Commentary

This stock photo shows old cellphones stacked on top of each other.
February 9, 2026

Jocelyn Richards | Gadgets and gizmos and the Internet’s trash problem

Pause. Before you continue reading, take a moment to look around and notice the number of electrical devices you have in your home right now. From the phone in your hand to the laptop resting on your…
“Bureaucracy exists to create trust, not to exhaust the people moving through it. Jamaica’s systems are strong, but they are often indifferent to time. When process becomes disconnected from outcome, credibility quietly erodes": Dean Jones, founder of
February 9, 2026

Bureaucracy is not the enemy; friction is

For much of Jamaica’s modern history, bureaucracy has been one of the country’s quiet strengths. A dense network of laws, procedures, ministries, departments, agencies, courts, and oversight bodies…
February 8, 2026

Editorial | Trash the rules, then

The urgency imposed by post-storm relief notwithstanding, there was nothing inevitable about the breach of the Government’s procurement rules, as identified by the auditor general in her real-time…
February 8, 2026

Xinyu Addae-Lee | Hybrid public-private model for adoption: A strategic response to systemic delays

Jamaica’s adoption system is at a pivotal moment. The recent CAPRI report, Home Advantage: Reforming Jamaica’s Adoption System, provides a comprehensive diagnosis of the structural barriers preventing…
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February 8, 2026

Garth Rattray | Don’t allow fear to kill you

The feeling of fear is perfectly natural. It is hardwired into our nervous system as a protective measure. It’s an unpleasant subjective emotional state arising in response to perceived dangers or…
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February 8, 2026

Orville Taylor | Black history

Yesterday was 100 years since American ‘Blackademic’ Carter G. Woodson and the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (ASNLH) initiated the celebration of Negro History Week (NHW). Not a…
Ruthlyn James
February 8, 2026

Ruthlyn James | Jamaica’s early childhood paradox

Long before early childhood education became global jargon, Jamaica understood that learning does not begin at primary school. Community-based basic schools laid the foundation for generations of…
Matthew Samuda, minister of water, environment and climate change removes debris from a mangrove ecosystem in Parottee, St. Elizabeth, during clean-up activity marking World Wetlands Day on February 2.
February 8, 2026

Editorial | Preserving the wetlands

T he Gleaner welcomes the apparent urgency with which the Government is approaching the post-Hurricane Melissa rehabilitation of mangroves and wetlands degraded by the Category 5 storm that hit three…
February 7, 2026

Tony Deyal | Chinese in tongs

When I was growing up in Trinidad, there were many people in houses, groups, towns, and cities. In that time, there were people from various races or, as Trinis call it, “white, black and khaki.” The…