Watching the recent Budget Debate, I was struck again by the regular byplay between both sides. It's certainly a far cry from the usual po-faced seriousness of the United States Senate and Congress, or the snarling mock humour of Westminster.

"Having spoken to him only a few times, I don't know Bruce Golding very well. So my judgement of the man is based on media reports and the opinions of those who have worked closely with him. But it's my strong impression that there is no more intelligent and honest politician in Jamaica. And everyone who puts their country's interests first - as opposed to party agendas or personal vendettas - must be happy at having a man of such stature involved in national affairs once again." Jamaica Observer, October 7, 2002.

JAMAICA'S MOST regularly re-run headline is surely, 'Murder count soars'. With the murder total poised to top 1,500 this year, it's hard to believe now that 'only' 423 Jamaicans were murdered in 1989. That's a mind-boggling 350 per cent increase in 15 years.

If someone had asked me two weeks ago which party I was going to vote for in this coming election my honest answer would have been I don’t know. It would be difficult to cast a ballot for a PNP government which has let crime get completely out of control. But then could I really vote for an official opposition JLP which seems to have lost the ability to act rationally even in its own self-interest? As for the others, the only things the NDM seems to stand for are confusion, indiscipline and arrogance. While the UPP espouses socialist policies discredited two decades ago.

In 1999 BBC website readers voted for the millennium’s greatest figures. They picked Gutenberg as inventor, Shakespeare as writer, Leonardo Da Vinci as artist, Paul McCartney as Composer, Mahatma Gandhi as world leader and Karl Marx as thinker. The ten greatest men were Mahatma Gandhi, Leonardo Da Vinci, Nelson Mandela, Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, Martin Luther King, Jesus Christ, Winston Churchill, Charles Darwin, Karl Marx.