results in 0.19 seconds. A whole heap of people were nyamming up themselves at the start of the new school year. I...
If we are to single out one individual, who has had the most impact on modern industrial relations practice in Jamaica today, then the consensus has to be Anthony G Irons, former permanent secretary in the Ministry of Labour and Social Security. On...
The Heart Foundation of Jamaica (HFJ) is using this month to “remind the public of the importance of a healthy lifestyle; to be aware of the risk factors for heart disease; and to know your numbers”. This year’s theme is, ‘Prevent Heart Failure,...
Harsher punishment for praedial thieves is being promised under the Agricultural Produce (Amendment) Act. Minister of Agriculture Floyd Green, who has vowed to make praedial larceny a priority, told the media on Wednesday that the maximum fine for...
The field of nursing education is constantly evolving with the demands of a continually changing healthcare landscape. As part of this evolution, the integration of simulation-based learning has gained prominence as a valuable educational tool in...
In a letter to The Gleaner on January 23, six civic organisations called for our government to support South Africa’s case against Israel. That letter was clear in demonstrating the strong moral and humanitarian position of Jamaica’s civil society...
My column of September 9, 2022 was titled ‘Lack of vision in agriculture’, and I accused both the Government and the private sector of not having many new agricultural ideas since we went into sugar in the 17th century and bananas in the 19th. I...
Journalists and media organisations are right that the clause in the legislation that, by default, makes cases before the Gun Court secret, should be amended. For while judges may to elasticise the law, allowing for the presence in courtrooms of...
The larger question for the National Housing Trust (NHT) is not about the non-disclosure agreement (NDA) on its settlement with Dexim Limited, from which it is attempting to recoup J$650 million. Neither is it of the NHT’s scramble to undo the NDA...
A FEW weeks ago, veteran pollster Don Anderson asked this very same question of a sample of Jamaican respondents. I was quite surprised to learn that this was his very first such poll, given that for as long as I can remember, this question has...
SINCE THE massacre of over 1,200 Israeli citizens on October 7, 2023, and the retaliation that the Palestinians have been subjected to continuously since then, in the name of eliminating Hamas in the Gaza Strip, there has been no sight of a...
Readers of Carolyn Cooper’s weekly column in The Sunday Gleaner know that the squalor of Papine Market in Eastern St Andrew is a peeve about which she wrote often, until she perhaps grew tired of the authorities’ failure to heed her complaints. Or...
