Commentary

This combination photo shows former prime ministers of Jamaica P.J. Patterson (left) and Bruce Golding.
December 9, 2025

Editorial | Former leaders right

Their intervention is unlikely to alter Donald Trump’s increasingly militaristic posture in the area. However, last week’s insistence by 10 former CARICOM leaders that the Caribbean be respected as a…
Christopher Burgess
December 9, 2025

Christopher Burgess | Why Melissa matters: Balancing debt with development

People in Jamaica have been preparing and bracing for Hurricane Melissa’s impact since last Monday. Trust stare us in the face; underdevelopment remains our national vulnerability.
Ronald Thwaites writes: It is unforgivable that parliament has failed to initiate this consideration over the four years since the Patterson Report has been available.
December 9, 2025

Ronald Thwaites | Basic competencies

I hold strongly that if all of our people had a firm grounding in religious or humanistic virtues and could read and write in both our languages and compute serviceably, the nation would thrive both…
Britain’s Queen Camilla (left) and King Charles III (right) pose for a photo before a State Banquet at Windsor Castle, in Windsor, England.
December 9, 2025

Lloyd Barnett | Removing monarchy and Jamaicanisation of the Constitution

The Constitution which was applied to Jamaica on our attainment of independence in 1962 still bears the symbols of colonisation and the scars of imperialism. It designates the Head of the British…
Wikie and Keijo, mother and son killer whales, at the closed theme park Marineland Antibes, France.
December 9, 2025

Oliver Barlow | How deep ecology can change the way we see the Earth

In Antibes, a city in the South of France, a pair of orcas helplessly circle their abandoned, algae infested enclosure. The two Orcas, Wikie and Keijo, are stuck in political limbo as officials debate…
Las Carretas (oxcarts) are a national symbol of Costa Rica.
December 9, 2025

Emma Woods | Learning from Costa Rica – Central America’s manufacturing maverick

Thirty years ago, Costa Rica was a resource-based economy reliant on raw exports. Today, however, it is a thriving manufacturing and innovation hub with over 90 MedTech multinationals operating within…
Heavy equipment and trucks are seen at Sandy Gully clearing debris and garbage ahead of Tropical Storm Melissa.
December 9, 2025

Editorial | Hurricanes and small things

With Tropical Storm Melissa still moving ominously and slowly towards Jamaica, the question is, how badly will the island be affected by the wind and rain expected over the next few days. Jamaica…
Sarah Mullally, the new Archbishop of Canterbury, spiritual leader of the world’s 85 million Anglicans, speaks inside Canterbury Cathedral in Canterbury, England.
December 9, 2025

Garth Minott | Split rocks the Anglican communion

Reports in the news recently indicate that trouble is once again brewing in the Anglican Communion. This news is precipitated by a statement from the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON), which…
Comments
December 9, 2025

Garth Rattray | What would our National Heroes think of us today?

Since 1969 when National Heroes’ Day was officially established, and commemorated on the third Monday in October, Jamaicans remember, honour, and celebrate national heroes. We do this to keep their…