Dear Editor,

I can't remember which newspaper carried it, but when Mr Delano Seiveright described the late Mr Michael Manley as a "charlatan", the reason for the G2K's abject failure struck me most forcefully.

Mr Seiveright is an intellectual lightweight. Wait, let's back up.Take out the word intellectual, lest he or any other unfortunate person be confused that we are dealing with an intellectual at all.

Mr Seiveright trotted out a pile of meaningless statistics to show Mr Manley as a failure in the 1970s. Assuming that he might have been too young to appreciate the devastation of the Jamaican economy caused by the scorched-earth policy approach taken by the Jamaica Labour Party in opposing Mr Manley, could he not have researched it too? But clearly he did not want to be confused by the facts.

Mr Manley is without doubt - and the facts support this incontrovertibly - the most visionary and transformational leader Jamaica and the Caribbean have produced. Every great achievement by Jamaica since the 1970s can be directly or indirectly traced back to him, including the power of sports as a balm in our society.

Mr Seiveright's criticism of Mr Michael Manley is akin to Carl Lewis criticising Usain Bolt - far out of his league - except that Mr Seiveright is no Carl Lewis.

Tone Middleton

frenchie8593@hotmail.com