In Focus
For more than a decade during my time at Jamaica Environment Trust (JET), we received complaints from Jamaicans who lived in the proximity of the bauxite industry, either mining or processing facilities, regarding adverse impacts on their health...
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I’m always amazed at the hype attending finance ministers’ annual opening of the Budget Debate. I’ve said it before. It’s worth repeating. Jamaica’s budget process doesn’t include input by the people, or to any significant amount, the people’s...
The main factor that had me fearing Dennis Meadows was how he came across in his many posts on Facebook. In those that were controversial and came close to skating on the thin ice of corruption, the former deputy chairman of the Firearm Licensing...
This is a dangerous moment for Europe and for freedom-loving people around the world. By launching his brutal assault on the people of Ukraine, Vladimir Putin has also committed an assault on the principles that uphold global peace and democracy...
The shocking events in Ukraine have been a wake-up call to the world. Both the United Kingdom and Jamaica were quick to respond, and there was no equivocation in either the words of my Prime Minister Boris Johnson or Jamaican PM Andrew Holness’s...
There has been lots of media attention on Jamaican students studying in Ukraine and a microscope on their journey from the war zone. As usual, tribal trolls on social media have turned it into a huge political squabble, beginning with much-deserved...
During a Harvard Law School lecture last April, Justice Stephen G. Breyer of the US Supreme Court made clear that he viewed the judiciary as divorced from politics. Once a judge takes an oath, he declared, “(T)hey are loyal to the rule of law, not...
As the world moves ahead to mark International Women’s Day, the clock on women’s rights is moving backwards. All of us are paying the price. The cascading crises of recent years have highlighted how women’s leadership is more crucial than ever....
As we move towards our 60th anniversary of independence, we can benefit from reflecting on the forces that drive the underbelly of our political system. As a people, we are deeply patriotic, and a national consensus pervades our society on all...
The narrow strip of roadway leading to Hopie’s bar spot in the depressed community takes you to a ramshackle settlement on a hill. It is semi-rural St Andrew. The road has never been paved. and I am forced to slow to a crawl as I gingerly drive my...
It is widely accepted that “crime prevention is a long-term goal, but crime reduction is an immediate need”. It is my position, and that of the Government, that in order to achieve the sustainable crime reduction that we desire, we must, as a...
Children are consuming an enormous amount of unhealthy and ultra-processed food that is helping to drive up the already alarmingly high rates of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in the country. Earlier this year, I wrote in this paper that...
The invasion by the Russian Federation of the sovereign state of Ukraine has been roundly condemned by most countries of the world. However, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro announced his support of it. Had President Maduro stopped short at his...
Africa is set to endure another year of living dangerously in 2022. Even as sovereign foreign-currency-denominated debt has surpassed $1 trillion, with only 10 per cent of Africans having been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, and as over 12...
An imminent Royal visit has created a social media stir with too many people seriously proposing the young couple be unkindly treated. But neither William nor Kate has done anything to hurt Jamaica. So why are we being mean to people who didn’t ask...
“A people without knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots,” wrote the Rt Excellent Marcus Mosiah Garvey. We lament the destruction of Jamaica’s historic courthouses, and share some architectural and...
