Commentary

Residents gather amid debris in the aftermath of Hurricane Melissa on a street in Black River, Jamaica, on October 30.
December 9, 2025

Michael Abrahams | Spotlight on leptospirosis

Leptospirosis is a zoonotic (spread from animals to humans) disease with epidemic potential, and it is caused by a spiral-shaped bacterium (spirochete), Leptospira interrogans. Human-to-human…
In this 2019 photo onlookers gather to watch the Mighter Flyers Marching Band perform outside the National Arena, venue of the JLP Annual Conference.
December 9, 2025

Gordon Robinson | It’s obvious!

I couldn’t suppress a chuckle when I learned that both political parties cancelled their annual conferences. According to Party spokespersons the cancellations happened because they were concentrating…
A light pole which was washed away during the passage of Hurricane Melissa sits on the side of a road in Pennants, Clarendon.
December 9, 2025

Ronald Thwaites | When yu han’ in lion mout’…

This is not a time to spar with the major supplier and monopoly distributor of electric power. The company says they need at least US$350 million to fast-track restoration. That’s double what the…
Smoke rises after a fire broke out at Wang Fuk Court, a residential estate in the Tai Po district of Hong Kong's New Territories.
December 9, 2025

Editorial | Learn from Hong Kong fire

This newspaper is grateful that there hasn’t been a serious fire at any of Jamaica’s growing number of high-rise buildings, so as to test the integrity of their construction, or the capacity of the…
Specialist personnel from the Royal Navy’s HMS Trent assisting hospital workers clearing the debris at Falmouth Hospital in Trelawny.
December 9, 2025

Chris Elmore | The UK stands with Jamaica after Hurricane Melissa

My visit to Jamaica this week comes just over a month after Hurricane Melissa – the strongest storm ever recorded here – swept across the island, leaving devastation in its wake. I will be visiting…
Balvin Thorpe writes: The deaths we have already seen in Jamaica from carbon monoxide poisoning are preventable.
December 9, 2025

Balvin Thorpe | Jamaica cannot afford another preventable generator death

The aftermath of Hurricane Melissa has revealed more than just infrastructural damage – it has uncovered a dangerous pattern of preventable household tragedies. In the weeks following the storm, the…
Minister of Local Government and Community Development, Desmond McKenzie (second left), with Mayor of Black River Richard Solomon (left), along with other key stakeholders. survey the extensive damage to the Black River Market in St.Elizabeth, following t
December 9, 2025

Editorial | Strengthen local government apparatus

When Hurricane Melissa struck last month, the natural expectation would have been for the island’s local government authorities to be quickly on the frontline, among the first responders, providing…
Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Fayval Williams
December 9, 2025

Editorial | When Fayval speaks

While her Cabinet colleagues have hogged the show, talking about everything – from its economic impact to plans for recovery, Fayval Williams, the finance minister, has been peculiarly quiet in the…
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December 9, 2025

Garth Rattray | Paradoxical desocialisation by social media – Part 1

Over the years, human beings have been extremely inventive and creative in discovering, inventing, or improving / developing things that are extremely useful to us as a race. Although we…