In Focus

January 4, 2026

Ethon Lowe | God, Hurricane Melissa and same-sex couples

In my customary perusal of the Sunday Gleaner, December 7, two interesting articles caught my eye. The first questioned God’s purpose following Melissa’s untimely destruction of a country, which I…
Floyd Morris writes:  Government must make a concentrated effort to build accessible sidewalks in towns and communities in the post-Hurricane Melissa era.
December 28, 2025

Floyd Morris | Integrate accessibility and inclusion for more resilient post-Melissa Jamaica

Jamaica has agreed to a number of international agreements that bind it to providing an accessible and inclusive environment for persons with disabilities. The United Nations Convention on the Rights…
Gleaner editorial writes: ...the world in which, and for which, the mechanisms underlying Vision 2030 were framed no longer exist.
December 28, 2025

Gordon Robinson | Make a change

Despite most of us having no clue where the time went it seems another new year is upon us. The thing about time is that it not only flies but changes direction, fortunes and perspectives while doing…
People walk through Santa Cruz, Jamaica, after Hurricane Melissa passed.
December 28, 2025

Dennis Minott | When self-interest is sacrificed

Jamaica’s prolonged mistreatment of Haitian migrants is often defended in the language of capacity, sovereignty, or political realism. Yet five years on — and now brutally exposed by Hurricane Melissa…
December 28, 2025

Sandra Latibeaudiere | Hurricane Melissa exposes vulnerable older adults

Hurricane Melissa’s vastly different human and infrastructural impact between eastern and western Jamaica has continued into the early recovery stages. There is another, far less obvious, disaster…
This aerial photo shows St. John Anglican Parish Church in Black River, St Elizabeth, razed by Hurricane Melissa.
December 28, 2025

Patricia Green | Hurricane Melissa architecture and land decolonisation

“… I will uncover your skirts over your face, That your shame may appear …” was spoken by God to the prophet Jeremiah about ancient Israel. Is this exposure applicable to post-disaster Jamaica?…
Mark Wignall writes: Nothing really surprises about the police reaching out to the residents in efforts to quell violence. In plain language, it makes sense.
December 28, 2025

Mark Wignall | Present me with real honour

In many ways, it has to be more than just what you feel about me and significantly deeper than that. It has to be much more than that. I want to feel an intense connection. Closer than it could ever…
Drummers seen playing at Maroon Festival in Accompong, St Elizabeth.
December 21, 2025

Stephen Vasciannie | Assessing Accompong assertions

The Maroons are a distinct but divided people. Some Maroons find their national identity through full membership of Jamaican society as Jamaican nationals, engaging in Jamaican cultural life, sharing…
A JPS electricity pole broken by the passage of Hurricane Melissa is seen in Mandeville, Manchester.
December 21, 2025

Mark Wignall | What a nerve!

This comes with the most bold-faced audacity; The Jamaica Public Service (JPS) claiming seven per cent increase in electricity rates. What makes this so jarring to the nerves is what went down before.…