Dear Editor,

Thanks to veteran scribe Ken Chaplin for noting what keen observers outside of Jamaica have been seeing for years: the spectacular improvement of Portia Simpson Miller in style, delivery and content. Even her most biased “uptown” detractors must surely acknowledge this now. Had she been a 12-second 100-metre sprinter now clocking under 10 seconds, her hard work and application would have attracted reams of media coverage. Yet hers remains one of the untold stories of Jamaica’s modern political history. However, this unmistakable personal improvement races well ahead of her ability and that of her advisers to read the political domino game any better than prior to the 2007 election.

Having maintained (for the most part) a sagacious silence on Dudus, the spectacle of her illustrious legal advisers now busy extricating her from the legal embrace of “The President” in a lawsuit they demanded and have now obtained, ought not to be dismissed as a minor mishap. It’s a perturbing portent. (“Tek sleep mark death”). While her opponent focuses on quiet electoral “measureables” – tourist arrivals, farm outputs, interest rates, roads repaired, taxes collected – she, her advisers and the media are caught up in the noise of electoral “immeasureables” (Dudus/Manatt, democratic rights, governance, transparency, etc). These make for entertaining theatre now, but are unlikely to cut much dash at the “big dance” two years hence.

Errol WA Townshend

Ontario, Canada

ewat@rogers.com