When the black, green and gold went up on midnight August 5, 1962, this island was unknown and insignificant to most of the world, and even to those who lived here the word, 'Jamaica' evoked little emotion. Forty-nine years on, we are famed planetwide for our vivid music and culture, and 'Jamaica' instantly induces a sense of spontaneous excitement and freedom of spirit. Now world-influencing nations are usually old, big or rich.

"Both political parties have it within them to mutually agree to end the social construct of the garrison ... . Let us start the process by getting the leaders to walk together in these areas of exclusion ... . Hopefully, this small step will lead to other steps that will eventually remove garrisons from our political landscape."   - Andrew Holness, October 23 Andrew Holness' potentially historic end-garrison-politics inauguration address has spurred much debate about what a garrison is, which constituencies are garrisons, and even if garrisons exist. Few have referenced probably the most significant document produced on the topic, namely, the 1997 Report of the National Committee on Political Tribalism, often called the Kerr Garrison Report.

Industry Minister Dr Christopher Tufton (right) has a word with Andrew Holness, who has been endorsed by a JLP parliamentary caucus to be the next prime minister. - Ricardo Makyn/Staff Photographer In 10 days, Bruce Golding advanced Jamaican politics 10 years. He resigned as prime minister on September 25, then threw his weight behind the youngsters in his party, which led to 39-year-old Andrew Holness being proclaimed prime minister-designate on October 3.

Given the worldwide economic crisis and the Jamaican fallout of drastically shrinking remittances and bauxite collapsing to almost nothing, elections are the last thing on people's minds right now. So the general reaction to last week's North East St Catherine by-election was "Stewps. Me too busy trying to pay my bills to worry 'bout that foolishness!"

In domino terms, Prime Minister Bruce Golding has drawn an economic hand with six doubles, meaning he has very few options on how to play his cards. After all, Jamaica entered the global financial crisis with a net government deficit of 113 per cent, the fourth highest in the world, leading Forbes magazine to list it as one of the world's ten hardest hit economies - and this was before bauxite collapsed and remittances plunged.

I don't know Bruce Golding very well. But those who do, say his political mantra is 'substance not style'. Or at least it has been since his National Democratic Movement (NDM) reincarnation. Some who have dealt with him over the years say there is a marked difference between today's Golding and the 1980s version. Then, they found him your typical politician reeking of arrogance. Now, he comes across as pretty much BS free with his feet full on the ground.

Politics, goes an old adage, is two-thirds emotion and one-third intellect. And in the heat of elections, when the battle is soon to be lost or won, the ratio often seems to be nine to one. Intra-party fights can be as vicious as broad-based elections, or even more so. Veteran political observers remember Pearnel Charles and Rosemarie Shaw being physically assaulted at the 1992 JLP conference. Now, when the unlettered masses, or 'the lumpen' as Professor Don Robotham likes to call them, get carried away and do foolish things, you hear people remark, "Well them just don't know better." But when highly educated people start acting in a totally irrational manner, all one can say is c'est la politique.

Man claims to be rational, but our opinions are determined as much by emotion as reason. And, for all the logical pros and cons, most people's views on capital punishment are based on feelings and not facts.

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.

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.