'Meditate upon history,' said Napoleon, 'for it is the only true philosophy'!. But then he also called history 'a set of agreed upon lies'. Still, there's no doubt that history tells us how mankind has acted, as opposed to how we are supposed to act.

Over 10,000 radio and television ads were run in the recent election campaign. Not a single one focused on crime, even though Jamaica has one of the world's highest murder rates.

It's easy to understand why the then People's National Party (PNP) government ignored the darkest stain on its record. There were 429 murders in 1989. In 2006 there were 1,340. No government can defend a 300 per cent increase in homicide levels during its tenure. So who can blame the Comrades for pretending crime wasn't an issue?

HITTING OR kicking balls are amusing diversions that should never be taken too seriously. But the compressed dramas of sport often illuminate real-life dilemmas. The 20/20 cricket World Cup final was one such parable.

It was everything the 50-over Cricket World Cup wanted to be but wasn't - a well-organised month of pulsating action that engrossed billions worldwide. Advertisers licked their lips. ICC bosses talked of 20/20 at the Olympics - and it does offer more consistent excitement and variety than baseball.

Call us lucky or God-blessed, but Jamaica sure has a knack for just-in-time escapes from disaster. Last month, Hurricane Dean swerved away at the last moment and just brushed us. Monday night we escaped a political dead heat by the skin of our teeth.

Only he knows why, but God sure loves this country. Once more a potentially catastrophic hurricane headed straight for middle stump, swung away at the last minute and merely brushed us. My sympathies are with the unfortunates who were flooded out and had roofs blown off and crops washed away. But had 'Dean' not changed course, the suffering would have been a hundred times worse than it was.

Political commentary is really nothing more than running your mouth in public. Writing a column or talking on radio doesn't give anyone special insights or knowledge. All it really means is a bigger audience than the normal rum bar. The average 'expert' is generally no better at guessing the future than the average man or woman. Even Nostradamus only gets it right after the fact.

Is Jamaica the world's most exuberant democracy? Only a political globetrotter could say for sure. But our party conferences and meetings must be as electric as any on the planet. And it's not as if we're just discoveringthe joys of choosing our own destiny. Forty-five years of largely free and fair multi-party elections, adhering to the rule of law, and remaining coup- and assassination-free is no mean achievement.

When Jamaica started electing leaders in 1944, most of the populace was probably illiterate, there was only one national newspaper, and there was no radio or television. Those who did not attend political meetings often knew nothing about constituency candidates except their name and party. No wonder leaders joked that people would vote for a PNP or JLP donkey as candidate.

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?

Once upon a time, Jamaican election polls were easy to understand - if Carl Stone say so, it go so. From 1976 until 1993 the Stone polls were as accurate as any in the world, never being outside the margin of error.

By the 1997 elections Dr. Stone had left us, but again the Stone polls got it right. Apparently, he had passed on his methodologies well.