- Shaw calls for higher NHT loan ceilings 8:11 AM
- British Airways to use fuel converted from landfill waste 8:05 PM
- 'Anyweh yuh turn macka gwine jook yuh', Phillips says of his budget 7:30 PM
- St Kitts to host next year's CARIFTA Games, Grenada in 2016 7:32 PM
- Half ton of illegal connections removed in Flanker -- JPS 6:31 PM
- Riverton dump fire extinguished by Friday -- NSWMA 6:13 PM
- Poverty rising in Jamaica, says Shaw 5:43 PM
- 20 killed in road crashes in April, so far 5:08 PM
- Forex: J$109.95 to one US dollar 4:48 PM
- JTA president calls for removal of withdrawal tax 4:41 PM
- Police unit coming to tackle praedial larceny -- Clarke 4:32 PM
- Firearm, ammo seized on Skibo Avenue 2:59 PM
- UPDATE: Police release names of drowning victims 2:45 PM
- Colombia arrests 10 cocaine smugglers at airport during Holy Week 2:36 PM
- Withdrawal tax has the least impact on the vulnerable, Phillips says 2:07 PM
- UPDATE: Search continues for drowned teen’s body 12:50 PM
- Jamaica defeat Barbados, to face Windwards in Headley/Weeks Trophy final 12:20 PM
- Taxi men given a week to vacate Mandela Park, transport groups say 10:56 AM
- Efforts to contain Negril beach erosion questionable 9:27 AM
- Manchester United fires manager David Moyes 8:44 AM
- Teen, 7-y-o drown on Easter Monday 8:25 AM
Editorial
Go after tax dodgers instead
TODAY we return to the issue of that most cruel, unconscionable and unprincipled tax to be ever imposed by a government — the withdrawal fee, or 'ATM tax'. We find it difficult to believe that even the International Monetary Fund (IMF) would have asked for such a tax as part of any agreement ... Read More
ATM tax a
wicked act!
QUITE frankly, we didn’t believe a word of Finance Minister Dr Peter Phillips’ declarati ... Read More
Great value in green spaces
HEALTH Minister Dr Fenton Ferguson often reminds Jamaicans of the challenge posed by non-communicabl ... Read More
Income inequality breeds resentment
Inequality of income and wealth is not good for societies because the disparity in standard of livin ... Read More
JADCO must do more
MR Carey Brown and his new board at the Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission (JADCO) were presented with a grand opportunity, we believe, to begin rebuilding the trust deficit with the nation's athletes, following disclosure by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) of the agency's deplorably slack urine sample collection systems. Sadly, they blew it. Readers will recall that the decorated Mrs Veronica Campbell Brown had the tenacity, and the wherewithal, to successfully challenge the process whic ... Read More
Mrs McCalla's wisdom; Mr K D Knight's folly
CHIEF Justice Mrs Zaila McCalla can be cast in the mould of the typical judge. She does not jump mouth first into public debates. The chief justice has singularly helped our faith in the justice system by her utterances at Monday's swearing-in of five judges to the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court by Governor General Sir Patrick Allen. In her very pointed remarks, she reminded judges that while they were independent in the performance of their judicial duty, they were accountable to the p ... Read More
Chaos without change at the World Bank
THE appointment of Mr Jim Yong Kim by the United States Administration as president of the World Bank has come as a surprise because he is an academic with no financial expertise, no development policy experience, and no administrative track record. His lack of pertinent qualification was supposed to be his asset allowing him to bring a fresh approach to the leadership of the World Bank. Instead, what we see is a Bank now mired in a vortex of chaos without producing any positive change. As ofte ... Read More
‘Stupid idea of the year’ award to Minister Paulwell
'Stupid idea of the year' award to Minister Paulwell So, Mr Phillip Paulwell, the minister of energy, wants to reward the people who steal electricity — a criminal act — with a monthly flat rate of approximately $2,000. The idea, he told the Standing Finance Committee meeting last week, is to have these people develop the practice of paying for the service until 2016 when, according to him, new capacity will come on stream. At that time, he added, those people will be called upon t ... Read More
Poor governance on show at Port Royal
COUNCILLOR Lorraine Dobson says she is "aware" that there is "a growing migration problem, in terms of squatting" in historic, world-famous Port Royal. Further, she is aware of the links between squatting, such as has been taking place in Port Royal, and crime/social delinquency. Note her words: "If you have these people coming, then other things will follow." So we are left with no choice but to ask why Ms Dobson, the elected local representative of the people of Port Royal, has done nothing ... Read More
Dr Norman Girvan, intellectual warrior
Jamaica, and indeed the Caribbean, has every reason to mourn the passing last week of Dr Norman Girvan, professor emeritus of the University of the West Indies (UWI). At a time when the Caribbean Community needs it most, we have lost a great regionalist, integrationist and intellectual warrior of the highest order. An economist by training, he received his Bachelor's degree in Economics from the then University College of the West Indies and his PhD in Economics from London School of Economics ... Read More
Valuable lesson from a sad episode
We suspect that the recent exoneration of Mrs Veronica Campbell-Brown will have encouraged Mr Asafa Powell and Miss Sherone Simpson in their stated determination to contest their 18-month doping-related suspensions at the Court of Arbitration for Sport. We would expect that the issues will be very carefully explored by the athletes, their handlers and lawyers before a final decision is taken. Another Jamaican, of far less prominence, Olympic discus thrower Ms Allison Randall, was also handed a ... Read More
Gov't must not bow to road hogs, terrorists
If you go by the complaints, the Government went about the reorganisation of the public transportation system in a most high-handed fashion. Some people will agree with that analysis, others won't. What we all can't deny, however, is that, outside of the Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC), what has been operating here is the Wild West of bus systems. We would be surprised to find a motorist or commuter in Kingston who has not experienced the rampant indiscipline displayed by minibus, Coaster ... Read More
Nice jab, Boxing Board
LAST week, the Jamaica Boxing Board of Control (JBBC) did our country and the sport of boxing proud, by reversing the decision giving victory to Barbadian Christopher "Shaka" Henry over Jamaican Glenroy 'Bumpy' Beckford in the April 2, 2014 Wray & Nephew Contender bout. This action by the JBBC might well have saved the future of the Contender television series which we have commended in this space for reigniting interest in boxing and for inviting boxers from the wider Caribbean to compete ... Read More
Poor water supply unacceptable
Jamaicans are so habituated to poor government over the last 30-40 years that we have come to accept inadequate standards for state-provided services such as in education, security, water, roads, health, public transportation and the like. The key functions of a government are to keep law and order within its boundaries, protect its borders from invasion by external enemies and create and maintain the conditions for human survival and hopefully human development. The availability of adequate s ... Read More
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