The beating in Half-Way Tree:

The front page of the Jamaica Observer today shows a woman "resisting arrest". Our Commissioner of Police, the very respectable Lucius Thomas, has been touting new technology as one of the ways of upgrading police work in Jamaica. He may not have realised that new technology (digital cameras, camera phones) will also force the police to become more accountable.

Possibly the only thing that prevented this from being a one night wonder (our murder rate is way too high for beatings to get much media time) is the Prime Minister ordering a report on the incident.

Good move, Portia. Did any one else listen to August Town discussing the beating this afternoon on "The Corner" (Newstalk 93) ?

Talk about deep divisions between men and women……women still see themselves as entitled to all the consideration of the British idealised "weaker sex"…..i.e. the police were totally, totally out of order….Whereas men feel that the women they see flocking on the streets, yelling and screaming, boxing and kicking, after every incident in the inner city are, well, ballbusters ( to use the parlance of our neighbours to the North)….

That was fast:

Justin Gatlin took the world 100m record from Asafa today. Asafa Powell held the record for less than a year.

Bruce Golding and Goodworks International:

See this article about Goodworks contract with Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo and note the casual way that Goodworks representatives apparently threaten to sue whenever they are asked any embarrassing questions about conflicts of interest.

All looks like Bruce Golding is on the right track with this Mirant story.

In case they don't know, let us remind Goodworks International that the wheels of the Jamaican justice system grind exceeding slow, and by the time they get their day in court Bruce Golding will probably have just retired from being Prime Minister for 10 years and having succeeded Portia who would have retired after serving her 3 terms……

In fact, now we think about it, Bruce should just go back to worrying about how to win the next General Election and Andrew Young et al should just take PJ Patterson and go back to Atlanta (and keep themselves quiet)……

Britain's youngest mother:

An 11 year old girl is about to make her 34 year old mother a granny. The baby father is 15, and is in court for impregnating the girl while they were both drunk (the children's ages rather than consent seem to be the issue).

Last week the British media were exercising themselves over a 63 year old woman becoming a mother (the father is her elderly and to-date childless new husband). However, the UK's youngest mother is making all that righteous outrage seem ridiculous.

Soon-to-be-proud-parents

Instead of worrying about whether 63 year old middle class women with medical degrees and husbands will make good parents, maybe we all should have been getting excited about NOT-UP-TO-THE-JOB younger mothers ……

The good news ? All the publicity will give heart to (1) the church – the 11 year old CHOSE not to abort her baby, and is looking forward to becoming a mother (2) CHAVS who will welcome the attention to their so-called subculture – this hard drinking and hard smoking little girl is clearly a CHAV

"Chav! A User's Guide to Britain's New Ruling Class" (Mia Wallace, Clint Spanner)

Time longer than rope:

Guess what ? Americans think Bill Clinton was a better president than the present incumbent.

Despite all previous protestations to the contrary, the Government has added some meat to its' Memorandum of Understanding soup. This had to be done before any more unions leave the Jamaica Confederation of Trade Unions (JCTU)…..

There's a prudent silence from a certain quarter. This is

( Princess Anne's one boy pickney )

the only Peter Phillips in the news lately…..

[posted with ecto]

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