Mon | Jun 5, 2023

In Focus

In this 2020 photo Governor General Sir Patrick Allen delivers the Throne Speech at the ceremonial opening of the Parliament.

“... Sun a shine an pot a bwile, but ... Things no bright, bickle no nuff ... Rain a fall, river dah flood, but, ... Water scarce and dutty tough ...” penned Louise Bennett-Coverley. This is likely to be the refrain of teachers, nurses,...

Actor and singer Harry Belafonte poses for a portrait at a New York recording studio, in November 2001.

Harry Belafonte, who recently died in New York at the age of 96, was a pioneering Caribbean-American singer-actor who used his fame and wealth to support social causes. Belafonte was the first ever artiste to have sold a million records, with his...

An aerial view of downtown Montego Bay.

In a visit to the Cayman Islands recently, I was struck by the vast development, especially in relation to infrastructure, in a country which, some years ago, was exporting its waste to Jamaica for disposal. With a population of close to 70,000...

Significant changes are long overdue in St Thomas. Now, with over 60 years of independence and colonial retentions continue to batter this parish; causing it to be still the most disrespected and left-behind parish. Morant Bay is the only parish...

The massive salary increases for councillors, members of parliament (MPs), Cabinet ministers, and the prime minister have angered Jamaicans at home and abroad and led to calls for job descriptions to measure their performance. The critics argue...

“First, the increase is announced by Mr Clarke,” wrote my lawyer friend. “Then the public outcry and then the refusal to accept the increase by the PM and Leader of the Opposition. Either the increase is warranted or not. But the comedy routine is...

One in four women in Jamaica experiences sexual violence at least once in their lives. UN Women also reports that Jamaica has one of the highest rates of rape in the Caribbean. Many cases of sexual assault go unreported, though, and there is a...

Martin Luther King, in his famous 1963 speech ‘I have a dream’, noted ‘the fierce urgency of now’ while cautioning against what he called ‘the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquillising drug of gradualism’. Jamaica is at just such an...

So Government’s dog and pony show (a.k.a. Constitutional Reform) is now in full swing. Or, more fittingly, full see-saw. Because fundamental flaws in the process are so contrary that every rise in the tide lifts only some boats while sinking others...

In recent times, there has been much discourse about the University of Technology (UTech), Jamaica, and STEM education. The general interpretation seems to be of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) as a destination. Since all...
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