When Jamaica started electing leaders in 1944, most of the populace was probably illiterate, there was only one national newspaper, and there was no radio or television. Those who did not attend political meetings often knew nothing about constituency candidates except their name and party. No wonder leaders joked that people would vote for a PNP or JLP donkey as candidate.

Politics is a messy, convoluted business because human beings are messy, convoluted creatures. The average public office seeker is probably no less honest or truthful than the average voter. But, while we quickly adjust our own opinions to life's unpredictability, politicians are pilloried for changing their minds when the facts change. Very often, we condemn them most vigorously for the sins we feel most guilty of. How many private lives would pass muster if put under press scrutiny?

Once upon a time, Jamaican election polls were easy to understand - if Carl Stone say so, it go so. From 1976 until 1993 the Stone polls were as accurate as any in the world, never being outside the margin of error.

By the 1997 elections Dr. Stone had left us, but again the Stone polls got it right. Apparently, he had passed on his methodologies well.

Politics can decide the destinies of nations. But to many people an election is just another exciting contest where I want my side to win no matter what. And party candidates and voters find it as difficult to be objective as football players and fans. 'The press is biased!' is the political equivalent of 'The referee is a thief!'

No doubt individual media players, from newspaper owners to reporters to cameramen, have their personal prejudices. But in those countries with a tradition of a free and fair media - among which Jamaica is thankfully numbered - the collective press is nearly always an objective onlooker that calls it as it sees it. Market forces make it rather difficult for our almost 20 radio stations, three national television stations, three national daily newspapers, two national weekly newspapers, and many local papers and cable channels to all have a consistent partisan bias.

More education and less crime - that's the universal route to progress and what all Jamaicans want for their country. One place at least is moving in the right direction, my home parish of Manchester.

Manchester probably has the highest school to population ratio in the country. Its high schools of note include Manchester, DeCarteret, Bishop Gibson and Belair. While Northern Caribbean University, Church Teachers' College and Knox Community College offer tertiary opportunities. It's very heartening to stand in front of the market at 3 o'clock on a school afternoon and see hordes of students on their way from class. This parish is investing in its human capital.

Love is a wonderful thing, when it's going right. Your heart sings, you walk on air. But when it goes wrong, there's nothing more painful. Your inside hurt. A black cloud follows you around. You curse yourself for caring so much when you know you shouldn't.

We want to be happy, and we are going to die. That is all we really know about the human condition. Everything else is speculation.

Some talk as if they have life all figured out. "I wish I were as sure of anything as (Thomas) Macaulay is of everything," someone quipped of the English author. But when contemplating existence, even the most outwardly confident must be filled with the uncertainty Blaise Pascal evoked.

While other economies expand at six and eight per cent a year, we rejoice at reaching two per cent. Jamaica has not grown at anything close to the world average since 1989 and maybe even before that. We are falling farther and farther behind in the global economic race.

The less stable the political system, the more serious the issues. In war-torn Somalia and Iraq, it's about trying not to get blown up. In recent army takeover Bangladesh and Thailand, it's about whether free elections will be held any time soon. In strongman-ruled Venezuela and Russia, it's about toeing the government line or being shut down, jailed or shot.

Well, there may be more enjoyable excursions than a leisurely drive through the Jamaican countryside on a Sunday afternoon, but short of entering paradise it is hard to imagine one. Especially if you start out from Negril.

Every time I go for a swim on that glorious seven-mile beach and bask in the mild crystal-blue water, I marvel at my luck in living a country where this kind of magical experience is available every day of the year. Sure, not everyone can afford an all-inclusive. But anyone with gas money or bus fare has access to the powder-white sand.