A beautiful young lady with a stream of suitors seeking her hand in marriage rejects them all and 'breeds' for a womanising scoundrel. It's a scenario we see repeated regularly in this country, and you can only shake your head.

What a match! What a crowd! What an experience! Old cliche's, yes, but it just doesn't get any better than this. Sabina Park on Tuesday was undoubtedly the happiest place on the planet. The sheer unbridled exhilaration all around made me realise again how God blessed I was to be born in the West Indies.

Sports, like beauty and music, is in the eyes and ears of the beholder. Who is the prettiest, Carla Campbell, Aishwarya Rai or Angelina Jolie? Whose music sounds the best, Mozart, Marley or Miles? Who is the top athlete, Tiger Woods, Roger Federer or Michael Schumacher? You pays your money and you takes your choice.

"In politics, nothing is often a good thing to do and always a good thing to say." - Will Durant

A year ago, Portia Simpson Miller was chosen as president of the People's National Party and Prime Minister-designate to the kind of popular acclaim not seensince Michael 'Joshua' Manley's 1972 election victory. Since then crime has fallen, tourist arrivals have set a record, and the economy has grown at its fastest rate in years.

Is cricket dying in Jamaica? It certainly appears so on the face of it. Practically no one watches our club and schoolboy leagues. Even first-class matches draw few spectators.

Why does Jamaica have what is probably the highest murder rate in the world? Is it poverty? Is it education? Is it inequality? Is it politics? Is it over population?

Actions speak louder than words. So you have to wonder if, despite all the public lamentations, Jamaicans really want to change anything in this country. Sure, everyone says they want more jobs and less crime. But no one, from top to bottom, seems willing to make even the slightest alteration in their lifestyle to attain any of these goals.

'Search for Lyns leads to dump', The Observer, December 22, 2006.

'26 slain in four days', The Gleaner, January 5, 2007.

'7th violent attack on police so far this year', The Observer, January 8, 2007.

Jamaica is one of the most beautiful islands on the planet. Jamaicans are among the most exuberant people on Earth. By all rights, this should be one of the best places in the world to live. But can the people in a country with daily headlines such as those above be happy?

"There can be no greater error than to expect or calculate upon real favours from nation to nation. It is an illusion, which experience must cure ..." - George Washington

Who shows no pity deserves none. Not even the saints shed tears at Saddam Hussein's hanging. He began as an assassin, gained power through blood, and ruled without mercy. Perhaps 100,000 died in his 1987-1989 Anfal anti-Kurdish campaign. In 1988 he used chemical weapons to kill at least 5,000 civilians in Halabja.