AT THE end of the Christmas term, in 1970-something, I noted with dread that my report card was due, and nervous that Miss Ivy (my mother) would give another meaning to Boxing Day, wondered how anything positive could be salvaged from it.
THE EXCELLENT keepsake publication titled 'They helped to build our nation ... saluting those who served' supplemented in The Gleaner (November 27 and 29) became such a good idea marred by so many careless, blatant errors.
ON THE evening of Saturday, February 25, 2006, after the votes of delegates were cast at Jamaica College in Kingston, Portia Simpson Miller defeated her main challenger, Dr Peter Phillips to take, albeit marginally, the presidency of the People's National Party (PNP).
WHEN THE Cabinet meets tomorrow morning, it will be forced to suspend its regular business conducted on behalf of the nation right at the start of the New Year to deal with the unprecedented recommendation for criminal prosecution made to the director of public prosecutions (DPP) by the Office of the Contractor General.
THERE WAS a time in Jamaica when there was no guarantee for the protection of individual rights and freedoms; it was a case of 'the government gives and the government takes away protection'. After 50 years of independence and, with an amendment to the Constitution for a Charter of Rights, it is fitting to look back and see what has changed.
FOR TWELVE months I held my breath and waited for the government to tell me the details of the negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and right now, to avoid asphyxia, I had to come up for air.
THE YEAR 2012 will be remembered for many things - our nation's semi-centennial anniversary and its attendant celebrations; the London Olympics and all the glory our athletes brought us; and West Indies victory in the world T20 competition with major contributions from Jamaicans.
IF YOU ARE uncertain or ignorant about your facts as a writer of material purporting to be history then you hedge your bets by using vague terms, skillfully avoiding anything that anyone could double-check and blow your cover.
ONE YEAR ago, on December 29, 2011, the Peoples' National Party (PNP) handed the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) a crushing defeat by a margin of 42 seats to 21.
Heading into our family Christmas celebrations, when there's time to reflect on what it all means, it's no wonder so many of us suddenly feel punched in the stomach by this terrible news of the Connecticut elementary school massacre - in which 20 young children and six adults were gunned down mercilessly by Adam Lanza, who also shot himself. (He had killed his mother earlier at home.) There are no words to express what the holidays will now be like for those left behind.
With the increasing commercialisation and secularisation of Christmas, we often hear the plea to 'put Christ back into Christmas', to remember 'the real meaning of the Christmas', and 'the reason for the season'. But I am saying we should take Christ totally out of Christmas and make it an entirely secular festival!
Over the last two decades, the ways in which the outputs and outcomes of regional Caribbean education systems have been mediated by issues of gender have captured both the popular imagination, as well as that of Caribbean scholars, education practitioners and education policymakers alike.
'The singularity' is a term invented by science-fiction writer Vernor Vinge in 1993 to describe the moment when human beings cease to be the most intelligent creatures on the planet. The threat, in his view, came not from very clever dolphins but from hyper-intelligent machines. But would they really be a threat?
Assuming that the world did not end on December 21, 2012, you are reading this column and snickering at the pagan Maya who made the prediction. Laugh as much as you want, but they are also thinking that we are idiots celebrating a feast which is full of myths, ignorance and sheer lies.
If there is ever a time in our history to focus our minds on the collective challenges of our people and country, even while we focus on our individualistic ambitions of personal attainment, that time is now.
Christmas and end of year are here again. A good time to consider resocialisation - if we are not too caught up with flossing and blinging out and tormenting our neighbours with the blast of Christmas parties, although things may be quieter and more reflective this year, at least in western Jamaica.
If you are a person struggling to make ends meet and you feel you have been personally hurt and treated unfairly by our media, what avenues of redress do you have, besides taking out a lawsuit or hoping (no guarantee) for a brief letter to the editor to be published?
Many years ago, when I was young and handsome, a friend inveigled me into taking a small role in a film he was making - a proper film, with a real budget and a commercial release, though, mercifully, it never got much attention.
My learned friend, Winston Ian Phillipson, passed away on December 2. Ian was a great lawyer. By the time I joined the noble profession in 1979, he was already a fixture at Myers Fletcher and Gordon and a giant in the business.
On Trevor Munroe's morning programme this past Monday, in our discussion of the People's National Party's (PNP) symbolic failures in selling the 'pricey cabinet' and 'pricey vehicle' moves to the public, we hit on an intriguing possibility. Perhaps the public's disgust over ostentatious perks of office, and extravagant government expenditures on rent for buildings, etc. may be the first signs that popular sentiment is now shifting, that we are entering a post-bling era.
The obstacles faced by many countries in the integration of technical and vocational education and training (TVET) in the mainstream education system result not only from negative perceptions of students, though that is a factor as our research has shown.
Yesterday, December 15, was to have been the final day for Argentina to pay more than US$1.3 billion to 'vulture funds'. Thomas Griesa, 81, a United States (US) federal judge for the state of New York, who had made several previous rulings on the matter, in a November 21 ruling had ordered the country to pay immediately and in full everything it owes to the plaintiff funds.
