Extremism in the pursuit of the presidency is an unpardonable vice. – Lyndon Baines Johnson, speech in New York in reply to Barry Goldwater, October 31, 1964. The Americans are in a tizzy. And it should come as no surprise that the person behind this is presidential candidate Donald Trump. Since announcing his candidacy several …
When I was a child growing up in Brown’s Town, St Ann, my closest neighbour was Baron Morris. Last year, Baron and his wife visited Jamaica. He was travelling in the country when he had some cardiac complications and was admitted to a rural hospital. Conditions were very unsatisfactory. Fortunately, another childhood friend, Doug Halsall, …
It was 2007 and I was having a Pepsi at an establishment. There was an air of expectancy. I learnt that the proprietor’s son was to be released from prison later that day and a celebration was planned. An SUV pulled up to the door and stopped. Out jumped a businesslike young woman with T-shirts …
The health of the people is really the foundation upon which all their happiness and all their powers as a state depend.” Benjamin Disraeli, speech in the House of Commons, July, 24, 1877. Thanks to powerful private-sector interests, the damning report on the public-health sector has been prised from the grasp of our Government. And …
THE EDITOR, Sir: Not so long ago, when his alma mater honoured him with a honorary doctorate, I sent a congratulatory letter to Dr. Glen Christian. In that letter I said that, to the best of my knowledge, the Order of Jamaica was the only worthwhile honour that had eluded him. Last week, it was …
THE EDITOR, Sir: Tuesday night’s television news revealed that there was an alarming number of deaths among hospitalised children due to klebsiella and serratia. Klebsiella is a bacteria that can cause a variety of health-care problems – some of them deadly Serratia is a sort of first cousin to klebsiella that produces similar results. The …
So we’re getting a prison. GREAT! Last Tuesday, I turned on my TV and saw Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller standing by a plane. She was waiting on British PM David Cameron to descend. Our prime minister is the descendant of slaves and speaks frequently of her humble beginnings. Cameron is listed by Rich List …
THE EDITOR, Sir: I find the story behind your front-page headline in The Sunday Gleaner worrying. It seems a number of PNP MPs – good ones among them – are facing serious challenges by others who want to replace them as candidates for the next general election. Long before many of them were born, a …
Spirits were lifted in the country this past week. That is usually the case when the topic is track athletics. I must confess that I was not as confident of the usual Bolt/Shelly-Ann successes. On the men’s side, my fears stemmed from the fact that Justin Gatlin is the first sprinter in history who seemed …
THE EDITOR, Sir: Manchester South MP Michael Peart has voiced the concern of most ordinary Jamaicans over the cost of education in Jamaica. There seems to be a host of ‘fees’ and ‘costs’ associated with education that must be borne by parents. School administrators have been facing a lot of criticism as to their motives …
LETTER OF THE DAY: Government not giving schools enough support Read More »
