Looking for a despot! 'Local leadership lacks toughness'
A HARD-NOSED leader like Margaret Thatcher of the United Kingdom, the late Eugenia Charles of Dominica or even the flambouyant, charismatic Local Government Minister Portia Simpson Miller - that is the kind of leader Jamaicans...

Tough times, despite party mood
DELEGATES CHANTED the names of their candidate for the post of People's National Party (PNP) president and partied during yesterday's second day of the annual conference at the National Arena.

Sacrilege! Thieves make off with 209-y-o church lectern
THE PARISHIONERS of the St. Peter's Anglican Church in Falmouth, Trelawny are in shock following the theft of their 209-year-old antique brass eagle lectern, which was discovered missing from the church yesterday morning.

Great benefits to come - Patterson promises from PetroCaribe deal
PRIME MINISTER P.J. Patterson yesterday revealed that the Government intends to use the long-term/low-interest loan, within the recently-signed Venezuelan oil deal, as the source of funds to carry out numerous programmes throughout the island.

Will PJ enter the exit lounge today?
TALKS, PRIVATE and otherwise, by senior People's National Party (PNP) officials, that the party's leadership race is affecting the administration's ability to govern should mean one thing and one thing only: It is time for P.J. Patterson to go.

Changing horses midstream
MICHAEL MANLEY retired from active public life in March 1992. Nine months later he celebrated another birthday. In previous years his telephone rang from dawn all day from colleagues and friends, all wishing him a happy birthday.

Katrina the grave
HURRICANE KATRINA which brought nature's terrorism in full force to the Gulf States of the United States has a lot to teach us in Jamaica and the wider Caribbean where tropical storms usually originate.