Columns

A resurrection for Jamaica?

(L-R )Andrew Mahfood, Desmond McKenzie and Richard Byles

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 ... Read More

Goat Islands: A mistake we must not make 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 Islan ... Read More

PALERMO, Sicily — Portraying Jesus Christ, a man takes part in a Way of the Cross procession at St Isidoro Agricola church in Palermo on Friday, April 18, 2014. Holy Week commemorates the last week of the earthly life of Jesus Christ culminating in his crucifixion on Good Friday and his resurrection today — Easter Sunday. (PHOTO: AP) The power and complexity of the resurrection
THOUSANDS of Christians will gather today over the length and breadth of this country in churches, u ... Read More

SHIELDS... now claims to know about the principles of journalism Professor Mark Shields — that guru of journalism
NINE years ago, the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) came up with what seemed like a brilliant idea: ... Read More

Marcus James, truly a Jamaican success story

MARK WIGNALL | Sunday, April 20, 2014    

JAMES… travelled all across the island to share his ideas of microfinancing

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

LANCE NEITA | Sunday, April 20, 2014    

Professor Mervyn Morris looks at newspaper articles reporting on his work and mounted in an exhibition at his appointment as Poet Laureate of Jamaica last Tuesday.

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

CLAUDE ROBINSON | Sunday, April 20, 2014    

Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston is one of the State assets that the Government hopes to privatise this year.

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?

SIR RONALD SANDERS | Sunday, April 20, 2014    

BIDEN… pledged US support for Caribbean economic growth and development when he met Caricom leaders in May 2013

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

DIANE ABBOTT | Sunday, April 20, 2014    

MAY… insisted on ordering the Jamaican’s deportation in 2009

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

Franklin JOHNSTON | Thursday, April 17, 2014    

THWAITES... declared a ‘renaissance’ at right: PINNOCK... literacy is dated

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

A little bit of jealousy, Gleaner?

Mark WIGNALL | Thursday, April 17, 2014    

LAST Sunday Observer's front-page story, '17 guns for freedom' was essentially the story of the day and, from discussion at all levels, the story of the week. So 'hot' was the story that long after all copies of the Sunday Observer had been sold off there were still numerous copies of the Sunday Gleaner on stands islandwide eagerly begging for sales. That fact appears to have been the reason for the Gleaner letter of the day, 'Kartel story damages faith, trust in police' on Tuesday, April 15, ... Read More

Whose Easter is it anyway?

Barbara GLOUDON | Thursday, April 17, 2014    

A member of our business community had a fondness for jokes about people of his Jewish heritage, especially merchants. One day he shared this one with me. "Jacob had a store in a business district where his people were outnumbered by others of the Christian persuasion. When the Chamber of Commerce got the bright idea to stage a window-dressing competition for Easter, being non-Christian, Jacob was not expected to compete, but with a big cash prize at stake, he covered over his display window ... Read More

Life is an ongoing test

Michael BURKE | Thursday, April 17, 2014    

Several artists have attempted to capture the essence of the scene of the Christian Last Supper. Today being Holy Thursday many churches will re-enact this gathering, including the traditional washing of the feet.

TODAY being Holy Thursday, there will be the re-enactment of the Lord's Supper in many Christian churches. There will be the traditional washing of the feet. This was the way in which Jesus said that we should live. In many instances, we Jamaicans live like that, but we need to move even closer to that way of living. The Lord's Supper was tied to a major political anniversary in the Jewish calendar. The Passover is both the emancipation and the original political independence of the Jewish p ... Read More

The other side of the ganja gold coin

Anthony GOMES | Wednesday, April 16, 2014    

According to the US National Institute on Drug Abuse, studies show that someone who smokes five joints per week may be taking in as many cancer-causing chemicals as someone who smokes a full pack of cigarettes every day.

NOW that the euphoria accompanying legalisation of medical marijuana and decriminalisation of recreational cannabis in certain US States continues, it is appropriate to review the dangers accompanying this much-vaunted development destined to have a profound effect on users and potential abusers of narcotics. The US issue of medical marijuana still has a number of legal conditions to address with the authorities, where the Federal Supreme Court still maintains that the use, production and distr ... Read More



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