George C. Brathwaite
At the 2007 Annual Delegate’s Conference of the Democratic Labour Party (DLP), the then Leader of the Opposition, David Thompson, began his featured speech by invoking a few disclaimers. It was revealed that there were groups within civil society actively speaking out against several perceived ills. Freedom of expression prevailed in Barbados under the political sacrosanct of the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) that was being led by the economically acclaimed and intellectually gifted Owen Arthur, in spite of mounting and troublesome criticisms against the government.
David Thompson, in his address, said then that the situation in Barbados had reached a stage wherein there were pronounced “signs of frustration and despair.” Thompson goaded the public into thinking that it was inconceivable why the BLP had become “so indifferent and disconnected from the people it was elected to serve.” Thompson’s utterances were glazed in flowery language and buttered with a mischief to exploit weaknesses which appeared in the seemingly invincible Arthur-led team. The DLP, through its leader, promised to “imbue new hope and optimism” into Barbadians because Barbados was on a “slippery slope of division,” and it had become infested by “stagnation and malfeasance in public administration.” One wonders how necessary was this charade at the end of 2007 when now compared with those things have been evidenced this year at the end of 2013?
@Miller,
Medically you can’t be blind AND mypic. It hast
to be blind OR myopic.
@Bushie,
Brass does not rust
@ Bush Tea | 01/01/2014 at 7:56 am |
Happy new year to all (although we all know it won’t be…)
It was worth every line of your highlighting what is an agonizing indictment of what our country has become over the last 20+ years. Both you and AWTY
Incompetent “mediocratists” who, by virtue of longevity, length of service or plain suck a$$i$m, have now become those who are responsible for running the affairs of this cuntry whether in public or private sector initiatives.
Remember when from Brandons to Bats Rock the sea used to seemingly purge itself how, as little children, you would gingerly walk past the moss with its “imagined monsters”?
Bulbados needs a similar purge, one that would get rid of these leeches and bloodsuckers who have brought us here to this precipice.
Here we are, standing behind a crew, bereft of any intellect, on this social, political and economic cliff of despair, while they stare in amazement at at the Sympleglades (IMF) below.
Like Pied Piper children, bewitched by five concurrent 5 year sentences of their electoral music, we cant even feel the earth shifting under our feet?
Like Brassbowls, our eyes stare while our combined weight at the edge of the precipice causes the fissures that had long snaked well behind us, all 300K, to open and the earth to swallow up 3,000 on Jan 15th actually 5561, followed by the rest of us soon thereafter.
It is a think philosophical BT that these fissures will not only swallow us but also engulf our children evidenced by their burden of tuition fees upon another challenged hill, CaveHill, a fissure that extends to generations of yet unborn children.
Let us not even comment on the callous spending of NIS funds.
Maybe if others would speak the truth RIGHT ON like you and others, this $hi*e would not be happening.
@ Alvin Cummins | 01/01/2014 at 3:36 pm | Reply
AC, the amiable clown, don’t be a literary jackass of pedantry? We are not speaking in medical terms but using the licence of casual writing in the form of techniques like redundancy, repetition and hyperbole (exaggeration). We all know the word “Myopia” can used to refer to an ophthalmological condition (as in your case) or it can refer to alack of foresight on intellectual insight(also in your case).
Why not use your ‘myopically acute’ vision and confirm ‘whether or not’ the obese “fat” man in the video trying to be a SMG is really the man referred to as “Stinkliar the King of Buffoonery and not “Suckology”.?
Instead of being so pettifogging schoolmarmish why not focus on the bigger picture and ask your self in a “quiet moment of loud soliloquy” if your PM is either ‘blind or myopic’ in his handling of the national affairs of your beloved country?
Don’t you think that the dirty act of undermining and backstabbing his MoF while publicly feigning his support and backing of the same MoF is the zenith of political treachery of oxymoron(ic) proportions that is causing a tremendous run on the political and economic bank of confidence in the country and a massively poor reflection on his own personal integrity?
@Miller,
I take your churlish admonition for what it is. Of course I know that you know the difference between blind and myopic. Anyhow to get to the main topic. You, and your cohorts don’t like either the MOF or the Prime Miniser. Actually you don’t like the government, especially since you did not win the election, so I/we do not expect you to give it any accolades. Period!! Sometimes I wonder if you like Our country. You refer to “Your” country all the time. Is it a freudian slip or do you really think of Barbados in those terms all the time; “your” country. Whatever we do should be for the benefit of “our” country; therefore why should we constantly try to pull it down. The objective has been achieved; people have been sent home, and more will follow. However even this will not correct the imbalance. We HAVE to cut our imports. we export 2.5 billion and import 15 billion. How do we correct this imbalance. give me your suggestions.
.
@Alvin
Do you think given the perilous state of the economy that there is reasonable grounds for many to feel aggrieved about the state of economy?
@ Alvin Cummins | 02/01/2014 at 2:37 pm
“You, and your cohorts don’t like either the MOF or the Prime Miniser.”
I respect you for being “man” enough to cogitate, ingest and digest the gravamen of the situation facing your beloved country. As for your jingoistic enthusiasm which you so wish for me to religiously succumb to, here is where I stand:-
“My country is the world, and my religion is to do good”. Thomas Paine
It is not a matter of not liking the MoF or the PM. It is one of recognizing that both men are square pegs in round holes when it comes to managerial competence which is woefully lacking in the current Executive arm of Parliament.
For a people that nauseatingly like to boast of your high level of education you should neither respect nor entertain sustained incompetence and mediocrity, especially at the highest level of management and definitely not during a period of crisis whose exponentially expanding deleterious effects can proportionately be attributed to the same idiots running the show.
Can you now appreciate or even empathize with the “beef” we are having with those two charlatans (running the country’s affairs into the ground) who are not only managerial nincompoops but also incompetent bull-shitters and bold-faced liars, to boot?
“We HAVE to cut our imports. we export 2.5 billion and import 15 billion. How do we correct this imbalance. give me your suggestions.”
How about stopping the importation of all vehicles for private use in excess of 1,600 c.c’s. We would have preferred 2,000 c.c’s but things are real desperate now.
What about putting up for sale all ML&MP vehicles and replacing them with a travel allowance for the current beneficiaries of this outlandish outdated unaffordable perk? Indeed, there are certain positions in the Government that should retain the use of suitable vehicles for security and other constitutionally recognized reasons. The PM, CJ, judges and CoP spring to mind.
What about the cessation of foods that can be grown or produced locally in order to get those once arable but now overgrown unsightly fields back into cultivation instead of providing sanctuaries for vermin. Who are you going to blame for the current state of affairs, the bogey white man? But starvation has been known to turn doctors into farmers.
Something is very strange…..we have a food bill into the hundreds of millions of dollars…FX…we have sugar cane that are covered in weeds and we also have lands that are returning to nature……why is this?
Brass bowlery Vincent….Brass bowlery.
“How do you get representatives from the bowels of the constituencies? Wouldn’t they also be politicians, even if of different stripes?”
I was thinking about interest groups in the various communities or the caswell franklyn’s , bush teas, dennis johnsons, Adrian loveridges, George brathwaithes who would offer themselves for parliament as individuals through the communities in which they live.. the groups could include gays, lesbians, ecumenical organisations etc and the nominee from such groups and or individuals would have the opportunity to present their ideas to the community through systematic town hall meetings paid for and managed by the electoral process and would represent the interest of the community in parliament provided they receive the majority of the votes in the constituency on a fixed date set for parliamentary elections. they would be representatives not politicians.
A politician is one who is active in politics or one who holds a political post.
Balance;
The above ideas sound fairly reasonable to me except re. certain names who might talk a good game but are hopeless re. performing. In my working life I recognized that the good talkers are almost never the best performers. They usually (and there were a few exceptions) did little but talk and impress. A track record of community assistance and leadership along with a good track record in their work life trumps the talkers.
imo, the only people who stand out as potential doers are Caswell Franklyn and A Loveridge. The others to my mind are merely thinkers and talkers until proven otherwise. Bush tea might be OK but I have nothing to go on about his implementation skills. Indeed his tough talk might be a disincentive to getting the necessary work done.
ARE-YOU-THERE– you will observe that in trying to achieve the objective of eliminating the paramountcy of the political party which has led to the polarisation of the society fuelled by avid and rabid political partisanship and place parliamentary governance back in the hands of the people I have not attempted to dismantle the mechanism of the electoral process which as presently would be suitably funded.
Representatives would speak to the concerns of their constituents in Parliament and domestic programmes and policies would emanate from these discussions. This is in a broad sense. Obviously methodology would require systematic thought at the technocratic level.
Here is where we could seek to establish OVERSIGHT COMMITTEES of Parliament something akin to what obtains in the USA governance system; these committees would be drawn from the members of parliament to formulate or oversee policies relating to health, finance/economics, tourism, public works, labour, foreign affairs, education and the attendant related agencies such as for example, water, sanitation, national insurance, drainage, culture. I will stop there and await your critique.
Who pays Albert Branford’s salary – The Nation or The BLP ?
Maybe both .
Albert Brandford has no shame – the man actually calls someone a propagandist – this man is a paid BLP yardfowl masquerading as a journalist.
He is like the people on Fox news who only attack one party and then claim to be “fair and balanced”.
The people of Barbados must seek other sources of news and commentary than the Nation BLP newspaper. Thank heavens for Barbados Underground!
Did you realize that Kerrie Symmonds derogatory reference to the gift of the vehicles from the United Arab Emirates was not highlighted in the Nation BLP newspaper. Can you imagine if Hon. Chris Sinckler had said what Symmonds said, how the moderators and the Nation newspaper would have reacted ?
Fairness and balance is dead at the Nation BLP newspaper who see their role as the public relations section of the BLP.
The evidence is there for all to see.
@NationBLPnewspaper | 05/01/2014 at 7:20 am
It seems you are incapable of extricating your inchoate mind from the daily tentacles of the Nation’s propaganda influence and power of persuasion.
Why are you so hooked on ‘reading’ the Nation for your regular dose of destructive lying propaganda (DLP) served up by the likes of Brandford?
Why not do your intellectual soul a big favour and stick to the Advocate and CBC for your type of ‘fair and balanced’ reporting?
In the meantime, you would be saving yourself a few dollars to help put the Nation rag sheet out of business, do you agree, NationDLPpropganda mouthpiece aka Albert Brandford’s mirror image?
@Miller
Don’t you think it is useful to explore if the Nation has been less than balance and fair in its reporting?
@ balance
Bush tea might be OK but I have nothing to go on about his implementation skills.
Bushie is disappointed by you weak logic in the above analysis….. LOL ….man that ain’t balanced… 🙂
How you mean Bushie ‘might be ok’? You ain’t hear Enuff say that Bushie is dangerous? …how you could look at a weed whacking expert and call him “OK”? – O K !!!???
Skippa, Bushie is one of BBE’s boys….! OK shiite!!
Then you talking bout implementation and mention Caswell….
My man! Caswell got balls! he know nuff things and his heart is in the right place….. But Caswell IMPLEMENT???….
Implement what?!? ….you see a BUP yet?
You call Unity with 18 members implement?
Steupssss Caswell is a talker and a shit stirrer, and as such, is a SPECIAL asset in Barbados at this time. Caswell is one of a number of special talents….people like Mac Fingall, Lowdown, Elombe, Rawle Branker and some others who we fail to appreciate because we are mostly brass bowls…
Finally, how you could adjudged a bushman, born in poverty, honest to a fault, and now best described as ” not hand to mouth” as questionable in implementation skills?
Skippa, you better recalibrate that balance yuh…. 🙂
Balance;
re. your 6.02 am post. Good one! and I agree with the direction you are taking there which seems to be slightly different from your earlier post on this topic. btw I have not yet seen your thoughts on the BU-Bushtea proposals for improved governance into which your post fits.
Where you posit that Representatives would continue to be chosen as they currently are but they would concentrate on largely matters of parochial interest (my interpretation but correct me where I’m wrong) My response would be how would you constrain what they would deliberate and rule on?
Just thinking aloud without any refinement of ideas. IMHO the Political Party system in most governance systems throughout the world is the mechanism for most of the ills in those systems. Devise a system for the total elimination of parties and I think we can eliminate much of the current wrongs. Our constitution is good in that, afaik, it doesn’t address parties. MP’s are merely representatives of their constituencies. nothing more, nothing less. The Party system, here and elsewhere seems to have outlived its usefulness. Why can’t parties be somehow absolutely banned in electioneering and in the development of policies and the other work that parliament does? Is there a system outside of totalitarian ones that operate on that basis?
How to do this? Using the coming chaos as a catalyst, extract written promises from potential politicians running for office to do the following, inter alia in their first term of office if successful:
* A constitutional Review
* Institute Term limits / undated letters of resignation
* Institute a system of recall of members for cause
* Ban all activities formerly related to parties.
* Remove some of the current powers of the PM
* Set up a strict, constant elections date (eg. The first Monday in December in alternate Leap Years)
* Institute total funding of election campaigning through the public purse and ban and punish severely any instance of campaign financing by the private sector.
* Institute serious and very punitive Integrity Legislation for all senior persons paid out of the Government purse along with the monitoring of the resources of senior persons in that cadre of persons
* Put every resolution to the individual vote. Eliminate Party influence in the voting system.
* Set up management committees with inputs from external agencies for consideration of proposals and making recommendations to the House for developments of genuine importance to the people.
* Keep MPs and Ministers as far away as possible from determining who should get significant contracts with Government or its parastatal bodies.
* etc, etc, etc.
There are obviously many flaws in the suggestions above and they have no underpinnings of political science whatever. They are presented for what little they might be worth and for discussion only.
Bushie;
Yuh got the miscreant wrong. It wasn’t Balance that insulted your good name. T’was I, AWTY.
@ David | 05/01/2014 at 8:24 am
Yes indeed! It would be useful to explore if such overtly bias editorial practices exist at that newspaper.
What we would wish the ad nauseam complainant “NationBLPnewspaper” to do is to let us know if writers or potential columnists keen on promoting the DLP administration side of the propaganda war were refused space in the same political columns of the newspaper especially its Sunday edition.
Except for Caswell’s contributions the writers tend to be more partisan and politically slanted than informative of the real state of affairs in Barbados.
So let “NationBLPnewspaper” confirm if he or she has approached the Nation either to get his or her separate DLP administration slanted column space or to replace Albert Brandford’s on alternate Sundays.
What about replacing either Carl Moore or Peter Wickham or Clyde Mascoll with his or her own NationDLPnewspaper weekly columns?
If the Nation newspaper refuses to accept the submissions or to print them (provided they meet acceptable journalistic standards) then we would be only too eager to haul that newspaper over the coals.
@Miller
” It would be useful to explore if such overtly bias editorial practices exist at that newspaper”
Miller, are you serious? Can you be objective for at least a second. When last have you read an article by anyone at the Nation that criticized the BLP or its leadership?
Can you remember when David Thompson was opposition leader, do you remember Ezra Alleyne and Albert Brandford lambasting Thompson at every turn.
The difference then was that Harold Hoyte was a journalist first and not a political yardfowl so Harold Hoyte refused to sing in anybody’s choir and ensured a sense of balance.
Secondly, if Caswell Franklyn is in your opinion the only source of balance ( a man who is openly calling for the removal of the current government) , then you are proving my point.
Thirdly, the combination of the CEO , Sir Fred and sometimes with suggestion from the Editor – In Chief make the decision about columnists. What has happened in recent times is that the leader of the BLP is now an integral part of that decision making process. It is why Clyde Mascoll decided also not to be a candidate because the BLP leader felt that he could be more useful lambasting the government weekly in the newspaper than as a candidate especially given his poor record as a representative.
It is why Kaymar Jordan got her job with Arthur’s blessing and why Ezra Alleyne and Pat Hoyos were used on Sundays.
DLP leaning writers are not wanted, have not been asked to write and will not be asked to write under this current Nation BLP management in the Nation newspaper.
The Nation newspaper is in bed with the BLP and the news will be reported with that slant.
Wake up Miller – the Nation newspaper is not what it used to be. It is not all the paper for all the people.
Ask Carol Martindale and her “connection: Mia Mottley.
@ nationBLPnewspaper
My man….
Bushie told you already that it is even worse than you seem to be paranoid about…
The nation newspaper is not against the DLP per se..
…. it is against “the Barbados” that most of us know and love.
The Nation is the propaganda voice of the entity called ONE CARIBBEAN whose mission is to reduce all Caribbean islands to a single common denominator in the promotion of their particular business interests. This concept may sound attractive to those dumb enough to still believe that there is strength in numbers, and to those who are already at the bottom….but it means bringing those who countries who have been doing relatively well, to their knees…and that means Barbados….
Wunna play wunna can’t see this….
If the BLP had won in February the nation would have been seen as anti BLP by now….they are anti Barbados – and therefore anti Barbados government – whoever that is… (Except of course when the government is championing their CSME cause …)
@ NationBLPnewspaper | 05/01/2014 at 11:28 am |
“Miller, are you serious? Can you be objective for at least a second. When last have you read an article by anyone at the Nation that criticized the BLP or its leadership?”
It is you who need to be objective for a second!
The question is one of evidence, not partisan postulation and political hoodwinking by you.
Have you ever requested from the Newspaper the opportunity to write a column that could reflect your political views and were refused?
Have you ever submitted letters for publication and they were never published?
Once you have addressed those queries then we can talk about articles not being published by the Nation “that criticized the BLP or its leadership”.
If you are so pissed off with the Nation why not use the same strategy, which you engaged to good propaganda effect, through the paid advertisements demonizing the BLP leaders as paros and physically violent people?
We are sure the prostitute for a newspaper will be prepared to sell her soul to the DLP propaganda devil just for a few advertising dollars.
In that way, you will be able to get your point across without any BLP influenced editorial interception. Or are you so guilty of that paro ad and the bus fare and privatization lies coming back to haunt you that you would never again point your finger at others since the other will be pointing back at you.
Retribution is beginning to bite like a real bitch, isn’t she, “PaidNationDLPnewspaper Ad”?
@Miller
Have you ever requested from the Newspaper the opportunity to write a column that could reflect your political views and were refused?
YES !
Have you ever submitted letters for publication and they were never published?
YES! Yet, I saw a letter written which was anti – Government and was published TWICE.
Is it a coincidence that the guest writers are Glyne Murray, Caswell Franklyn, Ezra Allene and the other BLP yardfowls?
Get real Miller !
The Nation newspaper has compromised any semblance of being balanced. The Nation BLP newspaper is behaving like the BLP public relations department. No one is asking the newspaper to be a cheerleader for the government but they should not see themselves as a mouthpiece for the opposition.
@ NationBLPnewspaper | 05/01/2014 at 12:59 pm |
All that can be said to you, my aggrieved victimized friend, is that you have the option of going down the advertising route (buying space) if you are so adamant in using that “rag sheet of a BLP mouthpiece”.
If you don’t want to pay for your propaganda space or the Nation refuses to take your advertising dollars why not work a “Jonesing” on that Newspaper. Instead of charging them for a nebulous act of corrupting public morals, why not( figuratively speaking of course) crack the editor’s head and shoot the publisher by withholding the business licence citing breaches of that printing house operating licence or by using some other government controlled piece of legislation to silence the anti-DLP rag sheet?
In true tit for tat fashion why not join the Nation in its alleged dirty games of undermining the good governance of Bim by the DLP by getting some of your DLP goons in the port to act as “agents saboteurs” to ‘fix’ the imported newsprint and ink of that nasty BLP mouthpiece?
What about getting your lieutenant in lies and deceit, the GoCBB, to refuse to issue forex approvals for the importation of materials and equipment and the remittances of profits and fees to the Newspaper owners and suppliers?
Now it’s time to act and stop complaining. Or are you just another poppycock yard-birdie, crowing for your supper on the DLP paling called the “Palisade for those suffering Implementation Deficit Disorder”?
We are willing to bet that Reudon Eversley no longer shares your vile vicious views and animosity towards the Nation. You agree, Sir?
NationBLPnewspaper;
I’ve been reading your constant song and dance on BU about the Nation Newspaper having an overt demonstrable policy of preventing input from pro-DLP columnists or concomitantly stacking their slate of columnists with pro-BLP sympathizers thus enshrining a very anti-DLP slant on the paper itself.
I wonder if you are reading the situation correctly. It is true that most political articles in the Nation at least for the last year and a half overtly or subliminally criticize various aspects of the DLP’s governance, its policy prescriptions, its tardiness in doing anything and its record in the implementation of policies. But, in general, it is obvious to all but a died in the wool DLP activist that the articles reflect accurately what has been happening in Barbados during that time. Would you want the columnists to close their eyes to what is demonstrably happening in Barbados at this time and write fiction to your liking or avoid the truth?
On the other hand, have you looked closely at the Advocate and the CBC’s politically oriented columns? One can count on one’s hands the articles or programmes over the past year that have been critical of the DLP’s performance in those media in an environment where MInisters have been demonstrably succeeding in outdoing each other in sending Barbados’ economy and society further and further in the mud with hardly a voice documenting this state of affairs. The Advocate and the CBC, usually present information that is of little value to anyone desiring to learn the true political situation in this Island.
The Beam is in your eye. You should take it out.
Perhaps the DLP needs to start a new Democrat Newspaper.
I forgot to add above that it would also be useful if you could get one or more of your DLP writers (George Pilgrim springs to mind. He’s an excellent writer) to write a two weekly lead article on BU with topics that are of interest to the general public giving the DLP’s take on topics of the day.
You would then have CBC and the advocate on traditional media and a DLP writer on BU to put the DLP’s spin on developments. I think it will be sorely needed in the coming months.
@Miller
“vile, viscious views and animosity toward the Nation”.
I bring constructive criticism of a newspaper that is clearly playing politics . I have no personal animosity toward the many good people who work there but the management of this newspaper clearly rubs shoulders with the leadership of the BLP, as one BLP financier said to me ” they do not hide where they belong”.
@Are we there yet
” Would you want the columnists to close their eyes to what is demonstrably happening in Barbados at this time ”
Columnists push opinion and commentary. So when Albert Brandford can refer in column after column to turmoil in the DLP but cannot once reflect the obvious party struggle and in fighting in the opposition, is he accurately reflecting reality or selectively pushing BLP talking points.
Why should the BLP spokesman on the economy be the only voice on economic matters that writes in the Nation newspaper. Will he not push a political agenda ?
You are misleading the blog if you suggest that the BLP political operatives who masquerade as journalists and always see a beam in their political opponent’s eye are somehow objective journalists reflecting reality.
It is like Bill Oreily on Fox News claiming to be an independent but can only attack the Democrats- Fair and Balanced.
My friend, The Nation newspaper is the BLP mouthpiece but you are not there yet when it comes to that obvious conclusion.
“You are misleading the blog if you suggest that the BLP political operatives who masquerade as journalists and always see a beam in their political opponent’s eye are somehow objective journalists reflecting reality”
Does the above comment apply to your fellow apologist, party colleague and staunch DLP supporter Mr Reudon Eversley and by extension Barbados Today for publishing his biting and instructive comments on 30/12/13 about the non-performance of Mr Stuart and his administration.