When Portia speaks tonight ...
It will be her most-anticipated speech. Wherever people are tonight, they will be taking time out to see whether 'she announce the date yet'. She will have a captive audience for free, unlike Bruce Golding last Sunday night. How she uses the time could have a major bearing on the outcome of the election. (Boyne)
Any shift in voting behaviour in Jamaica?
Media commentators and party advocates often claim that the Jamaican electoral landscape is in the process of changing. Is there any truth to this, or are such claims just idle speculation, self-serving propaganda? (Bourne)
Voting behaviour and bribery in Jamaica
On May 10, The Gleaner reported some important findings from a survey conducted by Market Research Limited and commissioned by the Electoral Office of Jamaica (EOJ). One of its finding was that 82 per cent of Jamaicans said that they had never been promised money or any gift to vote for a candidate or a political party. (Buddan)
Perils of ethanol
The supply of petroleum to meet global fuel needs is within sight of the peak of supply. From there on, the supply of oil will dwindle until there is no further supply available. Authorities put the peak at less than 30 years and the end of supply at some 50 years. (Seaga)
Rape, gender and chastity belts
According to a recent report in one of our local newspapers, faced with the enormity of the continued sexual violation of women and girls, a frustrated senior Magistrate Lorna Errar-Gayle proposed the idea of the use of chastity belts to 'keep sex offenders at bay'. (Simms)
Jamaica's foreign policy: Making the economic development link
The Caribbean Policy Research Institute (CaPRI) recently held a public forum to discuss the findings presented in its latest working paper on Jamaica's foreign policy. In today's column, we will highlight some of the findings of our research and explain the process CaPRI uses to arrive at its policy recommendations.
Culture is big business
This is the ageof the creative economy. And as if to parallel the era of the plantation economy that fuelled the empire, it's a time when our creative industries are increasingly a key factor in driving cultural and economic development in the more industrialised countries while gasping for air in the nurseries and creative enclaves of own Caribbean backyards. (Leonard)
The 'politicisation' of sexuality
The Editor, Sir: I would like to comment on the debate over recent attacks on alleged homosexual men in Jamaica. The number, according to the Jamaica Forum for Lesbians, Gays and All-Sexuals (J-FLAG), in a recent Gleaner report, has skyrocketed to 16, more than for the same period last year.
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