Most people will have little difficulty in perceiving crime as a key variable in determining outcomes of businesses and industries, one way or the other. The challenge to decision-makers, though, is to move beyond estimates and provide empirical data that seek to validate this perception.
Dr Andrew Wheatley was selected as the Jamaica Labour Party's (JLP) candidate for the newly created South Central St Catherine constituency last Sunday. The constituency is new, but early signs suggest that his politics might not be. TVJ's 'First News' the next morning showed him celebrating his selection by rallying "Shower Labourites".
Despite several columns describing inadequacies of the Westminster system of government and how to interpret Westminster-style election results, the People's National Party (PNP) sycophants are still having trouble with the results of the last general election.
The recent decision by the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) that the attorney general of Belize is competent to bring an action in the tort of misfeasance on behalf of the Crown against two former government ministers has once again reignited the debate...
The people of Singapore re-elected the ruling People's Action Party (PAP), handing it an 11th consecutive term in office. Lee Hsien Loon, the son of Singapore's founding father Lee Kuan Yew, continues into his seventh year in office as prime minister, unimpeded.
A recent Gleaner-Bill Johnson poll noted the current administration is doing very well in education. The very humble minister, Andrew Holness gave credit to the former portfolio minister, Maxine Henry-Wilson, for the foundation laid from the Task Force Report on Education 2004.
When I first heard of "the suggestion" made by officials of the Jamaican Government to rename the Boscobel airport in St Mary, the Ian Fleming International Airport, in honour of British author and creator of James Bond, the cinematic British espionage...
Our best batsman, Chris Gayle, sat in the stands as the West Indies team struggled and was eventually beaten in the first Test by a second-string Indian team.
The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) has a published code of conduct, and the players, in their contracts with the board, acknowledge and accept this code and are bound by it. By implication, the employees and board members are expected, too, to observe it at all times.
In The Gleaner of Monday, May 13, The Gavel advocated that the composition of the Electoral Commission should be revamped to exclude the commissioners nominated by the prime minister and the leader of the Opposition.
It's hard to resist devoting a column to the alleged Peter Phillips WikiLeaks bombshell about Comrade Leader Portia Simpson Miller's being a "disaster" and the distastefulness of serving under her, as well as the 'JLP bounces back' Gleaner headline of last Thursday...
The Jamaica Cricket Association (JCA), led by my good friend Lyndel 'Mud' Wright, committed a grave error of judgement when it decided to name the players' pavilion at Sabina Park in honour of Lawrence Rowe.
A recycled minister and a number of others were sworn in last Wednesday as the prime minister reshuffled his Cabinet.The new ministers and ministers of state took the oath of office: "I … do swear that I will … freely give my counsel and...
I recently had a talk with Marie Sparkes, director of Pure Potential LLC Jamaica, whose company has been strategically getting our Jamaican society at all levels to deal more seriously with...
Three blind mice, three blind mice,See how they run, see how they run,They all ran after the farmer's wife,Who cut off their tails with a carving knife,Did you ever see such a thing in your life,As three blind mice?It is not to be believed that...
This is a response from Paula V. Llewellyn, QC, director of public prosecutions, to the Gleaner editorial of June 15, titled 'The DPP and Fighting Corruption', and The Gleaner editorial of June 17, 'The DPP in an age of transparency'.
A chronic failure of mid-level politicians to launch in both major political parties has left most Jamaicans pessimistic about the future. These 'symbols of the future' have perfected the art of politicking to the extent that the populace is dying to see them beyond their political façades.
Delusional behaviour appears to be public officialdom's occupational hazard. Take our prime minister, for example. First, he snubs invitations from a sitting US president. Then he accuses the US of harassment. Then he visits Washington. Our US ambassador undiplomatically applauds herself for arranging high-level meetings.
Many corruption scandals and scandals over the abuse of power occur at the level of the individual's private motives in politics (greed, lust for power, self-serving values, incompetence) and at the level of the structures that make up the political system. The Manatt-Coke commission report can, in a sense, be read as a report at those two levels...
