Slackness has always been present in Jamaican music. Mento, for instance, was as sexually obsessed as you can get. Obeah was not the main theme of 'Healing in the balmyard'! And while Rampin' Shop may be more to the point, its focus is no different from tourist staples like "All day all night Mary Ann, down by the seaside shifting sand", and "The big bamboo stands up straight and tall, and the big bamboo pleases one and all".

Worst Indies. That's what people have been calling the formerly beloved cricket team for the last 10 years or so. A once-proud symbol of joy was now a constant source of embarrassment, as they lost match after match. Sensible people simply stopped caring. Those helplessly addicted to Windies cricket began to question our sanity - why voluntarily subject yourself to endless humiliation?

Since becoming independent in 1962, Jamaica has remained uprising free, suffered no major political assassination, adhered to the rule of law, maintained a free press, and held regular multi-party elections in which the incumbent party has been voted out more than once.

This might seem a rather common-place achievement. But over the past 46 years, few of the over 150 nations with more than a million people can make such a collective claim. In fact you can count them on fingers and toes: Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Germany, France, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Holland, Finland, Norway, Switzerland, Costa Rica and Jamaica.

"One big family of headless people." Kiprich and Predator's 2003 dancehall hit pretty much sums up Jamaica from top to bottom. And here are some of the craziest things said and done in this crazy country last year suitable for 'The mad, sick, head nuh good awards 2008'.

For all the sound and fury pontification of the hanging debate, international trends make it extremely unlikely that Jamaica will ever again execute murderers. Yet we keep ignoring common-sense ways to make our country a safer place by empowering the people to fight crime.

Take the 'white plate taxi' problem. Almost daily we hear reports about young women being abducted and robbed, and sometimes tragically raped and murdered, by unlicensed taxi men. Why do they take these illegal taxis despite all the warnings? Because there are not enough official red plate cabs around, and the choice is often between taking a chance with a white plate taxi, or remaining alone on a dark and scary street.

What kind of country allows men with illegal guns to roam freely mere yards from a platform where the prime minister and his Cabinet are seated?

What kind of country keeps babbling about responsible parenting, but ignores the fact that less than 40 per cent of its children has registered fathers?

What kind of country obsesses about the death penalty - which has been or is being abolished in most United Nation member states - but has not built a new prison in at least 46 years, despite a 1,600 per cent murder-rate increase over that period?

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.

Will President Barack Obama have any kind words for George W. Bush in his inauguration speech? He certainly should.

No individual has been more responsible for Obama's triumphant march to victory in the United States on November 4.

"This is the third child murder to have occurred in [Westmoreland] this year. Two young girls, Shaneka Shakes, nine, and her friend, Shauna-Kay Ledgister, eight, were found raped and murdered in a cane field ... in July.

In retrospect, no other outcome would have been acceptable. Only in military coups or staged revolutions are popular leaders replaced by less popular ones. People are supposed to be led by the person most of them prefer, and Portia Simpson Miller has been favoured by wide margins in every poll taken. So it would have been an electoral travesty if Peter Phillips had garnered more delegate votes on Saturday and replaced her as People's National Party leader. From this perspective, Portia's victory was a good day for Jamaican democracy.