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...
In November 2023, Lloyd’s of London issued a follow-up to their 2020 apology for their role in the slavery system, committing to inclusion and diversity practices within their company, outreach, and support to disadvantaged communities and...
Melissa Silvera, wife of former People’s National Party (PNP) member of parliament Jolyan Silvera died on November 10. It was reported in the media that she died in her sleep. By mid-December, a post-mortem had already established that she was shot...
Criminal violence is the ultimate manifestation of dysfunctional behaviour rooted in several identifiable causes. Over the past decade and a half, the situation in Jamaica has reached epidemic proportions, with an average of about 48 homicides per...
The Data Protection Act came into force on December 31, 2023. It is still early days, and many people are unsure, and some apprehensive, about what this act entails. The act broadly covers all, whether you are the private owner of a business or...
The year 1976 was full and exciting for me. I was back in Jamaica doing a year-out for job experience after completing three years at the Architectural Association in London, UK. I worked in the architectural offices of Michael Carter and...
So Jamaica’s bitter, divisive, tribal politicking has spread to Kingston 21. Jamaica woke up, bleary-eyed, on December 27 to learn that one Rupert Francis, chairman of a group with the fancy fandangle name of Jamaica Diaspora Crime Intervention...
Governments and private enterprises that engage in corrupt practices reduce resources available for the public good. That is why everyone should be concerned. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) describes corruption as “a complex...
When the list of members of the Jamaica Constitutional Reform Committee was named, numerous Jamaicans overseas and I were disappointed. Stupefied is more like it when we learned that no member of the Jamaican Diaspora had been named to the...
Jamaica is like the love of a woman who will kiss you long, hard, and tenderly at high noon in Half Way Tree square, and at 6 p.m. in the quiet of the bedroom, she will hurl a shoe at your head. Two entities, neither versed in studying the...
A member of parliament’s (MP) work is, as they keep telling us, far more extensive than the Constitutional duty to “make laws for the peace, order and good government of Jamaica”. This is kinda true. But, since the Constitution is supreme law, the...
My concern about preserving democracy is fundamental to the freedoms and the rights to which all of humanity is entitled. The freedoms and rights I wish for all are only possible in democratic systems of government. Please do not confuse...
UNICEF is deeply concerned about the proposed amendments to the Child Care and Protection Act (CCPA) which allow for a child who is 14, and is convicted of capital murder, to be sentenced to imprisonment for life or for such other term not less...
