In Focus

Jamaica has become too much of a coarse, vulgar and rambunctious place.

The tragic natural events which altered the present and future reality of Haiti will forever be engraved in the memories of millions of world citizens who watched the 'CNN-ised' version of the aftermath of the tragedy.

Years ago, when crime was getting out of hand and the government of the day launched a Home Guard programme to help deal with it, the then prime minister, Michael Manley, volunteered to serve and set an example. The police high command quietly talked him out of it. The prime minister on the streets would have been a security nightmare.

We can now end the debate about the debate - or non-debate. The People's National Party (PNP) has decisively lost that round in the media and in the court of public opinion. How will the party fare on Tuesday when the real debate, for which it can no longer plead insufficient preparation time, begins?

It's hard to write about Jamaica's financial problems after seeing the devastation in Haiti. Tens of thousands crushed under rubble, the injured and maimed with no medical care, the rest without food or water, and we claim to have worries?

Lower interest rates have been announced in a dramatic fashion. Jamaican bond holders with total value of $772 billion have been presented with 'an offer which they cannot refuse' - swap excessively high interest-bearing Government of Jamaica (GOJ) local bonds for new bonds issued by the Government at much lower interest rates.

I am so utterly proud of my country at this moment. In true Jamaican fashion, we have rallied to the assistance of stricken Haiti. Our prime minister has laid down his debt-management broadcast script to personally lead Jamaica's first response team to our earthquake-ravaged Caribbean sister.

Electing a government is one thing. Having a government that understands the process of governance; adheres to the proper rules of that process; appreciates the capacity of government and the limits to that capacity...

It's the latest cry in Jamaica: Show us the plan! Show us the way out of the economic crisis; show us a path beyond the International Monetary Fund (IMF) agreement.
There is consensus that there is no alternative to the IMF loan. The People's National Party...

We have been grappling at the intellectual and policy level for years with the question: 'What is the appropriate role and size of government for Jamaica in this era of market-driven globalised capitalism?'...

Here we go again! Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more, or close the wall up with our taxpaying dead (with suitable apologies to Billy Shakespeare)!Once more we are told by a panic-stricken Government, bankrupt of...