Editorial

We are afraid Mr Bunting, Commissioner Williams — even if you are not!

* A 14-year-old girl -- Santoya Campbell -- is brutally killed; her body stuffed into a garbage bag and dumped near her school in Westmoreland. * A retired nurse -- Mrs Hyacinth Hayden -- is attacked and stabbed to death in her house in Trelawny. * Two men -- one of them said to be in his late ... Read More

A resident recalls for the Commission of Enquiry his experience during the security forces’ operation into Tivoli Gardens during May 2010. A call has been made for the discontinuation of such preceedings. Battle of the Commissions of Enquiry
We have watched, admittedly with some amusement, the contretemps between the Opposition Jamaica Labo ... Read More

Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller Thanks to Venezuela and China, America rediscovers its old Caribbean friends
WE regard as important the United States Government's hosting of Monday's Caribbean Energy Security ... Read More

Kaci Fennell Miss Kaci Fennell has won our hearts
NATURALLY, Jamaicans are feeling some amount of disappointment at the results of the 63rd Miss Unive ... Read More

Communication problem in Gov't growing worse

Monday, January 26, 2015    

Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce, Anthony Hylton

WE are intrigued by Observer parliamentary specialist Mr Balford Henry's latest commentary, 'Inside Parliament', in yesterday's Sunday Observer. It seems that among the benefits likely to flow from the current borrowing arrangement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will be greater speed and efficiency in the conduct of parliamentary business. If that turns out to be the case, Jamaicans will be grateful. That aside, we are struck by comments attributed to Opposition spokesman for indu ... Read More

Life would be harder without the Junior Stock Exchange

Sunday, January 25, 2015    

From left: General manger of Victoria Mutual Wealth Management, Devon Barnett engages in a discussion with the general manager of JSE Marlene Street Forrest and Carube’s Jeff Ackert.

LAST week, the Jamaica Stock Exchange, under the dynamic leadership of Mrs Marlene Street-Forrest, held its 10th annual conference, a substantial milestone featuring a raft of local and international speakers who pronounced on a wide range of financial and investment topics. The Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) spokesman on finance, Mr Audley Shaw, raised the question of whether the tax policy of the minister of finance, Dr Peter Phillips, was promoting or hindering the development of the Junior Stoc ... Read More

Lack of pride hobbling West Indies cricket

Saturday, January 24, 2015    

Sulieman Benn of the West Indies (left) and teammate and captain Jason Holder appear to ponder their next move as their team’s batting took a battering during the third One-Day International (ODI) at the East London cricket ground in East London, South Africa, yesterday. (PHOTO: AFP)

The two Jamaica Observer headlines accompanying our report of the West Indies' humiliating defeat to South Africa in the third One-Day International (ODI) this week were most appropriate. 'Clueless', splashed across the back page with a photo and a caption, and 'Disgrace', which introduced the story on Page 38, perfectly reflect the state of West Indies cricket and current crop of jokers who make up the team. Given the team's current form, as well as the controversy surrounding its abandoned to ... Read More

Mr Mandela must be rolling in his grave...

Friday, January 23, 2015    

South Africa President Jacob Zuma

Politicians are indeed a rare breed. Thankfully, though, not all of them are given to contradictions in their pronouncements and actions. For there are, among them, people who still uphold the highest ideals of integrity, common decency and the purest motives of serving their compatriots. Locally, Messrs Burchell Whiteman and the late Seymour 'Foggy' Mullings come easily to mind as among the group of politicians whose integrity is beyond question. Unfortunately, politics across the globe has ... Read More

Oh for the National Consumers League of old

Thursday, January 22, 2015    

CONVENTIONAL wisdom posits that the cost of energy, especially from oil, works itself through every item of goods on planet Earth. Simple logic, therefore, is that if the price of energy, especially oil, drops, then the cost of nearly every good should drop too, if not proportionately, at least by some measure. The massive drop in international oil prices - from over US$100 to under US$50 a barrel - suggests that consumers should be seeing a widescale fall in prices across almost every good pr ... Read More

Mr Barack Obama's impressive scorecard

Wednesday, January 21, 2015    

US President Barack Obama

EVEN primary school children in the remotest parts of our country are aware of the importance of a strong, prosperous United States to the well-being of Jamaica. As our most important trading partner, the greatest source of remittances sent from the large number of Jamaicans living there, and our biggest tourist market, we have a vested interest in the progress and advancement made by the US. For all these reasons and more, we were extremely heartened by the content of President Barack Obama's ... Read More

Race relations in America — The struggle continues

Tuesday, January 20, 2015    

Martin Luther King Jr

AMERICA'S reflection yesterday on the life and work of the Reverend Dr Martin Luther King Jr came at a most fortuitous and important time, given recent events in that country. Over the past few months, the United States -- among the world's most democratic countries and a proud defender of free speech -- has been rocked by demonstrations against the killings of black, unarmed men by white police officers. The most recent is the revelation that North Miami Beach cops were using pictures of actua ... Read More

Congrats, Miss Atkinson and Mr Walters

Monday, January 19, 2015    

Swimmer Alia Atkinson and boxer Nicholas ‘Axeman’ Walters, the 2014 RJR Sports Foundation's National sportsman and sportswoman of the year pose with their awards Friday night during the award ceremony. (Photo: Bryan Cummings)

TO truly appreciate the achievements of 2014 Sportswoman of the year Miss Alia Atkinson and Sportsman of the year Mr Nicholas Walters, Jamaicans need to recognise that the nation's track and field athletes actually did extremely well last year. Although it wasn't an Olympic or World Championship year, the nation's track and field representatives were dominant at the Commonwealth Games, a leader on the international events calendar. Yet there was never any doubt that Miss Atkinson who is being ... Read More

Encouraging statistics on missing children

Sunday, January 18, 2015    

Registrar at the Office of the Children’s Registry, Greig Smith

While we still fret about the number of children being reported missing in Jamaica, we are encouraged by news from the Office of the Children’s Registry (OCR) that there has been a 10 per cent decline in the number of children reported missing in 2014, compared with 2013. The number is based on preliminary statistics from the Missing Person Monitoring Unit (MPMU) of the Jamaica Constabulary  Force (JCF), which show that between January and December last year, 1,984 children were rep ... Read More

Rethink needed for Jamaica's age-group football

Saturday, January 17, 2015    

Jamaica’s Roberto Johnson (foreground) shields the ball from Guatemala’s Jose Andres Ruiz Rumph during their Group A game of the CONCACAF Under-20 Championnship at the National Stadium on Sunday. Guatemala won 1-0. (PHOTO: GARFIELD ROBINSON)

JUST two months ago, this newspaper had reason to hail Jamaica's senior national football coaching staff and the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) for a thoroughly efficient show in winning the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) Caribbean Cup on home soil. Sadly, inefficiency has marked the campaign by the national Under-20s in the CONCACAF Under-20 Championship currently being held here. It's not only that at press time Friday evening Jamaica had just one point from three games. Truthfully, the q ... Read More



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