Commentary

St Catherine North West MP Damion Crawford speaking at the launch of his Solidarity Students Exchange Programme at the Bitters Restaurant in Linstead last Thursday.
December 9, 2025

Editorial | Adopt Crawford’s template

Education minister Dr Dana Morris Dixon should formally embrace, and expand, the initiative of the opposition parliamentarian, Damion Crawford, of pairing students in parishes badly hit by Hurricane…
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
December 9, 2025

Elizabeth Morgan | CARICOM trapped between Venezuela and the USA

OVER THE last few years, this column has addressed the relationships between CARICOM and Venezuela, CARICOM and the USA, and within this hemisphere generally. CARICOM’s foreign policy was also…
December 9, 2025

Ruthlyn James | Why Jamaica needs a national parenting system, not just parenting advice

THERE IS a quiet revolution in Jamaican homes, not loud enough to make headlines, but powerful enough to reshape a generation. It is not driven by activism, legislation, or community change. It is…
Gleaner editorial writes: ... we repeat our proposal of a governance structure for the NRRA that gives Parliament broad oversight of the authority, thereby not only widening its transparency but ensuring a role for the political opposition.
December 9, 2025

Editorial | Get NRRA right

Having recommended the creation of a special purpose vehicle to guide the post-Hurricane Melissa rebuilding of western Jamaica, The Gleaner continues to support Prime Minister Andrew Holness’ decision…
Residents gather amid debris in the aftermath of Hurricane Melissa on a street in Black River, Jamaica, on October 30.
December 9, 2025

Michael Abrahams | Spotlight on leptospirosis

Leptospirosis is a zoonotic (spread from animals to humans) disease with epidemic potential, and it is caused by a spiral-shaped bacterium (spirochete), Leptospira interrogans. Human-to-human…
In this 2019 photo onlookers gather to watch the Mighter Flyers Marching Band perform outside the National Arena, venue of the JLP Annual Conference.
December 9, 2025

Gordon Robinson | It’s obvious!

I couldn’t suppress a chuckle when I learned that both political parties cancelled their annual conferences. According to Party spokespersons the cancellations happened because they were concentrating…
A light pole which was washed away during the passage of Hurricane Melissa sits on the side of a road in Pennants, Clarendon.
December 9, 2025

Ronald Thwaites | When yu han’ in lion mout’…

This is not a time to spar with the major supplier and monopoly distributor of electric power. The company says they need at least US$350 million to fast-track restoration. That’s double what the…
Smoke rises after a fire broke out at Wang Fuk Court, a residential estate in the Tai Po district of Hong Kong's New Territories.
December 9, 2025

Editorial | Learn from Hong Kong fire

This newspaper is grateful that there hasn’t been a serious fire at any of Jamaica’s growing number of high-rise buildings, so as to test the integrity of their construction, or the capacity of the…
Specialist personnel from the Royal Navy’s HMS Trent assisting hospital workers clearing the debris at Falmouth Hospital in Trelawny.
December 9, 2025

Chris Elmore | The UK stands with Jamaica after Hurricane Melissa

My visit to Jamaica this week comes just over a month after Hurricane Melissa – the strongest storm ever recorded here – swept across the island, leaving devastation in its wake. I will be visiting…