It must be a miserable experience to live in a country with the world's highest homicide rate, and one of the lowest official GDP growth rates over the past 20 years. Or, maybe not. According to the February 24 Sunday Gleaner poll, 59 per cent of those living in statistically broke and murderous Jamaica say they are happy.

LAWS ARE MADE to serve people, not people to serve laws. So when a piece of legislation that once made sense ceases to do so, the reasonable response is not to keep forcing it on the populace, but to alter it to suit the times.

There has never been and never will be an ideal government. But this doesn't stop many from judging their rulers by a standard of perfection not found on Earth. Places we Jamaicans look up to as models of democracy and prosperity - Britain, United States, Canada - regularly show large majorities thoroughly dissatisfied with their politicians. In contrast, many abysmally governed places freely re-elect leaders who keep them mired in poverty and violence. Between 1989 and 2007 for instance, the murder count in Jamaica went from 429 to 1574, and the economy grew by an official cumulative total of less than 10 per cent. Yet the PNP won four straight terms and only missed winning a fifth by 3,000 votes.

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.

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?

What do dancehall deejay Elephant Man and Nature ­ the world's leading scientific magazine ­ have in common? The answer is Robert Trivers, the world famous biologist who was cited in a special issue of Time magazine as one of the 100 greatest thinkers and scientists of the 20th century. Dr. Trivers has lived on and off in Jamaica since 1967, and once described himself as "Jamaican in my soul or spirit". Recently, he and six other colleagues had a cover story published in Nature called 'Dance reveals symmetry, especially in young men'. It was based on a study done in Jamaica which used Elephant Man's Let Dem Bawl as the base music.

"THE BEST laid schemes o' mice an' men, Gang aft a-gley" ­ go oft awry. In politics, where personalities loom so large and the media glare magnifies every mishap and mistake, Robbie Burns' old saw goes double. Take the situation in Israel and Palestine.  

First, it was Contractor General Greg Christie persistently pointing out the lack of accountability at Sandals Whitehouse. Then it was Dr. Lloyd Goldson and colleagues exposing the horrific conditions at the Victoria Jubilee Hospital. And now, it is whichever person provided Bruce Golding with the documented Trafigura money trail from Amsterdam to Team Jamaica. Yes, Mr. Golding did a fine job of presenting it to the public, but as Opposition Leader that's his job. It's the unsung hero who provided the smoking gun cheques that really deserves the praise in this instance.

THE BOB Marley peace day is a great idea. But it's a pity that the focus is only on Bob, because with all this big Marley hoopla you would think is him alone make reggae and guys like Jimmy and Toots and Peter Tosh and Dennis Brown never existed. Personally, I prefer Tosh to Marley any day. And you ever notice how all you ever hear on the radio is Marley's Island stuff? They hardly play tunes like Small Axe or Nice Time or Trenchtown Rock, which personally I feel is his best song. Is pure Redemption Song and Three Little Birds and One Love.

LIKE MANY Jamaicans, I had high hopes for Bruce Golding. I have grown thoroughly sick of the aggressively confrontational, name-calling nonsense that goes by the name of politics in this country. And, for 10 years, Mr. 'New and Different' has been assuring us that though he used to be part of the 'old-time politricks', if we gave him the chance he would put an end to irresponsible posturing and guttersniping by taking the high road and, thus forcing his opponents to do the same.