Dear Media Practitioners and Media Houses,
Neil a. Holder
David…are you going?
Good luck, BIM.
Neil
Are you trying to bribe the media with cocktails?
@ Caswell at 8:25PM
How could Neil?. It is the launch of an Integrity Movement.
Bernard
The wine and dine aspect of his launch could be interpreted as trying to influence the media.
Sent from my iPad
Can someone explain to Bushie why this movement needs to be separate and distinct from SB and the other ‘third’ parties…?
What the hell is wrong with Black people?
A little shiite place – all of them probably blood relatives any damn how…. and everybody with these damn albino centric silos…..
Steupss…
If these people do not possess the skills required to sit down TOGETHER and come to a common (community-centric) position on what is best for Barbados …why the hell should Bushie even THINK that they will have the skills to bring the WHOLE country together…once elected?
Lotta shiite.
Instead of this shiite cocktail party, why not call a joint meeting of all organised political parties and pressure movements…. hold a weekend retreat …. and arrive at a CONSENSUS position for a COMMON political thrust next election….
Wuh …does Bushie haffa tell wunna every shiite?!!!
…Wunna mean it ain’t OBVIOUS that having 5 different little parties …is just another way of looking skywards in open-mouthed awe … while pissing vertically upwards…
Caswell is known to way to entice the media to come out is to ‘share food’.
@Bush Tea
You are aware Grenville has been very inflexible as far as membership in SB is concerned.
How is it possible to be inflexible wrt membership?
Perhaps he is inflexible with selection of candidates….
The whole problem is that there are too many people who are looking for some kind of self-actualisation – rather than looking to SERVE the country.
People who are looking to serve are ALWAYS willing to give way to better candidates… They have no desire to fight tooth and nail to be elected…. They OFFER themselves, and we either take the offer or we do not…. no sweat for such persons…
The other type of person sees this as an OPPORTUNITY for themselves …and will do anything to promote themselves – at any costs to the overall good.
Every Tom, Dick and Harry with illusions of grandeur and overfed egos therefore rush to get their shot at their life dream.
Steupsss…with the degree of endemic brass bowlery bout here…
Even if a completely new set of Bajan brass bowls get themselves elected, how will this change anything? NONE of the parties (BLP /DLP/ or the multiple ‘third’ parties) … have the QUALITY of people within the parties to meet the challenges faced by this country now….
It would take a national / international head-hunt for highly specialised talents that could impact our present predicament…. much like a modern multinational company would do in order to find competent leadership.
If they CANNOT get together …in circumstances with such overwhelming shiite being done by the two jobby-parties… then there is ZERO hope that they could open themselves to head-hunting COMPETENT talents to manage the damn country…..
@Bush Tea
How is it possible to be inflexible wrt membership? Perhaps he is inflexible with selection of candidates….
How are the two different? Why would a civic minded Barbadian want to be a member of a political party if the path to being a candidate is slammed shut?
All the 3rd parties should sit together and forge a way forward….this idea that every man is an island got them where they are…
BTW…Google is sending out a dangerous website message when you google barbadostoday.bb….
The message states that hackers are setup there to break into people’s devices, of course the idiot would try something like that…he has done worse.
They might not get him for all the crimes he commits in Barbados, but he better not for one moment think they wont rush into the island and haul his narrow ass out for cyber crimes.
@ David
…the ability, or right, to join an organisation is not contingent on any inherent right to become a leader. Leadership is special talent that ought to be exclusive to those who demonstrate that they possess such talents.
You mean that angela should have some ‘right’ to lead the DLP…???!! …or Alvin?
…OK scratch that!!!
Froon / angela…. / Stinkliar /Jones /Alvin….. same difference..
Perhaps you see now where our problems lay…
@Bush Tea
The system has warts. Is it not possible if there is a landslide like some are predicting Kellman and Thompson maybe the only ones left standing?
@ David
There is.
But the problem is that we all know that there are some BLP candidates who should NEVER see the halls of Parliament again …. but who will be in the ‘runnings’ next time -DESPITE their history of doing shiite…. (no name no lockup, but Wuk4Wuk is shiite)
The DLP really deserve to lose EVERY single seat …as Piece has been predicting …. so it is only through a well organised SINGLE third party that we can have the ideal situation where the BLP wins about 16 seats, the DLP wins ZERO, independents win about three, and the “third party” win the others.
This would at least force the government to consider other opinions before rushing to do shiite….
Obviously, if the vote is split between three DIFFERENT ‘third’ parties …NONE of them will win any thing…. and our donkeys will be back to square ONE…..
@Bush Tea
Do not disagree, blame the warts!
One of the biggest disappointments of the political period has been the inability of third parties to craft a compelling message to win the hearts and minds of the ignorant who are of the view our system must be ruled by two political parties.
There have so far been all too inward-looking.
Focused mainly on promoting themselves -rather than on the national good.
Come-and-sing-a-song changed the mould recently with his focus on governance and on holding authorities accountable. However he seems to be unwilling to carry that commitment on to political action.
The others are behaving like mini BLP /DLP politicians, and they do not have the history or the resources to beat these devils at their own game.
Get themselves together…… Be Community-Centric
ACTIVELY recruit clear national talents to join them (Jeff / Caswell/ Come-and-sing, Howard) ….and welcome genuine people like Bostic, Herbert and Cynthia Forde EVEN IF ELECTED as BLP candidates or as Private sector representatives.
This thing is not difficult….
But selfishness is self-destructive …and destructive to the society.
@Bush Tea
Noble perspective but idealistic -unfortunately. As a people we appear not to understand what leadership requires. Crisis management is just that, leadership infuses the confidence in all others to ferret out opportunities, even in a crisis.
“The dress code is elegantly casual.
The official launch will be followed by a cocktail Mix and Mingle for all guest.”
Can someone explain to Bushie why this movement needs to be separate and distinct from SB and the other ‘third’ parties…?
What the hell is wrong with Black people?
A little shiite place – all of them probably blood relatives any damn how…. and everybody with these damn albino centric silos…..
………………………………………………………………
Simple answers….
All family members will never think alike nor like each other.e.g….ask any family in Bim.
Skintone will never equal unanimity..e.g….put a Nigerian,a Bimmer,a Ghujarati and a southern American of the same skintone together and none will agree on how to run a country…….far less a room of Bimmers e.g. the DEMs cant agree now on anything.
Too sum it up fallible democracy with parties is the best that can be achieved other than a benevolent dictatorship.
Ah guess MoneyBs benevolent dictatorship went up in flames last week…lol
@Vincent Haynes August 1, 2017 at 8:59 AM #
The problem, Vincent, is not that Bajan people “will never think alike nor like each other,” it is that they fail to think at all. They are of the mistaken impression that having an opinion is “thinking,” rather that understanding that thinking is comprised of testing opinion with facts in the pursuit of rational objectives. Political parties like Solutions & BIM ignore the facts and are dedicated to the irrational as far as I can see.
BIM is indeed reported to be building alliances with other “third parties.” 🙂
Neil Holder of the Barbados Integrity Movement, along with David Gill of the Citizens’ Action Programme, attended the campaign launch of Apostle Lynroy Scantlebury’s New Barbados Kingdom Alliance.
http://www.loopnewsbarbados.com/content/kingdom-alliance-party-pledges-erase-barbados-debt-two-years
Not sure if this constitutes a formal coalition, but Scantlebury appears to be an award winning Looney tune if the reporting is accurate. He pledges to pay off Barbados’s national debt within two years if elected.
@ PLT at 9 :34 AM
How can one have an opinion without thinking? I think Vincent ‘s intervention represents reality. Quot homines ? Tot sententiae. There are as many opinions as there are persons. When persons come together to agree on a strategy there is a lot of trading and bargaining. The recent agreement between Labour and Private sector to march against the recent tax impositions involved bargaining not an abandonment of interests.
I have already expressed the opinion that the third parties objectives are more likely to see fruition if they join any one of the two existing parties. Parties do change according to circumstances and leadership. Take note of the changed party support/ constituents and philosophies of the Republican and Democratic Parties in the USA . Does any one recall which party fought for the emancipation of slaves during the USA Civil War?
peterlawrencethompson August 1, 2017 at 9:34 AM #
No disagreement. with your above.
Interesting point @Bernard….but you do accept that simply those US parties have merely morphed into the other, so to speak.
To use that ever famous line: they can both now be seen as vice-versa having voted for slavery before they voted against it.
And that in sense that is the everlasting perspective of politics…euphemistically: the ellipse of change.
Locally, which of our two parties were founded and propelled by the force of the labour movement and commercial entities…now we could never tell…
Can we not also ask: Does any one recall which party fought for the rights of labor in the Adams era and as we moved in the 1960s?
Excellent comment, senor!
@Peter
Are we seeing the same rigour being applied to positions offered by the DLP, and BLP especially? Many proposals listed in manifesto after manifesto proffered by the duopoly through the year have been allowed to pass scrutiny and many not implemented. This negligence has extended to when the party ascends to government. We have been very harsh on the third parties- and rightly so- BUT …
@ David, The system has warts. Is it not possible if there is a landslide like some are predicting Kellman and Thompson maybe the only ones left standing?
Yes, that was the prediction of the 2013 general elections especially aired by certain callers on Brasstacks. Maybe they, and others, are wishing for that prediction to come through for the 2018 elections so that they will feel vindicated.
@Kevin
You are correct. Note however the DLP dropped 4 seats and when last we checked the landscape has not improved.
#10%NSRL
@Bernard Codrington
Most people’s opinions are not arrived at through thinking. They hold an opinion because their parents did, or because that is the customary opinion for one of their social class, or because they read it somewhere and accepted it without question. This may be belief, but it is not thinking.
If you are not questioning everything you believe in the face of the current moments evidence, you are not thinking… if you believe unquestioningly in eternal verities then you have deliberately abandoned thinking. On the other hand if you wake up each morning to seek and find NEW proof of your gods then you will not be caught bowing to false ones.
Just about every species of animal more complex than bacteria is capable of holding opinions: your pet dog has many opinions… as humans we s might aspire to actually think
@David
We seeing very little rigour being applied to positions offered by the DLP, and BLP because the level of political discourse in Barbados is very low. I don’t mean to unfair Barbados, it is equally low in the USA, perhaps even lower.
Thank you, Peter. I said that last week and was savaged. But someone has to tell them to raise their game. Even the vocabulary of discourse is obnoxious.
@ Hal Austin and all the other UK bloggers. Just having dinner whilst watching some TV and have stumbled across a channel that i have never tuned into before on Freeview channel 19 called Yesterday. They will be airing a programme in five minutes called Abandon Engineering. Part of the documentary will attempt to investigate what happen to the Harp gun in Barbados?
I keep telling wunna that no third party has a chance in this first-past-the-post system. Do the math!!! Richie only won a seat because of his giant stature among Pygmies.
The only solution is to infiltrate the BDLP, rise up the ranks and then turn on them and shame them into reform. Of course, such a person would have to be financially independent.
……….”Barbados was happy to host HARP: it gave valuable work to over 60 of its most educated citizens; it provided much-needed foreign investment; and it had the potential to change the country’s image from that of a Caribbean backwater to a player in the high-tech age.”…………
http://www.cbc.ca/archives/entry/dr-gerald-bull-the-high-altitude-research-project
What a story! Having allowed the American government to carry out their research and development on the island, it amazed me that Barbados failed to capitalise on this unique opportunity.
@David, at 8:46 AM …I agree that Bush Tea has adopted a ‘noble […] but idealistic perspective’, but I can’t agree with your assessment re leadership and Bajan attitudes.
Let’s simply define leadership as the ability of one or a few leaders to motivate the many followers to move along a set path desired by the leaders….the leadership styles used and the methods adopted to motivate those many can be debated, but the basic traits described by psychoanalysts as that of a ‘type A’ personality remain steadfast regardless…
So I counter that Bajans ABSOLUTELY do understand what leadership is all about and any ignorance is due to our self-induced delusion that our leader really has our best interest at heart…And more profoundly a perspective by us that we see manifested in that leader aspects of ourselves (either real or what we would like to be) …
… That more than anything else ‘leads’ us to forgive our leaders, peccadillo after peccadillo… in essence can we ever despise ourselves!
The written scholarship abounds on that but the anecdotes are just as presentable.
I suspect that Zimbabweans, Venezuelans and 63 million Americans ‘understood’ the reasons that propelled them to first elect Mugabe in the 1980s, Chavez and then his acolyte Maduro (both implementing contrived new constitutions) or Trump last year?
And even for their mild mannered counter-points in Jimmy Carter and George Bush Sr – the only two presidents in recent US history who were unceremoniously voted out of office after one term – voters understood as best as humanely possible the election and rejection.
All these vastly different men of styles and public perceptions were ambitious and hard-driven and reached the apex of their political life with leadership traits no different to those displayed by Grenville or Ms. Eastmond, Ms. Mottley, Erskine Sandiford or Stuart.
…so what makes our locals so incapable of understanding our leaders!!
In the end of all this political third party wrangling we will still have basic choices:
Elect a bunch of crooks who ‘badly’ represent us – and let’s say act as many would themselves if given the chance!
Option 2: Elect a cross-section of candidates who BEST represent our intentions and desires for integrity – as many, many more see ourselves. If that happens (totally unlikely) there will be a few from BLP and DLP and several fresh-faces to form a coalition government.
Solutions Barbados appears to have a slate of squeaky clean candidates who have not been tarnished by the B-DLP.
However I don’t think an election can be won in Barbados without a corned beef biscuits and esaf rum campaign. I hope I am wrong but…….
Interesting to note in the last CADRES poll the PEP is the only third party to register and it has not declared candidates to contest the upcoming general election. It is too late but if Comissiong could have been persuaded to join the other third parties it might have led somewhere?
Sorry Dee Word, not following your prolix.
Dear All:
We initially invited employers, then managers, and finally any responsible person.
From the beginning, we explained that we would not run a candidate against any candidate who agreed with our policy solutions. Rather, we would campaign with them in order to get them elected. They could be members of the BLP, DLP, UPP, PEP, PDC, CAP, KA, BFP, BIM or independents.
We stated our willingness to discuss our policy solutions with anyone in order that they may be improved. That is why I am on BU.
Best regards,
Grenville
“Most people’s opinions are not arrived at through thinking. They hold an opinion because their parents did, or because that is the customary opinion for one of their social class, or because they read it somewhere and accepted it without question. This may be belief, but it is not thinking.”
Very well analyzed…you just described the mind of a slave..
I was waiting for someone else too try to reel me into their slave minded way of thinking again so i can describe for them why it is so alien for me to think like a slave when I was not raised to think like a slave…..
Freedom means:
Freedom of thought
Freedom of speech
Physical freedom
Mental freedom
Spiritual freedom
If you are incapable of expressing yourself in any and all of these 5 ways, you are a slave…only capable mimicking the slave society standards.
That is was I was trying to tell Art yesterday.
Most of the island now have a job going forward to free themselves.
But based on SB writings here on BU, they will have to run candidates in all constituencies because I do not think that there is anyone in any of the parties who believe in the party’s policy solutions.
SB’s leader is so elitist that he was boasting that he had no lawyers in his line up but seem not to understand to run a government you need an AG…………..and the AG has to be a lawyer.
But there again, SB may think that anyone of his selected peeps can be an AG.
Lol, I agree David too prolix.
Freedom means:
Freedom of thought
Freedom of speech
Physical freedom
Mental freedom
Spiritual freedom
If you are incapable of expressing yourself in any and all of these 5 ways, you are a slave…only capable OF mimicking the slave society’s standards.
That is what I was trying to tell Art yesterday.
Most of the island now have a job going forward to free themselves from this most unnatural state of self confined and locked in slavery……the horribly narrow minds of slaves.
And should anyone else try that crap with me again, I will tell you more…..so stay on your side of the mentally locked in slave, if that is what makes you happy and leave other people who are really FREE to enjoy life.
Did anyone on BU go to the launch of the party?
No Prodigal Son, heard the New Kingdom party giving BIM a plug on VoB this morning.
Talking Loud,
I have mentioned on here a number of times that the Barbados Foundry, the initial makers of the HARP project, was a centre of engineering excellence. Along with the Central Foundry and Caterpillar in Carrington Village.
We allowed that excellence to die because our education culture is based on white-collar jobs, not engineering. I think it is more than symbolic that the very site of the Barbados Foundry is now the home of the white elephant of a Supreme Court.
We are the worst off for it. Do you remember a few years ago a trained plumber packing in his trade to re-train as an attorney. In the UK the cross-over is the other way, from lawyer to plumber. Shows our priorities as a nation.
We do not need any third party,what we need is community activism to keep whichever/whoever is elected to lead on the straight and narrow.
Whatever the reason for the march 20,000 plus people is a daunting site for any govt and as such means must be found to harness them for future use against any recalcitrant govt.
@Vincent , listen carefully to yourself…you are talking in circles….
What at the core is the advent or the call for a ‘third party’ if not simply a call for new blood and a fresh outlook on the political landscape!
There is little likelihood as some have called for here, that new leaders can get to the top in either of the two current parties by a systematic take-over (takes forever unless circumstances are perfect)…thus we see the development of third parties.
We dismiss the simplicity of the situation too glibly with the dismissive retorts on the third parties notwithstanding their faults and missteps.
The DLP evolved from the BLP and the other parties of the day when a group of young leaders saw grave difficulty in changing that older party from within; we saw the same push for new blood in France (new party, young face from the old party), Greece with Syriza (a quite young coalition party) and of course with the insurgent candidate who was able to usurp the old wing of his adopted party against all practical odds!
I don’t see the later practical for Bim so the third party option is the only viable change agent.
And incidentally, elections are ALL about “community activism” – practically a definition of the power of the community – thus put aside the further verbal gymnastics… the same community power you herald can catapult a third party – you dismiss – to power.
Just saying, bro!
@Talking Loud
so what happened in the tv doc to the Harp Gun? Did it include Dr.Bull’s weapon running activities using Harp as a decoy?
de pedantic Dribbler August 2, 2017 at 2:49 PM #
The DLP evolved from the BLP and the other parties of the day when a group of young leaders saw grave difficulty in changing that older party from within;
………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
I could rest my case on the above statement alone….let me tell you why.
EWB brought nothing new to the table….free education had started….NIS was already in paper form,the braichild of Crawford who ensured its success……his purchase of many non-viable plantations in the Scotland District have yet after 55 years to prove themselves……BIDC&Manufacturing already conceptualised by Crawford…..feel free to bring any that I forgot.
Bim from way back when has many studies on the to be implemented table.
Community groups,many of which I was heavily involved with,died a natural death by the mid 80s aided and abetted by the Constituency offices of both candidates…..mendicancy took over,as well as other pursuits…..interestingly enough it has come back as the block culture willing to sell itself to whichever party.
We need the re-emergence of bona fide independent community councils,with a love of area and an agenda for it.
Party’s are really irrelevant once you have a strong activist groupings not affiliated to party but love of country.
Not accustomed to these epistles……I rest my case.
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