In Focus

Who was it again who said, "I think, therefore I am"?For me, it is more like, "I write, therefore I am". And one of the frustrations of life is having to hustle a living otherwise.

The most important race for Jamaica today is not any of those being run by its great athletes, but that between its income and its planned expenditures.

Given the appointment of Professor Donald Harris as consultant to the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) on "growth inducement strategies" and the ongoing nationwide "series of consultations...

I'm glad to see a Scientific Research Council-anchored Rural Youth Employment Project advertising for consultancy services to a bee-keeping component.

The present administration has used every opportunity to seek political mileage from the long-term sale agreement for alumina from production at the Jamalco plant at Halse Hall, Clarendon.

The Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) went into its 67th annual conference at the National Arena in Kingston last Sunday under a heavy media cloud of gloom and doom. Journalists, commentators and analysts in the last few weeks, and even more so in the days leading up the event, gave the distinct impression to the Jamaican public that the conference would be a definite flop.

It was not a bad week for the Jamaica Labour Party and its embattled leader, Bruce Golding. Moving from the disastrous week preceding, the Labourites held their love-in at the National Arena on Sunday, pulling out the big crowds and, reportedly, tears of joy from a highly-appreciative leader who needed all the love he could get.

The Member of Parliament for Central Kingston has raised again the need to settle the question of dual citizenship. I share his anxiety, perhaps for different reasons, to have our tardy representatives address the subject with dispatch and good sense.

Two Sundays ago, my colleague, Martin Henry, headlined his column 'Making sense of development statistics'. His focus was the Planning Institute of Jamaica's (PIOJ's) handling of the recently announced country rankings in human development, suggesting that Jamaica's position had dramatically improved (our position at number 80 has actually declined by six points since 2005).

Consumers of Jamaica's mass media have come to expect the social pages of the dailies to convey the popular definition of the 'sexy', the 'sexual' and the 'sensual'. Oftentimes these concepts are depicted by the drooping arm pits, double chins and welted cheeks of the middle aged and dowager queens of questionable vintage.

The apology of the prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago for the expressed hurt that was caused by her statement concerning the twin-island republic's assistance to sister Caribbean Community (CARICOM) territories in the wake of the Hurricane Tomas devastation is certainly encouraging.

This weekend the Jamaica Labour Party is in conference with both itself and the Government it now forms mired in difficulties. The Coke extradition/Manatt, Phelps, Phillips matter refuses to go away. Indeed, the belatedly announced commission of enquiry by the prime minister and party leader has unleashed fresh storms of controversy.