Why did Alexander Bustamante break with the Norman Manley led People’s National Party in 1942 and form the Jamaica Labour Party? Some say Manley and Bustamante were ‘two bulls in a pen where only one could rule’. There is probably something to this. Politicians are by definition egotists. A man must think well of himself to ask others to vote for him. All election campaigns boil down to ‘I am the best man for the job.’

Why are some countries rich and some poor? Geography is one reason. As Jared Diamond shows in his book ‘Guns, Germs and Steel’, climate and topography impact immensely on a region’s development.  Western Europe’s temperate climate, navigable rivers and plentiful harbours explain a good deal of its economic success. Around 93% of the population of the 30 highest-income countries lives in temperate and snow zones. Thirty nine of the 42 poorest countries are tropical or desert societies, and the other three are landlocked and isolated. But as Singapore, Hong Kong, The Bahamas, Barbados and Costa Rica prove, geography is not destiny.

Man is said to be logical. But our opinions often seem determined as much by emotion as by reason. We have all heard the rational pro and con arguments, yet most people’s views on capital punishment remain based on feelings and not facts.

While in exile on St. Helena Napoleon was urged by his aides to write a book on military strategy. Why not let the world know the secrets of history’s finest general? The great man laughed. It would be easy to describe the details of his maneuvers. But what would be the point? It was not the theory that counted, but the actual doing. Execution was everything.

The latest Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index ranks Jamaica 50th out of 99 countries, and even sanguine observers must find it worrying that we are seen abroad as more dishonest than notoriously corrupt nations like Brazil and Zimbabwe. It is cold comfort that we are tied with South Korea and above Argentina. Relatively strong economies may be able to support the costs of corruption, but unchecked it can virtually ruin weak ones – look at Indonesia and Nigeria.

“The world” said Horace Walpole “is a comedy to those that think, a tragedy to those that feel.” Charlie Chaplin gave a film director’s corollary “Life is a comedy in long shot, but a tragedy close up”.

Politicians in other English-speaking liberal democracies understand that once they toss their hats into the ring, all aspects of their past and present lives will be put under a microscope.

When I came back to Jamaica from school in Canada in 1989, the $JA:US rate was 5.75. By 1994 it was over 33, a 583% increase in 5 years. It is now 141, meaning a 2,452% increase over 30 years. Given this historical context, the five to ten percent fluctuations of recent years are hardly worth panicking about.

Caricom is the planet’s largest grouping of mature democracies outside the European Union. For over 40 years, every member country (except Haiti and Suriname) has maintained a free press and independent judiciary, and regularly held free and fair elections.