In Focus

There are major challenges in the area of teacher preparation, as too many teachers tend to operate at the basic clerical level rather than at the level of the intellectual, who they are supposed to be of course.

David Smith, who earned infamy for his self-styled Jamaican private investment club, Olint, has gone down in Florida. After being charged in The Turks and Caicos Island last September and sentenced to six years, he was extradited to the United States where he admitted to 23 charges in a Florida court last Tuesday, concerning a US$223-million Ponzi scheme that defrauded thousands of persons.

That Jamaica is a country of contradiction is becoming truer than we are the land of wood and water. For how else can we describe the seeming 'parallel universe' occurrences that have been taking place over the last several months? Some have called it a pantomime.

In 1972, the late Mr Winston Hubert McIntosh, aka Peter Tosh, knowing that children live what they learn, in his own inimitable way, reminded Jamaica and the world, "You can't blame the youth". This song was not as received as it should, perhaps not because of the song itself, or the message it brings but, the messenger and who he represented - the mass of poor, black, Jamaican youth.

Jamaica has little to fear from the recent nuclear accident in Japan but it is nevertheless of much interest because of the expanding role of nuclear energy as one component of the effort to provide for global needs without increasing carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere and the important lessons that can be learned...

Historically, were the average citizen to benefit as much as large companies and interest groups from the policing arrangements which apply, then Jamaican society would be a tightly knit and nicely woven fabric. In principle, the police's obligation to the law-abiding citizen is to protect and to serve.

I am not perturbed by the recent announcement that Digicel, the number one mobile service provider (as measured by customer numbers) in Jamaica, has announced that it will be merging its Jamaican operations with those of the newest player in the market, Claro.

Dr Peter David Phillips has been sought by the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) Government to be placed further in the spotlight of the continuing Manatt-Coke nightmare.

It has been long in coming - some 17 years. But it is now almost here. Last Tuesday, 51 members of Parliament enthusiastically voted for the Charter of Rights in a rare cross-party Government and Opposition agreement.

Last Thursday afternoon, I became exasperated while watching the Manatt-Dudus commission of enquiry.

Vybz Kartel, 'the Teacher' pulled out a "crowd apparently larger than the university's annual graduation ceremony held at the same venue, based on the expanse of bodies that stretched from the lectern on to Ring Road" when he delivered a guest lecture at the University of the West Indies (UWI) last Thursday, courtesy of Professor Carolyn Cooper.

The following is the second of a two-part series. Part One was published last week.