Who is popular today?

Should racists be given attention?
The highly racist society that is England was on colourful display last Sunday in the final of Euro 2020.
It is public knowledge that three black members of the England football squad were subjected to racial abuse on social media, which required a pushback even from quarters that initially did not condemn racism when they had the chance to.
England's frock tail was on full display. It was not the first time, and it will absolutely not be the last.
Pity for black people has been around for decades. The killing of George Floyd just over a year ago by a policeman, who has since been sent to prison for the act, was the clearest indication that more respect would be shown to the cause of black people, and even the taking of the 'knee' by some at various events, mainly sports ones, would have heightened the consciousness.
Yet, there remain many white people who will stop at nothing to try and demonstrate their 'superiority' as a race. My thing is: Let them continue.
I am a proud black man, and no one of any other colour is better than me. When calls are made for black people to be shown respect by their white colleagues, it smacks of a potion of inferiority being injected into black people - a kind of cry for equality, when equality is right there already reserved for them.
In all my travels, I have never felt that an individual of any race has an advantage over me. If anyone is trying to use racism over me, it is to his detriment, not mine, because I know who I am and what I stand for.
Mind you, there are situations that I would try to avoid, if they present themselves. One example was years ago when I and other Jamaicans were pursuing a programme of journalism study at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill campus, and one evening four of us students, and one lecturer, a white man, attempted to enter a sports bar not far from the university's entrance.
We were told by a dude at the entrance, working as a bouncer, with a growl: 'No blacks'. The fellow must have been over 300 pounds and it made no sense arguing. We turned around and went right back on campus. The lecturer kept repeating as we returned: 'I want to apologise on behalf of my race.' We fully understood his situation.
I am not one of those with an interest in walking the street and seeking to be recognised as a black man. That recognition came at birth.
South Africa and Jacob Zuma
Really now, South Africa!
So many lives have been lost already for nothing, because fighting to prevent one of the most corrupt individuals in South Africa's history - Jacob Zuma - is not worth it.
Zuma is not just an ordinary South African. He served as president, which makes him special. But he is not above the law, although while he served as president he did so many terrible things that made even the 'Father of the Nation', Nelson Mandela, slip into a bout of depression over Zuma's general conduct.
Now, days of rioting in sections of that country has resulted in, at last count, 238 people being killed in fighting between those ill-advised to want to prevent Zuma from going to prison, and local security officials. Come to think of it, few, if any of those who gave their lives to Zuma, would have benefitted from him in any way while he served as president.
All that Zuma, South Africa's fourth black president, has to show is that he was a member of the African National Congress when white South Africa was in command, and he, like Mandela, was imprisoned illegally.
But for people of that great country to be putting their necks on the chopping block for such a vulgar individual, they are only sending a message to the world that they stand for nothing.
The people of South Africa are otherwise very nice. For what they went through during the time of apartheid, they are owed medals of tolerance and discipline. They love Jamaica like how our women love to visit the hairdresser, and our real men love women. On my only visit to South Africa, nearly two decades ago while Thabo Mbeki was serving as the country's second black president, after a retired Mandela, I was shocked, pleasantly, upon entering the University of Cape Town, to be greeted by portraits of four great men of our time on a wall - Mandela, Steve Biko, Malcolm X, and, yes, Marcus Mosiah Garvey, Jamaica's first national hero. That told me how much Garvey, and by extension, Jamaica, meant to the people, because one had to be well respected to have been so recognised.
There was nothing of Zuma, and it was not hard to see why, although his strange popularity in the ANC saw him elevating to the presidency in 2009 and serving until 2018.
The current president, Cyril Ramaphosa, whom I had the delight to interview when he was in Jamaica for a People's National Party conference during the early 1990s while he served as secretary general of the ANC, has a tough task ahead. With people like Zuma having such an influence over so many, Ramaphosa will need to make key decisions, fast.
Chris Gayle has secured his window seat
Say what you want about Chris Gayle, he produces when it matters most. During the third T20 cricket match between the West Indies and Australia in Grenada, his blistering 67 not only confirmed that he is the best-ever batsman in the game's shortest version, but he would have secured his window seat on the aircraft to the United Arab Emirates and Oman for the T20 World Cup starting mid-October.
Gayle will turn 42 on September 21, but, for him, age is a mere number, and judging from how he handled the Australians, minus only Pat Cummins to complete its ideal bowling attack, he has more in his batting arsenal to offer the West Indies and any other team that needs his services.
Of course, credit must be given to team Captain Kieron Pollard who virtually chose the T20 squad - insisting that he wanted veterans like Gayle, Dwayne Bravo and Fidel Edwards - and no selector dared to object.
So Gayle, the only man to have scored more than 14,000 runs in T20 cricket, will get a further chance to continue teaching his lessons of history with the bat. And ball too, if you don't mind.
It is clear that he added to the electric vibe that transported the West Indies to success in the five-match series against Australia, although the West Indies virtually threw away the fourth match, which would have given them a 4-0 lead on Wednesday. After a heroic effort by Fabian Allen in the penultimate over as West Indies chased victory, Andre Russell blundered by facing four dot balls, and refusing to take the singles on offer as the home team sought 11 runs from six balls.
It was the third time that Russell had taken that approach and he still does not understand that it doesn't work.
That aside, it was a fine 4-1 series win by the West Indies, who had two players missing, against a still strong Australia, with four regular members absent.
PNP in the gutter
Confirmation has come of a scratched CD track being played by the Opposition People's National Party.
That organisation will never learn. The members of it are destined to spend all their time fighting their own, while allowing the enemy to roam the green lands freely.
Now, another fuss has emerged over which four members should be vice-president. At this stage it's not worth it to spend time on a party that does not wish to be healed. In the lead-up to decide who becomes vice-president, there was talk of two from one side and another two from the other in order to foster unity. But unity will not come by having sides. It will come only when people stop being hypocritical and do what is necessary to try and restore the great political movement to its former glory.
People should not take painkillers over what is happening. In any case, you could hardly realise that there were vice-presidents there before. The organisation is now a complete waste of time.