Editorial

Did Mr Trump just have an off-day?

Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton (R) shakes hands with Republican nominee Donald Trump after the first presidential debate at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York on Monday. (Photo AFP)

Jamaican supporters of Mr Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, must be hoping that he had an off-day in Monday night’s first presidential debate against Democratic nominee Mrs Hillary Clinton. Although his supporters have put a brave face on Mr Trump’s performance, it is difficult for ... Read More

Martin Carter ‘This is a dark time; it is the festival of guns, the carnival of misery’
Guyanese writer Martin Carter said of Jamaica’s socio-economic situation in 1966: “This ... Read More

Police Commissioner Dr Carl Williams (Photo: Michael Gordon) Place more emphasis on intelligence-led policing
The crime treadmill has again been plugged in and Jamaica is once more walking a road that all decen ... Read More

Police at the scene of a murder in Kingston. Robust national effort needed to tackle crime
The peaceful and tranquil parish of Portland was rocked last weekend by a brutal double murder which ... Read More

A museum of African-American history at long last

Sunday, September 25, 2016    

US President Barack Obama and Ruth Odom Bonner (purple), along with her family and US First Lady Michelle Obama (L), ring a bell to mark the opening of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture on September 24, 2016 in Washington, D.C. (ZACH GIBSON / AFP)

Yesterday, United States President Barack Obama formally opened the National Museum of African History and Culture (NMAHC) in Washington, DC, almost 100 years after the idea was first mooted. It is the 19th and newest museum of the Smithsonian Institute and, interestingly, came after the museums dedicated to honouring animals – the National Museum of Natural History in 1964; flight – the National Air and Space Museum in 1976; Native Americans – National Museum of the American ... Read More

Good sense must prevail in Ja’s football future

Saturday, September 24, 2016    

Jamaica’s Under-17 Reggae Boyz going through their paces at a recent training session at the Jamaica Football Federation Technical Centre at UWI.

The Under-17 Reggae Boyz’ advance to the CONCACAF level at the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) World Cup qualifying tournament in Trinidad and Tobago will have provided considerable relief for the beleaguered Jamaica Football Federation (JFF). Welcome relief regardless of the result of last night’s semi-final clash with Cuba. Jamaica’s football has been pushed to the rail following last month’s elimination of the senior Reggae Boyz at the semi-final stage of CONCACAF W ... Read More

Let’s honour Dominic James by setting safety standards

Friday, September 23, 2016    

Dominic James of St George’s during the match against Rusea’s (Photo: Hurburn Williams)

Despite its ultimate inevitability, it is human nature to grieve when death strikes. That grief is multiplied when the loss comes suddenly, and is even more heart-rending when the departed is young, vibrant, and outwardly healthy. In the case of the late Mr Dominic James, St George’s College student and captain of that school’s Manning Cup team who passed away on Tuesday, the circumstances are such that not just family, friends and the school community, but the entire nation has be ... Read More

World should heed President Obama’s final call to the UN

Thursday, September 22, 2016    

Barack Obama (Photo: AP)

United States President Barack Obama is greeted at almost every public event he attends these days - including, unbelievably, the Canadian parliament - by the chant “Four more years”, which suggests that the world is going to miss the quality of his presidency when it ends in about four months’ time. Mr Obama’s powerful final address as US president to the current general assembly of the United Nations in New York on Tuesday is palpable evidence of why he will be missed ... Read More

Economic Growth Council report must not gather dust on a shelf

Wednesday, September 21, 2016    

Michael Lee-Chin, chairman of the Economic Growth Council, speaks about the council’s work during a consultation Monday with a team from the Jamaica Observer.

Last week, we welcomed the long-awaited report of the Economic Growth Council (ECG) and stressed that, while the ideas offered were not freshly minted, what needed to happen was implementation. Jamaica is full of acres of shelves with multitudes of reports and recommendations which are covered up under mounds of dust. The beneficiaries have been paid consultants and committee members. There are billions of dollars in grants that remain unspent over the years because the myriad projects for whic ... Read More

Good sounds from the PNP, but talk is cheap

Tuesday, September 20, 2016    

It’s a healthy sign that the People’s National Party (PNP) intends to act on the recommendations of its appraisal committee that looked at the reasons for the party’s narrow loss at the general election in February this year. Because the easy thing to do would be to discuss and analyse the recommendations to the point where their non-implementation would have gone unnoticed, as has been the case with so many reports on a range of troubling issues. Readers will recall that the ... Read More

The true value of defeat

Monday, September 19, 2016    

People’s National Party President Portia Simpson Miller hugs defeated vice-presidential candidate Lisa Hanna after the party’s internal election yesterday inside the NAtional Arena in Kingston. (Photo: Michael Gordon)

If you have lived for any reasonable length of time you know about defeat. It’s a draining, disheartening thing. Many have simply given up after defeat. But there are those who grow stronger after losing, more sure-footed and hardened for future battles. If her words are anything to go by, Ms Lisa Hanna, a former Miss World — who at 41 remains a woman of uncommon beauty — is of the latter ilk. “The fire in my belly is just burning brighter because I am not giving up ... Read More

The case of Rev Al Miller: O ye of little faith…

Sunday, September 18, 2016    

Rev Al Miller

For being found in the company of Mr Christopher “Dudus” Coke, the most wanted Jamaican at the time, Rev Merrick ‘Al’ Miller was on Thursday fined $1 million or 12 months in jail. He paid the fine and is now a free man. But the case, while it was being tried and even now in the aftermath, unmasked one of the enduring dilemmas faced by Christian believers, including the revered men and women of the cloth — that is, how to interpret the mind of God in adverse circums ... Read More

West Indies cricket needs a fresh start

Saturday, September 17, 2016    

West Indies head coach Phil Simmons

It’s typical of the mismanagement that has afflicted West Indies cricket over a period of many years that the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) would have chosen to sack its coach on the eve of the team’s departure for duties in the United Arab Emirates against Pakistan. If the directors who voted in favour gave any thought to the likely negative impact of Mr Phil Simmons’ dismissal on West Indies cricket, and the players who must take the field, that thought was soon discarded ... Read More

Jamaica has best chance of growth in decades

Friday, September 16, 2016    

Chairman of the EGC Michael Lee-Chin

On Monday, the Economic Growth Council (EGC) presented a list of eight key recommendations to Cabinet which, we are advised, were greeted with enthusiasm and the strong support of the prime minister. The recommendations themselves: maintain macroeconomic stability and pursue debt-reduction strategies; improve citizen security; improve access to finance; pursue bureaucratic reform to improve the business environment; stimulate greater asset utilisation; build human capital; harness the power of ... Read More



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