Prioritising People: The Rebuilding of a Kingston Neighbourhood

October 29th, 2018

There has been a lot of public debate recently about urban development: The new Parliament building, twenty-storey buildings, road widening – and the felling of our city’s trees, which I have written and tweeted about before. It’s all quite overwhelming. What of the people who live in the midst of this sea of concrete mixers […]

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In The Cool Hills of Manchester, No One Apologised for Ageing

March 17th, 2018

There is nothing like a trip out of town. On arriving at the orderly, well kept and friendly St. John Bosco Boys’ Home in Hatfield, Manchester, we felt the softer, cooler air. And the quiet. These are rare commodities in the City of Kingston. We were there for the launch of a new chapter of […]

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We Don’t Need a Knight in Shining Armour, We Need a Team

January 31st, 2018

I have been following the ongoing debate over the outgoing Commissioner of Police George Quallo and his alleged failings; and about what kind of person should be selected to replace him. Should it be someone from outside the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF)? A foreigner, perhaps? A Jamaica Defence Force officer? Should it be an experienced […]

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Since Everyone is Talking About Crime…

June 18th, 2017

It seems everyone and his grandmother is talking about crime, these days. Everyone, from the loquacious cab driver, to the politician putting his foot in his mouth, to the all-knowing esteemed columnist has something to say. They talk about the causes of our high crime rate: Bad parenting – absent fathers, struggling mothers Slavery – […]

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Should Masculinity in Jamaica Be Redefined?

April 5th, 2016

“Masculinity needs to be redefined.” So says Anika Gray. Anika Gray is an attorney-at-law. She is also a Chevening Scholar, who pursued her Masters in Public Policy at the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford. Her focus is on Human Rights, Health and Infrastructure Policy. But today, at the launch of a U.S. and UK Government-funded […]

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Homeless LGBT Youth Are Not “No One”

June 25th, 2015

Member of Parliament for South East St. Andrew Julian Robinson acknowledged, long ago, that he could not ignore the peculiar predicament of the “homeless gays,” as they are called, in a particular (comfortable, middle-class) part of his constituency. “This issue is not going away for me,” says Robinson, and as political representative he is duty bound […]

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