Every time you feel that Robert Pickersgill has outdone himself he offers up another vacuous gem. And the problem is that it is so difficult to be mad at Mr. Pickersgill, who holds the portfolio for works, transport and water in Prime Minister Simpson Miller's Cabinet. He is such a nice fellow.

Or, perhaps we make a mistake in assuming that these are frequent stumbles into what he once called a "wrong jungle". Maybe he has the measure and better of us and that in our misjudgement we do not grasp that he is really an astute and even cynical political operator. Honestly, we do not know.

But the question is worth asking in the face of Mr. Pickersgill's latest unabashed, straight-faced remark, in his role as chairman of the governing People's National Party, on his party's prospects at the next general election. Obviously, Mr. Pickersgill expects the PNP will win; at least that's what he says.

In the normal course of things, you would expect Mr. Pickersgill, or any member of the ruling party or Government, to place their confidence on the performance of the administration: that there has been economic growth; infrastructure has been enhanced; crime is down; the quality of people's lives has improved, etc. No, not Mr. Pickersgill.

On Sunday, he placed his party's fortune on the Cricket World Cup now being played in the Caribbean and Jamaica's role as one of the hosts. "With the bounce that we are getting now from the cricket, the Opposition is stumped," Mr. Pickersgill told this newspaper on Sunday.

Hosting cricket, we assumed, was a national rather than a partisan matter. Any government that decided to spend upwards of US$120 million on the event would have done so because they believe it would be good for Jamaica. Indeed, we applaud the fact that having cricket forced the Government to put in place and/or upgrade cricket infrastructure and enhance sport facilities.

Of course, administrations may hope that a feel-good factor will come with events like the Cricket World Cup and they will get a 'bounce' out of them. But only the shameless can be so cynically unabashed as Mr. Pickersgill appeared to be with his remark. It would be a pity if Jamaicans do not notice Mr. Pickersgill's cynicism and fail to extract a penalty for being so rudely taken from granted.

Bob Woolmer and the coroner

The cynics would be understood if we hear them calling for Bob Woolmer to be posthumously declared a citizen of Jamaica. For if we go by history, and things go by the rules, the body of the murdered English/South African coach of the Pakistan's cricket team will be here for a long time.

The authorities have ordered a coroner's inquest into Mr. Woolmer's death, which is normal in cases where the circumstance of the death is unclear but suspicious. The problem is that in Jamaica, there is a backlog of about 4,000 cases in the coroner's court andthe office has for years been woefully understaffed. The Government knows the problem, but has done little about it. It is one area, like the rest of the judicial system, that did not benefit from the spending on Cricket World Cup.

Mr. Woolmer's case will in all likelihood jump the queue. Hopefully, though, it will stir into more profound action.