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Editorial

Jamaican Editorials

How loyalty to party and leader has hurt Jamaica

After 50 years, and as much as we would like to think otherwise, Jamaica is, in several respects, worse off than it was at the time of Independence in 1962. This is certainly true in the areas of crime, economic growth, per capita income, and education. Almost all of the decline or failure are due to bad politics, wi ...more

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  • Because the party faithful must 'eat a food'...

    Tuesday, February 21, 2012

    Jamaicans should not allow the most recent fire at the Riverton City dump to become just another poorly managed crisis that fades from memory with its last embers. For it is clear to us that what took place there is a nasty scandal that placed at ri ...more

    12 comments

  • Need for genuine participatory democracy

    Monday, February 20, 2012

    Perhaps Jamaicans will be told soon what has motivated Mr Danville Walker to leave competitive politics just over three months after he was formally introduced with much fanfare as the Jamaica labour Party (JLP) candidate for Central Manchester. The ...more

    0 comments

  • The mass psychology of financial anxiety

    Sunday, February 19, 2012

    Crisis can be precipitated by real or imagined events. This is particularly the case when information is incomplete or incorrect or when everyone does not have the same information. Information inadequacy together with the well-documented "herd inst ...more

    2 comments

  • Contender scores for boxing again

    Saturday, February 18, 2012

    THE visual evidence appears to suggest that Mr Courtney Simister, the losing boxer in the opening bout of the Wray & Nephew Contender Boxing Series at the Chinese Benevolent Association on Wednesday night, has a point when he suggests the contest ...more

    0 comments

  • If this Government really cares...

    Friday, February 17, 2012

    OUR experience over the years with environment advocate Ms Diana McCaulay is that whenever she speaks, she does so from an informed position. Therefore, she caught our attention with her revelation this week that in January 2007 the Inter-American D ...more

    5 comments

  • Why Mr Ronnie Thwaites cannot and must not fail!

    Thursday, February 16, 2012

    Today, Mr Ronald 'Ronnie' Thwaites will undertake one of the most important and compelling missions he will ever face in his tenure as the education minister of Jamaica. He is scheduled to visit the Haile Selassie High School, ensconced in the troub ...more

    0 comments

  • The Marley magic endures

    Wednesday, February 15, 2012

    ON music’s biggest night, when the death of one of its best loved icons, Ms Whitney Houston, overshadowed everything else, the Reggae Grammy went to another member of the Marley family; a sure sign that the magic produced by the patriarch, Mr R ...more

    0 comments

  • A message beyond the grief

    Tuesday, February 14, 2012

    The death of American pop music icon Ms Whitney Houston on Saturday has no doubt shocked the world and plunged the entertainment fraternity into deep mourning. In fact, so great was the loss that it cast a pall over the annual Grammy Awards, the mus ...more

    6 comments

  • How will men speak Mr Wilmot Perkins' name?

    Monday, February 13, 2012

    JAMAICAN journalism has indeed lost a brilliant mind with the passing last Friday of Mr Wilmot 'Motty' Perkins. Accepting death is never easy. As such, we share the pain and sense of loss being felt by Mr Perkins' wife, Elaine, and their family. We ...more

    8 comments

  • Building our own national identity is important

    Sunday, February 12, 2012

    Jamaicans who bother to think about such things are increasingly impatient and frustrated with the way we have chosen to govern ourselves since political Independence from Britain 50 years ago. Hence, for example, the cries for action to be taken, o ...more

    3 comments

  • Kudos for Monday night football and Montego Bay United

    Saturday, February 11, 2012

    THOUGH we have some concerns with the late kick-off times of the newly launched Monday night football live on CVM Television, we are delighted that the Premier League Clubs Association (PLCA) and Red Stripe have been able to conclude a deal as they a ...more

    2 comments

  • Kudos to GraceKennedy for its impressive vision

    Friday, February 10, 2012

    GraceKennedy's intention to become a global consumer group by the year 2020 is the kind of vision and big thinking that needs to be spread across Jamaica. For it speaks to an acknowledgement of our capacity to achieve at the highest level and a refu ...more

    3 comments

  • Nice move on that 'Kingston Interview Waiver Programme'

    Thursday, February 09, 2012

    IT is very pleasing to see the continuing evolution in the treatment of the Jamaican people by the United States Embassy, with the just-announced introduction of its Kingston Interview Waiver Programme (KIWP), allowing certain qualified applicants to ...more

    1 comments

  • The unenviable task facing Dr Peter Phillips

    Wednesday, February 08, 2012

    Most of us now know that a stable macroeconomic policy, sustained over the medium term, is an essential component of an economic environment conducive to investment and growth. The value of stability in economic policy is that it provides a predicta ...more

    1 comments

  • A compelling case for evidence sharing

    Tuesday, February 07, 2012

    Justice Gloria Smith, we believe, expressed the view of all well-thinking and law-abiding Jamaicans in relation to the disgraceful attempt by police Detective Sergeant Michael Sirjue to tarnish the justice system. "The justice system is not here to ...more

    14 comments

  • How Belize is showing up Jamaica

    Monday, February 06, 2012

    Those who have visited the BBC website in recent days may well have read the inspiring story of efforts by our CARICOM sister nation of Belize to "balance" its thriving tourist industry with protection of its rich ecology. In the context of the Amer ...more

    7 comments

  • The challenge facing our woman in London

    Sunday, February 05, 2012

    The post of high commissioner to the United Kingdom is reserved for retired politicians. Sometimes this produces successes such as Mr Derrick Heaven or Mr Burchell Whiteman. At other times, nothing to write home about. It all started when late Peopl ...more

    6 comments

  • Now that Captain Burrell has spoken...

    Saturday, February 04, 2012

    WE applaud Captain Horace Burrell for finally breaking his silence on the prickly issue of his FIFA suspension. The Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) president, under a lingering cloud regarding his role in the now infamous cash-for-votes scandal th ...more

    1 comments

  • Public sector waste scandalous

    Friday, February 03, 2012

    THE hundreds of millions of dollars that go to waste in this country every year due to incompetence and, in some cases, criminal behaviour, is scandalous. This year's report by Auditor General Pamela Monroe Ellis brought out this point forcefully. ...more

    4 comments

  • Miss Lisa Hanna's first real test

    Thursday, February 02, 2012

    Miss Lisa Hanna has, it would seem, everything going for her: brains, comeliness, youth, articulateness and a party which apparently believes in her, to the extent of giving her an easy ride into Gordon House through Mr Seymour 'Foggy' Mullings' safe ...more

    12 comments

  • Revealing the bitter medicine no one wants to take

    Wednesday, February 01, 2012

    Nobody knows the troubles I've seen — from the famous American Negro spiritual THIS would be a suitable opening statement for the press conference following the coming Cabinet retreat (unfortunate wording for a planning meeting). The People's ...more

    13 comments

  • Commissioner Ellington is right on this one

    Tuesday, January 31, 2012

    POLICE Commissioner Owen Ellington’s suggestion for the introduction of reverse directory technology at the Constabulary’s 119 control centre is worthy of serious examination. For based on what this newspaper observed during a visit to t ...more

    4 comments

  • Facing the hard realities

    Monday, January 30, 2012

    So far as this newspaper is aware the only fundamental thing that has changed in relation to Jamaican horse racing over the last two years is that the Government has changed. However, as this newspaper understands it, the horse racing calendar for 2 ...more

    12 comments

  • A word to Dr Phillips: Credibility has a short shelf life

    Sunday, January 29, 2012

    Credibility is a highly perishable asset. Indeed, a good reputation earned over many years can disappear in a second, especially given the general feeling of scepticism about the integrity of political leaders. Traditionally, governments enjoy their ...more

    11 comments

  • Usain, Yohan must stay on guard

    Saturday, January 28, 2012

    Among the more enduring photographs of 2011 is of the incomparable Mr Usain Bolt standing shoulder to shoulder with fellow Jamaican sprinter Mr Yohan Blake as they watched an on-screen rerun of Mr Blake's performance moments before at a meet in Belgi ...more

    6 comments

  • The importance of trust and the IMF negotiations

    Friday, January 27, 2012

    THE move by Finance Minister Dr Peter Phillips to make his second public statement to the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ) on the importance of strengthening the State's partnership with the private sector is encouraging, given that the ...more

    4 comments

  • Sir Patrick in a political pickle

    Thursday, January 26, 2012

    THE contribution of politics to our advancement, or lack of advancement, in the half century ending this year, is yet to be fully and deeply analysed. When this reflection is done, and there is no better time than now as we contemplate our 50th anniv ...more

    17 comments

  • What's in a name as long as it spells jobs?

    Wednesday, January 25, 2012

    The Government's Jamaica Emergency Employment Programme (JEEP) is a well intentioned poverty alleviation initiative, crash programme or not, which is desperately needed in an economy which has a high rate of unemployment such as ours. Once again, a ...more

    16 comments

  • Messrs Seaga and Thompson: from foes to friends

    Tuesday, January 24, 2012

    Former Prime Minister Edward Seaga's tribute to the late Ambassador Dudley Thompson is as revealing as it is touching. Older readers will recall that both men were political adversaries, facing each other twice -- in the 1962 and 1967 general electi ...more

    3 comments

  • Politics, age and Mr Mike Henry

    Monday, January 23, 2012

    Among the elements of proposed pension reform is an extension of the retirement age. Certainly, from the perspective of this newspaper, it seems preposterous that in a struggling economy with the average person living much longer than in years past, ...more

    8 comments

  • Dudley Thompson — Jamaican hero

    Sunday, January 22, 2012

    THE Hon Dudley Thompson OJ, QC who died on Friday in New York at the age of 95 was a genuine Jamaican hero whose important contributions extend beyond this island to the Third World, Africa and the African diaspora. Indeed, his years of service and ...more

    2 comments

  • 'Mum' shouldn't be the word for the Captain

    Saturday, January 21, 2012

    LIKE so many others, including the numerous football-loving supporters, we, too, were left disappointed that Captain Horace Burrell, the iconic leader of the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF), chose to remain silent on details relating to his three-m ...more

    5 comments

  • Time to reward professionals rather than political favourites

    Friday, January 20, 2012

    IT'S a long established practice that after the installation of a new Government certain positions in the public sector experience a change in personnel. Some are understandable, given that they are sensitive posts and the new administration would w ...more

    12 comments

  • Let’s get that anti-gang law passed

    Thursday, January 19, 2012

    FROM what we have observed so far, Police Commissioner Owen Ellington is not a man given to trivial pronouncements. So, when Mr Ellington speaks we listen, because we have come to appreciate that he does so from a position of authority and detailed k ...more

    7 comments

  • Revisiting the view that size matters

    Wednesday, January 18, 2012

    The Chinese saying, "A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step", can easily be applied to Jamaica's current quest for lasting peace and economic development. It's a long and arduous journey, we admit, but it can be achieved with leader ...more

    8 comments

  • Good start by the new opposition leader

    Tuesday, January 17, 2012

    Politicians rarely accept election defeat easily. In fact, we have seen in Jamaica instances in which losing candidates have cried foul, making allegations of bogus voting, faulty electoral machinery or other perceived discrepancies. However, despit ...more

    7 comments

  • As we enter another 'silly season'...

    Monday, January 16, 2012

    Election weary Jamaicans will by now be 'sucking teeth' at the realisation that following the intense campaign which preceded the December 29 parliamentary poll, they will in all likelihood have to deal with another "silly season" in the first quarte ...more

    7 comments

  • If Mr A J Nicholson fails...

    Sunday, January 15, 2012

    A foreign policy is a vital tool for development in small states like Jamaica. Unfortunately, we have not had the kind of coherent, proactive foreign policy that we deserve as a nation. Our foreign policy, with little tweaking here or there under Dr ...more

    5 comments

  • Despair, but also a glimmer of hope for West Indies cricket

    Saturday, January 14, 2012

    Early indications are that administratively West Indies cricket in 2012 will be struggling with very similar problems to those that have haunted it in recent years. In the first week of January, news broke that the players' union, the West Indies Pl ...more

    1 comments

  • Dealing with the gay rights issue

    Friday, January 13, 2012

    People's National Party (PNP) strategists must still be sighing with relief that there was no obvious backlash to Mrs Portia Simpson Miller's affirmation in the pre-election debate that Jamaica's buggery law needs to be reviewed. We say 'no obvious ...more

    26 comments

  • No witch hunt among government boards, please

    Thursday, January 12, 2012

    WE were naturally pleased to see the proactiveness of Mr Godfrey Dyer who stepped down as chairman of the state-run Tourism Enhancement Fund (TEF), to make way for the new tourism minister to appoint another, should he be so minded. The appointment ...more

    8 comments

  • A role for Portia in reigniting the fires of regionalism

    Wednesday, January 11, 2012

    The year 2012 is likely to see a deepening of the profound multi-dimensional crisis of the Caribbean. Unfortunately, the political leadership necessary to help extricate the people of the Caribbean from this dire situation is hardly anywhere in sight ...more

    5 comments

  • Mr Bouterse wrong choice for Caricom chairman

    Tuesday, January 10, 2012

    IT will be interesting to see how Caribbean Community and Common Market (Caricom) leaders interact with the new chairman of the regional body, President Desiré Delano Bouterse of Suriname. President Bouterse began his six-month tenure in the ...more

    8 comments

  • New Government must stand firm against crime

    Monday, January 09, 2012

    News that 30 people have been murdered in the first week of the year has confirmed something Jamaicans already knew — that the decline in violent criminality registered over the past year and a half should not be taken for granted. In that res ...more

    16 comments

  • Single source of economic policy statements essential

    Sunday, January 08, 2012

    A familiar scenario after a general election is that there is a period of uncertainty about the economic policy that the new political directorate will pursue. We suggest that it is absolutely essential at this time that there be only one source of ...more

    2 comments

  • PNP's commitment to sport encouraging

    Saturday, January 07, 2012

    It comes as no surprise that in her second dispensation as prime minister of Jamaica, Mrs Portia Simpson Miller has again incorporated sport among her ministerial responsibilities. We suspect too, that across the sporting fraternity, there is a sens ...more

    3 comments

  • Good advice from Bishop Robert Thompson

    Friday, January 06, 2012

    Now that the new Portia Simpson Miller Administration has started to take shape, we hope that it will remember and retain the wise advice offered by the Rt Rev Robert Thompson, Anglican Suffragan Bishop of Kingston, in his New Year's Day sermon. Bis ...more

    3 comments

  • Can Mrs Simpson Miller make us believe again?

    Thursday, January 05, 2012

    We have in our series of editorials since the December 29, 2011 general elections endeavoured to set the kind of tone we believe that the nation needs at this time. This is in keeping with the growing maturity and sophistication that we have detecte ...more

    8 comments

  • The second coming of Mrs Portia Simpson Miller

    Wednesday, January 04, 2012

    Large numbers of Jamaicans believe that God raises up leaders and takes them down. It is clear that when Mrs Portia Simpson Miller was booted out of office in September 2007, God was not finished with her yet. We don't see it as mere coincidence tha ...more

    15 comments

  • Make vote-buying illegal

    Tuesday, January 03, 2012

    The sordid issue of vote-buying has long been an unfortunate feature of Jamaican elections. So bad a stain has it been on our democracy that the authorities have sought to use moral suasion to have the practice expunged from our electoral process. A ...more

    5 comments

  • If we put country first...

    Monday, January 02, 2012

    If only we could paint a vision of calm waters ahead in Jamaica's fiftieth year of Independence. The hard truth, though, is that 2012 promises to be as tough as any since the global recession set in with a vengeance in 2008. As has already been sai ...more

    6 comments

  • The Jamaican spirit can get us through this New Year

    Sunday, January 01, 2012

    The glorious uncertainty of what will happen in a New Year is perhaps what makes life interesting and exciting. We never quite know where the road will turn. But from the compass provided by the past year, there are some things we can be very certain ...more

    3 comments

  • Wishing the new Government well

    Saturday, December 31, 2011

    Elections always provide plentiful food for thought and analysis. In that respect, few Jamaican elections could have bettered Thursday's. Against all reasonable expectations and in the face of opinion polls suggesting the elections would be neck an ...more

    17 comments

  • The maturing of the electoral process

    Friday, December 30, 2011

    YESTERDAY'S polling in our 16th general election since 1944 marked, in our view, the undoubted maturing of the Jamaican electoral and political processes. Indeed, we have come a far way from the 1960s when there were widespread charges of gerrymande ...more

    8 comments

  • December 29, a day of destiny for all Jamaicans

    Thursday, December 29, 2011

    TODAY, December 29 is the 363rd day of the year, based on the Gregorian calendar. There are two days remaining until the end of the year 2011. But it will not be just another year. Some 1,648,036 Jamaicans over 18 years old are eligible to vote for ...more

    13 comments

  • Jamaica — one vote, one family, one love

    Wednesday, December 28, 2011

    The public opinion polls indicate that tomorrow, Election Day, as customary, the Jamaican nation will be split into three groups: those who support the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), those who will vote for the People's National Party (PNP), and those w ...more

    5 comments

  • Let the Christmas spirit flavour the election and beyond

    Tuesday, December 27, 2011

    For the rest of the Christmas season, throughout the duration of the general election and beyond, Jamaicans can improve their lives by living the motto: Love thy neighbour. This is a core tenet of the Christian religion. Unfortunately, this dictum i ...more

    2 comments

  • A time of difficulty, but yet a time of hope

    Sunday, December 25, 2011

    We feel fortunate to be able to commemorate another Christmas Day, in common with Christians across the globe who hold this day sacred for its message of peace and goodwill to all mankind. We also have reason to be thankful that the day has found us ...more

    3 comments

  • Building sport post-election 2011

    Saturday, December 24, 2011

    We shouldn't expect sports to be forefront in the thoughts of the average voter as he or she enters the polling booth next Thursday. Joblessness, crime, education, health and the economic vision are far more likely to be issues being contemplated as ...more

    1 comments

  • Address these campaign safety issues, please

    Friday, December 23, 2011

    No one who has ever been in the midst of a Jamaican political mass rally with thousands of people jammed together — rocking to the rhythms of popular music and in-between that cheering and hanging on to the words of favoured politicians — ...more

    3 comments

  • The leadership debate just did not hit the spot

    Thursday, December 22, 2011

    MUCH has already been said about Tuesday night's debate between Prime Minister Andrew Holness and Opposition Leader Portia Simpson Miller; lack of substance, not living up to expectations, but pointed on some issues are some of views coming from poli ...more

    6 comments

  • Consensus on economic priorities emerging

    Wednesday, December 21, 2011

    We believe that a consensus is emerging in the country — particularly among the political parties, the private sector and the trade unions — that the economic policy options open to Jamaica in the immediate future are few and very limited ...more

    6 comments

  • RJR right to suspend Portia tracing ad

    Tuesday, December 20, 2011

    If the Gary Allen-led Radio Jamaica (RJR) Group had not suspended that distasteful television tracing commercial featuring Mrs Portia Simpson Miller, pending possible editing, we would have called for it ourselves. And we cry shame on the Jamaica La ...more

    28 comments

  • Questions the voters in North Trelawny need to ask

    Tuesday, December 20, 2011

    Dear Editor, We are all very excited because Christmas is upon us, the election is around the corner and Jamaica will celebrate 50 years of so-called independence eight-and-a-half months from now. Yes, those are things that tickle our fancy. For ex ...more

    0 comments

  • Heart-warming news this winter season

    Monday, December 19, 2011

    IT'S easily one of the best items of news associated with the current general election campaign: hotels are showing strong bookings for the winter tourist season. In fact, the season, tourism officials have told us, is shaping up to be even better t ...more

    4 comments

  • NWC loan laudable but puzzling at the same time

    Sunday, December 18, 2011

    The US$115-million loan pact just signed between the National Water Commission (NWC) and Scotiabank has the appearance of being a two-edged sword. On one hand, the objective of the loan cannot be disputed. The money will fund the much-needed second ...more

    4 comments

  • A valuable lesson from Major League Soccer

    Saturday, December 17, 2011

    We find Jamaica international and Houston Dynamo midfielder Mr JeVaughn Watson's comments in yesterday's edition to be very instructive and timely. Mr Watson, who completed his rookie season in the US Major League Soccer (MLS) this year, was advocat ...more

    1 comments

  • Withholding our votes could never be the answer

    Friday, December 16, 2011

    With the approach of elections it is not uncommon to hear people expressing a reluctance to vote on the basis that neither of the two major political parties is better than the other. That cynical discourse is even more worrying coming from young Ja ...more

    10 comments

  • The ghost of Hitler walked in Gordon Town in 1980...and again in 2011

    Thursday, December 15, 2011

    Mr Damion O Crawford, the People's National Party (PNP) candidate for the East Rural St Andrew constituency was set last night to reopen a nasty 21-year-old wound in the square of Gordon Town. Mr Crawford announced that the PNP organisation in the c ...more

    20 comments

  • Ministers of government must be suitably qualified

    Wednesday, December 14, 2011

    THE notion of performance-based evaluation of state employees is growing in popularity across the globe as a satisfactory way of holding them accountable for the service they offer. Minister in the Government of Jamaica is one of the few jobs to whi ...more

    9 comments

  • We should all take responsibility

    Tuesday, December 13, 2011

    NO doubt the political debates will add value to the discussion as we approach the December 29 polls. But as the experience on Saturday night will have shown, we shouldn't expect too much. Truthfully, in-between the fluff and the drive to score poli ...more

    4 comments

  • Whew! Europe back from the brink

    Monday, December 12, 2011

    We're busy with elections but let's not forget what's happening in the world and how we will be affected, irrespective of which party forms the next government. A recent Citibank report states that several countries in the Caribbean "have European d ...more

    17 comments

  • There was a plane over Tivoli, so what?

    Sunday, December 11, 2011

    The shallow brouhaha over the United States surveillance plane which assisted us when we had to fight back drug thugs last year is much ado about nothing. Had we not been in the throes of an election campaign, it would not even have made the front p ...more

    30 comments

  • Let's consider a rotation policy for schoolboy footballers

    Saturday, December 10, 2011

    THE annual schoolboy football season comes to an end today with the final leg of the all-island Olivier Shield involving those two wonderful educational institutions, St George's College and Rusea's High. We are told by Mr George Forbes, competition ...more

    3 comments

  • PM, beware the danger of attacking the media

    Friday, December 09, 2011

    PRIME Minister Andrew Holness is obviously trying to wiggle his way out of the pickle in which he and his ruling Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) have found themselves with the media. We take the prime minister at his word that his Government is committed ...more

    16 comments

  • Jeopardising the prestige of the National Journalism Awards

    Thursday, December 08, 2011

    Last Friday, the Press Association of Jamaica (PAJ) presented the National Journalism Awards to deserving members of the media who did outstanding work over the past year. Frankly, we are very worried about how the awards are being treated by individ ...more

    1 comments

  • Election not just one big party

    Wednesday, December 07, 2011

    For some of us, an election campaign is one huge party, no pun intended. But there is a serious side to it which we ignore at our own peril. The profound multi-dimensional crisis of the Caribbean is deepening and the intellectual and political leade ...more

    3 comments

  • If the environmentalists of Jamaica unite...

    Tuesday, December 06, 2011

    To the average Jamaican, protection of the environment is of little concern until, of course, nature's fury exposes our vulnerabilities by placing life and property at great risk, or worse, destroying both. We have no doubt that outside of those epi ...more

    2 comments

  • A vote for Jamaica’s future

    Monday, December 05, 2011

    Every parliamentary election in Jamaica, dating back to 1944, has been described as crucial. However, it can perhaps be argued that there is more riding on the December 29, 2011 version than most. The very fact that Prime Minister Andrew Holness ha ...more

    7 comments

  • Employment creation priority of the next Gov't

    Sunday, December 04, 2011

    The political party that forms the next Government of Jamaica will have to simultaneously tackle the problems of crime, poverty, debt, rationalisation of the public sector, health, education, tax reform and the IMF negotiations. But the impecunious ...more

    8 comments

  • To win, much more than talent is needed

    Saturday, December 03, 2011

    Most cricket analysts watching the current Asian tour by the West Indies will agree that there is genuine evidence of growth in the squad. The young middle-order batsman Mr Darren Bravo shows the makings of a truly outstanding player, leading some t ...more

    0 comments

  • Saluting Mr Lowell Hawthorne, et al

    Friday, December 02, 2011

    IN many ways, Mr Lowell Hawthorne, the principal shareholder and executive chairman of Golden Krust Caribbean Bakery & Grill, is your average guy. He's not a son of gentry, neither was he born into affluence. In fact, Mr Hawthorne admitted in an ...more

    8 comments

  • The evolution of the Jamaica Labour Party

    Thursday, December 01, 2011

    If Tuesday night's resignation of Mr Lester Michael 'Mike' Henry as minister of transport and works is seen merely only as political fodder, we risk losing the point entirely. The greater significance of Mr Henry's departure lies in the further indi ...more

    17 comments

  • IMF reps should 'see and blind, hear and deaf'

    Wednesday, November 30, 2011

    WHILE we encourage free speech for our people and our guests, we do have some concerns which we feel are worthy of ventilation. Representatives of international financial institutions, such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank ...more

    9 comments

  • MegaMart is setting the perfect example

    Tuesday, November 29, 2011

    It's the kind of news that could easily get lost in the flurry of activities associated with the political silly season. However, it has not escaped our attention that MegaMart has achieved the distinction of becoming the first company to sign on to ...more

    3 comments

  • Parties and their supporters must obey the laws

    Monday, November 28, 2011

    A photograph appearing in this newspaper on Friday labelled ‘Daryl’s Van’ captures the “enthusiasm” of Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) supporters who attended last Sunday’s annual conference of that party. Unfortunatel ...more

    5 comments

  • It's crunch time, the reliance on borrowing has to stop

    Sunday, November 27, 2011

    In 2012, the newly elected Government will have to make very difficult political decisions which successive administrations have postponed. These decisions centre around the fact that the nation has been living beyond its means through local and over ...more

    6 comments

  • Some answers please, INSPORTS

    Saturday, November 26, 2011

    The findings by Auditor General Mrs Pamela Monroe Ellis into irregular activities at the Institute of Sports (INSPORTS) should be taken seriously. It has become part of our culture for disclosures about irregularities to be made, only for many of th ...more

    0 comments

  • Outstanding Carib journalists a monument to Professor Aggrey Brown

    Friday, November 25, 2011

    There are not many recent graduates of the Caribbean Institute of Media and Communication (Carimac) who did not have the benefit of engagement with Professor Aggrey Brown. We dare say that those who were not so fortunate are the poorer for it, becau ...more

    5 comments

  • How did the PNP come to this?

    Thursday, November 24, 2011

    ONE can draw some hope from the two-paragraph press statement issued yesterday by the Jamaica Debates Commission (JDC) that, even at this eleventh hour, a resolution can be reached on the staging of a political debate between the leaders of the two m ...more

    13 comments

  • A judge who has no honour in his own country

    Wednesday, November 23, 2011

    WE have recently raised the issue of why we are losing some of our most talented and hard-working people in the continuing massive brain drain. Obviously, qualified Jamaicans may opt to ply their trade abroad in the global labour market in search of ...more

    11 comments

  • Substance over hot air

    Tuesday, November 22, 2011

    NO one will accuse Prime Minister Andrew Holness of being a charismatic speaker. His speeches lack catch phrases and 'sweet talk, and so he runs the risk of losing audiences that are not inclined to listen carefully. It's a deficiency that the prime ...more

    22 comments

  • Our leaders must come clean and truthful on the economy

    Monday, November 21, 2011

    In a move which must have left many seasoned politicians shaking their heads in disapproval, prime minister and new Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) leader Andrew Holness rang the bell then chose not to name the date. At least we now know after his addre ...more

    7 comments

  • Unless there's something to hide, let the political debates go on

    Sunday, November 20, 2011

    We, too, are very disappointed that the political parties have not reached agreement to debate the issues which are germane to the impending general election. This is despite the yeoman efforts of the Jamaica Debates Commission (JDC) which has been ...more

    11 comments

  • We will miss Mr Tino Geddes

    Saturday, November 19, 2011

    It's been said that the late journalist extraordinaire Mr Tino Geddes was as comfortable with the leaders of our society as he was with ordinary folk on the streets. The truth is that he was far happier with the latter group. He was, as phrased by t ...more

    0 comments

  • Put rowdy political motorcades under manners, Mr Ellington

    Friday, November 18, 2011

    PRIME Minister Andrew Holness has done the right thing by announcing that he intends to await the availability of the new voters' list, due on November 30, before seeking his own mandate from the electorate. Indeed, had Mr Holness done the opposite, ...more

    1 comments

  • Country ready for December elections

    Thursday, November 17, 2011

    There is growing speculation that Prime Minister Andrew Holness will announce the nomination and election dates either at the 68th annual general conference of the JLP this Sunday, or shortly thereafter. We acknowledge that he will have to be guided ...more

    13 comments

  • David Coore, patriot and nation-builder

    Wednesday, November 16, 2011

    WE join Jamaica in mourning the passing of Mr David Coore OJ, QC, politician, parliamentarian, statesman and nation-builder. His was a life of patriotic dedication to Jamaica in the conviction that service is its own reward. His commitment to public ...more

    2 comments

  • Let's clean up our act for this election

    Tuesday, November 15, 2011

    The fervour that is now being displayed on the political campaign trail is, unfortunately, degenerating into the kind of war of words that is not healthy for the country. Don't get us wrong, we appreciate that banter will always form part of the hus ...more

    7 comments

  • The negative push factor in Jamaica's brain drain

    Monday, November 14, 2011

    JAMAICA has been experiencing 'Brain Drain' since the 1950s and a 'Brawn Drain' since the late 19th century. The society was happy and relieved because migration was a vent for surplus labour. This release of unemployed labour has been a direct cons ...more

    4 comments

  • The truth about Jamaica's debt crisis is that we are not Greece

    Sunday, November 13, 2011

    As the country heads into an election campaign, questions are again being asked about the sustainability of Jamaica's debt, comparing our situation to that of Greece, and the performance of the Government, particularly with respect to our agreement w ...more

    15 comments

  • Jamaica has lost a giant in Mr Howard Aris

    Saturday, November 12, 2011

    LIKE the sporting fraternity in Jamaica and the wider world, this newspaper is burdened with a sense of loss at the passing of sports administrator Mr Howard Aris. We do not believe it is an accident that since he took over as president of the Jamai ...more

    0 comments

  • The shameless Lawrence Rowe

    Friday, November 11, 2011

    MR Lawrence Rowe has no shame. In fact, we are now convinced that the remorse that eluded the former West Indies batsman when he led two rebel tours to Apartheid South Africa in the early 1980s has remained foreign to him to this day. For how else ...more

    21 comments

  • Careful how you invoke imagery of violence, Mr Bunting

    Thursday, November 10, 2011

    A marked change came over Jamaican general elections in 2002 when violence seemed to have been at its lowest since the 1970s. Subsequent elections were even better in that respect. Naturally, therefore, we winced at the recent imagery invoked by Mr ...more

    10 comments

  • Beginning of the end for communism in Cuba

    Wednesday, November 09, 2011

    CUBA seems to have started on the slippery slope of a transition from communism to capitalism, having granted its citizens the right to buy and sell houses used as residences. This profound dispensation is the most far-reaching in a series of reform ...more

    7 comments

  • The BBC has done a great service to the Caribbean

    Tuesday, November 08, 2011

    The fulfilment of a promise by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) to donate the complete archives of its Caribbean Service broadcasts from 1988 to 2011 to the University of the West Indies (UWI) is most commendable. For the gesture speaks no ...more

    0 comments

  • Reason for discomfort in Mrs Simpson Miller's response

    Monday, November 07, 2011

    Political garrisons, or politically exclusive zones as Opposition Leader Portia Simpson Miller prefers such communities to be called, were not created overnight. Indeed, contrary to the impression given by new prime minister Andrew Holness in his ac ...more

    11 comments

  • Jamaica should support the Robin Hood Tax

    Sunday, November 06, 2011

    ONE of the difficulties confounding and confronting policymakers is how to simulate the resurgence of economic growth in their economies and how collective multilateral actions could resuscitate the world economy. The crux of the policy dilemma is ...more

    4 comments

  • A boost for the West Indies... more joy for Jamaica

    Saturday, November 05, 2011

    The jailing of three Pakistani stars — including a former captain — for bowling pre-arranged no balls in order to line their pockets has obviously cast a pall over cricket. But even that won't dampen the quiet satisfaction felt by Caribb ...more

    0 comments

  • Why the British PM can wield a big 'homosexuality' stick

    Friday, November 04, 2011

    The threat by British Prime Minister David Cameron to withhold aid from governments that fail to reform legislation banning homosexuality highlights the importance of a position we advanced in this space exactly a week ago. The point we made was tha ...more

    19 comments

  • Walker, Buchanan, Gordon-Webley: Let fair play be seen to be done

    Thursday, November 03, 2011

    JAMAICANS who are able to remove the politically tribal scales from their eyes, would quickly welcome persons of the calibre of Mr Danville Walker offering themselves for public office. It is extremely unfortunate that the prospect of Mr Walker seek ...more

    11 comments

  • Getting rid of all discredited political candidates

    Wednesday, November 02, 2011

    To serve the people of Jamaica in the House of Representatives and the Senate is a great privilege and among the highest honours which can be bestowed on a citizen of this country. It stands to reason, therefore, that those persons offering themselv ...more

    5 comments

  • Jamaica should decide on liberalising its electricity market

    Tuesday, November 01, 2011

    In his inauguration speech, Prime Minister Holness addressed the issue of the high cost of energy which, he said, was "a universal cry across all divides in Jamaica". Furthermore, he added that "it is also universally agreed that Jamaica must diversi ...more

    3 comments

  • We must do better in selecting party candidates

    Monday, October 31, 2011

    POLITICAL parties are not recognised by the Jamaican Constitution but as we all know, they are at the very core of the style of democracy and governance practised in this country. That’s why the delicate issue of political party funding is of ...more

    6 comments

  • International double standard

    Sunday, October 30, 2011

    AN old dictum of finance states that if you owe the bank a small amount, then you worry, but if you owe the bank a large sum, the bank worries. A large debtor has leverage with the bank and can negotiate for concessions, restructuring or new loans. B ...more

    4 comments

  • JFF has little room for error

    Saturday, October 29, 2011

    THE management committee of the Jamaica Football Federation, led by its acting president Mr Dale Spencer, stuck to the core business of the management of the federation during Sunday's meeting, instead of engaging in the emotional, yet serious issue ...more

    2 comments

  • Grenada-Taiwan debt saga: Let's 'tek sleep mark death'

    Friday, October 28, 2011

    IT pains us to watch the loutish strategy being utilised by Taiwan to collect a US$28-million judgement against Grenada for non-payment of loans received from Taiwan's Export-Import Bank in the 1990s. We are told by an Associated Press report that l ...more

    10 comments

  • How to avoid being tricked in the election campaign

    Thursday, October 27, 2011

    All indications are pointing to a general election before the end of this year. A plausible scenario is that Prime Minister Andrew Holness is elected leader of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) at its annual conference in November and uses the occasion ...more

    1 comments

  • Rating Mr Andrew Holness's inauguration speech

    Wednesday, October 26, 2011

    Of all those arts in which the wise excel, nature's chief masterpiece is writing well — Andre Breton Speech is the mirror of the soul; as a man speaks, so he is — Publilius Syrus JAMAICANS love a good speech and a great speaker. That i ...more

    17 comments

  • Our new prime minister's first job

    Tuesday, October 25, 2011

    Assuming that he wins the next election, he will have a similar need to that of Mr Golding to make some very tough decisions, as the history of financial crises suggests that the current "modern day depression" may last for much of his new mandate. ...more

    9 comments

  • We have heard the words, now to action

    Monday, October 24, 2011

    It is easy to question the new prime minister's historical timelines. After all, the records suggest that bitter political divisions and the very process of political 'garrisonisation' started in Jamaica long before the turbulent 70s. Nonetheless, w ...more

    11 comments

  • Lessons from the demise of Gadhafi

    Sunday, October 23, 2011

    The removal of Moammar Gadhafi from power in Libya provides us with two lessons. First, global powers set the rules of the game, determining what the countries of the rest of the world can do. Second, people will eventually rebel and overthrow repres ...more

    16 comments

  • Well deserved, Dr Neil Gardner

    Saturday, October 22, 2011

    THIS newspaper joins all well-thinking Jamaicans in hailing Dr Neil Gardner, who was on Wednesday night named the seventh recipient of the Courtney Walsh Award for Excellence. Dr Gardner is no ordinary Jamaican. He is among the country's finest 400m ...more

    2 comments

  • If our children can’t be safe…

    Friday, October 21, 2011

    IT'S been said repeatedly in this space and elsewhere, but such are the realities we may as well say it again: That among the tragedies of modern Jamaican society is that we take atrocities for granted. So while there will have been expressions of s ...more

    11 comments

  • We deserve more than this 'loader man' debate

    Thursday, October 20, 2011

    THEY don't call it the political silly season for nothing. We find unbelievable the amount of time being spent by the two major political parties quarrelling over Mr Abe Dabdoub's very petulant styling of Prime Minister-designate Andrew Holness as a ...more

    24 comments

  • Remembering that Mr Belafonte put our island in the sun

    Wednesday, October 19, 2011

    Mr Harry Belafonte, the brilliant and charismatic superstar, is known worldwide as a great singer and actor. What is less known, perhaps, is that he has been a political activist in the struggle against racism, discrimination, political oppression, v ...more

    26 comments

  • Embracing Dr Martin Luther King Jr's legacy

    Tuesday, October 18, 2011

    On Sunday, the world watched with pride as America unveiled a most impressive monument to Dr Martin Luther King Jr at the National Mall in Washington, DC, the US capital. The 30-foot monument, made by Chinese sculptor Mr Lei Yixin from 159 pieces of ...more

    2 comments

  • Search diligently for the heroes among us

    Monday, October 17, 2011

    WE hope that today's investiture ceremony of national honours and awards at King's House will signify to the country more than an appropriate gesture of a grateful nation. For implicit in this morning's ceremony are the contributions to our national ...more

    4 comments

  • Tax reform taking too long

    Sunday, October 16, 2011

    Under the Golding administration Jamaica has undergone a strenuous programme of economic reform. Most of the measures were made necessary by the dire economic circumstances of years of excessive borrowing by previous PNP governments and the unexpecte ...more

    14 comments

  • A crisis in football, but there could be a silver lining

    Saturday, October 15, 2011

    THERE can be no question that FIFA’s six-month ban (three months suspended for two years) of president of the Jamaica Football Federation Captain Horace Burrell has the potential to seriously hamstrung Jamaica’s football. Captain Burrell ...more

    2 comments

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