- KSAC to begin delayed review of applications for Property Tax relief 7:50 PM
- Transport operators threaten withdrawal of service 6:04 PM
- Opposition presents nine-point 'prescription for growth' 5:15 PM
- Penn Relays programme-cover celebrates 50 years of Jamaican high schools competing 4:51 PM
- Forex: J$109.94 to one US dollar 4:46 PM
- Toyota sets 10 million-vehicle sales record 4:28 PM
- Increased tax on rum will affect tourism sector — Shaw 3:54 PM
- Film on Bob’s rise to fame in the works 3:21 PM
- Access case adjourned until next Wednesday 3:01 PM
- UPDATE: Body of drowned teen recovered 2:49 PM
- Gas price down 25 cents, diesel up 43 cents 2:45 PM
- Caribbean conch, lobster trade under threat, officials say 2:30 PM
- Guyanese journalist granted bail on theft charges 1:51 PM
- Wear black on Friday in protest against withdrawal tax, civic group urges 12:29 PM
- No joke! Sammy Question converts to Christianity 12:03 PM
- St James woman missing 11:55 AM
- St Kitts attorney calls for reform in island’s justice system 11:02 AM
- US congressman to re-introduce legislation to study reparations 10:12 AM
- Phillips misled House, Shaw says 9:52 AM
- T&T govt concerned over child beating on social network, mother stands by her decision 8:28 AM
- Shaw calls for higher NHT loan ceilings 8:11 AM
Columns
In a manner of speaking...
I read Franklin Johnson's recent column, 'The politics of English literacy' very carefully. Let me be brief. He is not advocating that Jamaicans speak English. He wants us to speak a certain variant of English, ie 'speak English with a top British accent (not cockney, jordie (sic) or scouse); the ... Read More
The Jamaican film industry — still a mirage
There has been a lot of talk lately about 'the Jamaican film industry', but in my view there is no J ... Read More
Crawling out from
under the cultural trash
Fresh off the Easter Holidays and the power of the resurrection messages, I hope everyone is ready f ... Read More
Ja's dormant spirit must be awakened this Earth Day
THERE are more than seven billion people living on planet Earth. Our planet is at a critical junctu ... Read More
A resurrection for Jamaica?
THE announcement of new taxes took a bit of the flavour out of our Easter bun and cheese — in fact, some of us may have sliced these seasonal treats a little thinner when we heard that we had to find an additional $6.7 billion worth of taxes to close that ever-recurring gap in our $118-billion budget. To make matters worse, water is scarce, and electricity is threatening a 21 per cent rate hike. We the honest residents of Jamaica are being asked to pay more to help cure others of their c ... Read More
Goat Islands: A mistake we must not make
An agreement has been signed for a Chinese-initiated logistics hub to be developed on the Goat Islands. A forum at the UWI on November 10, 2013 unfortunately cast the development as a war between the environment and development. The battle lines have been drawn as the issue emerges as a critical one for Jamaica. This article reexamines the issues and postulates a win-win situation for Jamaica with the retention of the current multi-user arrangements for the Portland Bight with the development ... Read More
The power and complexity of the resurrection
THOUSANDS of Christians will gather today over the length and breadth of this country in churches, under tents, and in varying other structures, to celebrate and revere the resurrection event of Jesus Christ. Even Jamaicans who are all children of the same God but choose to devise their own expressions — from pocomania through cultism to Zion revivalism, and to the contemporary version of self-government in religion known as Rastafari — will be preoccupied in one form or another wi ... Read More
Professor Mark Shields — that guru of journalism
NINE years ago, the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) came up with what seemed like a brilliant idea: to 'import' police officers from Britain and Canada to bolster its existing staff and help to reduce crime and violence in the Western Hemisphere's murder capital. Among the first arrivals was one Mark Shields, who along with fellow United Kingdom citizens Les Green and Justin Felice would make their mark in different ways. Green has since returned to England, having left an indelible signature ... Read More
Marcus James, truly a Jamaican success story
In 2000 when 28-year-old baby-faced Marcus James went downtown Kingston to make his pitch to higglers and small business operators, he was not only armed with a dream and an idea but a fiercely quiet determination to bring them to reality. Operating out of a shoebox-sized office space of 400 sq ft in a corner of a building owned by his parents and a staff complement of himself and two HEART trainees, he was in the early days 'head cook and bottle washer'. "I was doing IT, training, travelling ... Read More
The Easter tradition and Miss Mary dry-foot Bwoy
WELL, I hope you cracked your egg on Holy Thursday night and read good fortune from the shape of the egg white. Tradition says that by the following day, Good Friday, you should have known what the future holds for you. I have no doubt that the answers for many will unfold at Caymanas Park over the weekend, and at least one lucky lotto ticket owner will be jumping for joy with egg white all over his or her face. Breaking the eggshell was one of the popular stories in my generation. Another was ... Read More
That elusive growth agenda
CONSISTENT with expectations, minister of finance and planning Dr Peter Phillips Thursday presented a Budget that created little news and less excitement. And it was not because the Holy Easter weekend intervened between the statement to Parliament and the typical news cycle. It was because he told us the uncomfortable truth, namely, that the country is obliged by its creditors to live within its means and has no room to prime the pump of economic growth. "The only way out of our present diffi ... Read More
US: Caribbean's friend or unintentional foe?
In what has to rate as one of the most insensitive and outrageous demands on a Caribbean country, US Government representatives have told The Bahamas Government that it must drop "all duties" on US products entering the country as a condition of being admitted to membership of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). Should The Bahamas agree to do so, the country would lose the larger part of US$700 million that it earns from duties on imports, the vast majority of which come from the US for obvious ... Read More
Britain, Jamaica and gays
JAMAICANS and immigration continue to be a subject of interest in the British press. The most recent story manages to combine Jamaica, immigration and homophobia. Last week, a British court ruled that the authorities could not deport a Jamaican who stabbed a 15-year-old schoolboy to death less than a year after arriving in Britain. The court based its ruling on the fact that the young Jamaican was gay. Predictably, the court ruling has caused outrage here in Britain. The background to the cas ... Read More
The politics of English literacy
ENGLISH is our language. Cuba speaks Spanish; Haiti, French; Dominican Republic, Spanish; these are our neighbours. They have their patois, many speak English and their kids learn it too. What is it about us that some who speak it well bad-mouth English to people who hardly speak any? Many powerful people will not affirm publicly that English is ours. Their SUV manuals are in English, but they want poor people to think it does not matter to keep our labour cheap and classism alive. English ... Read More
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