America is the land of hype, but the presidential race between Al Gore and George Bush surpassed all advanced billings and was indeed the closest, most exciting and strangest election in living memory.

Who was Jamaica’s greatest prime minister? This may be an unanswerable question, for politics has many facets. Who did more for their country, Gandhi or Lee Kwan Yew?

“The way to avoiding violence in the political system is clear but presents an enormous challenge because it involves tackling the basic economic and social structural problems of Jamaican society. An army of twenty thousand men, a massive police force, and armed citizens defending their front porch could not bring an end to political or criminal violence and are no substitute for the economic and social policies which alone can solve the long-term problems of Jamaica. Meanwhile there is little chance of coping with the problems of economic and social development in Jamaica if rackets and gangsters are able to corrupt and undermine Jamaican society.

I am a firm believer in the Italian proverb that “A beautiful woman is the strongest argument in favour of the existence of God”, and find the idea of a man being sexually attracted to another man incomprehensible. And like most persons raised in Jamaica, I find the very concept of homosexuality extremely distasteful.

As a student in business school I once complained to a professor that he was giving us more assignments than we could possibly complete properly. He laughed and said this was true and by design. Business school after all was designed to prepare students for the real world where there was never enough time to do all the things that needed to be done. He was teaching us how to prioritize.

They say sport mirrors society. And few events have so sharply reflected Jamaican reality as the Peta-Gaye Dowdie / Merlene Ottey Olympics controversy.

The JAAA management’s immorality, arrogance and incompetence were sadly typical of our authorities. First they broke their own rules and deprived a National Champion of her legal right to represent her country. It was depressing to see an innocent young girl psychologically crushed by her supposed guardians intent on carrying out an obviously predetermined agenda.

“The future will tell us whether it would not have been better if neither I nor Rousseau had ever lived” remarked Napoleon at Rousseau’s grave. Nearly 200 years later history has still not made up its mind if Bonaparte was a blessing or curse to mankind. He was certainly a boon to authors and publishers, being the most written about human being of all time. One hundred thousand books have argued that he was a warmongering ogre responsible for a million unnecessary deaths. Another 100,000 have proclaimed him a law giving hero who liberated the modern world from feudalism.

“Man is no longer victor in the duel of the sexes… the enormous superiority of Woman’s natural position is telling with greater and greater force.”

The 21^st century may be proving George Bernard Shaw right. All over the world female students are outpacing males. In Britain this year girls outperformed boys in GCSE A-levels. In 1973 roughly the same number of American boys and girls took high school Advanced Placement exams - by 1998 boys had fallen well behind. American boys today are less likely than girls to complete high school, to attend college, and to stay out of jail. They read and write less well and do less homework. Except for sports, they participate less frequently in extracurricular activities. In areas like math and science where boys still hold an edge, the gap is fast narrowing. In areas where girls are in front, it is widening.

Some say that the root cause of Jamaica’s frighteningly high murder rate is a corrupt political system and/or an incompetent police force. Now there is no doubt that in the 1970s politicians actively fomented violence and armed their supporters and that organized inner city drug and extortion gangs still maintain a residual party allegiance. And it is true that in many areas a lot of our policing methods leave a lot to be desired.

I once read a short story about a man meeting a star school athlete 20 years on. The once glamorous champion is now a shabby bore talking endlessly of long ago matches and insistently showing off the newspaper scraps which are all that remain of his forgotten triumphs. When his friend tries to go on his way, the faded hero clutches his arm, desperately reluctant to see his glory day memories fade back into reality.