Columns

Mandatory vaccination will not solve the problem

I was dumb-founded a few days ago when the minister of health declared his wish for the taking of the COVID-19 vaccine to be mandatory in Jamaica.

Are we spending too much on the dead?

Several years ago I asked my husband for a very special favour. I needed him to represent me at a funeral for a staff member's relative as I had to travel on ministerial business. If you know anything about rural funerals then you know that they can last up to five hours or more...

Olympic triumphs continue to inspire

The triumphs and heartbreaks of the Olympics now taking place in Tokyo can find interesting parallels in the 1952 Olympiad in Helsinki, almost 70 years ago, when Jamaica went through some painful moments and setbacks before taking victory out of the jaws of defeat.

You were wrong, Prime Minister!

According to reports in sections of the media, Prime Minister Andrew Holness at his Jamaica House press conference last Monday, insisted that his decision to reopen the entertainment and creative sectors a little under a month ago was correctly timed. Holness can...

The job of the police commissioner

LAST week I wrote an article on the functions of the minister of national security. I made great effort to outline that he has no responsibility or authority to direct or determine police operations. That is, in fact, the commissioner's job.

Reparation demands the urgency of the now

The pressing mandate of reparation is this generation's sacred duty. We must reaffirm the dignity and integrity of our ancestors, who were enslaved, and of ourselves, their proud and determined descendants. Our task is impatient of debate and we must present a united...

Emancipendence, then what?

AS we approach yet another historic milestone in our continuing path of nationhood, with respect to our Emancipation and Independence celebrations, one may be tempted to opine that stock Hollywood quip with much gusto, which says: “You've come a long way, baby!” But, have we?...

Should the rights of the individual supersede the good of the collective?

The wisest thing to do with a fool is to encourage him to hire a hall and discourse with his fellow citizens. Nothing chills nonsense like exposure to air.– Woodrow Wilson, Constitutional Government, 1908.

Will Donald Trump go to prison?

Breaking news! On July 1 The Trump Organization and its Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Allen Weisselberg were indicted by the offices of the Manhattan district attorney and the New York attorney general. The 15-count indictment emanating from a two-year investigation of a 15-year...

Those who sit on the seat of Moses

Clinton A Hutton, in “Confronting Crime” (part 2), wrote: “For the 468 years of slavery and post-slavery colonialism, the schooling and educating of our people, informally and formally, were aimed at framing an identity and an agency to conform to a belief system rooted...

If a suh, retire mi, please

When the decision was made to reopen face-to-face classes towards the end of the academic year, I, along with all well-meaning educators, was euphoric. We wanted nothing more than to see and interact with our 'babies' and make a last-ditch effort to get them prepared for their respective...