After a brief lull, Dayton “Chatty Chatty” Campbell has resumed what appears to me to be a campaign to become JLP’s most potent asset. His past performance on political platforms appeared to feature personal abuse as his go-to political strategy....
We have been communicating now for over a year. His skills are in forensic accounting. Since the SSL scandal broke, we have been in touch more than usual. “As I hinted at in our last talk, more investors who have been fleeced have been identified...
The climatic phenomenon known as “El Niño” is intensifying its presence worldwide. Projections are not favourable for the countries of the region. Below-normal rainfall is expected in Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, northern Venezuela...
A former bauxite industry executive and expatriate Edward (Ed) Coyne, who lived and served in Jamaica from 1975 to 1986 as president and general manager of Kaiser Jamaica Bauxite Company, has shared with me a collection of some of his speeches made...
IN JAMAICA, a health crisis looms – one tied not to nature but to nutrition. Despite fertile lands and a rich farming legacy, Jamaica finds itself over-reliant on imported ultra-processed foods and the resulting rise in obesity and non-...
Looking ahead to the rest of the 2023 Atlantic hurricane season, forecasters have revised their predictions to indicate a more active season than originally expected, even with a strengthening El Niño in play. The current forecast points to a...
I am extremely fortunate. I was born in Dominica to a father who was part of a generation of great Caribbean men. He believed in equality, and he believed in me. To him, his daughters were just as exceptional as his sons, and with my mother, he...
I’m constantly amused by Jamaicans’ fascination with United States politics. These days that fascination has intensified into a Category 5 obsession. Friends send me daily anti-Trump messages on Rerun (work it out; it’s comic) plus stories of...
As Jamaica aspires to achieve its Vision 2030 goals within the next seven years, a critical hurdle stands in the way. The ramifications of inefficiencies linked to obtaining a police record reverberate across multiple fronts, casting a shadow on...
Chairman of the Transport Authority (TA), Owen Ellington, was commissioner of police from April 2010 to July 2014. Very few of us would be prepared to say that he was anything, but a good and decent man at the top. I cannot find anything which he...
On International Human Rights Day in 2021, The Gleaner, celebrating 70 years of publishing in the UK, held an e-conversation in which the main question to be considered by the six panellists was, “Should Jamaica become a republic?” I was one of the...
Every credible expert at betting elsewhere than casinos (only masochists bet in casinos) knows motivation is the most important factor in sports wagering. In horseracing motivation is important but in a different way. My friend The Terrible Tout...
In a dual narrative in the media shone spotlight on the journey of Jamaican scholars, celebrating their achievements while obliquely touching upon the formidable obstacles that hinder the educational progress of deserving youth in the nation and...
Rastafari chose Jamaica’s Independence Day to review the unfinished business of reparations. As in previous years, the country echoed sentiments that criticised the government, United Nations and European leaders for their inattention to pressing...
There have been spirited responses to my recent statement on the potential threats to inflation at this time, particularly the reference to the possible effect on cost-push inflation of large wage increases if those increases are without...
Mr Richard Byles, as the governor of Jamaica’s central bank, must exist in two places at once. The first place is that fog, that bubble where he must coexist with people who talk the language of the highly skilled financial technocrats. He must be...
St Thomas is blessed, and the people are brave, innovative, and resilient. History has underscored them as accommodating and long-suffering and yet very disrespected and mistreated. Whenever things become unbearable, St Thomas people are the ones...
“...The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history...” wrote George Orwell author of ‘1984’. Spontaneous wildfires from climate change are, tragically, erupting in Greece also devastating...
I’m an unrepentant supporter of the Greg (oops, sorry “Gag”) Clause in Integrity Commission Act (ICA). When your job’s sole qualification is popularity; when there’s no other employer-written job description; when “investigations” arise out of...
“I am Catholic but I have to legislate for everyone,” proclaimed then-candidate Alberto Fernandez in his campaign promise to reintroduce a bill to legalise abortion in Argentina. After winning the presidency, he fulfilled his commitment and...
One quite simple and almost simplistic way of measuring a society’s slip into regression is to count the ease with which terrible shames of the past, like setting fire to blocs of poor people’s housing, are showing up on the ‘today’ roster. For...
The concept of informed consent stands as a cornerstone of the ethical practice of medicine. It embodies the right of individuals to make informed and voluntary decisions regarding their own health, treatment, and participation in research...
If you ever wanted a good reason for supporting efforts to tackle climate change, check your finances – or the lack of it – over the last two months. It should make you a strong advocate for climate action. Climate change has been affecting us...
The recent military coup d’état in Niger was the fifth the West African country of 26 million people has experienced since its independence from France in 1960. Land-locked Niger is among the poorest countries in the world despite the oil-rich...
You knew I’d soon be returning to my pet peeve namely the national sham(e) called Constitutional Reform. The seed for this farce was planted in 2021 as Jamaica was politically embarrassed when Barbados booted the English Monarch and established...
