Commentary

Mangled remains of a house in Westmoreland destroyed by Hurricane Melissa.
December 9, 2025

Peter Espeut | Hope springs eternal

Two days ago (last Wednesday) my wife and I accompanied a few friends on a journey to the isolated community of Seaford Town in deep rural Westmoreland on a mission of mercy. Hurricane Melissa made…
President Donald Trump addresses the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly.
December 9, 2025

Ronald Sanders | ‘Sovereignty’ – A plaything of the powerful?

For the powerful, sovereignty is a sword; for the small, it must remain a shield Sovereignty is supposedly the cornerstone of international order: the formal declaration that every state has the…
Mulgrave Methodist Church in St Elizabeth stands in ruins after the passage of Hurricane Melissa.
December 9, 2025

Tony Deyal | Hurricane Melissa: Help for all

The first time I met Jamaicans at Canada Hall of The University of the West Indies (UWI) in Trinidad, initially, it was scary. I had just become the hall chairman when a huge Jamaican youth was…
Judge Patrick Robinson
December 9, 2025

Patrick Robinson | Track and field athletics is number one

Jamaica has been placed in what is, perhaps, the weakest qualification group – Jamaica, Bermuda, Curaçao and Trinidad and Tobago – ever created in the history of the World Cup. If the Reggae Boyz do…
A house in Elderslie, St Elizabeth badly damaged by Hurricane Melissa.
December 9, 2025

Kristen Gyles | Better safe than sorry

Jamaica is very highly prone to natural disasters and specifically hurricanes, considering its position in the Atlantic hurricane belt. Although the last time we got a direct hit from a hurricane…
Damion Crawford, opposition spokesman on education.
December 9, 2025

Editorial | Melissa and voluntarism

The Gleaner notes, and supports, Damion Crawford’s renewed proposal that Jamaica establishes a department of voluntarism to register – and align skills to needs – people who want to volunteer their…
December 9, 2025

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva | COP30, the moment of truth

TODAY IN the Brazilian Amazon, the Belém Summit opens ahead of the 30th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30). I have convened world leaders in the days leading up to the COP so that we can…
Members of the Jamaica Defence Force, aided by a volunteer from Australia, pull a downed concrete power pole from the roadway on October 29, after the passage of Hurricane Melissa.
December 9, 2025

Basil Jarrett | The need for a strong volunteer army

IT PAINS me, no, shames me to say this, but prior to the events of October 28, I had never heard of the Council of Volunteer and Support Services (CVSS). I know. I’m utterly embarrassed to admit this.…
Minister of Education, Skills, Youth and Information, Senator Dr Dana Morris Dixon (left), listens to Hidran McKulsky, principal of Manchester-based Holmwood Technical High School, while on a visit to the institution on Sunday to see the extent of the hurr
December 9, 2025

Editorial | Melissa, reading and rebuilding

T he Gleaner welcomes the appreciation by Education Minister Dana Morris Dixon of the urgency of placing children back into a learning mode after last week’s destruction by Hurricane Melissa,…