THE EDITOR, Sir: It should come as no surprise that the prime minister has ignored calls for a new NHT board and has, instead, appointed four new members. What this tells us is that she has no problem with the way the board conducts its business and that the new board members are of a …
About 50 years ago, Lennox Phillip, a Trinidadian national studying in Canada, converted to Islam. He returned home and later formed the radical group Jamaat Al Muslimeen. He changed his name to Yasin Abu Bakr. His first brush with the law came in 1985 when he attempted to erect a mosque on lands belonging to …
THE EDITOR, Sir: Minister Derrick Kellier has been chosen by PM Simpson Miller to be the new minister of agriculture and fisheries. It seems he will add the portfolio of this important superministry to his present duties. A check will reveal that he needs to spend more time in the labour and social security ministry, …
The Reverend Garnett Roper, chairman of the Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC), is featured in a recent Gleaner article headlined ‘JUTC can’t pay for crashes’. It seems there are hundreds of victims of crashes involving JUTC buses who are having difficulty collecting compensation. One of the reasons he gave for this problem goes this way: …
The basis of our government being the opinion of the people, the very first object should be to keep that right; and were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate for a moment to prefer the latter. But I …
I have always given it as my decided opinion that no nation had a right to intermeddle in the internal concerns of another; that everyone had a right to form and adopt what ever government they liked best to live under, themselves; and that, if this country could, consistently with its engagements, maintain a strict …
THE EDITOR, Sir: Richard Byles, co-chair of the local Lagarde lobby, is pleased with the reduction in imports, but is very concerned about the reduction in exports. He has vowed to investigate the matter to find a reason. There is a feeling in some quarters that a reduction in purchases from abroad would lead to …
If you let me write $200 billion worth of hot cheques every year, I could give you an illusion of prosperity, too.” – Lloyd Bentsen, on Reagan administration’s economic policies, televised campaign debate, October 5, 1988. Prime Minister (PM) Portia Simpson Miller is as pleased as punch. The managing director of the International Monetary Fund …
There is growing concern about the movement of the Jamaican dollar. It has moved from J$99.33 to US$1 at the start of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) agreement in May of last year to J$112.14 at the end of trading Friday, June 27. Audley Shaw, opposition spokesman on finance, says the IMF wants it to …
OUR PARLIAMENT will soon be reviewing proposed massive increases in penalties for traffic violations. Those behind this latest burden point to carelessness and recklessness of our drivers, resulting in what everybody claims is responsible for the carnage on the roads: speeding. “Several decades ago, however, after analysing relevant research, Dr Ernest Dicther, director of the …
