Opinion

Daryl Vaz’s announcement of a two-stanza increase in bus and taxi fares was, in part, the minister’s attempt at an illusionist’s trick that made inevitable the frustration and cynicism that have been displayed by transport operators.The development again highlights the need for a new system, outside the realm of political consideration or control, for the determination, and regulation of transportation fares. It also further underlines the recent suggestion by The Gleaner’s Editorial Board that Minister Vaz move with urgency in drafting and publishing of his promised national transportation policy.The illusionist bit! The-16-per-cent hike in fares, which is to be implemented in two tranches - the first eight per cent came into force on June 2, the second portion will take effect on July 1 - is not new

I think it is very important for us Jamaicans to watch closely events to the north of us. To the south too, but especially to the north

Pope Leo’XIV, on Monday, May 25, published his first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas (‘Magnificent Humanity’). The Pope argued that “A.I

If you’ve been paying attention to developments in geopolitics over the last couple of weeks or perhaps months, you would have no doubt seen the rising tensions between the United States and China, as both countries jostle against each other in the race for AI supremacy.If you are a gambling man, you’d bet that the outcome of that race will be decided by the usual chest-thumping metrics of who has the most chips, who controls the biggest data centres, who has the smartest models, the cheapest robots and the fattest venture-capital wallets. Yes

Kevin Brown, president of the University of Technology (UTech), is right about the failures of Jamaica’s education system, especially its inability to graduate students proficient in mathematics and science.He is, however, wrong to describe this as an “emerging crisis”. The crisis has long been here.Dr Brown is also correct about the need for Jamaica to give greater attention to mathematics if it is to fulfil its ambition of becoming a STEM-driven country

Salt has been used for centuries for its curative properties and as seasoning. Today, salt continues to be widely used as a preservative, to improve the flavour of food, in intravenous fluids for the maintenance of fluid and electrolyte balance in clinical settings, and in mineral supplementation e.g

Demanding their pound of fleshAll the countries in the wider Caribbean region have had their political, economic, social, and environmental problems. For years, the country which preoccupied the region most has been Haiti

The exercise and recreation initiative for older people, launched last week by Jamaica’s health ministry, is a good idea, of which the people for whom it is meant need further and better particulars.They should be assured that it will be sustained, rather than a passing public relations fad. For instance, the people who attended the first event at Montego Bay’s Harmony Park on Friday should be clear on when, how, and how often they will take place, and if the structured exercise routines were one-offs, only for the launch.In other words, having been enticed by a strong promotion campaign to come out for the initial event, are the seniors expected to sustain the effort by individual or group motivation?At the same time, the so-called Park Walker project raises the question of whether this programme might reasonably be rolled into the planned development of recreational parks for the elderly, which Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness announced earlier in the year, and whether a segment of Harmony Park could be specifically for older people and their families.That Jamaica has begun to pay greater attention to the needs of the elderly is an important, and necessary, policy shift

Bruce Golding cannot be accused of being opposed to Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness, negative towards his administration or hostile to the governing Jamaica Labour Party (JLP).Indeed, but for a seven-year hiatus when he led the New Democratic Movement (NDM), Mr Golding has been a lifelong member of the JLP, which he rejoined in 2003 and led from 2005 to 2011, the last four as Jamaica’s prime minister. When his government imploded over his handling of the Christopher Coke affair, Mr Golding’s public statements had no small effect in propelling Dr Holness to the leadership of the JLP and the prime ministership of the country.So when Mr Golding advises Jamaica that “keeping an eye on their government is good and worthwhile”, it cannot, or ought not, to be taken as an assault on, or specifically targeted to, the current administration

Make it make sense.A real-time audit conducted by Auditor General Pamela Monroe Ellis, published on May 12, revealed that up to April 2, over five months after Hurricane Melissa, the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM) had disbursed only $26.2 million, or 1.8 per cent, of the $1.44 billion in cash donations for hurricane victims. It was also disclosed that the balances included over $154 million in unspent donations collected in response to Hurricane Beryl, which primarily impacted the southern belt of the island on July 3, 2024

Culturally, Jamaicans have long held their own colloquial remedies for “bad bruck pickney”. These are children that the adults around them seem to have exhausted all the seemingly effective behavior modification techniques available to them.Some well-known strategies: to beat it out the child, prayers, exorcisms, stern ‘talking to” or to put the children “under manners”

For a generation of Jamaicans, Britain was not a foreign country. Like my own parents, it was seen as the mother country

Successive governments have paid lip service to meeting Jamaica’s housing needs. The Planning Institute of Jamaica statistics show that only in the 1970s and 1990s did Jamaica come close to meeting the demand.Bureaucracy, weak enforcement, and low housing output are keeping Jamaica’s housing stock fragile

It obviously doesn’t have the same weight as the labour mobility pact between Barbados, Belize, Dominica and St Vincent and the Grenadines.However, this week’s agreement between Barbados and Guyana that will their citizens to travel to either country with official identification cards (without the need for passports) is a positive development for both countries and the wider Caribbean Community (CARICOM), which also puts back on the table the issue of the full free movement of CARICOM’s citizens within the community. It also reminds of Jamaica’s snail’s pace movement in this matter and raises the question whether the Holness administration remains committed to the idea of full free movement