HAD man named January Thelma, and December Louise, it would not matter much to the Earth and the moon as they continue their spins and circuits as they have been doing for many hundreds of millions of years.

Along with our life-giving star — the sun which continues to burn out to an end which we will never live to see, man — who needs order even if it is only to express his chaotic trends — has named this first month January and, because December was designated as the last month, it is normal for us pull on the strings that create hope in all of us as we begin another rotation, so to speak.

We celebrate that at the end of 2014 we murdered fewer of our people than we did in 2013. The cynic would say that this country needs moderate gains in our economic growth and development plus gargantuan decreases in the wounds that pain us, therefore a 40 per cent drop-off in murders is not enough.

To that I say, even without invoking poetic strains, the death of one person less must be celebrated, because it presents us with fewer people shedding tears for the unexpected and tragic end of their loved ones.

In the Christmas season — which has become pretty much the best time to meld raw commercialism with the spirit of togetherness and with that prove that it takes cash to care — poorer folk among us opted for spending on food and what it had cost for rest, relaxation, recreation, and pure enjoyment.

The better off had their expensive trips, parties and healthy bank balances and were eagerly looking forward to replicating, and even bettering, what was done in 2014. More of the people who were disgruntled with the results of their efforts in a tough economy have carried over into 2015 the belief that the greater part of the solution lies within them and not in the politics directing the economy.

The politicians know this and, while both the ruling People’s National Party (PNP) and the Opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) play their games of ‘chicken’ with each other, they both know that the dawning of a new year, with those trends alive and working, simply mean that their irrelevance is becoming cemented.

At a recent uptown party, where a few of the political elite were present, I found myself in brief conversation with a senior member of the ruling PNP. Among a few things I said to her in my over-extended and somewhat fawning greeting was: “Whatever you do, for your own party’s sake, please convince the PM not to call local government elections for next year.”

She lit up her eyes and, through the music, moved her mouth close to my ear and said, “Yes, I know. We cannot afford the possibility of a wipeout.”

With all the pleasant reports of International Monetary Fund (IMF) tests passed, expected increases in the winter tourist arrivals, Jamaica being better rated as a more business-friendly country, and employment barely trending in the right direction, many of our most economically exposed people are still, at the beginning of this year, not convinced that the positives are worth a celebration.

The Opposition JLP knows this, but I sense that both of the factions making up that party are united in one objective. They may desire power, but right now they do not want it. The JLP knows that even as a new year is a signal of hope and even irrational expectation among the ever resilient Jamaican people, the apathy among them is too dangerous a horse to bet on.

The JLP knows of the tenuous situation with Venezuela and the PetroCaribe deal. The JLP knows that the PNP will not risk calling local government elections because to do so will be to present the JLP with a win, and that win will impel it towards forcing the PNP into an early election that the JLP does not want to contest. To contest it is to win it, and that responsibility is not one that a dual-factioned JLP can handle in 2015.

The leadership of the PNP became exposed and fractured in 2014 and the PNP will need time in 2015 to redefine the core tenets of the party and attempt to recalibrate the leadership of the PNP into a quality that the previous Manleys would recognise as befitting the party.

Although we will remain in the IMF straitjacket for quite some time, a few among the ‘thinking class’ will still continue to preach that the PNP must have within it the leadership ability to chart a growth path inside the known constraints. Wage freezes will begin to wear thin and bring about added anger in mid- to late 2015 — and the Government knows this.

Saying that Jamaica became more business-friendly in 2014 when compared with former years will not, in 2015, gel with former Prime Minister P J Patterson’s opinion that “time not on our side”. In a newspaper article he wrote: “We applaud the recent improvement in our rankings on the global competitive index, but we are yet to reach the rung attained 10 years ago.”

In this simple one sentence of his article Patterson was, in essence, saying that the loud noise associated with Industry, Investment and Commerce Minister Anthony Hylton’s patting himself on the back was basically a case of us slipping backwards and, years later, not even catching up to where we were 10 years ago. So, why the big noise?

It could be said we could have done worse, that is, we could have remained where we had slipped to.

The Jamaican people or, at the very least, the huge numbers of those occupying the bottom rung of the social pile, have not experienced the improvement in our rankings on the global competitive index. There is, of course, a time lag in these matters and our politicians are probably relying on that good old Jamaican resilience to kick in.

At the height of the global recession in 2009 a taxi driver, waiting endlessly in a gas station parking lot and seeing no potential fares, said to me: “Di worl inna recession? Jamaican poor people inna recession from dem born! Wi used to it!”

The last of the food which was bought last month for the Christmas holidays will be consumed today. After that, the people will just go about trying to find work as they did, with little success, in 2014. The urge is there, but the enthusiasm took a beating in 2014 and old wounds will have to be carried over into 2015.

I wish you all the best as you embark on the next 12-month trip.

observemark@gmail.com