When Richard ‘Shrimpy’ Clarke fought for the World Flyweight Boxing title in 1990 you could almost feel the nationalistic fervour in the jampacked National Arena. “Lick ‘im down Shrimpy!” the ecstatic crowd screamed deliriously as he skillfully outboxed champion Sot Chitalada for the first 8 rounds - “He’s giving him a boxing lesson!” a man behind me kept shouting. Alas a jolting uppercut knocked out Shrimpy in the 11th round. “Him teach him too good!” a wag commented wryly as we filed out in gloomy disappointment.

I like to think I’m getting more tolerant as the years go by and more wiling to see the other person’s point of view. But the older I get the less I can stand the company of those who ignorantly insist on classifying people according to how much melainin they have in their epidermis and who see the world in terms of superior “us” and inferior “them”.

Jamaicans love to revel in bad news, and there’s been a lot of it lately as the dollar falls, the national debt rises, and Gulf War II decimates tourism. Then of course there’s the continuing cynicism and hypocrisy of our politicians.